Out today (July 15th) is Chicago's 38th studio album, Born For This Moment. The band is now on the road with special guest Brian Wilson, who along with fellow Beach Boys Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, will be opening for the band for most of the summer.
Chicago is led by its three co-founders — keyboardist Robert Lamm, trumpeter Lee Loughnane, and trombonist James Pankow.
We asked Robert Lamm to give us the backstory on Born For This Moment: “It's by no means a (laughs) concept album. I would say it's a document of where the band was at at the beginning of this year. In view of the fact that the pandemic was not ending, I think everybody agreed that, if for nothing else, for our fans, give them something, letting them know that (laughs) we're still alive.”
Lee Loughnane remains proud of how throughout the decades, Chicago has remained musically relevant: “The music business has completely changed, where even the major artists that are on top that used to sell millions and millions and millions; those millions have dwindled down to hundreds of thousands. So (laughs), all the numbers are completely different than they used to be, so it makes more sense — music will never die, but the way you record it must change in order for artists to survive.”
James Pankow told us that upon forming in 1967, literally nobody in the group was even remotely thinking that this band would be spanning decades: “The intention of this thing was to put a band together that we really got off on, 'cause that was the initial feeling in the room, when we first heard the first note. And we said, 'Hey, maybe we got something great here, y'know, a worthwhile endeavor. And maybe we'll be able to make a record. Maybe two — maybe we'll be around for a couple of years (laughs).'”
Chicago performs tonight (July 15th) at Wantagh, New York's Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater.