Is there such a thing as a “native” Floridian?

Enter Paul Robert Boylson, born April 14, 1962 to Irma and Robert “Bernie” Boylson, Broward General Hospital, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 3:43pm.  Paul has the distinction of being the only Florida born member of the entire Boylson clan (or the Red, for that matter), so it’s no surprise that his first memories are of the beach.  “My dad was a real shutterbug. He used to take all these old slides featuring a very pudgy, sunburned little boy playing at the water’s edge.  Remember those infamous ‘slide shows’ of the 50s and 60s?  That was my dad, totally!”

  Dad passed on when Paul was only eight years old, just after he discovered the guitar.  “Dad was the biggest supporter I’ve ever known.  He delighted in the fact that I aspired to a musical career, and worked diligently with me to develop a good singing voice when I was barely 5 years old.”  Paul remembers distinctly singing along with his favorite Beatles records while “Bernie” operated the old Bell & Howell reel-to-reel tape recorder.   But eventually, the inevitable happened...puberty!  “Soon as I hit 13, the voice lowered, and the angelic soprano thing I had going went out the window, never to return!”  This was when Paul decided to dust off the guitar his father had bought for him years before, and began the long, arduous task of teaching himself to play almost completely by ear. 

“I did the obligatory garage band thing all throughout high school” remembers Paul.  “Mostly cover stuff...the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, I played them all in at least a dozen different bands”.  But it wasn’t until he was pressured into joining a mail order record club by a longtime friend that Paul’s true calling came into focus.  “It was 6 albums for a penny, that was the deal, then you had to buy 6 more over the course of the next year and pay full retail for each.  And for the life of me, I could only come up with 5 that I really wanted.  My friend finally picked the 6th one for me, because he didn’t want to loose out on some freebie deal for signing me up!”  And what was the album in question?  “It was called ‘Fragile’ by a band called Yes.”  Paul was immediately captivated by the bass player, a one Chris Squire, and a very bright and springy bottom line that seemed to dominate the entire album.  “This was something brand new to me.  I had never heard a bass sound like that before. I was instantly hooked.  I knew this was something I wanted to get into, and quickly!”  3 months later, after much scrimping and saving, Paul plunked down the required 600 smackeroos for a gleaming new Rickenbacker 4003 bass, and began developing his signature melodic style.  He has never looked back. “The bass just feels right to me.  I quickly learned just how important a good, solid bottom line is to any successful band.”  It is on this line that the rest of the Red happily hangs their clothes.

The Innocent Red band has a long time coming.  It took almost 20 years and at least a dozen more cover bands before Paul finally found a more permanent musical address under the Red’s umbrella.  It’s been well worth the wait.  “What a blessing it is to have the opportunity to work with this level of talent.  I’m never less than amazed at Sheila’s singing and songwriting prowess, and Adam’s obvious mastery of the fret board.  This is quite a unique combination of people and talent, and I consider myself a lucky man indeed.  And they even let me bang on my acoustic guitar every now and then!”  Paul’s crystalline 12-string work can be heard on a track entitled “Diamonds In The Rough”, from the band’s forthcoming CD release.