Boston rock group the Remains, ‘America's Lost Band,' subject of new short film

Boston Globe

01-04-2025

Their son, Daniel Tashian, is a respected songwriter and producer in his own right. He recently served as a co-producer on Ringo Starr's latest album, a country record called 'Look Up.'
According to Holly, when Daniel asked Ringo if he remembered the three weeks the Remains opened for the Beatles, the droll drummer replied, 'Nope. I don't remember anything.'
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'And that was that,' Holly said with a laugh in a recent phone interview with the Globe.
Almost 60 years since their brush with mega-stardom, the Remains are back in the spotlight. 'America's Lost Band,' a tidy half-hour documentary based on one of the band's periodic reunions (this one around 2006), begins streaming April 8 through
The short film is a reworked version of a feature documentary of the same name, which debuted at the Boston Film Festival in 2008. Licensing issues around the use of Beatles material and a guest spot by the Remains on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' prevented the film from distribution beyond its handful of festival appearances.
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Producer Fred Cantor grew up in Connecticut enamored with the Remains. In 1998, a friend invited him to catch the group during one of its reunion tours.
'That was mind-blowing,' Cantor recalled recently by phone. 'I was immediately transported back to the age of 13, sitting in my bedroom listening to my portable record player.'
Cantor quickly resolved to try to ensure that the band's legacy would last. First he wrote a stage musical about the group. Then he enlisted his friend Michael Stich, longtime director of the daytime soap opera 'The Bold and The Beautiful,' to make the documentary.
Barry Tashian and Vern Miller of the Remains head out to the stage at Dodger Stadium.
Ed Freeman
Now, years later, Cantor and Stich have repurposed the reunion footage from their original film to make the new version.
The band members — Tashian, keyboardist Bill Briggs, bassist Vern Miller, and drummer Chip Damiani — came together at Boston University in 1963. They honed their considerable chops playing the school's fraternity parties and at the Rat in Kenmore Square.
In the documentary, one fan enthuses about how good the band still sounded: 'If you close your eyes and throw some beer on the floor, you're at the Rathskeller.'
The Remains broke up after Damiani quit the band over the frustrations of touring. By then, Tashian was eager to explore other kinds of music. Miller went on to form other Boston bands (including
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Jon Landau, the rock critic who went on to become Bruce Springsteen's longtime manager, helped immortalize the Remains when he
'People think there's some mystery around why the band broke up,' said Holly Tashian, who now lives in Nashville. Her husband was disappointed that Damiani chose to leave the group: 'Without him, it just wasn't the same. Barry also saw what it was like to be so famous, like the Beatles, and he just said, 'This is not a way to live.' It's totally understandable.'
A few years ago, Holly noticed that Barry's memory was slipping. Tashian, who is 79, has since been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Holly recently made the difficult decision to put him in a memory care facility near their home in Nashville.
'It progressed to the point where I could not handle it at home anymore safely,' she said. 'He seems to be happy. I think we look at Alzheimer's and we're kind of afraid of it. Yet I also see that people all have their own paths. And this is part of Barry's path.
'And it's part of my path to go on without him and see what that's about.'
They met while attending high school together in Westport, Conn. Tashian was actually dating Holly's best friend at the time.
Several years later, after the Remains broke up, they bumped into each other on a Connecticut beach.
'I loved his music, always had,' she said. 'I decided I would learn guitar and play with him, and he was patient enough to let me do that.'
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Other than Tashian, Miller is the only surviving member of the Remains. Damiani, who ran a home improvement company,
Rewatching the footage of the new Remains documentary has been 'delightful,' said Holly Tashian.
'It's really evident what a great friendship they had together,' she said. 'That to me is part of the magic of that group.'
James Sullivan can be reached at
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