Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY at Winter Fair 2026 | Feat. Todd Hobin

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

Behind the Music: An Interview with Todd Hobin at Syracuse Winter Fair In this episode of Good News York, live from the Syracuse Winter Fair, the host interviews musician and composer Todd Hobin. Todd shares insights about his extensive career, including touring with legendary bands like the Kinks and the Beach Boys, and his recent ventures in scoring films such as 'The Artist and the Astronaut.' They discuss the unique challenges of composing film scores compared to performing rock music, his collaborative projects on a new rock opera, and working with local artists in Syracuse. Todd also gives advice to aspiring musicians, emphasizing the importance of dedication and continuous creation in the music industry. 00:00 Welcome to the Syracuse Winter Fair 00:40 Introducing Our Special Guest: Todd Hobin 01:04 Todd Hobin's Musical Journey 02:26 Scoring Films: A New Challenge 04:17 Touring and Recording Adventures 05:05 Advice for Aspiring Musicians 07:59 Current and Future Projects 11:10 Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts and Farewells

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your sign. Start free at rs.com. Hey guys, welcome back to Good News York. We are here at the Syracuse Winter Fair. The first day of the fair. And it's already hopping. There's people coming through here. The rides are already going crazy. I have not yet dipped into the fair food, which is probably for the best. I got to pace myself. It's a long weekend. You know, there's a nice whiskey booth over here. Ah, you know, it's a good start to the weekend. I'll usually go for the wine slushies, believe it or not. That's my ultimate fair food.

I'll see what we can do on that. Anyway, you might notice this gentleman here sitting next to me is not my co-host. We've got this incredible guest. Sir, I'd love you to just go ahead and introduce yourself. Sure. I'm Todd Hoban. I have played Winter Fair a few times. I did play the first one.

And it's always been a pleasure to work with Steve Becker. I've known him for years. Very, very lucky. You were telling me a little bit beforehand that you are quite a performer. You've played with some incredible big names all over the world, right? Oh, indeed, yeah. I'm very lucky. I got to tour with a lot of wonderful people.

I was on tour with the Kinks, you know, in the America tour and the Beach Boys, all the early rockers. Some of the later ones, you know, Holland Oates and a big fan of the Allman Brothers and got to play with them. That's incredible. I'm just very lucky. I've had a really long career. Lately, I've been writing film scores. Oh, wow. And we just finished a two-year run with a film that I do with Bill Mitch, who's this wonderful

director, producer, and he lucked out. He asked me to score that film, which was the artist and the astronaut. Oh, wow. And it's been internationally very, very successful. We've won many, very well. awards, then Iceland, all over Europe, Australia, you know, and certainly a lot of places in America and we've done a lot of film festivals. So that's been incredible and now our neck, I'm working on them with another film. I'm just thrilled. And basically I'm a rock rocker, you know, been playing rock and roll for about six years.

Yeah, that's incredible. What's it like, you know, what's the difference between writing a film score versus maybe writing an album or writing some songs to perform on the road? Awesome. Matt, that's a great question. Because I sort of asked myself that question. You know, he used a couple of my songs in one of his films, right? Gotcha. And then I got the whole score.

Okay, well, I've done a few, you know, scores. And a lot of times it was more like, we'd like to use this piece of music or here, we need 30 minutes, 30 seconds here, right? Sure. When you score a full film, you know, you really have to first of all, really know the film, start to finish. And then each individual scene, there's 75 different music drops. Wow.

And each one is different because of this particular film, the artist and the astronaut, very, very interesting film. And so for me, as a musician, I've always been a musician, and I get a vibe about what is supposed to happen. when this particular film takes place over the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, and the 90s, and right up to current times. So the music, when you're seeing on screen, something. It's going to be even more challenging, right? Going from all those periods in one store? Right.

You gotta match it up. Yeah. You can't have a contemporary piece in 1964. Right. Just don't fly. So fortunately, I lived through all those times, so I got a pretty good idea. And so it's really kind of... kind of a challenge, but it's kind of a good challenge. It's a fun challenge.

That's great. I've got a really good team. My son, Brett Hoban's Hoban Studios, and we go in there and just crank it out. But I bring in incredible musicians to do the score and play the parts. It's great. You know, it's kind of a fun thing to do. Yeah. And now Bill has got another film that we're filming, and he's asked me to come out and shoot it with him. Wow. So we are shooting. We got back from Mississippi, the Choctaw Nation, Oklahoma, filmed an Irish band. And then we've been in Ireland. Oh, wow. God, we shot Mary Robinson, the president of the country.

And I think we're going to Italy next. So it's like it's been a really fun thing. I like doing film touring as opposed to rock and roll touring. When you're touring, well, you get a nut. and then you pack up and you drive and go to the next city. But this one is a little bit better. That's pretty incredible.

Let me take you a way back. Sure. To when you started. There's lots of musicians, lots of incredibly talented folks, but they don't always get all these opportunities and these gigs that you're talking about here. How did you do that in the beginning?

How did you go from an aspiring musician to on tour with all these massive bands and everything that you've accomplished at this point? Yeah, you know, I'm a college professor, so I teach 20-year-olds, 19-year-olds, and they always ask that question. We do this. You know, we want to get to the next level. It's hard. Yeah. It was hard then. It's even harder now. So back then I was very lucky. I did get a degree in music. So those four years away from rock and roll, I was playing in a band. By the way, band that I played with in college has some really famous people in the band.

Oh, really? Yeah. And again, we weren't famous then. Sure. We were just... College kids. College kids. Like to play music.

Yep. Gary Hodges, conductor in New York. Dave Maswick is playing with a real good country band now. And then of course, Chuck Lorry, is probably one of the most famous people in film and television. For sure, Chuck Lorry, he and I were writing songs back in the... in a while early 70s. He calls it, it was my learning curve on how to write comedies, you know, the big thing theory or whatever.

That's funny. I know, it's crazy. So I was just lucky, right? But I think what sort of happened was having really great players around me. The people that I played with were unbelievably great, Doug Moncrief, unbelievable talent, right? I always had good management. And that's the other thing. There used to be some really good managers out there.

Not so much anymore. You know, the big agencies. Yeah. And, you know, working for the big agencies, that's how I got the tours. Wow. You know, it's hard to get in. It really is. It's hard business to break.

Sure. I should ask you, what instruments do you play? Or have you played different parts of these different bands? Interesting. In college, I was a composition major. Part of the curriculum was, well, you better learn how to play every instrument if you're going to write for them. So I do play all the instruments. Mainly guitar, mainly keyboards.

Even my guitar students, I say, okay, we're going to sit down and learn how to play piano. That's pretty neat, actually. It's important. It's important. You've got to be an expert. Yeah. And, you know, the other thing is you've got to work at it. It's like the guys that are still in the business still doing it, we actually practice every day. Yeah. That's how you get to Carnegie Hall, right? Is that what they say? That's what they say. 100% true. Oh, man. Todd, what else is going on? You're talking about, it sounds like you're going on tour, you're doing some more things, recording and things like that. But anything else that we should talk to people about that you got coming up and they should be on the lookout for you here?

I think, you know, I always try to have my hands in a lot of different things. One of my college buddies, roommate, is very very, very good. very famous composer. His name is Bob Christensen. Wow. And I put him together with one of my other wonderfully famous great buddies, Bruce Coville, who's the great author. And the three of us writing a new rock opera. Oh, wow. And I think that's what Steve was talking about. We were scheduled to go to Abby Road to record, you know, part of this rock opera. We're still going to be doing that, assuming that exchange rate doesn't get any worse than it is. Sure.

But I love working with Bob Christensen. I love working with Bruce Covell and we're writing, and Bruce and I are writing some new songs. I think you have to constantly create in this business. Yeah. It's a passion. Sure. You can't do anything else but create. And that's a project that I think has been really wonderful.

And here we're sitting in Central New York, right? Bob is New York City Central, as my career mostly has been New York City. But I live in upstate New York, not far from here, where we are right now. And we recorded the whole opera here, the rock opera, here in Syracuse a few months ago. I used all local artists. And they were spectacular. Oh, wow, that's awesome. As good as we can get.

And frankly, here we are sitting at, you know, Winter Fair, and some of the artists that are going to be playing here. Sydney Irving is going to be here tomorrow. Up and coming. Remember that. She's going to be huge. You get to see her here. Steve's been telling me about her.

She's unreal, right? Playing with Joe. Just Joe. Again, local guy. You're not going to find anybody about that. Joe. Right. He's incredible. We're talking about some of the greatest talent on Earth. Yeah. They live here. I remember my business manager when I was in New York, and I was thinking about moving to Long Island. He said, what do you want to do that? So I can be closer to the office. He says, how long does it take you get into the office from central New York? I'd take the train.

About three and a half, four hours. He says, how long do you think you're going to be parked on Long Island Expressway getting in? Right? It's a great place to live. We're centrally located. I do shows. You know, I might be in Toronto. One of my keyboard player, Lutia, is from Toronto. And, you know, we can play in Cleveland, Pittsburgh. You know, you can get there pretty quickly.

Yeah. We're in the center of the world, man. That's what I've always thought. So it's great to hear. I'm not the only one. You're not. No, this is great. Todd, this has been awesome.

I would love to talk to you more and more, and especially as these other things happen. So I'd love you to come check us out. We're a podcast that talks exclusively about good things. Oh, it's awesome. And we're based here right in Syracuse. Love it. It's a daily show, so we've got no shortage of time to talk.

So I'd love to have you back. I feel like we can talk forever. Our co-host, Mike, who is not here, he'll be in tomorrow. He is a musician, and he will, I don't know, maybe it's better that Mike's not here. Because you would never be able to. to leave until 4 a.m. But, Todd, this has been great. Thank you so much for joining us on the show.

And come back anytime. I certainly would love to. Thank you, sir. Thanks. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy.

Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and hundreds more. track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at rs.com.