GH’s Steve Burton (Jason) hits the road with his band, Port Chuck.
Soap Opera Digest: After all these months, the Port Chuck tour is finally here.
Steve Burton: I know. I cannot believe. It’s taken so much planning, it’s amazing. I have a lot of respect for tour managers now because Scott [Reeves, Steven] and I have been doing pretty much everything, which is fine because that’s how I wanted it. But, it’s been a lot of work.
Digest: How have ticket sales been?
Burton: It’s been great. The venues are selling well, and we’ll see what the concert’s going to be like.
Digest: What’s the fan response been like?
Burton: I think people are perplexed [laughs].
Digest: How so?
Burton: I think people aren’t going to know what to expect. A lot of people are used to seeing us as our characters and then they’re going to see us performing a concert. We actually had a lady from Country Weekly come by our rehearsal and her mom and sister are huge GENERAL HOSPITAL fans and they were just amazed. They couldn’t believe the whole thing. She actually said, “I heard you guys had a band and I didn’t know what to expect.” That’s pretty much everybody’s first thought.
Digest: Is that a good thing?
Burton: Absolutely. That’s what you want people to think because then they’ll come see it and check it out, and we’re going to have a great time. We’ve got great songs that everybody knows and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Digest: Have you been rehearsing a lot?
Burton: Yeah, we did a lot of rehearsing acoustically with me, Scott, Bradford [Anderson, Spinelli] and Brandon [Barash, Johnny], which ends up being three or four hours at a pop. We just had a rehearsal with a full band, 6-8 hours each day so we’re ready.
Digest: What do you hope to achieve?
Burton: I just want people to have fun. That’s how it started for me and that’s what I want. I want people to come away from this saying, “Wow, that was good. We had a lot of fun and Port Chuck’s not so bad!”
For interviews with the entire band, check out the new issue of Soap Opera Digest. For more on the band’s touring schedule, check out www.portchuck.com.
