For most any band, opening for the Rolling Stones is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
For Ghost Hounds. it’s been an exponential experience.
The Pittsburgh band, which accents its rock with R&B and blues flavors, has taken Stones support slots since 2019, when it played one of its first shows opening for the British group in Washington, D.C. It was on seven dates of the 2021 leg of the No Filter Tour, then played in Italy and the Netherlands during the 2022 Sixty anniversary tour of Europe and three shows -- including this week’s concert at Browns Stadium -- for the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds Tour.
That’s all on top of Ghost Hounds’ other opening bookings, for Guns N’ Roses, Garth Brooks, ZZ Top and Bob Seger, among others.
“When you get a chance to play not only with icons but whose songs you grew up with and were inspired by, it truly is a privilege,” Thomas Tull, Ghost Hounds’ guitarist and founder, said back in 2019. “It really is a blast.
“I’ve been a huge Stones fan forever. And having the chance to get to know (ZZ Top guitarist) Billy Gibbons; I told him the first time I ever heard his tone as a kid, it was like a mule kick. And to watch Bob Seger bring all that energy to the stage. It’s a privilege.”
Ghost Hounds’ past five years has actually been a return to music for Tull, 54. Born in Endwell, N.Y., he “played guitar in a band since I was 12 years old.” He formed Ghost Hounds during the late 2000s, and the group released an album, produced by Nile Rogers, back in 2009. The band “pretty much disbanded” after that, while Tull’s other endeavors took priority.
And those were significant. A businessman and financier who started a chain of laundromats and went into accounting chains and equity and investment firms. He’s best known as the CEO and chairman of Legendary Entertainment from 2005-2017, where he made hit films such as “Superman Returns,” “300,” “The Hangover,” the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale Batman series, “42,” “Straight Outta Compton,” Godzilla and King Kong movies and many others. He also appeared in minor roles in “The Dark Night Rises” and “Stranger Things.”
More recently Tull executive produced “Dune” and Dune: Part Two.” But even in the thick of his movie machinations he never lost the desire to plug his guitar in.
“I missed music,” said Tull, who’s also a part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and operates the Tull Family Foundation philanthropy. “I missed writing. I missed performing. I missed the camaraderie of a band. I decided this was something I really wanted to do.” And he’s adamant that he’s no billionaire playing at being a musician.
“(Music) is just part of who I am,” Tull said. “To me the only thing that matters is when people see the band live and hear the record, is it good or not? Are you connecting? That’s all that matters and all you want to be measured by. This is certainly not a flash in the pan, something I decided to do for a couple of months. This is more of a lifetime pursuit than anything else.”
Since reactivating, Ghost Hounds has released three more albums, including “First Last Time” last year on the Gibson instrument brand’s record label; the single “Last Train to Nowhere” appeared in the Paramount+ series “Special Ops: Lioness.”
The band announced a new lineup early this year that includes Tull on guitar, Joe Munroe on keyboards, Kristin Weber on fiddle, SAVNT on lead vocals and Bennett Miller on bass.
The band’s music, Tull acknowledged, “is a direct reflection of my own eclectic music tastes. The Rolling Stones is my favorite band of all time, so I’m positive that, consciously or unconsciously, a lot of this is inspired by the Stones. They fell in love with American blues. they have great country songs. Those things all appealed to me. Having all those different voices, I think, is important, and that’s what I want our band to have, too.”
He added that, “Everything about the band is a little retro,” he acknowledges. “But it’s not like these are bad things to be inspired by, y’know?”
Tull doesn’t expect that inspiration to run out any time soon, either.
“I can’t decide what I like more -- playing live or being in the studio and creating,” he noted. “We’re having a blast playing together. Any time I’m involved in a creative process, whether it’s making a movie or doing (music), all I know is how to make things or write things I want to hear or see.
“I think you have to start there, and if it resonates with people, that’s fantastic. Because I’m enough of a fan, first, that I think if it works for me it’ll be something other people like, too.”
The Rolling Stones, with special guests Ghost Hounds, performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 15, at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Tickets, starting at $118 plus fees, are available at ticketmaster.com.
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