Dr Hook frontman Dennis playing a dream set of hits
AN IDLE exercise in putting a dream set-list together has led to a full-blown hits tour for Dr Hook's former frontman Dennis Locorriere.
AN IDLE exercise in putting a dream set-list together has led to a full-blown hits tour for Dr Hook's former frontman Dennis Locorriere.AN IDLE exercise in putting a dream set-list together has led to a full-blown hits tour for Dr Hook's former frontman Dennis Locorriere.
Dennis is bringing the Dr Hook Hits and History tour to The Broadway Theatre, in Broadway, Peterborough, tonight, from 7.30pm.
He spoke exclusively to The Guide about his return to the songs which made his name after years on the road on solo acoustic tours, and his memories of his original band, which split up back in 1985 after more than 16 years together.
He said: "For the last five years I have been touring as a solo artist and concentrating on my songwriting.
"There have always been some Dr Hook songs in the show, but I have not been going out as Mr Greatest Hits. If you keep doing it like that, it is a little bit like getting fat and lazy.
"Last year I was sitting down and writing out an imaginary set of what I would play if I stepped back in time. I was writing down songs and thought I could do this one and that one, and it started to hit me that if I was a Dr Hook fan I would love to see this show."
When he approached the record company EMI, it thought the same, and so the Hits and History tour was born, backed up by a new comprehensive hits collection.
Dennis said: "If you had asked me last year about doing something like this I would have said no. I think I had to figure out who I was – I feel I am more comfortable in my own skin. For the first 15 years after Dr Hook split, I stayed at home with my son – I had other concerns.
"I really think there is a big difference between an artist with a history and an oldies act. With an artist with a history, it is not just what they did in the past, it is also about what they are doing now. With an oldies act,they are slogging through the hits and heading for the bar."
He felt the time was right for a revival in interest for his old band.
He said: "Dr Hook had a couple of greatest hits packages out there and budget labels put out a compilation every time they find a new picture of the old band.
"The last time people really thought about Dr Hook, though, they were probably buying vinyl – they have gone out and started families and got kids, and only now do they get 30 minutes to themselves to put on a CD and listen to music.
"I want people to leave the show breathless with how many songs they know and didn't realise they knew."
Anyone who is a fan of Dr Hook should try to catch this tour now, though.
Dennis said: "I don't know if I will do it again. The last time I thought about it was eight years ago. If I wait another eight years I will be 65, and I don't know if I want to be on a hits and history tour at 65.
"I wouldn't be in the business if I thought I would just give people the old songs they remembered year on year until they wanted to kill me. It wouldn't interest me. It is not supposed to be more important to the audience than it is to me."
Dr Hook was the collaboration between Dennis and eye-patched country-rock guitarist Ray Sawyer in Union City, New Jersey, back in 1968.
They soon became famous for their long gruelling tours, performing up to 300 shows a year, as well as their sense of humour both on stage, where they were known to dress up as the support band, and on record performing songs such as Sylvia's Mother and The Cover Of The Rolling Stone, penned for them by songwriter Shel Silverstein, the man behind A Boy Named Sue.
Dennis said: "I think humour belongs in every day – I talk to the audience between songs, too, as it doesn't just have to come from the song. Sometimes they are funnier than me. A couple of months back I asked the audience why there were new people here, why they waited and come to see me now – and one guy yelled 'it's cheaper now!'
"While we were on the road with Dr Hook for 300 days a year, the phone wasn't ringing at home. It was a different world.
"We were a group of good friends who went from being a bar band to touring the world. There was no MTV, there was no format for videos, you had to see Dr Hook live.
"The live show is what makes you feel connected to the audience – when you play a song you know exactly what the audience thinks."
Dennis Locorriere playeed Dr Hook Hits and History at The Broadway Theatre, in Broadway, Peterborough, March 30.
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Saturday 20 March 2010
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