PUBLISHED IN THE KW RECORD ON Wednesday, August 05, 1997
By Nick Krewen
How sweet it is!
GEORGE THOROGOOD is back, and the slide guitarist from Baton Rouge who is Bad To The Bone and Born To Be Bad is bringing his DELAWARE DESTROYERS with him for two shows at Lulu's, tomorrow (Thursday) and for a sold out performance on Friday.
"It's one of the best places I ever worked," Thorogood's bulldog baritone growls over the phone prior to a Vancouver gig, "And it's also one of the toughest to work, because of size. It's the biggest bar in the world, isn't it?"
The biggest bar for the biggest bar band: a match made in heaven to our ears. However the 45-year-old Thorogood says Lulu's wins the venue sweepstakes due to process of elimination.
"We can't play Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, it's too big," he explains. " We can't play the El Mocambo, it's too small. So we're put in a big bar. That's when we end up at Lulu's. The run is a little tougher, but it's worth it."
Thorogood goes on to explain that Canadian audiences are more boisterous than their U.S. counterparts, shooting a big hole through the Canadian crowd complacency theory.
"The difference is that Canadians turn it up a notch, because I think they really let us know we've made the effort to come to their country," says Thorogood, speaking on behalf of fellow Destroyers BILL BLOUGH on bass, JEFF SIMON on drums and HANK CARTER on sax.
"It's not just crossing the border. We're a whole different country. It is hard to come here. You have to get work permits. You have to do a lot of stuff. Canadian audiences let us know they really appreciate the effort. We can tell that."
Thorogood is visiting these parts to support his tenth EMI album, an 80/20 mix of rock classics and originals named Rockin' My Life Away. Thorogood says there's a reason he chose to name the album after the JERRY LEE LEWIS revivalist masterpiece.
"If ever there was a band that was fronted by yours truly, could you think of a more appropriate title for us?" he asks rhetorically. "This is what we do. People who have come to see the Destroyers for the past 200 years, that's what they expect. That's what they identify with this band. That's not a real hard sell.
"I wanted to do with the slide guitar what Jerry Lee Lewis does with the piano; what LITTLE RICHARD does with the piano, because that's just natural to me. My tempo is just a little quicker."
Thorogood covers some wide stylistic terrain on Rockin' My Life Away, including a cover of MERLE HAGGARD's "Living With The Shades Pulled Down" and the late FRANK ZAPPA's "Trouble Everyday."
"I've been a Frank Zappa fan ever since I heard the first album Freak Out, which I got a hold of in March 1967," says the avid New York Mets fans.
"I think `Trouble Everyday' is an unparalleled classic in the finest form of BOB DYLAN or anybody. I don't feel it ever truly got the attention that it should. Frank was known a lot for his other stuff. I saw him in concert, talked to him once on the telephone, and yeah, his passing did move me a lot. He was the genuine article.
"You know, I'm a shot-and-a-beer barroom entertainer. That's what I do. I've got a good bar band. But Frank's a musician -- checking out his music is like listening to HECTOR BERLIOZ or the greats. I'd rate Frank in his world the same as I would LEONARD BERNSTEIN. I admired him for that."
With such classic remakes as "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and "If You Don't Start Drinkin' (I'm Gonna Leave)" under his belt, Thorogood is happy that his popularity hasn't waned.
"I'm happy I've got this far with it," says Thorogood.
"I'm hanging in there, man. I'm pleased to say the health is good, and like anybody else in life, I'm trying to keep the wait down and the chops up."
DISCOGRAPHY
1978 -- George Thorogood And The Destroyers -- Rounder
1978 -- Move It On Over
1979 -- Better Than The Rest -- MCA
1980 -- More George Thorogood And The Destroyers -- Rounder
1982 -- Bad To The Bone -- EMI
1985 -- Maverick
1986 -- Thorogood Live
1988 -- Born To Be Bad
1990 -- Boogie People
1992 -- The Baddest Of George Thorogood & The Destroyers
1997 -- Rockin' My Life Away -- EMI
1999 -- Half A Boy/Half A Man -- CMC, BMG
1999 -- Live '99
COLLABORATOR
1993 -- Various Artists, Caught In The Attic
THANKS: BETH WALDMAN, PHILIP BAST, PENNY COATES
©1997, 1999 Nick Krewen, Octopus Media Ink
-30-