NIAGARA FALLS – Mike Reno has heard all the Loverboy jokes. He knows what the critics think. Go ahead, make fun of the leather pants.
His comeback? Fifty million albums sold and a live show that still kicks.
“We just did three shows in Alberta and every one of them was sold out,” says Reno, the band’s singer from day one."
“They bought all our t-shirts and sang every word. It’s almost better now than it was. “You’ve got to understand, we’re getting on (in age). But we still pride ourselves in being quite good live.”
Heading to the Niagara Fallsview Casino March 5, Loverboy is like the heavyweight champ who got no respect. They were – for better or worse – Canada’s biggest rock band of the ‘80s. Like most every success from that era, they took their lumps in the ‘90s before nostalgia kicked in.
Reno knew something was up when teenagers started showing up at shows. They weren’t even around for Loverboy’s early ‘80s hey-day.
“They found us on the Internet, or they dug through their parents’ garage and found our albums,” says Reno.
“A lot of kids are listening to albums. Even my kid the other day … we were cleaning out the storage locker and he had three boxes of albums. He pulls out Van Halen’s first album and he goes, ‘Dad! You know what you got here, man?’ The kid was freaking!
“I said, ‘Keep looking because you’re going to find a lot of stuff.’”
It’s no surprise. Listeners bored with today’s gangsta rap and nu-metal have no choice but to look backwards for fun rock. And Loverboy was all about fun – ‘Working For the Weekend’ served no other purpose.
“I think music in the ‘80s was really fun,” says Reno. “Some of it was laughable and some of the costumes were a little funny, but some of the costumes now are funny. The kids with the pants below their ass … what’s the point of wearing pants?
“But music in general was upbeat. Think of Van Halen, think of Deep Purple. It was upbeat rockin’. What they’re finding in Loverboy is high energy, positive lyrics. It’s a hundred percent escapism - we’re not trying to sell you politics or a new invention. We’re just trying to get your toes tapping and your arms a-wailing up in the air. “I think people really dig that.”
Lots of people dug Loverboy. After struggling with several other bands, Reno and guitarist Paul Dean originally wanted to be a duo, but a record company deal hinged on forming a band. They added Scott Smith, Matt Frenette and Doug Johnson, then scored a quick hit with 1980’s debut album and the hits ‘Turn Me Loose’ and ‘The Kid is Hot Tonite.'
The next year’s ‘Get Lucky’ was a huge seller thanks to the cheeky anthem ‘Working For the Weekend.’ ‘Keep It Up’ (1983) kept the streak going. Even in the face of savage reviews, the band was packing arenas.
“The critics never liked us,” says Reno. “Mind you, when they came to the show and saw how well we played, they often changed their mind. They’d say something like, ‘Even though I don’t know how they sold so many records, they really do perform well.’
“Even though they’re trying desperately to say something negative about us, they always had to put in a few positives because we really work hard up there.” Sales slowed in the mid ‘80s, and by the end of the decade Loverboy was forgotten. Reno says 1989 to 1999 was a washout, with rock stations going country and grunge slamming the door on the ‘80s.
“I just went golfing and fishing for a few years,” says Reno. “We never broke up.” The group returned near the end of the ‘90s, and fans welcomed them back. But just as the party started, tragedy hit home. In 2000, bass player Smith was sailing near California when a wave swept him overboard. His body was never found. Reno was “devastated” to lose his best friend. He thought Loverboy was finally finished.
“We were like brothers,” he says. “I was wallowing in my self pity for about three months, totally depressed. Everybody left me alone because they knew how hard it was for me.
“One day I kind of sat up and said, ‘If Scott could see me now, he would be totally disappointed in me.’ He would want me to rock on.”
The first concert after Scott’s death was traumatic - Reno says he “cried the whole show.”
Eventually the fun returned, especially this year - Loverboy’s 25th anniversary. Reno wouldn’t be surprised at a 30th anniversary tour in 2010.
“You know, we all move a little slower. Then we hit the stage and act like teenagers. Who wouldn’t want that?’
Loverboy is at the Niagara Fallsview
Casino (Avalon Ballroom) March 5. Tickets
are $27.50 and $32.50. Phone 1-888-836-
8118