At the height of Loverboy's fame, Mike Reno wasn't thinking much beyond the work for that weekend.
But now that the band has celebrated 25 years together, he's getting a little more philosophical.
"Had I thought about doing this when I was 50? You never know. You know, when you're a kid and you've got sellout concerts and your own plane, you never think, 'Will I be doing this when I'm 50?'," Reno said.
"But I'm sure glad I am."
Reno has now spent most of his life as a professional musician, initially playing drums in his older brother's band at age 13.
"It was an unbelievable experience right off the bat," Reno said days before kicking off his band's first series of 2006 shows, a tour that brings them to York's in Amarillo on Saturday.
"I made 75 bucks a week," Reno continued. "I still had to go to school and had a paper route, but on weekends, I was a 13-year-old kid who wasn't bad on the drums."
Soon after, he watched The Beatles' film debut, "A Hard Day's Night."
"I said, Boy, that's what I want to do. It's funny what starts you off in the business."
His older brother remains a musician, by the way, but not a professional one.
"I was the one who broke through and became, I guess, successful - selling albums and stuff, and touring," Reno said. "I think he's probably a little jealous, but he's very supportive as well. I would be if I taught some kid how to do everything and he went on to be a star.
"I would be jealous, I mean, let's be serious."
It would be hard to blame Reno's brother, at least at the height of Loverboy's success.
From 1980 to 1987, the band scored four multi-platinum albums and several international gold albums, with such classic hits as "Working for the Weekend," "Lovin' Every Minute of It" and "Heaven in Your Eyes."
They found even more success on the road, touring with such names as Journey, ZZ Top and Def Leppard.
"Performing live is what everybody in the band thinks for sure is what they do best," Reno said. "That really is where we shine, there's no question about it.
"... We've had a good string of hits and everything, but live really is the adrenaline rush for us. We're really quite good at it, and I don't want to sound arrogant."
The band took a four-year hiatus in the early '90s, but the road soon lured them back. Now, they give about 100 shows a year, and they've just wrapped up a new album.
"We're concentrating on great big songs, good stuff," Reno said. "We're not going to put out an album with one good song and nine schlocky songs."
Continuing on as a professional musician is all Reno has ever thought of, he said.
"I'm glad I can still do what I do, because it's all I know how to do," he said. "I'm all about music, you know. ... Thinking about quitting? I've never thought about it."