The world will be poppin’ and people will be safety dancin’, on September 10th as Men Without Hats headlines a show at the Grand Theater. Gnarly.
Jason Stringer, who contributes to Salem Weekly’s music and nightlife coverage and plays in the local band Massive Moth put together the show. He says that it shouldn’t seem as random as it does to have a known band come to Salem. “Lots of bands would like to come to Salem. We just don’t always take advantage of it, or have the venues to support those bands.”
Venue support for this show came in the way of Grand Theater, which used to house many a show but has recently been churning out folk and jazz music. It’s a slight departure for the venue, but the connections between the music community and the Grand stand firm.
“Doug Hoffman and I used to produce local showcases there in the late ’00s, and the Grand Theater has always been accommodating. Doug seems to have a pretty good relationship with them, and often does sound production for the venue’s events,” says Stringer.
For Stringer, the highlight of the event will be seeing the band that he liked as a kid and didn’t expect to see live. “Being able to produce the show and have my band open for them is the icing on the cake,” he adds.
In honor of the Men Without Hats legacy, Massive Moth will be playing a dancy, more synth-heavy set. Stringer says there might be a surprise or two thrown in.
Portland-based The Slants will also be on the schedule for the night. The band is beginning their West Coast tour to promote their new full length album “Pageantry.” They’re often compared to 80′s icons Depeche Mode and The Cure.
Tickets are still available, but Stringer advises picking up tickets in advance to avoid missing out on the opportunity.
“Where else are you going to go in your leg warmers or Members Only jacket the night of September 10th?” he asks. Don’t worry, 80′s fashion isn’t required.
Ivan Doroschuk, lead singer of the Men Without Hats, spoke with Salem Weekly’s Olivia Felo for a few questions about the band and their upcoming performance.
Salem Weekly: Do you recall if Men Without Hats has ever played in Salem before?
Ivan Doroschuk: I can’t remember. We’ve played pretty much everywhere in the States. I live in Victoria, so I love the Northwest.
SW: What can Salemites expect from your show at the Grand? Will it be mostly old stuff, new stuff, or 50/50?
ID: All old stuff. It’s a greatest-hits package we’re putting out. That’s the beauty of this tour; it’s given me the chance to play my back catalog. There’s no record labels pushing their agenda. We don’t make people wait for an hour to hear the songs they want to hear. We have a whole new legion of fans now because of Glee, Hot Tub Time Machine, The Simpsons. “Safety Dance” has been used in all sorts of things. We’ve got our original fans, and their kids are coming [to our concerts], too, and loving it.
SW: How did Men Without Hats end up performing again after so many years?
ID: We did the Rifflandia event in Victoria, got invited to play that. I had been thinking of putting the band back together and getting back on the road. Then we got invited to play at South by Southwest and had a blast there. There was a buzz about us, and it was really cool and helped us kick off the Canadian tour. We’re doing five to six weeks with Human League, then we’re going to go back in the studio and record new stuff. [Being on tour again] has been inspiring me to write new stuff. I’ve been a stay-at-home dad for the past ten years, so I’ve been pretty out of the loop.
SW: Dance music is really exploding in popularity these days. Do you see a relationship between Men Without Hats and New Wave and the electronic- and synthpop-influenced music of today?
ID: That’s one thing that kind of inspired me to come back. All I hear is ‘80s-infuenced music these days. In the ‘90s if you said the word “keyboard” you were banned. Now it sounds like the ‘80s all over again. People don’t react the way they used to. ‘80s music for me was a combination of ‘70s progressive and disco. I listened to Pink Floyd and they had keyboards. When we started out with no drummer and no bass player people thought we were crazy; we had bottles thrown at us. Now a band can be three guys and a computer onstage.
SW: New Wave had a particular philosophy behind it. Is it one that you see fitting into the 21st century, or was it specific to its time and what’s happening now in music is driven by something else?
ID: I don’t know if it’s happening right now. I’m still waiting for the next generation. When I was a kid the last thing I would have wanted was for my parents to know where I am, so having a phone on me at all times? Such an absurd concept! There’s no way I’m going to carry a phone around. And now you can’t be the only kid in school without a cell phone. Being in a rock band was still pretty rebellious then, and I’m still wondering what people are going to do now to rebel. You know, my grandmother has three tattoos and left my grandfather for a black woman twenty years younger than her. How are people are going to rebel now that a tattoo is fashion statement? I’m interested to see what happens. Traditional modes of revolution have been exhausted, and it’s almost as if they create disturbances just to see who the troublemakers are and arrest them. I’m waiting for the next generation, to see what the kids come up with.
SW: How is the experience of being in a band different now from how it was in the ‘80s?
ID: My first three or four records didn’t even come out on CD, and since I made my last record, CDs have come and gone. Rock videos are making a comeback. That was the big thing. When we came out with “Safety Dance” they told me, “You’ve got to fly to England to do this video. They’re going to be really important; you have to do one.” The video and 12-inch remix was like our mp3 and webpage, or Facebook, or Twitter; that was our new technology. I think in some ways it’s better now. You don’t have to put a whole album’s worth of stuff together, you can just throw one song up there and see what people think of it. The internet is still a pretty wild place. But it’s just as hard now as it was back then. The industry is still pretending it’s not making any money. They said that when cassettes came out. The people who have been buying records since records existed, 75% of the record-buying public, are 12-year-old girls and grandmothers. And that’s who the RIAA went after for illegal downloading. They tried to scare the people who are really their record-buying public.
SW: “The Safety Dance” was your biggest hit—what do you think people loved about it that made it so popular?
ID: I think it was an empowering message: you don’t have to follow like sheep, you can do your own thing, don’t succumb to peer pressure. It went right across the board. Jocks, the trench-coat mafia guys, cheerleaders, nerds, everyone loved it—which is what the song was all about: just forget about what other people think of you, you only live once; we’re not here to get bossed around. Most of the life we live is pretty absurd day to day. I’m glad my song could bring a speck of happiness to people and make them smile. Everyone uses it, and it’s great. I get more and more proud of it every time someone make fun of it. And people are having a good time on this tour; we’re really happy to be doing this greatest hits package. It’s really rewarding.
September 10, 8 p.m.
Men Without Hats, Massive Moth, and The Slants
Tickets are $10 and are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com.
