If you love '80's music from the likes of Glass Tiger, Madonna and Tears for Fears, then get your big hair on and head to Theatre Cambrian's third Songs of Summer Music Festival on Aug. 21.
Former Glass Tiger frontman Alan Frew will be bringing his new album, 80290 Rewind, to Sudbury. The album is ripe with “incredible covers we all know and love from the '80s,” Frew told Sudbury.com over the phone. “If you had a great time back in the '80s, and you loved these artists and their songs, you'll have an absolute blast.”
Frew is one of three headliners for the music festival. He said he's been to Sudbury numerous times through his career, but it's been a while. He remember the Big Nickel, the crazy crowds with thousands of screaming girls, and that people here genuinely enjoy their music.
“It's really an experience,” he said. “I'm having such fun. Everyone is really experiencing the time when these songs were new, and we all sort of forget that I'm not the guy that wrote them. That was a big part of what we needed to achieve in this album.
“First of all, we couldn't just come out and do it like the '80s, so we gave it a rootsier foundation. We stripped away the '80s bombastic production, and we made it more about the vocals, the lyrics and the melody. People come up to me afterwards and tell me, they never really liked that particular song, but now they get it.”
Of course, Glass Tigers fans can look forward to a version of “Someday” they may have never heard before.
“I wasn't even going to put any Glass Tiger on the CD, that wasn't my intention,” he said. “I was just going to do covers of Peter Gabriel, Madonna and Tears for Fears, but when I went to Nashville to record, the band that was going to be working with me was stunned that I wasn't going to be putting 'Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone' or 'Someday' on it. They threatened to mutiny, and so I put on 'Someday.'”
He said when he's on stage performing the songs from his album, it doesn't take long for him and the crowd to realize they're all sort of on this '80s journey, and that these “are just beautifully crafted songs that can help turn back the clock a little bit.”
Frew suffered a stroke a year ago. He said both his lifestyle and outlook on life have changed dramatically since then.
“You come to terms pretty quickly with your mortality when you think you're on the way out,” he said. “It wakes you up. It really makes you understand that it's just sitting around the corner for all of us.”
He's also started to pay much more attention to his cholesterol, his blood pressure and his eating habits. “It's given me a new sense of appreciation for what I do as an artist, even right down to the fact that I used to hate rehearsals and sound checks, and would never show up for them, but I just don't mind any more,” he said.
“You realize you have to utilize the time you have. I very much thought the game was over for me. Now I really do feel like every moment is a little more precious than I thought before.”
Frew said “80290 Rewind” was an idea to do something a little remarkable in order for it to get noticed.
“I just thought it was something brand new and different. I didn't think about putting a Glass Tiger song on it, because Glass Tiger is right there. With a phone call, Glass Tiger could be asked to go do a gig tomorrow. But my manager and the band members came to me and said, these songs stand the test of time just as much as any of the other ones, so we gave 'Someday' a bit of a different twist, and now it's on there."
Joining Frew as headliners for the Songs of Summer Music Festival are rock queen Lee Aaron and pop superstar Shawn Desman. Tickets for each headliner are $40 and include the $5 entry to the grounds. It all takes place at 40 Eyre St. For more information, visit theatrecambrian.ca.
