Huey Lewis Talks About 34 Years Of 'The News'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
“I think this is our best band ever,” Lewis said during a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “I’m looking forward to performing in Wabash.”
Huey Lewis & The News performs at the Honeywell Center in Wabash Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m., with special guest Mikial Robertson. Tickets went on sale Sept. 12, and are $29, $49, $69 and $100.
The band is best known for a string of hits during the 1980s, including “Do You Believe In Love”, “I Want a New Drug”, “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “Hip to Be Square”.
The ’80s, Lewis said, was about “trying to keep your head above water. The thing interesting about the ’80s was that it seemed to be a wasteland for awhile.”
However, it was also an era of change. By the end of the 1980s, things like the drum machine had been introduced and technology was on the move.
Huey Lewis & The News formed in 1978, he said. They landed their first gig in 1979, and released their first album in January 1980. The band’s first hit was “Do You Believe in Love”, released in 1982.
The band didn’t stop performing after the ’80s. Lewis said they didn’t really take a break, and now they do 80 shows a year. They’ve only taken occasional breaks to write and record new music or other projects, he said.
“We are working on a couple of things,” Lewis said. The band is on the road so much throughout the year, they will have to take a break this winter to write and record a new album.
The band still includes four of the original, founding members. Including a three-piece horn section, they’ve added five guys to the band in the past few years, Lewis said.
For their live shows, Lewis said they are “all over the place.” They vary the show and include different songs from their different records.
“Oddly enough, we’re still improving. We’ve got a new guitar player who is really good. I think I’m a better singer. We’re smarter at what we do. We make better musical choices. We’re not trying to play all the notes anymore,” Lewis said.
Audiences can expect a lot of the old favorite hits, he said.
Unfortunately, since the band’s albums “Sports” and “Fore!” hit No. 1 in 1983 and 1986 respectively, the music industry has totally changed.
It used to be, Lewis said, a band would release music, get on the playlist and become a hit. It’s tougher now with the Internet and other media, he said. Pop songs were written when the songwriter was informed by its audience – that audience isn’t out there anymore as downloading and sharing doesn’t always let a band know who is listening to its music.
Years ago when society was segregated, it was the music that brought people together, Lewis said. Now that society isn’t segregated, the music is. There’s rock, rap, pop, country and an assortment of other styles and labels. Lewis said he’s not sure having music so segregated is a good thing.
“People just are not selling records anymore. You sell 100,000 in a week, and you’re number one,” Lewis said. “Records are just a promotion piece anymore.”
To have a career in music, it’s all about touring and having people come to your shows, he said.
For his own personal enjoyment, Lewis has appeared in movies like “Duets” or done voice work on animated programs like “The Cleveland Show” on the side.
“I am able to pick and choose (projects) and do them for creative reasons,” he said.
He played Billy Flynn in the musical “Chicago” on Broadway, which he found a challenge.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “You had to hit a mark. You couldn’t improvise, which I can do with our shows.”[[In-content Ad]]Besides supplying the song “Back in Time” for the soundtrack to the hit movie “Back to the Future”, the music of Huey Lewis & The News is also used famously in the thriller “American Psycho,” based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis.
Lewis said he knew in advance of the movie being filmed that the band’s music was in it because it was in the book. The band also got paid for use of the song, and Lewis was fine with it being used. Based on how Ellis wrote about the music of the band, Lewis said Ellis was “clearly a fan.”
But Lewis never saw the film.
On the eve of the release of the movie, Lewis said, the movie people wanted to put out a soundtrack using one News song, a Genesis song and other music from the film. The band didn’t feel it was right because it wasn’t part of the deal and News fans would have to go out and buy a record to get just one song from the band.
The film’s publicity people sent out a press release indicating Lewis and the band pulled their song from the soundtrack because they found the movie too violent.
“That was a blatant lie,” Lewis said, so he boycotted the movie and never saw it.
As for future projects Lewis plans to see come to fruition, besides a new album, 2013 is the 30th anniversary of the band’s best-selling album “Sports”. Lewis said they have a few special things planned for the anniversary, including new music.
And with the band being “the best it’s ever been,” Lewis is excited about what’s coming.
For tickets to the Oct. 20 show at the Honeywell Center, visit www.honeywellcenter.org
For the official Huey Lewis & The News website, visit hueylewisandthenews.com
“I think this is our best band ever,” Lewis said during a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “I’m looking forward to performing in Wabash.”
Huey Lewis & The News performs at the Honeywell Center in Wabash Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m., with special guest Mikial Robertson. Tickets went on sale Sept. 12, and are $29, $49, $69 and $100.
The band is best known for a string of hits during the 1980s, including “Do You Believe In Love”, “I Want a New Drug”, “The Heart of Rock & Roll” and “Hip to Be Square”.
The ’80s, Lewis said, was about “trying to keep your head above water. The thing interesting about the ’80s was that it seemed to be a wasteland for awhile.”
However, it was also an era of change. By the end of the 1980s, things like the drum machine had been introduced and technology was on the move.
Huey Lewis & The News formed in 1978, he said. They landed their first gig in 1979, and released their first album in January 1980. The band’s first hit was “Do You Believe in Love”, released in 1982.
The band didn’t stop performing after the ’80s. Lewis said they didn’t really take a break, and now they do 80 shows a year. They’ve only taken occasional breaks to write and record new music or other projects, he said.
“We are working on a couple of things,” Lewis said. The band is on the road so much throughout the year, they will have to take a break this winter to write and record a new album.
The band still includes four of the original, founding members. Including a three-piece horn section, they’ve added five guys to the band in the past few years, Lewis said.
For their live shows, Lewis said they are “all over the place.” They vary the show and include different songs from their different records.
“Oddly enough, we’re still improving. We’ve got a new guitar player who is really good. I think I’m a better singer. We’re smarter at what we do. We make better musical choices. We’re not trying to play all the notes anymore,” Lewis said.
Audiences can expect a lot of the old favorite hits, he said.
Unfortunately, since the band’s albums “Sports” and “Fore!” hit No. 1 in 1983 and 1986 respectively, the music industry has totally changed.
It used to be, Lewis said, a band would release music, get on the playlist and become a hit. It’s tougher now with the Internet and other media, he said. Pop songs were written when the songwriter was informed by its audience – that audience isn’t out there anymore as downloading and sharing doesn’t always let a band know who is listening to its music.
Years ago when society was segregated, it was the music that brought people together, Lewis said. Now that society isn’t segregated, the music is. There’s rock, rap, pop, country and an assortment of other styles and labels. Lewis said he’s not sure having music so segregated is a good thing.
“People just are not selling records anymore. You sell 100,000 in a week, and you’re number one,” Lewis said. “Records are just a promotion piece anymore.”
To have a career in music, it’s all about touring and having people come to your shows, he said.
For his own personal enjoyment, Lewis has appeared in movies like “Duets” or done voice work on animated programs like “The Cleveland Show” on the side.
“I am able to pick and choose (projects) and do them for creative reasons,” he said.
He played Billy Flynn in the musical “Chicago” on Broadway, which he found a challenge.
“It was a great experience,” he said. “You had to hit a mark. You couldn’t improvise, which I can do with our shows.”[[In-content Ad]]Besides supplying the song “Back in Time” for the soundtrack to the hit movie “Back to the Future”, the music of Huey Lewis & The News is also used famously in the thriller “American Psycho,” based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis.
Lewis said he knew in advance of the movie being filmed that the band’s music was in it because it was in the book. The band also got paid for use of the song, and Lewis was fine with it being used. Based on how Ellis wrote about the music of the band, Lewis said Ellis was “clearly a fan.”
But Lewis never saw the film.
On the eve of the release of the movie, Lewis said, the movie people wanted to put out a soundtrack using one News song, a Genesis song and other music from the film. The band didn’t feel it was right because it wasn’t part of the deal and News fans would have to go out and buy a record to get just one song from the band.
The film’s publicity people sent out a press release indicating Lewis and the band pulled their song from the soundtrack because they found the movie too violent.
“That was a blatant lie,” Lewis said, so he boycotted the movie and never saw it.
As for future projects Lewis plans to see come to fruition, besides a new album, 2013 is the 30th anniversary of the band’s best-selling album “Sports”. Lewis said they have a few special things planned for the anniversary, including new music.
And with the band being “the best it’s ever been,” Lewis is excited about what’s coming.
For tickets to the Oct. 20 show at the Honeywell Center, visit www.honeywellcenter.org
For the official Huey Lewis & The News website, visit hueylewisandthenews.com
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