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Lovin’ Every Minute of It
Canadian rock legends Loverboy headline Rockies Fest 2024
By Ferdy Belland
“We had such a fun time in Cranbrook the last time we played here,” said Mike Reno, lead vocalist for Canadian rock legends Loverboy. “We played with Sweeney Todd at the RecPlex…and I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already!”
And the Loverboy fans of the East Kootenay need wait no longer for the return of their hard-rocking heroes when Loverboy takes the stage at Western Financial Place on Saturday, June 15 as the triumphant headliners for the 2024 Rockies Fest.
“Our upcoming Cranbrook show is the first show for us in a while,” said Reno, “and it’ll be a kickoff for our summer tour – we’re playing with Sammy Hagar, all across the United States! About 40 shows, playing to 20,000 people every night – and that’s going to be so much fun.
“And if that wasn’t a blast unto itself, once we’re done with Sammy we’ll be doing a dozen shows with Foreigner, and that should take us all the way into October! We’ve been on a bit of a break for the last little while. Which was a long time coming, since we did a big tour last year which took the wind out of our sails! Don’t get me wrong: we really enjoyed it – we toured all year! We played all these big outdoor stadiums, so Live Nation must love us!”
It’s not just Live Nation that loves Loverboy: so do the 20 million people who bought Loverboy albums and attended their concerts.
The band originally formed in Calgary in 1979 when ex-Scrubbaloe Caine guitarist (and Invermere raised) Paul Dean, frustrated with the state of affairs in his then-current band Streetheart, jumped ship (along with Streetheart drummer Matt Frenette) and joined forces with ex-Moxy vocalist Michael Rynoski (who would change his name to…well, YOU figure it out).
The fledgling group added keyboardist Doug Johnson and bassist Scott Smith, and VOILA! Loverboy as we know it was born. Canadian music manager extraordinaire Bruce Allen (then handling Bachman-Turner Overdrive and some ex-dishwasher named Bryan Adams) smelled talent, promise, and money – LOTS of money – and after yoinking them into Vancouver, Allen organized Loverboy’s first live-performance: the Pacific Coliseum, as the opening act for KISS, who themselves were riding the height of their greasepaint-and-explosions glory.
Loverboy nailed it, confidently winning over a rock-hungry crowd of almost 17,000 people. Not bad for a first gig, hey?
Loverboy quickly exploded as Canada’s new buzz band, signing with Columbia Records and scuttling into Little Mountain Sound Studios to record with no less than three eager recording-engineers who themselves would become known as Canada’s greatest record producers (this side of Bob Ezrin) – Bruce Fairbairn, Bob Rock, and Mike Fraser.
The resulting self-titled debut album was a clever and catchy balancing-point between the MOR/AOR rock of the day (think REO Speedwagon, Journey, Foreigner) and the synthesized slickness of the New Wave scene. And, much like combining chocolate and peanut butter, the sonic hybrid rang the golden bell, to the tune of over 2.5 million albums sold across North America alone.
Once the ball started rolling, it gained speed and rolled far, for quite a while. Loverboy’s follow-up albums Get Lucky (1981) and Keep It Up (1983) erupted worldwide in multi-platinum heaps, helped in great part by the handsome band’s willful embracing of the new music-video medium of MTV and MuchMusic…and suddenly, the whole world was ga-ga for red leather pants and sweat-drenched bandannas.
Mike Reno’s powerful vocal range, his David-Hasselhof-meets-Emilio-Estevez good looks, and snap-tight-crackerjack musician cohorts proved to be an unbeatable rock force, and laid much groundwork for later hard-rocking pop-sensible megawatt artists (most notably Bon Jovi, among others).
And the timeless hits seem destined to remain on endless repeat on every classic-rock radio station around the world, and the world is better for it: “The Kid is Hot Tonite,” “Turn Me Loose,” “Working For the Weekend,” “When It’s Over,” “Hot Girls in Love,” “Queen of the Broken Hearts,” “This Could Be the Night,” “Lovin’ Every Minute of It” – Loverboy was the REAL deal.
They found themselves on the Top Gun soundtrack. Mike Reno found time to record “Almost Paradise” with Heart’s Ann Wilson. Every wannabe rockstar in the observable universe stumbled over each other in the rush to get to Vancouver to record with Bob Rock at Little Mountain Sound, thanks to the superb studio qualities of Loverboy’s recorded output. The world was Loverboy’s oyster.
Alas, all things must pass, and with the rise of hair metal in the second half of the 1980s (a genre which Loverboy’s presence encouraged, I might add), Loverboy’s original 1980s popularity waned, and with the alternative rock explosion at the turn of the 1990s, the band found themselves in eclipse, which was certainly no fault of their own.
Despite changing musical trends, Loverboy regrouped as a perennial touring entity and, ever since, have laughed themselves all the way to the bank. They continued touring until 2000, when bassist Scott Smith perished in a tragic sailing accident off the coast of San Francisco.
After the shaken band recovered enough from the loss of their dear friend to continue working, they recruited Streetheart’s resident bass wizard Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve (the guy who turned the Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” into the best six-minute bass solo you’ll ever hear) into the ranks, and onward they rock.
But Loverboy is much more than a beloved legacy act, dutifully blasting out the oldies on the nostalgia circuit. They remain as strong a creative force as they were 40 years ago, and there’s always a new tune with a new tale to tell.
“We do have a clutch of new songs that are ready to go, when we muster ourselves to return to the studio,” said Reno. “We are wanting to do some more recording. We’re taking an organic approach to it, these days. We have a friend down in Dallas with a beautiful studio who we’ll probably track with, when the time comes. And we’ll release it our own way, in our own time. The way most people absorb music is completely different in the 21st Century.
“Most people don’t have the patience to listen to 10 or 12 songs by the same artist in a row, so that’s why we’ve been putting out singles as of late – just to wet people’s beaks and see if people want to hear a few new songs, here and there. An entire full-length album seems to be out of reach, at the moment.”
And a seasoned and savvy music-industry veteran like Mike Reno has much to say about the modern music world, which he still enjoys thriving within.
“The music business completely changed,” said Reno. “I mean…record companies? What do they really do anymore? Everything’s online. You don’t need to make physical records and ship them out and put them in a brick-and-mortar store. People don’t do that anymore, or at least they don’t do it the way they used to. Everybody does everything on their smartphone, for cryin’ out loud!
“But it is true that Loverboy is still a creative force, and we’re still songwriting. We’re all in the same boat right now, where we miss writing and playing new songs. Paul’s been writing some stuff. I’ve been putting some stuff together with Paul, too. We have a few songs that are already completed. And maybe we’ll put it together. We’ll probably get inspired once we’re on the road with all these concerts, this summer.”
Mike Reno is understandably proud of all he and his Loverboy bandmates have accomplished over the long years, and it is his well-deserved due to reflect on old glories – and when you’re talking about a band like Loverboy, the first group who truly nailed Vancouver’s name onto the global Rock and Roll map, there are many glories to sift through.
“We have a new live-concert DVD that’s just been released!” noted Reno. “It’s a great concert we played back in 1982, and the imagery’s been sharpened and the audio’s been remastered. It’s really awesome, and I’m not just saying that. It’s a real fun peek at who where we were at when we returned to Vancouver after enjoying success, touring all across the world. I remember the experience at the time as being one of those really great nights where all the cylinders were firing. On top of our game. I watched the DVD the other day and all the memories and the feelings came back, and it was really exciting for me.”
Reno looks forward fondly to hitting the boards on stages in the B.C. Interior. He knows his roots, and loves his roots.
“Don’t forget – I’m an Okanagan kid!” said Reno. “I grew up in Penticton before I ever moved to the cities. I’m going to head out to your neck of the woods a few days before the show and check out the vibe. I’m gonna drive up through the Kootenays, and I’m really looking forward to it. I might take one of my sports cars for the trip, pick up one of my good friends in Penticton, and make a nice weekend out of it.
“We’re all in good spirits and ready to do what Loverboy does best,” said Reno. “We’re like gunfighters. We get everything in line, we get ready to go, we know where we’re going, we know what we’re doing – it’s just a matter of donning the old rock and roll clothes and doin’ it!“
Canadian rock legends Loverboy headline the 2024 Rockies Fest fracas at Western Financial Place on Saturday, June 15.
For more information, please visit www.loverboyband.com and www.rockiesfest.ca
Lead image: Loverboy’s Paul Dean and Mike Reno today – the Butch & Sundance of Vancouver Rock. Photos submitted
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