What is your history with The Awesome and how did you get involved with the band?
Well, I was sitting around watching a football game with my buddy Pete Dugas. He mentioned a bunch of musicians were gathering to play some ‘80s tunes for the fun of it, asked me to sing with them. It became more popluar than we could have ever imagined! The rest is history.
Who are your favorite bands/artists from the '80s?
That’s a tough one. I have to admit that I was a total Whitney Houston fan. Top five right now off the top of my head (trying to go back in time — pun intended — to my pre-teens and hear my fav radio station) are Cyndi Lauper, Eurythmics, The Cars, Dire Straits, Heart, Pat Benetar, Paul Simon and Bruce Hornsby and the Range. That was more than five, wasn’t it?
What was the best moment playing with The Awesome?
I would have to say last Halloween when we played with a horn section, but it was topped when we played New Year’s Eve at the Big Easy with an incredible light show and a horn section. It’s hard to pinpoint a best moment. Maybe when I got a bra thrown at me? No wait, I know. It was two years ago when we played a 1987 Prom Reunion, and one of the gals gave me her leather jacket she wore in high school. It even had “Beat It” bedazzled on the back. I wear it on stage all the time now.
The Awesome has quite a following in Portland. Why do you think ‘80s cover songs are so popular and what are your fans like?
The ‘80s are so popular because you can’t name a set list of 20-24 songs that you can dance/sing to non-stop from the ‘90s now can you? In fact, we have over 100 songs in our repetoire. It’s called pop, and it somehow never dies. Our fans? They are like, totally rad! They dress it up, dance it up and mullet it up! They actually inspire us “Time after Time” with their outfits.
What are the future plans for The Awesome?
Well, in true ‘80s form, we will most likely have a VHI “Where are They Now” show, and somehow try to sober up for the filming of it! Then we will all sell out and do a really bad reality TV show that tries to make us real cops or lock us in a house with people we hate. Oh wait, that’s been done, hasn’t it? Then I guess we’ll walk around singing, “We’re back, and better than ever!”