In August 1979, the number one song around the world was 'My Sharona' by The Knack. That same month, the album 'Get The Knack' was also the top of the albums charts. Lead singer Doug Fieger will relive the song live for the Countdown Spectacular 2 shows.
Those were heady days for the band from Los Angeles. Capitol Records claimed they had just delivered "the new Beatles" but Doug wouldn't have a bar of it. "Berton (Averre) had said it before. Asking a young band if they like being compared to Beatles is like asking a young baseball player if he likes being compared to Babe Ruth," he tells Undercover News. "The comparison didn't mean much to us. There is only ever going to be one Beatles"."Capitol Records were only comparing our record to a record they had out in the 60's. We didn't have anything to do with it," he continued.
The song that stamped them into the minds of the world was the now rock classic 'My Sharona'. "We wrote that in about 15 minutes," he said. "It was pretty easy. We needed a song to end our set with. We were ending with Buddy Holly's 'Not Fade Away' and we wanted to use one of ours. The song has been good to me and The Knack. I'm proud of it. In fact, I'm proud of every song on every record".
The world is lucky to have The Knack back, although only Doug will make it to Australia for the Countdown Spectacular 2 shows in August and September. "One of the reasons I am coming down is to investigate coming back with Berton and Preston and our drummer Pat for a tour next year".
Last year, original drummer Bruce Gary died of cancer. "Nobody knew he was sick," Doug explained. "He didn't tell anybody. Nobody, including his mother, knew he was sick. He took the opposite approach to when I was sick and avoided it. He didn't have to die. His cancer was treatable".
Doug himself underwent life threatening brain surgery last year. "I'm okay. I've had four surgeries. I'm doing pretty good".
Doug's next project is a labor of love. "I have a solo album of Hank Williams songs coming out," he says proudly. "He was Hillbilly Rock, he was the first rock star".
As well as the solo record, Doug also makes the occasional live appearance in the band Zen Cruisers. The group features Elliott Easton from The Cars and Clem Bourke from Blondie.
He isn't interested in another record for The Knack. "Albums don't mean much anymore to anybody," he says. "It's a lot of work for not a lot of payback. People only want to hear the old songs. I don't think much of the music biz frankly, I just do what I do."
And those old songs they will get when Doug hits the stage for Countdown Spectacular 2. He promises 'My Sharona' will be there and possibly 'Good Girls Don't". "I'll do whatever you want me to do," he says.
The Countdown Spectacular 2 takes place across Australia from 18 August in Newcastle.
Visit http://www.frontiertouring.com.au/currenttours/The_Countdown_Spectacular_2 for more information.
