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Little River Band flows on
By John Benson
During the late ’70s and early ’80s, groups such as Player, Ambrosia and the Little River Band ruled the soft-rock landscape.
Today, baby boomers still flock to hear their favorites, which is just fine by Little River Band singer-bassist Wayne Nelson, calling from Nashville.
“I have memories of playing Youngstown,” Nelson said. “I just think Little River Band’s music is universal to the heartland, if you will. We couldn’t get arrested if we went to New York City. We could play nude, and nobody would show up.
“I think it’s a relation to the songs. Where people were when they were happening in the late ’70s and early ’80s combined with they can’t get that music as easily now. There were so many vocal and harmony bands and stuff like that. That’s just a genre that’s not being duplicated very much anymore. So when a band comes to town that can still do it, and still put on a great show, I think people, they’re kind of drawn to it.”
The Little River Band was started in Australia before coming stateside a few years after due to the success of singles such as “It’s a Long Way There,” “Help Is on Its Way,” “Happy Anniversary,” “Reminiscing,” “Lady,” “Lonesome Loser” and “Take It Easy On Me.”
Nelson joined the fold in 1980, right when the group was at its apex. Globally, the band sold more than 30 million records and also set a record for scoring top-10 hits for six consecutive years.
Today, the Little River Band is doing its best to exist as something more than a nostalgia act. Even though the odds are stacked against the outfit scoring another radio hit, the band is committed to writing new music, such as its last release, 2013’s “Cuts Like a Diamond.”
The way Nelson describes it, the creative process off-stage directly affects the band’s chops on stage. However, there was a time when the Little River Band had shut off the spigot.
“It’s important to us as musicians,” Nelson said. “There’s a process and a flow to writing and creating new material and when you do it. But I’ve lived through it with Little River Band, where most of the guys in the band closed off to doing new material. They were done with it. There’s jeopardy there to your ego and your comfort zone.
“That’s why I quit. We were parroting ourselves night after night after night with the same songs. I came back to the band because the attitude and the people had changed. Since then, we’ve made new music at least every two years. Anybody who has seen shows of ours will agree that we are fresher because we have continued to make new music and keep those channels open.”
As far as channeling or pigeonholing the Little River Band, Nelson challenged anyone to sit in front of the speakers at any of its shows – including a Monday concert at Westminster College. You better bring your earplugs.
“Take our latest CD, which has a blend of a lot of stuff, including some hard-edged material,” Nelson said. “Are we a hard-rock band? No. Never have been, never will be and don’t want to be. We’ve got a harder edge than what the records are, but we’re never going to be AC/DC.”