The House of Blues is taking us on a roller coaster ride of rock ?n? roll emotion.
First it announced it was opening (yay!). Then it revealed the first show would be the Gipsy Kings (boo!). Then it pulled a switcheroo by sliding in a reunited J. Geils Band for Thursday?s inaugural show (yay again!).
We love the Gipsy Kings in a ?I lost the wife?s ?Buena Vista Social Club? CD and the dinner party is about to start? kind of way. But the Kings can?t play the blues. They also don?t have a dude named Magic Dick in the band.
Humbly, frontman supreme Peter Wolf agrees that a sold-out Geils show is a much better fit to launch the Lansdowne Street club than eight guys strumming flamenco guitars. On his way to rehearse with eponymous guitarist Jay Geils, harmonica cat Dick, keyboardist Seth Justman, bassman Danny Klein and guest guitarist Duke Levine and drummer Marty Richards, Wolf brought us up to speed on how this one-off reunion by Boston?s beloved blues-rockers was going.
Herald: When we heard that Gipsy Kings were opening the venue, we were bummed out. We thought the only choices to kick things off were you guys or Aerosmith or maybe the Dropkick Murphys. Are you psyched to be the first band to test drive the place?
Wolf: First, I thank you for saying that we?re right to kick things off. When I heard that the building was going to stay a music venue, that it was going to be 24/7 music, I thought that was great. There are too many places closing, so it?s good to have a place opening. But I also think it?s important to have the little, independent clubs in Somerville and Cambridge stay open. I?ve always been a fan of the small clubs around town.
Was it easy to sell you on the reunion idea?
At first I thought it was going to be a closed-to-the-public, invite type of thing, then we sat back and watched it morph into a regular gig. It will be great. We?ve been rehearsing, doing what it takes, getting together to go through the repertoire. Doing a Geils show takes a lot more than just getting up there and singing. It takes a lot more commitment. It?s a physical and musical commitment that?s pretty demanding. It?s not Crosby, Stills and Nash. Nothing against those guys, but there?s no sitting down at a Geils show. It?s full tilt.
The Geils band has a long history with the blues. Will you be pulling out some stuff from deep in your catalog?
Yeah, the Geils band has extremely strong blues roots, and I?m sure that will come out. I remember I used to have Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker stay at my apartment back in the day when we first started. I was kind of Muddy Waters? unofficial valet in the New England area. I?d take him around and play him records. As to specifically what we?ll play, it?s hard to tell exactly what will happen when the lights go down low. We?ll probably be figuring out the set list right before we go on.
After you?re done with the J. Geils Band again, will you get back to work on your new solo album?
Yeah, I?m just finishing it up and I?m excited. It?s got Neko Case, Merle Haggard and Shelby Lynne on it. And all the guys I?ve been working with for a while, Duke Levine and Larry Campbell from Dylan?s band. The lineup is incredible. After it?s out, there?ll be a nice tour of New England and beyond. But nothing else Geils-related is planned.