Courtesy of Paul Fayrewether
Fayrewether.
Fayrewether celebrates its 50th anniversary with a concert that takes place on Friday at House of Blues.
“The ‘70s were in full-blossom,” says Fayrewether via phone. “There were a lot of clubs. We could have played six nights a week. We did when we first started. We played a different club every night. That was incredible. Everything was going along really well. You could make a living as a live band. There were a lot of folks who would come out. And when we played, the same people would come out every night. It was a real party.”
The group wanted to play original music, but it found it had to play at least a few covers to get gigs.
“At that time, a club wouldn’t hire you to play your original songs,” says Fayrewether. “They wanted people to dance and drink. We decided to play more unusual tunes and not the Top 10 hits. We started playing Alex Harvey, who was barely played on the radio. That was the same for Genesis and even Jethro Tull. We were doing the unusual stuff and mixing our original material in with it. People didn’t know what was original and what was a cover. We threw them all together. It was a lot of fun. The original Fayrewether was kind of a jazz-rock thing, but people pigeon-holed us as prog because they didn’t have any other place to put us.”
Much like Genesis, the group approached its live gigs as if they were theatrical endeavors.
“I wanted to have a different kind of stage show,” says Fayrewether. “All the bands at the time stood there and wiggled their hips. I wanted to do something edgy and more fun. I was putting on bat wings. I put a television set on top of my head for a song. The audience laughed about it, but they took us seriously because our musicianship was so good.”
The upcoming House of Blues show will feature highlights from the band’s 50-year career, which began in 1974. Even Fayrewether is surprised by the longevity.
“Twenty years ago, Fayrewether celebrated its 30th anniversary, and Michael Stanley interviewed me on air,” says Fayrewether. “He asked what it was like because he hadn’t had his yet. When we grew up, we didn’t expect to live to 30. Now, with my 50th anniversary, it’s like, 'What is going on?' It’s nice being supported by fans. I figure I’ll do it until they decide not to show up anymore. I’ve invited the '80s version of Fayrewether to come back and do some songs. They’ll do the last half of the set. They’ll do nine or ten songs. They picked out the songs themselves. I wanted them to feel comfortable. Geoffrey Moore, my old guitarist, will be there. Gary Simmons and Steve Musichuk will be there. It’s a fun bunch of guys.”
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