​Steppin’ Out

“I don’t know how many times I’ve done this tour, but it’s fun every summer. I get to go all around the U.S., see all the people and play all the great songs. It’s kind of like a carnival or a travelling circus,” says Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of the 60s rock and roll band Paul Revere and the Raiders.

Lindsay along with The Cowsills, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Chuck Negron, formerly of Three Dog Night, The Turtles, and The Spencer Davis Group will be playing at Bluestem Amphitheater in Moorhead this coming Saturday evening as part of the Happy Together Tour, a showcase of some of the hottest hits of the 60s.

“I haven’t toured with The Cowsills for many years--when I say many years I mean 1968, so it’s been fun to tour with these guys again. I’ve toured with The Turtles, but I’ve never played with Spencer Davis before, he’s the only guy I haven’t worked with.” Lindsay says.

“64-68 was one of the most fertile times in the US and probably Britain too--for acts and artists writing music and putting it out. Everybody was in a friendly competition, everybody was trying to do a little better than the next guy and it just inspired so many.” Lindsay said.

He went on to say that throughout the 20th century there have been musical stylings and musical fads but rock and roll is king for a reason.

“It was in the air everywhere, it so saturated the people’s minds and hearts and it still does. It’s the only genre of music that didn’t go away. It refused to die.” He said, “If you listen to music today--to a lot of the contemporary stuff the kids are doing--the roots are right there and they’re hanging on. Good music is good music is good music.”

Lindsay caught the rock and roll bug while he was a teenager in Idaho, at the time he played in a rockabilly band called The Fireballers. He met Paul Revere Dick, future bandmate and namesake of Paul Revere and the Raiders, while he worked in a bakery in the late 50s. Revere would often come in on Sundays to pick up buns to supply his hamburger cart. It was here that the two became acquainted and rock and roll history was in the works.

He often noted musicians coming in and out of Revere’s house and hearing the sounds of rock and roll music emitted from the small house. “I was singing in a rockabilly band and that was cool--but thought it would be wonderful to play in an all rock and roll band.” said Lindsay.

He finally had his chance, The band was playing at The Elks Lodge one fateful weekend. Lindsay wandered in, walked up to the bandstand and demanded to sing a song, while the rest of the band pretty much told him to get lost, Revere on the keyboard told them to give him a chance. “He said well, what do you know? I said anything you can play--and of course it was totally a bluff,” Lindsay said,“What key? I said any key.” It just so turned out to be a rockabilly song that Lindsay knew. Once the song was over and Lindsay realized what had happened he ran out the front door. The two ran into each other the following Sunday and it turned out that “crazy skinny kid with a wild look in his eye” made a decent enough impression to eventually become part of the band.

“I was very influenced by rhythm and blues, the early John Lee Hooker, all the early blues artists--I think everybody was. I know Jagger and the Stones were--then of course when the Stones and The Beatles hit they were big idols.” Lindsay says,”My mind is like a sponge i guess. I love all music and I guess I took it all in.”

“Kicks”, “Steppin’ Out”, “Indian Reservation” and countless other hits aside, Paul Revere and the Raiders may also be known for their iconic revolutionary-style suits. Long coats, tri-corn hats, boots and all.

Lindsay says it was a fluke. The band’s main stage wear consisted of blazers and slacks--which was the style at the time, but that changed for the Raiders once they walked past a mannequin in revolutionary war attire in the window of a costume shop in Portland, Oregon. They rented the suits as a joke and changed into them halfway through their gig that night.

“The place just went crazy and the band went crazy.” Lindsay said,”All of a sudden it felt like I was in costume and no one recognized me, so I could do anything I wanted to--the whole tenor of the band changed.”

The band eventually held a meeting to seriously consider the costume change and eventually had suits made to wear on stage.

Suits aside--not that we are making any promises, but we asked Mark Lindsay what concert goers can anticipate from the Happy Together tour.

He said, “Two and a half hours of top 10 number one hits. I watch the people and I can just read their minds when they hear a certain song. Suddenly they’re back in the backseat of that ‘65 Chevy with the radio blaring, doing whatever they did back then. It’s a good way to relive the good times!”

IF YOU GO:

Happy Together Tour 2016

Saturday, August 27, 7pm (gates at 5)

Bluestem Amphitheater, 801 50th Ave SW, Moorhead