We didn’t feel like it was taking a step backwards. What you hear is music from 1984 with vocals that were recorded in the present day, which is really cool. Some of them were taken directly from 4-track PortaStudio cassettes and transferred into ProTools, which gave them a blend of old and new technology. Rob and I constructed demos with a lot of experimentation. We resurrected old songs that were written between 19 as well as put new songs together. MNOD: What was behind the decision to get back to the ska roots of the band?īazilian: It was a happy accident. We’re not as prolific as others, but the opportunity to put new material together came about and we were excited to see what could come from it. We never actually thought that we would make another record, because we were going to Germany every summer and playing our usual three-hour shows. Why did now feel like the right time to get back at it?īazilian: The hiatus just kind of happened. MNOD: “Rocking & Swing” marks the band’s first recording since 2010. How the nostalgia-hungry audience at Fallsview Casino on Wednesday night will respond to the shift remains to be seen.īazilian was kind enough to speak to me from the road about the release as well as the success he’s had as a songwriter away from the band. Their new album, “Rocking & Swing,” couldn’t be more different from the glory days of MTV, but, if you’ve been on The Hooters train since 1980, their return to ska is likely to be right up your alley. They sold two million copies in the United States alone, played Live Aid in front of nearly 90,000 people in Philadelphia, and were named “The Best New Band of the Year” by Rolling Stone despite never having a Top-10 single. I wasn’t alive in 1985, but listening to Eric Bazilian describe how crazy things became for The Hooters following the release of “Nervous Night” made me wish that I had been.

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