Musical legend returns
Laine will perform at Abbey Road fest
by Tamara Ikenberg
The Courier-Journal

It's just a coincidence that British Invasion superstar Denny Laine, who'll be performing at the courier-journal.com Abbey Road on the River festival Sunday, has a name that rhymes with the Beatles "Penny Lane." Laine, born Brian Hines, changed his name long before Paul McCartney, his band mate in Wings, wrote the famous song.

But there is a connection between "Penny Lane" and "Go Now," one of the Laine-penned hits from his other super group, The Moody Blues. "'Penny Lane' does have the same chord sequence of 'Go Now,' but it's sped up," says Laine, 62. "It's a faster version of 'Go Now.'"

Laine will be playing a set of Wings and Moody Blues hits and new material from his album-in-progress, "Valley of Dreams," at the festival, which runs Thursday through Monday on the Louisville waterfront.

Now another Laine invasion is in the works. He has found himself in Las Vegas, where he's developing a show of his own, working on a new album, getting ready for a role on the new reality competition "Band America" and living with his wife, Rocha, and an animal kingdom of dogs, cats, tortoises and horses. The new environs, worlds away from his native Birmingham, England, suit the jovial musician.

"It's very, very hot in the summer, but apart from that, it's fantastic," says Laine. "I live in a small ranch house on the outskirts in a horsey area. I'm not a townie; I'm a country person now, and I come in to watch certain shows and record, so I have the best of both worlds here."

The night before our interview, Laine attended Elton John's "Red Piano" show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace.

"There are a lot of great visuals; it's well put together. He goes from 'Bennie and the Jets' to 'Someone Saved My Life Tonight' — all the songs you know, he throws them in some way, with lots of David LaChapelle imagery," he says. Laine also has caught Vegas shows by Aerosmith, Motley Crue and McCartney.

"They all come into town, which is the great thing about Vegas: I don't have to go to them," he says. "I'm going to put a show together myself. I don't have anything set yet, but I do have plans, and I do have people working on something with me. I want to do a storyteller thing where I talk about all the songs I've written."

'Band America' judge

On top of planning his act and hitting more Beatles and '60s music fests this summer, Laine also is gearing up to be a judge on "Band America," a reality TV competition searching for the best undiscovered music group in the country. It's not affiliated with "American Idol," which is launching its own band-seeking spin-off.

All the recent Vegas musical spectacles Laine has seen, especially Elton John's, represent the standards to which he'll be holding contestants on "Band America," he says.

"Elton's show is like the ultimate show (that) you compare the newcomers with. You have to see that potential in them to be an artist that could be that big. I'm looking for the best around: that professionalism, that command of the whole audience. Showmanship, that's what I'm looking for," he says. Plus, "they have to be as good live as they are in the studio."

As a judge on a music reality competition, Laine will undoubtedly be compared Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. Laine expects he'll be "probably more like a mix between Paula and Simon — not as rash as Simon, but I'm still not going to hold back if I don't like things," he says. "I'm going to be very positive about what I do like. I come from a different sort of background (than the "Idol" judges). I'm very sympathetic to groups and the way they have to work."

The band search doesn't start until September. In the meantime, Laine is laboring in the studio on his own album.

"It's been 10 years since I put out my last album, and I've lived in America for the past 10 years, L.A. and Vegas, so I'm writing an album and it's called 'Valley of Dreams,'" he says. "It was written in the San Fernando Valley and the Vegas Valley. It's all original; it's all very blues, folk, rock and some orchestral arrangements. "

Those influences include music he's absorbed from world travel , including Fado, a sometimes plaintive, flamenco-tinged style from Portugal.

Laine's process of visiting foreign lands for inspiration goes back to his Wings days. "Band on the Run," for instance, was recorded in Nigeria.

Laine doesn't have much contact with McCartney these days. It was reported that they had a falling-out in the 1980s when a Wings tour of Japan was canceled after McCartney was arrested on marijuana possession charges. Laine calls the claims "a little bit exaggerated."

"We've never really fallen out. You go and do your own thing," he says. "I don't call him personally. I'm not the sort of person who's on the phone to everybody every day."

Lately, though, he has had some business-related contact with McCartney. "I was in touch with him recently about this 'LOVE' show. I'm going to be doing a Beatlefest at the Mirage," where "LOVE" is performed, he says. "Paul won't be there. He doesn't come to Beatlefests. That's for people like us to do."

'Hung out' with Harrison

Paul wasn't the only Beatle Laine got to know well. He was George Harrison's neighbor when both lived outside London during the Moody Blues' heyday, and he has fond memories of the late legend.

"I used to go to his house all the time when he was with Pattie Boyd. We just hung out together. George lent me a 12-string guitar for a while. He used to come by and play me all the Beatles' latest demos, their new songs. I jammed with him a lot in his studio. I probably knew George better than all of them at the time. I kind of knew them all equally at some point."

He adds that the Moody Blues toured with the Beatles in England in 1965.

Laine is psyched about getting back into the spotlight but intends to maintain plenty of me-time.

"I like my freedom. I don't want to get tied into too many things, where you're just working every day," he says. "Only fools and horses work for a living. In England, that's a very famous saying. It's a tongue- in-cheek philosophy of mine. I don't like work; I like enjoyment. And I enjoy what I'm doing. If I don't, I move on."

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