Nazareth set to play Barrie later this month

The men of the Scottish band Nazareth are the embodiment of the adage “find what it is you love to do and you will never work a day in your life.”

Based on that logic, guitarist Jimmy Murrison, vocalist Carl Sentance, drummer Lee Agnew and his dad, bass player Pete Agnew, have been “not working” for a long, long time, the band having been founded 50 years ago back in the town of Dunfermline.

Pete Agnew, one of the originals, tells BarrieToday through his broad Scottish burr it hasn’t been much of a struggle keeping the band together and playing at a high level, because “I’m actually doing what I love. Not many people can say that.

"So, we’re incredibly lucky, living the dream," he added. 

Plus, let’s face it, being a member of a major band isn’t like just any job in the world.

“If you’re a rock star, you don’t retire, you die,” Agnew says with a laugh.

Agnew goes on to say that while he’s been to Barrie before, Agnew and his mates have never played Mavricks Music Hall, where they will be on Friday, Aug. 31.

“We know it’s got a good reputation, but we’ve never played here before. We’re really looking forward to it.”

All those years on the road leave their mark on the body, it’s true (the band’s longtime vocalist Dan McCafferty had to retire in 2013 after battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD), but that road is made a lot smoother by a succession of hits to precede you to the next town. Pete Agnew will never demean their importance.

“There’s still a market for us," he said. "And when you get that first iconic hit, as kids feel when they get it, well, they’re set for life.”

Even those with but a bowing acquaintance with Nazareth or any hard-ass metal band is familiar with their rendition of the Everly Brothers’ classic Love Hurts. But the real fans remember the Hair of the Dog album and its title track (sometimes mistaken for Son of a Bitch), Broken Down Angel, all in all, stuff all its devout fans know and sing along with, regardless of age.

Guns N’ Roses thought so much of Hair of the Dog, the band covered it on their album The Spaghetti Incident?

Agnew says that recently, in Vancouver, “I was able to see about 300, 400 people in the stands, many of them young girls, teenagers, just the age group” to be appreciating the band’s stuff.

It’s hits like those and more that have kept the band going through half a century of changing times and changing tastes.

Agnew also admits there was a time, in the late 1980s, when fans were listening more to synthesizer and electronic sounds than guitar bands.

That situation started to change when bands like Oasis captured the public’s attention and brought the fans back to the kind of material Nazareth and their like were offering.

“We’d play any place that had electricity, but the '80s were a hard decade for rock," Agnew says.

The Agnews, Murrison and Sentance have toured Canada regularly, but in recent years, the tour would start in British Columbia and make it only so far east as Manitoba. But lately, the dates have been extended into major centres such as Montreal, Toronto, Nova Scotia and elsewhere in the Maritimes.

Fortunately, this summer, one of the tour stops is in Barrie, and fans can get their fill of Nazareth, with opening acts Starsik and MLC, on Friday, Aug. 31.

Mavricks Music Hall is located at 46 Dunlop St. W., in downtown Barrie.

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