Huey Lewis protects his voice — and his privacy
Pop-rock icon and his band, the News, have been keepin’ on since the 1980s. Postmedia’s Dalson Chen recently caught up with Lewis, but not on social media.
Q I’ve read that you don’t use social media at all. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook.
A Well, I have somebody who does (that for me). So if someone tweets me something spectacular, I’ll hear about it. But, no — I don’t personally (use it). I don’t feel the need. Why would I tweet? Why do I need to tell people stuff that I’m doing? To whom is that interesting? It’s not even interesting to me.
Q Oh, I’m sure there are people who would be interested. Everybody’s on Twitter these days.
A I guess it’d be a good business move. I see it as purely a business thing. What’s interesting is what social media has done to entertainment. It used to be you’d write a song, you’d sing a song, and that’s it. Now people want to know every single thing we do.
My life is great. I have nothing to complain about, really. I have some small complaints, but compared with most people — I’m a very lucky guy.
Q What’s your favourite song to perform out of your entire catalogue?
A It’s always the new one. There’s a new one we have now — Gotta Remind Me Why I Love You Again — which we just put into the set list. It’ll be my favourite for, you know, three weeks.
Q A lot of people associate you and the News with San Francisco, but you actually live in Montana now. How long have you lived there and why did you choose that state?
A More cheese, less rats. You know what I mean by that? It’s a metaphor. More nature, less human beings.
Q Ohhh, the rat race.
A Yeah, the rat race. I like the outdoors a lot. It’s my spiritual place, if you will. I love to be outside. I can fly fish — I’m fanatical about that. I have a small ranch, and it’s been 31 years now.
I guess my only complaint is that I’m not in Montana enough. I work all summer. We do 75 shows a year.
Q Any song you’re tired of performing?
A No. Fortunately, we don’t have any One-Eyed, One-Horned, Flying Purple People Eater songs. I mean, I like our songs. We knew this early on. We produced our records ourselves, and we made those decisions back then — “Are we going to be able to live with this?”
Q On a scale of novice being zero and pro being 10, how would you rank your golf game?
A Oh, shoot. I don’t know — a seven? I’m supposed to be a seven or eight handicap. But I haven’t played in a while. We’ve been on the road, and at this ripe old age, I need to save myself for the performance.
Q I heard you guys are working on a new album. What’s the progress been like?
A Well, we’re not as prolific as we used to be, needless to say. But it’s been good. We’re more than halfway there. … What makes it harder is when you’ve written a few records already, you don’t want to repeat yourself.
Q Most people don’t know this, but you recently voiced a character on the Disney animated kids’ show Puppy Dog Pals. How did that happen?
A They asked, and I thought, ‘ What the heck?’ If a choice is creative for me, then I do it.
Q You’re known for your natural pipes. Is there anything special you do to take care of them after so many years of belting it out?
A It’s a muscle, the vocal cords. Some people have larger vocal cords than others. Mine are exceptionally durable, fortunately. I say it’s like a truck. I don’t go around corners too fast, but I keep going for a long time.
You sing two hours a night, it’s a workout. The best thing I do is steam — I take steam baths, sit in a steam room. Moisture is good for your voice. Dry is bad.