INTERVIEW: ‘Decades Rewind’ promises trip down memory lane

Decades Rewind is a difficult show to classify, and that’s exactly what co-founder Peter Gatti enjoys about the touring experience. It’s a concert. It’s a theater show. It’s a dance-fest. It’s a trip down memory lane. It’s a chance to appreciate and remember the songs and culture of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

“Basically I always say it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen,” Gatti said recently in a phone interview. “It’s not a concert. It’s not a theatrical event. It’s not a musical. It’s all of the above combined into one. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a party. The three words I hear time and time again from people as they’re leaving and we do our meet and greet: fun, tears and memory. It brought back so many memories. I was in tears. I haven’t had so much fun in 20 years. It’s an interactive experience. We encourage them to dance and sing and stand up, and truly by the end of the night, they’re singing louder than we are at times.”

Decades Rewind comes to the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Gatti founded the extravaganza with drummer Mark Blinkhorn. Today, they both serve in the band with six vocalists and six performers on guitar and brass. They make a wall of sound, and the fans seem to enjoy every last minute of the nostalgia.

Gatti said the target audience consisted of people in their 40s, 50 and 60s, those folks who were coming of age at the time of Woodstock, disco and President Ronald Reagan — at least that was the initial idea. The reality is that Decades Rewind has attracted both the target audience and younger fans who want to experience the music for the first time.

“We chose the three decades we chose because the music is just classic,” Gatti said. “You have everything from disco to rock ‘n’ roll to Motown … to funk, and they’re just songs that everybody knows. We do all medleys. We do approximately 60-plus songs, all medleys, starting in the ‘80s, rewinding to the ‘60s. We have over 100 costume changes, three big video screens portraying American culture throughout the evening, things like Vietnam footage and Woodstock footage, very, very interactive, emotional. For two hours, people sort of forget where they are and what they’re doing and relive maybe the last 20-30 years of their life.”

With three decades to cover in two hours, the challenge of condensing the possible song list was both a blessing and curse. Gatti said there were so many choices that it took some creative narrowing down. Initially, there were 1,000 possibilities, and then the list was brought down to 150. Today, that number is cut even further, and only the most precious of gems remain.

“We look for songs everybody would know,” he said. “They know the hook. They know the chorus. They could sing along. Within five seconds of every song, they’re going to know the song, and that was our goal.”

The idea for Decades Rewind came when Gatti and Blinkhorn were playing in a cover band. They were in a bar together — a place that Gatti said the best ideas come from — and during a break from the music they began brainstorming. One of them started talking about a high-quality band that could move from the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1980s to the iconic songs of love in the 1960s.

“At that time, it was just something we discussed over a beer and a napkin,” Gatti said. “We then took it back to my studio, and we started playing around with it. Then we brought in a gentleman by the name of Al Owen, who is a good friend, one of our guitar players and our music director. He took it and ran with it, and the next thing you know, we’re interviewing and we’re auditioning and we’re buying stuff and, lo and behold, we have 14 people on stage, 10 people behind stage and we have a massive production that we’re loving more than anything.”

There are numerous highlights during the performance, but for Gatti, the 1980s section is special. He grew up in that decade and enjoys playing the music of Boston and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

“Love, love, love that stuff because that’s what I grew up playing in my teens and 20s,” he said. “If you love getting chills on stage and watching the audience, the ’70s and the ’60s is just amazing. And by that time, they’re also knowing what the show is all about.”

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

Decades Rewind is currently on tour and will stop at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, Saturday, Feb. 18. Click here for more information and tickets.