Interview with Dennis Locorriere
former lead singer of Dr. Hook
by Keith Perks - July 2007

No matter how small of a place or how large of a place they played in, Dr. Hook was the world's greatest bar band. Led by frontmen Dennis Locorriere and eye patch wearing Ray Sawyer they formed in 1968 in New Jersey.

The band went through some line up changes and played mainly in the New Jersey area for about 2 years. Their demo tapes made their way to Ron Haffkine who was the musical director for the Dustin Hoffman movie "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" Shel Silverstein, the famous poet, cartoonist, and songwriter wrote the songs for the film and chose Dr. Hook as the perfect group for the soundtrack.

"In the day of glamrock, big hair, posing, makeup, Spandex, we were the anti-rockstars."

CBS Records head Clive Davis, who was putting out the soundtrack, had a interesting first meeting with the group as described in Davis' autobiography. Dr. Hook secured their record deal in a very interesting way. Drummer John "Jay" David played a wastepaper basket while Locorriere, Sawyer, and Cummings played a few songs, all while Billy Francis danced on the record mogul's desk.

There were some more member changes over the years with even one member Rik Elswit being diagnosed with cancer and having to leave for treatment and coming back to the band after recovery about a year later.

The band had a string of hits over the years including 'Sylvia's Mother', 'Cover of the Rolling Stone', 'A Little Bit More', 'Only Sixteen' and 'Sexy Eyes' to name a few. They were a fierce touring band with many radio hits, but over time the music changed, they saw less success, and Ray Sawyer left to pursue a solo career. Locorriere stayed on until the end and played 'Dr. Hook's One and Only Farewell Tour' as the sole frontman. Although Sawyer was often mistaken as Dr. Hook, because of the patch he wore due to a terrible car accident he was involved in, Locorriere seemed to be the principle lead vocalist with most of Hook's radio hits being sung by him. Sawyer may have been the look, but Locorriere was the unmistaken voice for much of their success.

Locorriere has stayed in the business for years starring in Silverstein's 'The Devil and Billy Markham' and has released 2 very successful solo albums ('Out of the Dark' and 'One of the Lucky Ones') and has toured to packed venues in his new home of the UK as the 'Voice of Dr. Hook'. He has also released a live cd ('Live in Liverpool') and 2 live dvds ('Alone with Dennis Locorriere' and 'Hits and History Tour Live').

"You hardly ever look back at your footprints in the sand while you're still busy trudging thru the desert."

Most successful bands have that kind of VH-1 'Behind the Music' story. Drugs, booze, women, and internal friction between members. It's amazing how bands that were once the closest of friends fall apart over the years and lose track of each other. Dr. Hook falls into that category, too.

After years of success and playing with eachother, the two frontmen Locorriere and Sawyer have lost contact and other members have been off doing their own thing. Sawyer continues to tour and has even re-recorded Hook classics while Locorriere has moved on, but not completely severing his ties to Hook. He still plays a few crowd favorites, but he has definitely moved on to new material and has evolved to one hell of a songwriter. Not to mention, never thinking this was possible, vocally his voice is at it's best having matured and even maintained some of his younger qualities that most singers lose of the years.

The two definitely have their differences with Locorriere being the most vocal about them. He has no problem giving his opinion on Sawyer's re-recodring of tracks and especially his dislike for record companies and fan's continual prodding about certain subjects and conspiracy theories on new releases of Hook collections. It seems like Locorriere constanlty has to defend himself on his choices and choices record execs make. It's amazing after all this time one would still have to.

I was lucky enough to come across Hook years ago. During a time when bands like Faith No More filled my cd player an ex-girlfriend had introduced me to Dr. Hook and I was fortunate she did. I instantly fell in love with them. To this day I would do anything to see them perform, but as close as one could get is a live dvd that was released a few years back and last hope is to catch Dennis if he ever comes to the states. His live dvds will have to hold me over for now.

For the past several years, every time I'd play their music, I would wonder what they were up to. One day I came across Dennis' website and figured I'd ask. Not sure of what to expect, I received an e-mail with a yes for an interview. Through the course of several e-mail beyond that of the actual interview questions, Dennis is polite, opinionated, supportive, and checks in to see how things are going, maintaining a close watch over all things he's involved with.

Over the course of countless hours of Hook research I've found compliment after compliment about Dennis and his love of his loyal fans, old and new. I have witnessed that through our brief e-mail notes and through his interview, to this day, after all he's been through, he still strongly cares about his music, his past, and the future of not only himself, but Dr. Hook.

I learned a lot from our brief interview. There was a ton of info about Hook I didn’t not know about, including studio musicians, songwriters, musical directors, and the ugly part of the industry. I also learned a lot about the chemistry of a recording and touring band. I learned about Dennis' writing process, his opinion on old friends, and how humble of a man one can be even after being a recipient of more than sixty gold and platinum albums and gaining #1 chart status in more than 42 different countries.

"You set yourself on fire in New York and hope they smell the smoke in LA."

Over the course of music history bands come and go. Some bands vanish and from them some members push on to bigger and better things. Dennis may not be selling millions of records or crashing the charts and radio, but he has maintained a great status playing to packed venues and reminding fans of the past and entertaining them with his songs of the present. Is what he's doing bigger and better than Hook? In my opinion, yes. He has control of what he’s doing and has integrity beyond what the industry might have allowed him to have in the past. After all of these years he’s doing things his way and that for me amounts to a lot.

Songs from his last two cds are some of his finest work. His lyrics are personal, from a matured point of view compared to many years ago, and one quality he still maintains is his ‘plainspeak’ approach to writing. They are lyrics just about anyone could relate to.

Read any of the reviews about his live shows and they all say how amazing he is. He seems to draw the crowd in and make them feel at home whether it’s just him as a solo act or with his backing band.

No matter what review you read, there always seems to be a comment about the voice, described by many as raspy, sexy, whiskey over gravel, and soulful. It’s the way he sings and in those eyes you can see, even after all of these years he loves so very much what he does.

That’s why I think I originally fell in love with Hook and admire Locorriere so much. He has always made you feel the music. You don’t just hear it. It becomes a part of you. Whether it was Silverstein’s lyrics or lyrics penned by Locorriere, his is the voice that makes you feel those words.

1. It was 1970, Ron Haffkine heard Dr. Hook demo tapes and soon after you were singing the theme song to the Dustin Hoffman movie "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" You were only 21 years old. What was the transition of playing bars on the east coast to singing a theme song to a movie like?

'Hook' stayed the world's most famous' bar band' til the day we stopped touring. Our audiences just got bigger and more international.

2. Clive Davis was a very influential man in music. How did you attract his attention and support amongst all the other competition that was playing at the time?

CBS Records had the soundtrack to 'Who Is Harry Kellerman...' and that got us into Clive Davis' office, where we unashamedly auditioned, using anything we could find as an instrument. Clive was a real stand-up guy. When he was behind you, you had a strong ally. He worked 'Sylvia' to #1, nationally, and, then, got 'Cover of Rolling Stone' to #2, drug references and all, even tho the two records didn't even sound like the same band. Our days at CBS ended when his did.

3. A lot has changed in the music industry since you first started out. What do you miss from those days and what don't you miss?

At my age what I really miss is anyone who might actually look at me as an 'undiscovered talent' even tho there are still lots of things to learn about me, especially if you stopped looking my way post 'Hook'. It's a young man's game, despite the fact you get so much better as you get older.
In any other business, if you lasted and did well, you become the CEO or at least a highly paid consultant, in your later years. In my business you stand more of a chance of becoming irrelevant, even if what you did was responsible for what they still do today...example PaulfrigginMcCartney! Don't get me started!

4. I unfortunately never got to see Dr. Hook live. Luckily a few years ago I came across Best of Musikladen. No crowd, just you guys in a studio - yet the energy level was undeniably huge. You guys just seemed to ooze fun. That DVD is raw emotion, sweat, and rock n roll. I could only imagine what tour shows were like. "Carry Me Carrie" gives me chills every time I watch it. Were you having as much fun as you looked like you were having?

We always had a good time. What you saw was what you got. We were simply amazed to be as well known as were and it tickled us constantly. By the time that all wore off, we were over. Good timing!

5. Shel Silverstein is an amazing songwriter, but did you at anytime in the beginning feel like you wanted to get your thoughts and ideas out there and write your own songs or were all of you content letting Shel speak for you?

I was a huge Shel fan before we got the opportunity to work with him, so it was a thrill for me to actually get to sing his songs. Still is. He also made me a better writer by setting such a high standard. My relationship with Shel's work continues today, years after his death. As well as the many songs I do in my show, I also narrated the audiobook for Shel's 2006 released children's book, 'Runny Babbit'.

6. You had a unique style in your music. Very diverse. It was rock, it was country, it was bluesy, poetic, and comical. What influenced you when when writing?

We were lucky to be recording in the days just before the 'great pigeonhole' took hold. We did all different kinds of music and could pull it off, thanks to the wonderful studio musicians who were on most of the 'Hook' records. No one asked us if we were 'pop' or 'R&B' or 'country' or 'rock'.

We just made records. Luckily, a lot of them sold well on a few different charts. As far as writing, sometimes you write 'WHAT IS', sometimes you write 'WHAT WAS', sometimes you use 'WHAT YOU WISH WAS TRUE' and sometimes you JUST MAKE IT UP. The older I get the less I find I have to resort to making it up.

7. "First you take your hand put it on your elbow. Then you take your knee and you put it up there too. Then you take your head and put it down between your knee. And when you feel it, then you flap your ears and float on up here with me. And Levitate." Ok, what were you guys smoking when writing this one?! Has anyone phyically been able to pull this one off?!

Not to my knowledge...and, by that I mean we never saw any medical bills.

8. You Tube is a great source to catch some old footage and even some audio of you and Ray interviewing eachother. Your laughter is contagious. I should be working right now, but I'm listening to it laughing my ass off. I don't even know what the hell you guys are talking about but you have me laughing so hard. "Mr. Sawyer...what's your favorite food?" "Yellow". You and Ray seemed very close and really fed off of eachother. What did you find in him that you admired and how was the relationship of the band on a whole back then?

Unfortunately, what I admired about Sawyer when I met him is no longer relevant, but since we're talking about the past I will tell you that what I saw in him then was a strong person who didn't let a seriously life altering incident dampen his spirit and drive. He turned the result of a tragic car accident around, into something that visually worked for him and to some extent, for all of us, in the form of his trademark eyepatch. That was to be respected and admired. He also had a strong stage persona and, for several years, we worked well together, in concert, as well as radio and tv.

9. Wikipedia sums up some of your accomplishments nicely. "Recipient of more than sixty gold and platinum albums, gaining #1 chart status in more than 42 different countries. He is also a notable songwriter, his songs having been recorded by Bob Dylan, Crystal Gayle, BJ Thomas, Helen Reddy, Willie Nelson, Southside Johnny and most recently, Jerry Lee Lewis on his 2006 critically acclaimed, historical release 'Last Man Standing'" Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Jerry Lee Lewis doing your songs?!?!! Pretty damn cool! What's it like looking back on all that you've done and people you've influenced and touched?

You hardly ever look back at your footprints in the sand while you're still busy trudging thru the desert. Where you've been only matters once the journey changes. It's all forward motion. It's only been in the last 10 years or so that I have really been able to appreciate how much what I did meant and continues to mean to people. I was too busy trying to figure out what it meant to me. And, what it actually means is a combination of both what it meant to them and to me. Somewhere in the middle of restaurant patron and guy who worked in the kitchen is where it falls.

10. The UK has always been supportive and welcoming of you and your music. Even now years later after Dr. Hook success. What have you found there that you didn't find here in the US?

Loyalty. The US is big and it's hard to make anyone notice you or care for very long even if they do. You set yourself on fire in New York and hope they smell the smoke in LA. That was the case when 'Hook' was around too. It's also simpler for me to have a professional life and personal life at the same time in the UK.

11. You set out doing some shows again and have been getting rave reviews. Any plans to bring it over here to the states?

I stayed off the road for the better part of 15 years. I stepped back into doing shows in 1999.

I had a band with me then, but I've been touring 'solo', just me and my guitar, for about 5 years now. Just finished the UK 'Hits and History Tour' which focussed totally on the 'Hook' catalog. Had a great bunch of musicians with me on that one. I must admit tho, I enjoy the solo shows more than anything. At this point, I'm willing to take what I do anywhere that people give a shit about seeing me. There's some serious talk about a US single release this year so that should be interesting. Guess I had to leave before they could miss me. I think it's first a matter of reminding American fans that I'm still around. It's been along time since I had any presence in the US at all.

Hopefully, the single will be followed by a solo album and some shows.

12. Your site says " For years Locorriere has worked patiently to break free of the shackles set around him by his membership of semi-comic rock combo Dr Hook". Have you found it difficult to break free and show people the more serious side of your writing skills?

Anytime you have great success with something you're not totally sure of or in control of, it's tough. 'Hook' was a great vehicle for me, but I was so young and stupid and not really looking out for myself in a professional sense. I realize that many times people regard the sum as greater than the parts and, in most cases, this is probably true. Given the fact that the band's day is well and truly in the past, it's important to move on, no matter what it takes. Of course, your past accomplishments and successes get you in the room, but once you're in you want to be able to show them something besides just the same old stuff.

If I can have the kind of creative life where each opportunity has the potential to bring other opportunities for me to do what I do, that will be just fine.

Writing my own songs assures me that I will record songs that are close to me and say something about me and how I feel. Otherwise, what's the point? If I'm not going to be specific I may as well just sing 'Happy Birthday' and trust that it will mean something to someone, somewhere, by the law of averages alone.

13. My favorite songs from your Dr. Hook days are the more serious ones. "Cover of the Rolling Stone", "I Got Stoned and I Missed It", "Marie Lavaux", and of course..... "Looking for Pussy" are all great songs, but the ones that stood out for me are "Couple More Years", "Sylvia's Mother", "Carry Me, Carrie", "Sing Me A Rainbow", "I Can't Touch the Sun", and "Kiss it Away". Did you ever find yourself even back then wanting to be taken more seriously?

The funny, ironic, nasty, goofy songs that we did were all great for what they were - Shel could write them better than anyone - but they had a tendency to 'date' a bit quicker than the ones that dealt with truth and emotions because they were usually more relevant to what was going on at the time.

Obviously, 'Rolling Stone' served a major purpose by getting us on the cover of the magazine and that kind of material showed a side of the band that was important for the times, when everyone started taking themselves so seriously.

In the day of glamrock, big hair, posing, makeup, Spandex, we were the anti-rockstars.

You can look at the compilation albums that come out these days and see what songs endured the best.

A few of the satirical things, like 'Rolling Stone', 'The Millionaire' are usually there, but mostly it's 'Sylvia', 'Carry Me', 'A Little Bit More', 'More Like The Movies' - all the ones that mean, today, exactly what they did when you first heard them.

Even tho a handful of very early 'Hook' fans will still tell you that we 'sold out' when we went in that direction and there's nothing like 'I Got Stoned and I Missed It', I'll venture to say that without the more poignant, heartfelt ballads etc, 'Hook' would have become a druggy footnote, an artifact, that most, not all, but most people would have forgotten about long ago.

14. "Out of the Dark" has a beautiful version of "Sylvia's Mother". What made you want to re-record it and also, in that style?

I always wanted to do a track with lots of vocal layers. It just turned out that it wound up being 'Sylvia'. Not sure how many voices I stacked on that track. I started with the bass voice and made it up as I went along. The trick was remembering what I'd just done so I could sing along with it and add parts.

15. Your songs like "Shine Son" speak so honestly and from the heart. You seem to be an open book lyrically. People can easliy latch on and relate to you and your songs. What songwriters have you latched onto and consider favorites?

I don't like to use flowery imagery in my lyrics. I want them to be conversational. Plainspeak.

It's important that they sound like someone talking and not just singing. There are lots of writers I admire. The obvious ones, like Dylan, Ray Davies, Shel, of course. Elvis Costello completely floored me when he started. Randy Newman. Judee Sill. Eef Barzalay from Clem Snide. For melody, McCartney is still a big dog! I could go on and on...

16. On your site you blogged a bit about some embarrassing songs (Sexy Eyes) and poke around a bit about regret and your "musical director" and bad song choices ("That Didn't Hurt Too Bad", "I Need To fall In Love Again" and the "dreadful".... "Hold Me Like You Never Had Me") just to try to stay on the charts. We're you forced into recording songs, or was it a combination of force and just making some bad song choices?

Yeah, let's chalk it up to bad song choices. You'd have to ask our 'producer/musical director' about those. These were not songs I liked at first but grew to hate. I hated them immediately.

Forced to sing them? Uh, no. Sometimes you just do what is in front of you, rather than rock the boat for everyone concerned. All in all, however, I'd say we had a pretty good average.

17. Don't want to open a can of worms here or anything - but over the years have any of you guys kept in touch at all or did everyone end up going there seperate ways and why do think that happens? What is it in a band that falls a part do you think? Touring with eachother, being with eachother so much, does that really cause bands to sometimes just need to be without eachother in their lives afterwards?

The colorful thing about 'Hook' is we were all very different people. Were from all over the USA. Didn't have the same upbringing. Were of different ages; Sawyer being the oldest and me the youngest. We didn't have the same interests, likes, hobbies, friends etc.

Made for a rather eclectic looking and acting bunch. Never spent holidays together , but given the fact that we were on the road together for most of every year, that's not unusual. In the heat of battle you learn to trust and count on each other. You become close on the battlefield.
When the war was over we all went back to our individual lives. In my case, I had grown up in the band and was looking for something else by that time.

18. Ray has been touring under the name Dr. Hook featuring Ray Sawyer for quite sometime now. Is anyone else from the band involved in the music industry still?

To tell you the truth, I have no idea. If you hear any of them on the radio let me know.

19. Having two lead vocalists can lead to egotistical tensions. Was that ever the case with you and Ray or did you just share the spotlight?

In the early days, we were pretty much a team. Once my voice became the one that people recognized I started singing about 80-90% of the songs on record and stage. I don't think anyone, including Sawyer, saw that as a mistake because we did well with those records.

When we went to radio stations etc, he would get all the initial attention...until it was time to sing.

It seemed like I was always waiting for my moment to arrive and that was hard to take. Untill I realized that he was waiting for his moment to pass.

When he left the band in '81 one of the reasons he cited was that he didn't have anything to do in the band anymore. I find it ironic that he's still out there these days, being 'Dr Hook' and singing alot of the songs I made popular. You'd have to ask him how he feels about that.

20. I like how you promote yourself and speak of you and your music. Embracing the past but very much promoting the current you, the new music, and what's going on now. And definitely respect not blatantly re-recording a bunch of old tunes and trying to sell them again. Do you find fans wanting more of the old stuff or are they quite receptive of the new material?

My fans are the best!

They like what I used to do and they give me the opportunity to show them who I am and what I do today. You can't ask for more than that.

21. On your site you mention about battling with record companies and how they release your older material. What would you like to see happen and how would you like to see it handled?

There are some 'Hook' fans out there who seem to believe that I control the catalog and have all to say about what comes out and when.

All I have ever done is gently nudge the labels. Mostly EMI, to release packages like the boxed set, etc. It keeps the name out there and brings new people to the music all the time. As it turns out, as I said earlier, the most commercial stuff is what they are interested in rereleasing.

The songs they know will sell. Can you blame them? They're a corporation! Now because I sing most of those 'popular' songs certain fans think I have a special interest in having them on the albums. Shall I apologize? Such nonsense!. Some adventurous label should license the whole damned catalog from all the various labels and put out a proper retrospective of the band's entire career. It's all part of my past. I was on all of it. It would suit me fine.

22. This is more of a comment than a question. "Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk" What an ass! Had to be fun following her looking at her ass all day! lol

Yes, a very nice ass on a burgeoning young actress. That silly video was nothing more than a stepping stone to, as it turns out, her brief 'B movie' career.

For more info on Dennis visit www.dennislocorriere.com