By Paul Freeman [July 2012 Interview]

When it comes to making memorable rock music, few artists know how to hit the bluesy like Rick Derringer.

At 17, Derringer, with his band The McCoys, reached the top of the charts with “Hang On Sloopy.” His distinctive lead vocals also fueled the follow-up hits “Fever” and “Come On, Let’s Go.”

Later, as producer, songwriter and guitarist, Derringer helped establish such artists as Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Cyndi Lauper, Steely Dan and Weird Al Yankovic. He has also played on sessions for an array of artists that includes Alice Cooper, Todd Rundgren and KISS. He has been on several All-Starr Band tours with Ringo Starr.

Derringer has recorded numerous solo projects. His iconic tunes include “Rock ‘n Roll Hoochie Koo” and “Real American.” Now based near Sarasota, Florida, Derringer often collaborates with his wife, Jenda.

Pop Culture Classics had an opportunity to talk with Derringer before The Rock ‘N’ Blues Fest tour got underway. In addition to Derringer, the sensational lineup includes Johnny Winter Band, Edgar Winter Band, Mountain’s Leslie West and Savoy Brown’s Kim Simmonds. The show comes to The Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Ca., Aug. 1 [1-888-9-AXS-TIX; concerts.mountainwinery.com]. For additional dates, visit www.rickderringer.com.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
The Rock ‘n’ Blues Fest has such a great lineup. You’ve collaborated with both Johnny and Edgar Winter extensively. What impresses you most about their individual styles?

RICK DERRINGER:
Oh, well, both of them are great at what they do, probably the best there is at what they do. They’re both so different, musically, but you can only brag so much on them, because you’d just run out of space. They’re fabulous, both of them.

And not only are they great, but this is probably the first time we’ve gotten to play together in the U.S. in 35, 40 years. So it’s a rare opportunity for people to see all of us together. And then, throw into the mix, Leslie West, from Mountain, and Kim Simmonds, and you’ve got a great show.

PCC:
And, in that setting, does a sense of healthy competition come into play among the guitarists?

DERRINGER:
There’s friendly competition anytime anyone gets on a stage. [Laughs] No matter who they are. Actually, Johnny doesn’t look at it that way. He really tries not to. He kind of shirks from that whole feeling. He doesn’t like it. He goes out there and does his thing every night, the way he does it. And he’s happy doing that. Edgar, on the other hand, is very competitive, as am I. So it’ll be a great show, really.

PCC:
Growing up, who were the musical artists who first made an impact on you?

DERRINGER:
Well, I started playing at nine, 1956, I call that the year of Elvis. So Elvis certainly had a big impact on me. But my folks had a big country and western record collection. They also had jazz. Real varied kind of musical tastes. Classics. Standards. And so I grew up liking all of it.

Now they had a big Spike Jones collection. I don’t know if people are familiar with Spike Jones nowadays, but he was kind of the original Weird Al Yankovic. That’s how I got interested in Weird Al.

PCC:
Developing your own distinctive style, was that a long evolution? Was that something you were conscious of, early on?

DERRINGER:
Not at all. All I did was try to play guitar real good. I tried to be a really, really, really, really good guitar play.

PCC:
And you grew up in Indiana?

DERRINGER:
I was born in Ohio, moved to Indiana in the eighth grade.

PCC:
Was there another spark of inspiration, when the British Invasion started?

DERRINGER:
Well, that was 1965-ish and our wearing Beatle suits is what got us the gig to play ‘Hang On Sloopy.’ So I guess you could say that the British Invasion definitely had some impact on us.

PCC:
When you formed The McCoys, what were the goals?

DERRINGER:
We just wanted to be a band. That was it, very simply. My brother played drums. I played guitar. We needed a bass player. So our neighbor decided that he would buy a bass and next thing you know, voila, the McCoys!

PCC:
At what point did you change the band name to The McCoys?

DERRINGER:
Early on, in our musical life, we decided that The McCoys was a boring name. We changed it to Rick & The Raiders. And then The Raiders came along, Paul Revere, so we said, ‘Well, that doesn’t work for us anymore.’ Then we had a cool name. We became The Rick Z. Combo. And that’s where we were when The Strangeloves found us and recorded ‘Hang On Sloopy.’ But they decided that wasn’t an apropos name. And they saw a picture of us with ‘The McCoys’ on the drum head and said, ‘That’s the name for you guys.’ It was our original name. So it worked out great.

PCC:
And did it have anything to do with ‘The Real McCoys’ TV show originally?

DERRINGER:
Not at all. It came from a Ventures album, the band called The Ventures, that had the big hit, ‘Walk Don’t Run.’ They did a lot of instrumentals. And the easiest song on their album was a song called ‘The McCoy.’ So I was able to show that to our bass player friend, the day he got his bass. And, even though we only had one song then, in our repertoire, we figured, if we called ourselves The McCoys, we’d have ourselves a theme song.

PCC:
What about the switch from Zehringer to Derringer? Was that from the Bang Records logo?

DERRINGER:
Yeah, well, Zehringer is my family name and, for some reason, people can’t pronounce it very well and they couldn’t remember it very well. So my middle initial is a ‘D.’ And I envisioned the ‘Z’ just dropping away and me becoming a Derringer. I liked the little gun. And immediately, people remembered it and started saying, ‘Hey, Derringer!’ And so I responded to that name and kept it to this day.

PCC:
How were The McCoys discovered to to do ‘Hang On Sloopy’? Weren’t The Strangeloves going to record it?

DERRINGER:
They were producers and also artists. They did ‘I Want Candy’ and ‘Night Time,’ a couple big records. FGG productions is who they actually were [Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer]. But when they recorded those two songs, they called themselves The Strangeloves.

And FGG Productions had the biggest hits, the first hits, on Bang Records, so they were given the job of going out and finding a bunch of white kids who looked like The Beatles, to record ‘Hang On Sloopy,’ which was a number one hit the year before on the R&B charts by The Vibrations.

So the writer of the song was the president of Bang Records and he said, ‘That’s going to be a huge hit, if we can find four white guys who look like The Beatles. We were the last show on their tour. And we opened for them and also played as their backing band. So we knew that song. We liked it.

PCC:
So when it did hit number one for you, was that surreal?

DERRINGER:
Yes, it was. Yes.

PCC:
With you still being in your teens, was that all a whirlwind, that time? Was that difficult to handle?

DERRINGER:
Yeah, but we were not expecting big success, so it wasn’t like people that have expectations that can’t be met. We were just very happy with the success that came and loved our gig.

I was supposed to go to art school, but I enjoyed playing music more, so I was just happy that I got to play music instead of going away to school.

PCC:
Did you feel pressured to try to equal that first success?

DERRINGER:
Not at all. We were just kids, doing what we loved to do. I’m sure our producers, at that time, were under lots of pressure like that. To us, we were just very happy doing what we did.

PCC:
And ‘Fever’ and ‘Come On, Let’s Go,’ did you have a lot of input into what the follow-ups would be?

DERRINGER:
We didn’t have any input into what those follow-ups would be at that time. ‘Come On, Let’s Go,’ happened to be the biggest version of it recorded, ever, even bigger than the original Ritchie Valens version. ‘Fever,’ our second single, was the biggest version of that ever recorded, the most sales, even bigger than Peggy Lee. Hers was the biggest up until The McCoys did it.

So we had real success. Those three songs alone -’Hang On Sloopy,’ ‘Fever’ and ‘Come On, Let’s Go,’ were very, very successful, sold tons of records. So I think the producers felt validated in their attempt to go out and find the right band. I don’t think they worried too much about continuing that success. They made tons of money. In those days - in fact, it’s still the same - when a young artist gets old enough to know that they’re being cheated by the record business, the record business usually just kind of tosses them aside and says, ‘Well, you know, there’s more young artists out there’ [Laughs]. And we were probably in that category. So I don’t think they were unhappy at all. They were happy to have had the success that they had.

PCC:
Those follow-up hits were very distinctive versions of those classic tunes. Were you conscious of coming up with your own take on them?

DERRINGER:
Well, like I said, we just wanted to be a good band. And the reason that they liked us was that we were a good band. It just gave us the opportunity to get out there and play a lot all of a sudden, and hone our skills, get to be even better than we previously were. We wanted to be entertainers.

PCC:
The McCoys opening for The Stones on their ‘66 tour, that must have been quite an experience.

DERRINGER:
That was a great, object lesson right there. We got to watch these older guys than us, in some ways more seasoned than us, and we got to go out there every night and watch them do what they did. And it was a great lesson for us. It taught us a lot.

PCC:
What was it like being part of that whole mania, screaming girls and all the craziness?

DERRINGER:
Everything you’ve heard about it was only an inkling of what it was really like. It was Beatlemania everywhere any of those bands went, including us.

PCC:
Were you already thinking in terms of career longevity?

DERRINGER:
Well, my folks told me I probably would never become a musician, because I wouldn’t be able to make enough money. That’s why I was enrolled in art school. So, to me, it was just learning to be tenacious enough to hold onto it. So, here I am today, still holding on.

PCC:
The solo projects, are they the most satisfying things to you?

DERRINGER:
I enjoy making records. I enjoy playing concerts. But I really enjoy making records. I enjoy the whole process, working in the studio, the creative part, to me, that is about as much fun as there is. It’s almost like, the journey is more fun than the arrival.

PCC:
The producing, was that something that came naturally to you?

DERRINGER:
Yes. I started working with The McCoys, producing their records, as soon as we left Bang. And it was that knowledge that got me the gig as the producer for Johnny Winter, when I joined his band.

PCC:
The success of ‘Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,’ how did that song come about?

DERRINGER:
I wrote it for Johnny, originally. He played it a million times. We played it on ‘Johnny Winter And‘ We played it on ‘Johnny Winter And Live.’ It then was played again on ’Roadwork’ [Edgar Winter & White Trash], when Johnny came out and joined us on that live album. So in all, it had been recorded three times very successfully and had a huge audience of fans. So I knew, when I recorded it on ‘All American Boy,’ that it had a good shot at being very successful. And, once again, I was proven correct.

PCC:
Working as a sideman with a lot of great artists, that must require real versatility. Is that something that just comes along the way?

DERRINGER:
Yeah, like I said about my folks’ record collection, I grew up listening to all kinds of music. To me, there’s only two kinds - good and bad. I prefer to play the good stuff.

PCC:
Working with Cyndi Lauper, what were the highlights of that experience?

DERRINGER:
I got the gig, because I helped her get her record deal. She was with a group called Blue Angel and Blue Angel was not doing well. And the record company was getting ready to drop them. And she asked me to do some demos for her. And I did. And those demos, with Blue Angel, instead were picked up by the record company to tell her, ‘Look how good you are. You don’t need this band Blue Angel. You just need to be Cyndi Lauper.’ So she got her record deal and I was partly responsible for that, making those demos.

So when the time came to go out on the road with her and write songs with her, she came to me and I was happy to help.

PCC:
And Steely Dan...

DERRINGER:
Same kind of thing. A guy, Gary Katz, who’s Steely Dan’s producer, came to me and said, ‘I’m producing demos for this guy who used to play with Jay & The Americans.’ Well, that guy turned out to be Donald Fagen. So I helped him out on those demos that he did. And Donald Fagen’s demos created a band, eventually. And it didn’t come out as a solo record. It came out as the band Steely Dan.

PCC:
And you mentioned Weird Al. You played on the ‘Eat It’ record?

DERRINGER:
I not only played on the ‘Eat It’ record, I produced his first six albums. A lot of his major work. Won two Grammys. One for the Best Comedy Album and one for Best Video. Love Weird Al.

But he’s a serious kind of guy. People call him a novelty artist. Well, the most novel thing is how hard he works compared to most people I’ve worked with in the studio. He works hard to create his music. He’ll write a whole notebook on a song like ‘Like A Surgeon.’ He’ll create a whole notebook of ideas and in-depth source material for the jokes that he will then create. So, if you do a 10-song CD, he’s got 10 of those spiral binders that he has created to create that work. Nobody else I work with does that kind of thing. He works really hard.

PCC:
What about the sessions with KISS? Were those memorable for you?

DERRINGER:
Always. I think in that case, it was just, their guitarist was a little under the weather sometimes, we’ll call it. And they wanted to put their best foot forward, so they called out to me. And I came into the studio a couple of different times. I’m not sure, which songs I played on. I believe in the KISS books, it says. They don’t tell on their records.

PCC:
I read that you had opened for Led Zeppelin on their last U.S. shows?

DERRINGER:
Their last two shows they did in the United States were at an event in San Francisco called Day On The Green. My band opened for them both days. And those were the last two shows they ever did together as Led Zeppelin.

It was fabulous. But even as far back as Johnny Winter, I had worked with them, at the Isle of Wight Festival. And that was really at their peak. They did about 20 encores that night, literally. The audience wouldn’t let them leave the stage. So I was conscious of them and how good they were. It was fun to get to play with them again, when we did Day On The Green.

PCC:
And it must have been a lot of fun doing the Ringo tours.

DERRINGER:
Yeah. Ringo’s fabulous. I’m looking forward to doing another tour with him on the Pacific Rim countries. We’re talking about that right now. But there’s no dates established.

PCC:
That must be a unique kind of love that the fans have for Ringo.

DERRINGER:
Yes, he’s great. Like I said, I kind of went through Beatlemania. But you don’t know how The Beatles traveled and stuff until you travel with Ringo.

PCC:
You were actually part of Ringo’s 70th birthday concert with McCartney?

DERRINGER:
Yes. That was great, to get to play with Paul and Ringo, the only two existing Beatles at the same time was a fabulous experience. My wife’s sitting here and she interjected - ‘Even though they’re so much older than me.’ [Laughs]

PCC:
You’ve written and recorded with your wife. Has that been a rewarding, bonding experience?

DERRINGER:
Oh, yeah. We work together on everything now. Most of the songs we write are together. I’ve written a couple by myself in the last few years, but mostly we write together.

PCC:
Your song ‘Real American,’ it seems to constantly find new life. That must be gratifying.

DERRINGER:
It’s very rewarding, being able to come up with continued work that you really like.

PCC:
Being a rock ‘n’ roll survivor, what’s been that key to that, for you?

DERRINGER:
Trying to be very conscious of your health. We eat mostly salads. We’re plant-based diet people.

PCC:
What’s been the most rewarding aspect of the career?

DERRINGER:
Just the continued ability to do it. I tell people sometimes, we don’t necessarily need to be number one on the charts at any given time. We just need the success that enables us to continue doing what we do. We enjoy it.

PCC:
Are there goals now that you’re focused on fulfilling?

DERRINGER:
Well, we always want to outdo ourselves. So we want to do a record better than ‘Rock ‘n’ roll Hoochie Koo’ or ‘Real American.’ ‘Real American’ happens to be our biggest downloaded song right now. We’re always looking for more.