Biography

THE KNACK’S GOT IT…
IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT TO RELEASE
THE KNACK: LIVE FROM THE ROCK N’ ROLL FUN HOUSE ON DVD, VHS AND CD APRIL 23
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Band to launch summer-long U.S. tour at Tampa’s Bayfest May 4th Capitol/EMI to release four remastered studio albums May 7th
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DirecTV to broadcast “Fun House” concert as free view events in May

Summer is heating up early for The Knack, and there’s so much happening that even they need a scorecard. The band, which boasts three of its four original members from its late ’70s inception, has teamed up with Image Entertainment, long recognized as the market leader in licensing, distribution and production of music video long forms and DVDs, to release The Knack: Live from the Rock n’ Roll Fun House on DVD, VHS and CD, on April 23.

The month of May not only marks the band’s send-off on a summer-long national tour starting with Tampa’s Bayfest on the 4th, but also on the agenda is Capitol/EMI’s May 7 release of The Knack’s four mega-selling studio albums they recorded for the label – Get The Knack (1979), But The Little Girls Understand (1980), Round Trip (1981) and Serious Fun (1991) – all digitally remastered and featuring bonus tracks of rare and previously unreleased material, including a songwriting demo of the six-week Billboard chart-topper, “My Sharona.”

The Knack singer/guitarist Doug Fieger states, “This is the first time that all of the original masters will be available. They’re also 24-bit digitally remastered; the sound is pristine. We’ve worked really hard to make sure it sounded as good as the master tapes did.”

To celebrate the live album, the tour and the classic reissues, satellite programmer DirecTV will broadcast the “Fun House” concert as a free view event every weekend in May.

On top of all this, the classic Knack hit “Good Girls Don’t” can be heard in Buena Vista Pictures college comedy Sorority Boys out now through the summer. Fans will immediatley recognize this song as the follow up hit to the ever popular My Sharona, both released in 1979 to a pop hungry public who embraced both with open arms.

The Knack: Live from the Rock n’ Roll Fun House, was recorded in front of a studio audience, as they say on TV, and, in fact, simulates a ’60s TV show in the spirit of Hulla Baloo, Shindig and Ed Sullivan with a host and The Knack as the musical guest. All formats feature the hits, as well as compelling new material that underscores the band’s staying power.

“We didn’t want to do another concert movie,” Fieger explains. “We did it 23 years ago with The Knack Live at Carnegie Hall. Since we’d already done a regular concert – and how can you do better than Carnegie Hall – I came up with an idea that was different. Image liked our idea and gave us the money to do it. ”

We delivered it to Image and they got it. Image thinks in creative terms, as well as in business terms. They want to promote the vision, rather than hinder it, and we’ve been having fun because of that.”

Though The Knack’s original three members, Fieger, Berton Averre (lead guitar) and Prescott Niles (bass), will rock the “Fun House” with signature Knack tunes “My Sharona,” “Good Girls Don’t,” “Oh Tara,” and “Baby Talks Dirty,” plus many more, the revolving door behind the drum kit has captured yet another victim, this time, Holmes Jones, a.k.a. David Henderson. He took over the skins halfway through Normal as the Next Guy, kept the beat on Live from the Rock n’ Roll Fun House, and is already packing for the upcoming tour.

“We’ve had five different drummers in 15 years, kind of like Spinal Tap,” Fieger jokes. “They keep exploding. As a result, there are only three official Knacks.

“The way we tour now is different from the way we used to tour,” he continues. “We’d go out for months on end. Now we go out on weekends and come back and have a life. It’s a lot more manageable, saner and fun. ‘The road,’ as Robbie Robertson said, ‘is a damn impossible life.’ Because our whole ethic is fun, it’s got to start with us. The audience is the most important element when we’re on stage. We play the songs that people want to hear.”