Wrest Point: Dennis Locorriere

I was recently invited to put a few questions to Dennis Locorriere prior to his upcoming concert in Tasmania.

Dennis is one of the founding members of the group, and known as ‘the voice’ of, ‘Dr Hook’, a band named partly after the character of Captain Hook from the story of Peter Pan, even though as it is noted Captain Hook was not a doctor!

Dennis now treats audiences like a good doctor should, with a tonic mixture of feel good Dr Hook classics as well as new material. Dennis is also a fine poet and has published a book of poetry.

Have you visited Tasmania before? If so what do you enjoy about it or if not what are you looking forward to?

I have been to Tasmania a few times before, but I’m sorry to say I’ve always been on a tight touring schedule, whether it was with Dr Hook or solo, and never really got to see much.

I’m hoping it might be different this time, but, I know that, doing what I do for a living, I usually travel to be seen and not to see anything.

You were the founding member of Dr Hook and are still billed as the voice of the group. Will we see you sing many of these songs in your Aussie shows and what is your favourite song from Dr Hook?

Of course there will always be classic Dr Hook material in my show.

I’d be silly to ignore songs that were popular and successful for me.

But, your career can be distilled down to a ‘greatest hits’ album as time goes on and some really great songs will fall by the wayside, so I also like to perform some of the ones that were overshadowed by the big sellers.

There were wonderful album tracks that people really loved back then that they may have perhaps forgotten about over the years.

I like to sing a few of the songs that make people say ‘Oh, I never thought I’d hear you sing that one!’.

I have a soft spot in my heart for the more lyrical songs. The ones that tell a story. The words I sing are the most important thing to me, especially when I’m standing on the stage alone as I will be on this tour.

You called your last collection of poetry ‘Whatever’s burning now’ do you have any issues burning with you now that you want to write about?

The title of my book, Whatever’s Burning Now, refers to the fact that I’m always interested in doing something new and not just leaning solely on my past achievements.

It’s all about communication and expressing myself.

Poetry is another strong way to do both of those things.

When you write poetry do you have an epiphany when you realise a poem is complete?

A lot of my poems began as song lyrics that I thought I still had to finish.

Looking at them again I realized they weren’t unfinished songs but finished poems.

Sometimes you can say all you have to say in just a few lines.

How does writing poetry compare to writing songs?

You have to know when a poem is complete, because there is no melody or catchy chorus to lean on.

It’s all about the words you use.

The power can be in the brevity of the piece.

Can you tell me a piece of trivia about yourself?

I have never driven a car in my life.

Growing up in a big city where the transportation was more than sufficient to get me everywhere I wanted to go I never had the desire to get behind the wheel and commandeer a couple of tons of metal down a highway. I also love to walk and still mostly get around that way today.

You were born in the US with Italian background and now live in the UK. Any plans to develop a base in Australia?

I don’t know if I will establish a base in Australia but I certainly intend to get back here more often that I have done in the past, especially seeing how pleased the audiences seem to be to see me again.

Fifteen years was far too much time between visits and I regret having waited so long to return.

You can see Dennis Locorriere at Wrest Point Casino, Friday, 16 May.
Paula Xiberras