Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lee Rocker will celebrate his career as a solo artist and with the Stray Cats during his show at Stage Red Fontana on Saturday, Nov. 23.
“It’s a concert of songs really cherry picked from my four-decade career,” said Rocker, who played upright bass for Stray Cats.
“I’m going back to Stray Cats and through my solo records. I’ve also had an amazing career of people I’ve worked with, ranging from Keith Richards, Levon Helm and Carl Perkins. I’ll incorporate some behind-the-scenes storytelling and film. There’s a screen behind the stage so we’re running all kind of cool stuff. It’s a concert and more.”
Rocker made his mark singing, playing, standing on, spinning and rocking his giant upright bass as a founding member of the Grammy-nominated music group, Stray Cats.
Led by singer-guitarist Brian Setzer, the band sold more than 10 million albums, garnered 23 gold and platinum certified records, and were among the early music video pioneers of MTV. Among the Stray Cats’ hits were “Rock This Town,” “Stray Cat Strut” and “Sexy and Seventeen.”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included “Rock this Town” as one of the “500 most important songs in rock history.”
Rocker co-founded Stray Cats with Setzer and drummer Slim Jim Phantom in his dad’s garage on Massapequa, Long Island. At age 17, they left New York for London.
“We bought four airline seats — three for the band and one for the upright bass,” he said with a laugh. “We slept in parks, movie theaters and just knocked on doors. We were teenagers, so it was fine. It was fun. I wouldn’t want to do it now that way.”
Soon after landing in London, Stray Cats secured a record deal.
“My life and career have been like being shot out of a cannon,” he said.
“It just took off and nothing was ever the same. The three of us are still in touch all the time. We’ve made a lot of great music.”
Stray Cats were never known for chasing trends, instead sticking with Americana/rock/rockabilly — “all of the above.”
“It’s a form of music that is uniquely of America,” he added.
“It has a look and a groove. It just always works.”
To spark inspiration and to cure boredom, Rocker and his wife, fashion designer Deborah Drucker, headed out in an Airstream to explore the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID clearly affected everybody in lots of ways for myself and everyone in the music world,” he said.
“It just shut down for 18 months. That was a bizarre time, really. In order to cope with it, my wife and I got an Airstream RV and just traveled. I’m so used to going from town to town. We went from California to New York to Chicago to New Orleans. We really kept to ourselves, traveled around the country and wrote music while we did it.”
Rocker considers himself blessed, being in a happy marriage, working with top-notch musicians and extending his career 40 years.
“I’ve been so fortunate to work with so many people,” Rocker said.
“I played with the Rolling Stones and did some concert dates in the United States with them. That was amazing and invited Keith Richards to play on a solo record. It’s a pretty funny scene where Keith came down to the studio and showed up in the middle of the night with a Feder Telecaster and a medicine bag full of medicine.
“At the end of the night, I didn’t know what to do. Do I pay Keith? He walked up to the coat rock, put on my custom-made jacket and walked out. That was a high point of my career.”
Lee Rocker
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23
WHERE: Stage Red Fontana, 8463 Sierra Avenue, Fontana
COST: Tickets start at $47.20
INFO: stageredfontana.com