Everybody Wang Chung Tonight?

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight?

By Dustin Dykes

Have you ever Wang Chunged? Chances are, you have. As a matter of fact, you could be Wang Chunging right now and nobody would know. Everybody does it, Homer Simpson does, and Dr. Evil, too, but no one’s quite sure exactly what it is. It can’t be a bad thing. Let’s face it, nobody stubs their toe and yells “Wang Chung!” So it looks like we all owe a bit of gratitude to Jack Hues and Nick Feldman, the founding members of the British new-wave pop group Wang Chung for providing us with the new verb back in 1986 with the song, “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”. The now lionized lyric has been featured in the movie, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, numerous television shows such, as Cheers, Beavis and Butthead and The Simpsons, and undoubtedly hundreds of drunken karaoke bars around the world. And the band has scheduled two months worth of US shows, including a June 30th stop at Musica in Akron.

By the time Wang Chung hit their commercial peak with “Everybody”, they had already enjoyed some moderate success with their singles, “Don’t Let Go” and “Dance Hall Days”. In addition, the band scored the entire film, To Love and Die in L.A, as well as contributed a track to the 1985 hit movie The Breakfast Club. The few years that followed were not excessively friendly to Wang Chung, as the band failed to crack the US Top 40 charts with anything after their Mosaic album (which contained “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”). Wang Chung quietly disbanded between 1990 and 1991.

For a decade and a half, Hues and Feldman stayed busy making records with other musicians. Feldman later became the A&R Manager for Warner Music UK Ltd., and Hues formed a jazz band named The Quartet. Hues also scored another movie, his second William Friedkin film, The Guardian. Then in June of 2005, the duo appeared on NBC’s reality show, Hit Me Baby One More Time. Wang Chung performed the obvious hit as well as a rendition of “Hot In Herre” by Nelly. The fan response was incredible and gave Hues and Feldman the motivation to revive Wang Chung and start working on new material.

Available on the band’s website (www.wangchung.com) is the first new track recorded by the band entitled, “Abducted By The ‘80s”. The song features a poem of the same name written by Rob Gee. Jack Hues told me in a Skype interview that he was given the poem by his daughter, Violet, and felt it fit perfectly in what the band was working on. Wang Chung is offering the MP3 download for free and plan to release more songs on their website as they become available. Their forthcoming album is reported to contain re-recorded versions of the band’s biggest hits though there is still not solid release date for the album. The band has been honing their new material since the culmination of their feature slot on the “Regeneration Tour” with fellow British pop group, ABC, in 2009.

Although they may have been abducted by the ‘80s, Wang Chung is embracing the interactive technology that is provided to them in 2010. You can find the band on every major social networking site: twtter.com/WangChungBand, facebook.com/wang-chung-the-band, myspace.com/WangChungTheBand, and youtube.com/WangChungTheBand. Jack Hues admits that he misses the days when musicians had a sort of sense of untouchability but, ultimately, he welcomes the change.

Speaking to Jack about Wang Chung’s current project made it was very clear that this isn’t some sham to make a couple bucks off of some 30+-year-old pop hits. He is taking every step very seriously and, although he’s never been away from music, he feels like a second wind has filled his lungs. A musician with that sort of fire and passion is a safe bet for a great show. Keep checking wangchung.com for more free tracks and get your tickets fast for Wednesday, June 30 at Musica in Akron, this will be a show you don’t want to miss.

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