Freddy Vette is bringing sexy back. But the sexiness he and his band provide comes from an era a bit before Justin Timberlake’s time.
Freddy Vette and the Flames perform 1950s rock ‘n’ roll stage shows. The songs they play come from such classic performers as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Vette’s goal is to bring audiences back to a time when music was about sex, rock ‘n’ roll and just being a teenager.
“The ‘50s [have] been sugar-coated a little bit,” Vette says, noting that when he goes to see 50s shows from other acts, there’s a lack of ferocity in the performances.
“Now music is so different. [1950s rock 'n' roll] looks awfully tame in retrospect, but at the time it was a wild form of music and put down by so many people,” Vette says. “So we kind of bring that sexiness back to that rock ‘n’ roll.”
One of the ways Vette does this is by playing the piano in the aerobatic style of Jerry Lee Lewis. But he is no impersonator. Vette acts as himself, but says he and his band try to stay as true to the original 50s acts as they can. “That’s what our show is about: taking it back to that era,” he says.
The band has been together for seven years, but Vette has so much fun performing that he doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. He has eight band mates including his wife, Betty Vette, nicknamed “The Queen of Shake”.
“We have a great bunch of people in the band and we really love our jobs. […] You can’t fake that,” Vette says. “If you’re not having fun the audience can tell for sure. Fortunately, we always have a blast and we all enjoy it as much as [the people in the audience] do.”
The audience varies depending on the show. Sometimes Freddy Vette and the Flames play to people who remember what the 50s were like. Other times, the audience includes people who know the music only because their parents listened to it.
No matter who is in the audience, people like what they hear. “Most of the songs that we pick are the biggest ones from the era, so you can’t go wrong,” Vette says. “People know and love these songs.”
People also love to move around to these hits.
“The theatre shows are funny because you can tell people want to get up and dance,” Vette says. “They’re squirming in their seats, which is good, it’s what we like.”
The band performs some of the same songs at every show, but Vette never grows tired of playing the 50s hits. “It’s usually the audience reaction that you go for,” he says. “Even though you’ve sang it 100 or 200 times, the audience gets into it. It feels like the first time every time.”
Feddy Vette and the Flames perform live at The Grand Theatre, located at 471 Richmond St., on Thursday, Aug. 27. Tickets are $35