live, love, relive |

By CHRISTINE VERGES

Staff Writer

Lake Havasu is Diggin’ On You, Romantics, as the rock band gives locals and spring breakers a One In A Million show to Rock You Up.

The Romantics have delivered some of their stockpiled material earmarked for their upcoming album under the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, including “Tenderness,” “I Can Only Give You Everything” and “Midnight to Six.” Drummer Johnny Bee, who has been playing with the band off and on for the past year, accompanied The Romantics on their spring break tour to the Colorado River.

“We’re just having a great time here, bottom line,” Palmar said. “This was a great offer for us to do … come out to Lake Havasu and do a few shows, you know, and just hang out for awhile which is what we’re doing. I love it here. I could stay a little bit longer, maybe buy a boat and live on it or something, I don’t know, dock it somewhere, throw the anchor out and live on it. The thought of going back to Detroit right now is not that pleasing to me.”

Their durability is The Romantics’ greatest asset. Through the years, the band has had its ups and downs, rolled with the punches and emerged strong and determined not to give up.

“God knows we’ve gone through many different member changes, things going up and down for us, whatever, but we didn’t really have a reason to give up. We just felt we had more to offer,” Palmar said. “It’s family, is what it is. I love it. I would never want to do anything else. You have to take the good with the bad because you have to realize it’s not going to be good all the time.”

Romantic Beginnings

The Romantics formed in the middle of 1977 in the Detroit Mich., area at a time when groups performing cover songs from the radio were more successful at booking gigs than groups playing their own material.

Such a trend, The Romantics felt, would hold them back if they didn’t break free.

“We had a certain idea in mind when the band was formed,” said lead vocalist Wally Palmar who, along with

guitarist Mike Skill, is the only steady Romantic since the band’s inception. “And that was to get the most out of each member to play songs that we wrote.”

The band left Detroit almost immediately for surrounding areas and eventually the East Coast, where they hoped to gain recognition from labels in anticipation of a first album. Record companies began courting The Romantics and eventually, the two signed on as one.

“It was kind of a long courtship,” Palmar said. “But I guess those kind of courtships are okay – you get a chance to know each other, right?”

In other words, the band paid its dues along the way. By the time The Romantics signed their

first album, it was 1979 and in 1980, the hit song “What I Like About You” was mainstreamed across the United States. In 1981, their second album “National Breakout” hit music stands.

“That didn’t really fare as well as the first album did but whatever, it’s still one of my favorites,” Palmar said.

Coz Canler signed on for the group’s third album in 1981 as Skill took a brief hiatus and the group pumped out “Strictly Personal.”

“That album didn’t fare as well as the second one, which didn’t fare as well as the first one,” Palmar said, “so we were on a steady decline at that time popularity-wise, I guess.”

After their third album did what it did, the group approached Skill and asked him to come back for another album.

He agreed, and replaced original bass player Rich Cole as the group started to buckle down and do some serious writing for their fourth album, “In Heat,” which made its debut in the tail end of 1983. Hits like “Talking In Your Sleep,” “One In A Million” and “Rock You Up” boosted the group’s two-album decline and whisked The Romantics off touring through Europe, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the United States.

When the tour came to a halt, drummer Jimmy Marinos left the band and once again, The Romantics re-grouped. Juggling a steady decline of albums and constantly changing members made it difficult for the band to keep their internal framework constant.

“It matters a lot in song writing and everything else,” Palmar said, “and after Jimmy’s departure, we had to regroup again, which took a little bit of time.”

With some big shoes to fill, the band auditioned “tons” of drummers before they were romanced by Dave Petratos.

Their next album, “Rhythm Romance,” hit the streets in 1985.

“We were kind of pushed into coming up with another album at a point when we should have taken more time to develop it,” Palmar said. “It didn’t sell well at all.”

When things were good for The Romantics, they were very, very good. When they were bad, they seemed to get worse.

The group was released from a record label at the same time an argument broke out between band and their management.

Management was eventually fired, after which a good year or so followed before the group was even back on its feet. By then, drummer Clem Burke, who had previously played with Blondie and the Eurythmics, had been initiated into the group to play around, record some songs and just see how things would go from there.

Still battling with lawsuits involving old management, The Romantics produced “Made In Detroit” in 1993, a five-song release which appeared only in England with two George Clinton covers and three of the group’s own releases.

“The way I look back on it,” Palmar said, talking about the availability of the album, “it’s like a collector’s item. People who really want it, fans of the band, would have to search pretty hard to get it.”

MTV and VH-1 exposure has opened up the music of The Romantics to a younger crowd.

The group is dying to deliver current product to the world, and hopes to have an album out by the end of this year.

“I would like to think that we still have a good core of fans of people who came up with us from the ‘8Os,” Palmar said. “l hope they’re still with us.”

The Romantics are scheduled to perform Saturday, April 2 at 4 p.m. on Koko Beach.