Photo: Laurie Lagace

In 2009 ’80s-influenced fashion began popping up on the runway and ’80s hair bands took to the stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the inaugural M3 Rock Festival. On Saturday the festival returned to MPP with 14 bands on two stages, 11 hours of headbangers and power ballads, and quite a few examples of tattoo regret. The Scorpions invited Vince Neil on stage for “Another Piece of Meat” and Nelson recruitedMark Slaughter (of Slaughter) to play lead guitar.

Nelson’s multi-platinum debut album After the Rain was released in 1990 by Geffen Records and include chart topping hits “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” and the album’s title track. The melodic rock band is fronted by Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, twins with exquisite vocal harmonies and an affinity for mixing tender lyrics with a powerful pop rock sound.

Nelson is currently celebrating their 20th anniversary with a summer festival tour. I recently spoke to Gunnar Nelson about the tour and their new album, The Blond Leading the Blond.

In 2009 ’80s-influenced fashion began popping up on the runway and ’80s hair bands took to the stage at Merriweather Post Pavilion for the inaugural M3 Rock Festival. On Saturday the festival returned to MPP with 14 bands on two stages, 11 hours of headbangers and power ballads, and quite a few examples of tattoo regret. The Scorpions invited Vince Neil on stage for “Another Piece of Meat” and Nelson recruited Mark Slaughter (of Slaughter) to play lead guitar.

Nelson’s multi-platinum debut album After the Rain was released in 1990 by Geffen Records and include chart topping hits “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection” and the album’s title track. The melodic rock band is fronted by Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, twins with exquisite vocal harmonies and an affinity for mixing tender lyrics with a powerful pop rock sound.

Nelson is currently celebrating their 20th anniversary with a summer festival tour. I recently spoke to Gunnar Nelson about the tour and their new album, The Blond Leading the Blond.

Although Nelson is not a quintessential ’80s hair band they rocked the M3 Festival Stage on Saturday night. According to Gunnar, “Nelson was never really welcomed into the hair metal fold. We were a pop band, a band that breaks on top 40. Back in the day none of those bands would tour with us because we weren’t heavy enough. We had to go out and headline. We brought full theatrics to a Nelson show. We got spoiled but we pulled it off.”

No longer being shunned by the “hair metal fold,” Nelson recently collaborated with some of the genre’s biggest names and invited Mark Slaughter to play lead guitar on their anniversary tour. “We have worked together in a side band called Scrap Metal. In that band we have all of the ’80s big hair band lead singers, we have Kip Winger, Eric Martin of Mr. Big, Jani Lane from Warrant, and Kelly Keagy from Night Ranger. Each guy sings each of his mega hits … Mark is a very good friend. Not many people realize what a great guitar player he is. They recognize his work with Slaughter and the Vinnie Vincent Invasion but he was a guitar instructor in Vegas and taught Scott Kirkland of the Crystal Method how to play.” Slaughter released an instructional video in 2000, “Master Sessions with Mark Slaughter – Guitar.”

Gunnar and Matthew Nelson still keep in touch with the other original members of Nelson. “They continue to work in music, it wasn’t a hobby for them, they are professional musicians. Bobby Rock is a solo artist doing drum clinics. Brett Garsed is in Australia and the lead guitarist for the Australian Idol. Paul Mirkovich is Cher’s musical director and was the musical director for Rock Star: INXS and Supernova. Joey Cathcart is a musician in Vegas.”

When asked which bands he was most looking forward to seeing, Gunnar responded that he couldn’t wait to see and reconnect with old friends. “My guys in the Scorpions, I have loved Klaus and Rudy for 15 years. I got to play drums for those guys in Indonesia of all places. They deserve to be headlining. And Cinderella, we’ve done some touring with Cinderella back in the day. It’s great that ’80s are cool again and people want to have nothing but a good time. So festivals like M3 just want to hear music that they love by people who still give a s**t.”

As for his favorite songs to play live, “There’s nothing that beats looking at an audience and seeing them sing back to you, Love and Affection, After the Rain. But my song is called Ghostdance off the album The Silence is Broken. To me that song was the whole reason for doing that record.” (video of Ghostdance live in 2008)

And his reason for doing the new, soon-to-be-released record, “I was asked by a gentleman who owns a record label in Italy. [He said] ‘I think it was unfair that your label signed Nirvana and changed the music landscape overnight. Would you be able to put yourself in the headspace that if the label … and MTV … and fans were behind you could you make what should have been the seamless following to After the Rain? Would you do that?’ I fearlessly did what I think we did best. Nothing on this record was aimed. We just did the best we could do. I encased myself in a protective bubble.”

Gunnar said that the sound on their upcoming album, The Blond Leading the Blond, came out exactly as he had hoped it would. “Technology has advanced were I could use all of my groovy vintage equipment and work with engineers that can mix it so that it is mixed as I envisioned. I can hear the whole record in my head before it was completed.”  The album will be released on Frontiers Records.

And as they continue on tour, Gunnar hopes to incorporate more new songs into their set. “We’re playing FireFest in England, and then going to China to play for the first time. Nelson had #1’s in eight countries in the Pacific Rim so we’re going there on tour. We’re integrating new songs from the new record. I think the record is so strong that the new show will be the new record plus our five old hits.”

Story by Kim Reed