RASPBERRIES
Find A Reason To Reunite

By David J. Spatz

Their devoted fans weren't the only ones who were taken by surprise when the 1970s power pop-rock band the Raspberries announced a reunion tour earlier this year. Even the Raspberries never thought it would happen.

"There was a period of time when there were so many bad feelings among the various members that a reunion seemed very unlikely," says lead singer and songwriter Eric Carmen, whose soaring voice helped make the group's biggest song, "Go All the Way," one of the top singles of 1972. Besides, adds drummer Jim Bonfanti, there really wasn't a good reason for the band to reunite 32 years after its acrimonious musical divorce.

"We needed to have a reason to get back together," Bonfani says, "and the reason just wasn't there."

That's what prevented a reunion in 1999, he says. The original members—the others were guitarist Wally Bryson and bassist Dave Smalley—had talked half-heartedly about regrouping then. But with no booking commitments—and unwilling to make a firm commitment to one another—it never materialized.

Add to that the fact that they never resolved the differences that originally drove them apart, and it simply wasn't meant to be. That all changed in June 2004 when the House of Blues nightclub chain approached Carmen and Bonfanti and asked if the Raspberries—originally from Cleveland—would reunite for a concert to open their new Cleveland club last November. It sounded exciting to Carmen and Bonfanti, but it still took seven weeks of conversations between the original members before they agreed to give it a shot.

"I didn't want to do it and just have it turn out OK," says Carmen, who has enjoyed a successful solo career as a singer and songwriter since the group broke up. "I didn't want people to hear us and say, 'Well, y'know, they weren't that great.'"

Initially influenced by several bands, including the Beatles, the Raspberries—who play House of Blues at Showboat on Saturday—took their baby steps toward the reunion last September. They rented some rehearsal space, borrowed and rented some equipment, and began re-learning the songs that made them famous—and ultimately drove them apart.

"We looked like a garage band," Carmen says with a laugh. "We didn't know if it was going to work out, so we rented a lot of the stuff."

Soon, songs like "Overnight Sensation," "Go All the Way" and "I Wanna Be With You" began to sound like they did in the studio more than three decades earlier.

"Then I saw Eric starting to buy guitars, and we made deals with [amplifier companies], and I knew it was going to work out," Bonfanti recalls.

As they worked out their songs, they also worked out their differences. Gradually, a camaraderie developed that had never existed the first time around, when the band members were all in their early 20s.

"Yeah, it's funny how 30 years and having families and developing lives tends to change people," Carmen says with a wry chuckle.

Currently booked through the end of the year, Carmen and Bonfanti say there really is no ending date for the reunion. They may consider extending their tour, and they're even talking about recording an album.

"It has to be the right thing for us, though, because we're not going to go into a studio and spend six months making [an album] that only five people are going to hear," Bonfanti says.

During their first run, the band toured relentlessly to promote and sell their records. The road, Carmen says, played a part in the burn-out factor that led to the break-up.

"But now, we don't have that pressure, and we don't have to stay out on the road for six months," says Carmen, whose solo hits include "All by Myself," "Hungry Eyes" (from the movie Dirty Dancing) and "Make Me Lose Control." As a composer and producer, he also hit the charts with "Almost Paradise," recorded by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno.

Bergen County Record / September 16, 2005