Heart by Heart keeps memories from the 1970s alive

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 10, 2018

The Historic Everett Theatre asked its patrons which acts they most wanted to see return and perform again.

The people have spoken.

Heart by Heart, which finished first in the survey, is slated to perform at 8 p.m. May 19, two years after its last appearance in Everett.

The spinoff from Heart, inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, is led by two original members: bassist Steve Fossen and drummer Mike Derosier.

The rest of the lineup is the same as it was in 2016, with one exception.

Chad Quist replaces Randy Hansen on guitar because of scheduling conflicts with Hansen’s Jimi Hendrix tribute shows. Quist is best known for performing with Big Brother and The Holding Company from 1997 to 2008.

Lead vocalist Somar Macek and Lizzy Daymont, on the keyboard and guitar, round out the band.

“We’re trying to do our best every night,” Fossen said.

The Seattle-based band tours the country performing Heart’s biggest hits — mostly from its peak during the 1970s — like “Barracuda,” “Crazy on You” and “Straight On.”

Fossen said audiences range from young people experiencing Heart’s music for the first time to diehard fans who witnessed the band’s rise to prominence 40 years ago. Fossen and Derosier do meet-and-greets after the show, where they hear about the impact Heart’s music had on their lives or how Heart by Heart’s versions bring back good memories.

A couple even told Fossen they conceived their first child to Heart’s debut album, “Dreamboat Annie,” released in 1975.

“We play the songs as close as we can to how it was written and recorded, so that the memories will be there,” Fossen said. “We don’t want to reimagine them and try and change them around.”

Curt Shriner, manager of the Historic Everett Theatre, said the show will be nostalgic.

“It’s like watching a young Heart up there again,” Shriner said. “It’s very good. All of them are great musicians.”

Heart by Heart started as a duo with Fossen and Macek in 2010; the name was both a play on their romantic relationship and a nod to Heart. The band was later booked to share the stage with country legend Dwight Yoakam in Anchorage, Alaska, but they thought a duo would be too “light” for an opening act. So they asked Hansen and Derosier to play with them.

The gig with Yoakam wound up not happening. But Fossen, Macek, Hansen and Derosier were having such a good time rehearsing that they decided to stick together. The group later turned heads at a Susan G. Komen for the Cure benefit concert in 2011, which helped to raise $6,000 for breast cancer research. Calls started flowing in from booking agents after that.

They’ve been on the road ever since.

“It was a very organic way to start a band,” Fossen said.

Living up to audiences’ expectations is what makes playing in Heart by Heart a challenge, Fossen said.

Macek has the hardest job of the bunch, filling the shoes of Heart’s revered lead vocalist, Ann Wilson, who is considered one of the best rock vocalists of all time.

“It’s not an easy task for her,” Fossen said. “She accepts the challenge and does as great a job as she can possibly do. She totally respects the skills and accomplishments of Ann. She doesn’t want to screw up.”

Fossen said he was saddened by the news that Ann and her sister, Nancy, who was a guitarist and backing vocalist for Heart, are no longer speaking following a dispute between Ann’s husband and Nancy’s then-teenage sons in 2016. The sisters now have their own bands and no longer perform Heart’s music.

“It’s sad. But things happen,” “Fossen said of the family fight. “You have no control over it.”

That makes Heart by Heart’s role all the more important these days, Fossen said.

“That’s our goal and mission: to keep it alive and keep everybody playing the music like the people want to hear it,” he said.

If you go

Heart by Heart will play at 8 p.m. May 19 at the Historic Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett.

Tickets from $15. The band will do a meet-and-greet after the show.

More about Heart by Heart at www.heartbyheart.com.