It’s hard not to ask legendary band members why they record new material, because fans often only want to hear the classics.
No such question really needs to be posed to Danny Hutton and his bandmates in Three Dog Night, though; the new songs they’ve released via the band’s website — “Heart of Blues” and “Prayer of the Children” — sound as if they came right from the blues-alt-country-rock back catalog of the beloved group.
“It is who we are as a band,” said co-founder Hutton of the group’s uncanny ability to mix and match sounds to create its own special vibe. “And the majority of the guys in the [current] band are the guys who played on the records.”
| Onstage |
| Three Dog Night |
| Where: The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Monday |
| Info: Sold out at press time, but tickets might be available through resellers; 202-397-SEAT; ticketmaster.com |
That statement says a lot about the band. As music fans know, many of the bands that hit it big in the 1970s, when Three Dog Night came to prominence, owed much of their sound to studio technique. Not so Three Dog Night, whose members chose their own songs and made their own recordings.
That resulted in the group moving through 1969 to 1974 with more Top 10 hits, more concert ticket sales and more record sales than any of its musical peers. The band’s success included 21 Top 40 hits, 12 gold records and total record sales of almost 50 million by late 1975.
“We covered so many types of music that we had success on all the charts,” said Hutton. “We are a group that always had diverse interests, and that showed in the songs we selected.”
It also showed in the size of the audiences to which the band played, making Three Dog Night the first band to play stadium concerts — with names such as Rod Stewart opening for them — after the Beatles pioneered those venues as concert sites.
Now the band is still enjoying success, but at a slightly more relaxed pace. All the members fly into major cities for their concerts, and trucks bring their equipment to the venues. The members are “home for Sunday night dinner” each week, said Hutton, who also has a home studio where artists of all stripes gather.
“I just love the idea of having the studio. It really helps as far as musical ideas, seeing all these young bands,” said Hutton. “My son was jamming with Ryan Adams the other night. There’s lots of good energy. Younger people always remind you there are no rules to music. … It’s good to remember that.”
