As Jordan Luck would have it

Funnyman Jordan.

Jordan Luck with his loyal band mates.

Relevant offers

When it comes to touring Jordan Luck is an old hand.

He first hit the road with his school band Basement and now the Kiwi icon is preparing to spend his 30th summer on tour.

And while the notoriously hard-drinking rocker is rapidly approaching his 50th birthday, he reckons his antics now are wilder than they were in his younger days.

"The partying is far worse now," he says deadpan when we meet at his central Auckland villa. "We used to be the Monopoly kids, we'd also play chess in those early days. Then Trivial Pursuit kicked in, then we moved on to crosswords."

Luck is well-known for being difficult to interview. While pleasant, his answers to questions are often nonsensical and peppered with long pauses. He regularly says a lot without revealing much at all.

But while his eccentricity and boozy lifestyle have been well publicised, there's no doubt he's a man New Zealanders have taken to their hearts.

After fronting Basement in the late 70s, he went on to form the Dance Exponents, who later became The Exponents, and churned out a string of hits including rugby anthem Why Does Love Do This To Me?

An inaugural inductee into the New Zealand Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, he has clocked up 18 Top 40 singles over the past three decades. While he has enjoyed success many recording artists dream of, he always felt it was within his reach.

"As soon as I started getting into music when I was 15 I thought I'd be capable of doing it," he shrugs. "I've just been pretty confident in most things I've attacked."

With his trademark shaggy hair, Luck is one of the country's most recognisable figures, but he has no problem with handling stardom.

"I've always been recognised. I was five and I was getting recognised, people would say, `Hey Jordan what's up?"' he says. "So I became accustomed to fame very quickly."

By the 90s, when The Exponents were failing to make an impact across the Tasman, Luck had a reputation for being drunk on stage.

And while insisting he's only had seven "below par" concerts in his lifetime, "because the other guys didn't play very well," he does admit that after 1989 life in the band was "pretty debauched." A standout gig was when he had been boozing at the Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth in 1999. "I was pretty inebriated," he recalls. "I was still singing but the stage manager had to hold me up and lean against me while I finished the last six songs."

His antics were lapped up by the newspapers but, when asked about how he felt about such headlines as, "Luck Run Out" and "An Ale-ing Reputation", he can't give a straight answer.

He launches into a long-winded story about how he felt when he delivered a "ewe", and when pressed, he says what people write about him is "intriguing" – before going off on a tangent about the internet. His wife Rita, who he married nine years ago, has been a moderating influence on the 48-year-old musician. "She loves music, she likes mine on and off," he grins. "She enjoys the live shows, although as I kick into the second verse I'm sure she's thinking, `I wonder what he's going to make me for breakfast'."

He also has a 17-year-old son, Tyler, from a previous relationship, who lives in Brisbane just 20 minutes away from Rita's adult daughter Brooke.

"I see him three or four times a year," Luck says. "He's more sporty than me, loves tennis. He's got a guitar but I've not really heard him play."

Luck currently performs with The Jordan Luck Band. They will appear with The Feelers and The Earlybirds on The Blue Skies Summer Tour which will play 12 dates across the country from December 18.

And looking to the future the rocker has no plans to hang up his microphone.

He admits he has been "pretty slack" at recording new material and now wants to release fresh music and work more on collaborations. "I have to keep working – I'd go nuts if I didn't, I have to keep going," he says.

"I find music relaxing, and it's useful to put your feelings out there, it's cathartic."

For details of The Blue Skies Summer Tour go to www.therock.net.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News