Night Ranger

27 years in, the band looks toward the 'Sun'

People have a tendency to idolize their youth. The good times are always remembered way out of proportion. Mullets seemed like a reasonable hairstyle choice. And, listening to music through orange foam walkman headphones every waking hour of the day was pure bliss.

If you ever find yourself yearning to wash the Camaro, splash on some Polo and dig that long-lost mix tape out of the closet, seeing Night Ranger along with Styx and REO Speedwagon tonight at the North Charleston Coliseum could be the sweetest flashback of them all.

Those of us who were lucky enough to have been teenagers in 1984 will, no doubt, remember Night Ranger as rock 'n' roll behemoths. Back when MTV played videos, the song "Sister Christian" was on once an hour every hour every day. It is thanks to Night Ranger that an entire generation knows "motoring" is a synonym of "driving."

Kelly Keagy, the band's drummer, wrote and sang the song, thus qualifying himself for the very short but estimable list of singing rock 'n' roll drummers (Ringo Starr, Don Henley and Phil Collins included) but the band seemed unaware of what they had in their hands.

About their greatest hit, Keagy said, "I wrote the song about my sister, Christie, but Jack (Blades, bassist) thought I was saying 'Christian.' And it sounded better, so we kept it. I wrote it two bands before we even became Night Ranger, and then it didn't get recorded until the second album."

It's not surprising that a song such as "Sister Christian" could be overlooked by a band who is equally proud of all their efforts and started their careers with their only goal being, according to Keagy, "(To) sell enough to make another record."

Unlike many bands who have a main songwriter, Night Ranger is a group effort where the core members of Keagy, Blades and guitarist Brad Gillis each share writing and singing duties. Other band members are Christian Cullen, multi-instrumentalist, and Joel Hoekstra, guitarist.

"It's a collaborative effort. There's a lot of freedom where we each add something of our own personality to the music and it's helped us maintain our identity and our sound," Keagy said.

He points out that it has made Night Ranger something of a faceless band but also has contributed to the band's longevity.

Before you get too comfortable reminiscing, though, Night Ranger is not content to just trade in on past glories. They'll play the hits, but they continue to release new music such as last year's "Hole in the Sun."

"We're still out there in force as a band," Keagy said.

After 27 years as Night Ranger, Keagy sums it up, "We're really lucky. We're enjoying it more. We're even a little better now."

If my memory serves me right, they were pretty good to begin with.

If you go

Who: REO Speedwagon, Styx and Night Ranger

When: Tonight at 7 p.m.

Where: North Charleston Coliseum.

Cost: $55 and $40 at www.coliseumpac.com.

Hear The Music: www.nightranger.com.

Info: 571-4343 or www.coliseumpac.com.