For Herman's Hermits singer, its still high Noone
By Jamie J. Anderson
Knight Ridder Tribune

Are you a Noonatic?

Before you turn to Webster's, only to discover the word isn't found between noon and noonday, let me explain.

"Noonatics" are the people singer Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits affectionately refers to as his fans.

"I've found a way to connect to all my fans," Noone said. "I keep my fan club going, and they communicate with each other now through my Web site. It's the community thing that Bill Gates talks about."

There are no requirements, other than a love for British invasion rock, to be a Noonatic. In fact, many of the members of the fan club weren't born when Noone, 53, first hit the music scene in 1963.

"My music is some way timeless because it was made for teenage girls," Noone said. "So women who were teen-age girls when I first started out and teen-age girls of today get it (the music) because no one makes records for them anymore. ... They realize these guys are cool and nice and it's charming. It was and is cool that we are nice guys."

When the band broke up in 1970, Noone continued entertaining as a solo act and kept the Herman's Hermits name. Since December, his backing band, which goes by the original name, includes three former Pennsylvanians -- Ron Vail, Ken Bussiere and Rick Levy. Another group is used during Noone's United Kingdom tours.

The members of the backing group weren't thrown together by management as most bands are today. In fact, they've known each other -- by way of music circles -- for more than two decades.

Levy, who performed with Jay and the Techniques for more than 14 years and still manages the band, performed with Dave Ferrara (who lives in Pennsylvania) and Bussiere when they joined the Techniques in 1990 and 1998 respectively.

But the ties go back even further, to when Levy was a founding member of the Limits, Ferrara and Bussiere were members the Original Sins and Vail was part of St. John's Alliance, all in Allentown. The musicians knew of one another and sometimes crossed paths.

"We're all British invasion nuts," said Vail, 39. "We love the music and we take a purist approach to it and try to re-create it with the original sound as much as possible. We feel it's odd when bands try to update sounds that were great in the '60s and '70s. They should represent the sound as it was. Peter is a great guy, and everything clicked from the get-go with us."

Levy added, "We're all real British invasion freaks, and it is a humbling honor to be working with Peter."

So, in their own rights, Noone's band members began as Noonatics.

Levy met Noone in 1987 when Jay and the Techniques and Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone were performing in the same location. For the next several years, Levy would fill in when Noone needed a guitarist. Finally, last December, Levy joined up as a regular to perform on a cruise tour with Noone.

Levy remembered his bandmates, Ferrara and Bussiere, and brought in Vail. The rest, as they say, is history.

The members of the band say that Noonatics and others should be ready to have a good time and laugh out loud during Epcot performances.

"I think people can tell when it looks like you're having fun up there," Vail said. "It really does show. We love playing this music and performing with Peter."

"I change the person who sings the songs every night," Noone said. "Sometimes it's not me singing it, but it's me acting. I can become a 14-year-old boy or anyone else while I'm performing. I can do one-arm press-ups, but I can't do them on stage. You get this energy from somewhere. You become not human."