\u201cThe place is in recovery mode. Will be for some time,\u201d he told me a few weeks later. <\/p>\n
\u201cAssessment of damage still taking place. It has started raining again too. Yay … \u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan Luck’s Little River property overwhelmed by flood Waters. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Luck has been stalking New Zealand stages for five decades through his time in The Exponents, Dance Exponents, Jordan Luck Band, and other various projects. But he never forgets a face. He recognises me instantly after we spoke a few years back in Napier before The Exponents headed down for one of their 2023 reformation gigs.<\/p>\n
These days, the rock star spirit is still well and truly alive, albeit in a different form.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never been as raucous or as dangerous as it was when we started in the early 80s,\u201d he says of Exponents gigs.<\/p>\n
Because who can forget their 1982 Napier show with The Screaming Meemees that resulted in a riot? Fellow Exponent Harry Harallambi said it was one of the biggest fights he\u2019d ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fight started breaking out before the end of the Screaming Meemees\u2019 set. It was a riot of a gig, and the crowd was fantastic. The bar people shut it down, and kicked everyone out, but it ended up going into the street,\u201d Harallambi told me a few years back.<\/p>\n
\u201cCars were overturned and set on fire,\u201d Luck adds today.<\/p>\n
Jordan Luck (second from left) says while The Exponents’ rehearsals today can be a wee bit trepidatious, he loves it all the same.<\/p>\n
While life is not as chaotic these days, Luck says the allure of the stage and the pull of the crowds still make him want to keep going. There are also, surprisingly, physical benefits to bashing out the band\u2019s hits night after night.<\/p>\n
\u201cLive performance actually is what sort of keeps me alive,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like doing this 90-minute plus tai chi workout kind of thing. It flippin\u2019 keeps you healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says he\u2019s been \u201cripped off\u201d a few times in his career (although \u201cluckier than most\u201d), but it hasn\u2019t dented the air of positivity that surrounds him.<\/p>\n
I ask Luck about his fears and regrets. He admits he thinks about his own mortality, but that music is a powerful vessel, keeping him optimistic.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou lose friends, a lot of younger friends too, as well as people my age and older. A song might bring back memories of someone who\u2019s gone. But often at times it\u2019s in a good way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of those friends include former bandmates, Chris Sheehan and Dave Barraclough. Sheehan died from cancer in 2014. Barraclough died in 2018, also from cancer.<\/p>\n
Luck says Brett Adams from The Mockers has been a great asset, helping play the parts previously filled by the pair.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be on stage this month, when The Exponents perform at the M\u0101nuka Phuel Synthony Festival.<\/p>\n
The Dance Exponents 1986. From left, Eddie Olsen (drums), Chris Sheehan (guitar), Jordan Luck (vocals), Dave Gent (bass) and Brian Jones (guitar). Photo \/ NZH Archives<\/p>\n
Luck describes the process of getting back on stage as \u201ca wee bit trepidatious\u201d, with a fair bit of rehearsal involved. <\/p>\n
He says the group have not played a gig this big since something like opening for David Bowie at Western Springs, way back in the 1983.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s reaching 40,000 [people], and there\u2019s only a handful of gigs I\u2019ve ever done bigger than that really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does he get nervous? \u201cNo, I don\u2019t believe I\u2019d be involved in this industry if I was nervous about it. Not after 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a long time to be performing, and it\u2019s this longevity that has amassed them plenty of fans, both young and old.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the songs were written when I was in my late teens, early 20s, so it\u2019s understandable that younger people would enjoy them just as much as older people,\u201d Luck says. <\/p>\n
Jordan Luck says performing helps keep him alive.<\/p>\n
And surely 50 years is also worthy of a biography of some sort. Who wouldn\u2019t want to read the life and times of Jordan Luck?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some stage, a few years back, there was an interest. It\u2019d be quite an intriguing read,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
From Keith Richards eating shepherd\u2019s pie to Alice Cooper playing with a knife, rock stars are known for pre-show rituals. Luck doesn\u2019t have any, but he does have two things he\u2019ll always do.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo to the toilet. Not a ritual, but if it\u2019s 90 minutes to go or plus, you\u2019ve got to make sure your bladder\u2019s empty,\u201d the 64-year-old laughs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, and I don\u2019t eat before a show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before I can stop him, the conversation turns back to gardening and where he\u2019s grown the best brassica. It\u2019s the perfect metaphor for Luck: growing, changing, recovering, and thriving as The Exponents enter a new era.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean back in Geraldine and even before that, in North Otago, we always had tomatoes or spuds or broccoli or cabbage. I love cabbage,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
You heard it here first, folks, Karamea is the best place to grow cabbages.<\/p>\n
The Exponents will perform at the M\u0101nuka Phuel Synthony Festival on March 21 at the Auckland Domain.<\/p>\n
Mitchell Hageman joined the Herald\u2019s entertainment and lifestyle team in 2024. He previously worked as a multimedia journalist for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe place is in recovery mode. Will be for some time,\u201d he told me a few weeks later.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7577,1443,3017,5831,682,6326,156,158644,11424,4968,5431,16718,8482,16802,809,29137,4960,29530,5430,111,139,69,1118,24265,11674,110075,312,1305,7811,5433,108041,165,8229,6923],"class_list":["post-330172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-80s","tag-about","tag-ahead","tag-alive","tag-being","tag-biggest","tag-entertainment","tag-exponents","tag-finds","tag-gigs","tag-hageman","tag-him","tag-huge","tag-jordan","tag-keep","tag-keeping","tag-live","tag-luck","tag-mitchell","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-perform","tag-reckon","tag-reckons","tag-says","tag-show","tag-since","tag-stage","tag-synthony","tag-their","tag-they","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}