Derringer Hangs On to Hopes : Rock: The McCoys’ 1965 hit, ‘Sloopy,’ made a star of the singer/guitarist, who wants to reignite his career. He’ll play at the Coach House on Sunday.

The garish clothing and platform boots. The shag haircuts and glitter makeup. The hyperkinetic stage shows and speed-freak guitar playing. Fine hotels, limousines, champagne, groupies.

The image of Rick Derringer stomping across a stage like some demented sprite wired for sound seems to sum up the rock ‘n’ roll scene of the ‘70s. Here was a guy who, for better or worse, epitomized pre-punk rock stardom and all its strutting flamboyance.

It’s been many a year since Derringer’s brand of gaudy but undeniably infectious rock ‘n’ roll ridiculousness enjoyed its heyday, and 1993 seems a strange time for the ‘70s stalwart to attempt a comeback.

But don’t try telling that to the 45-year-old singer-guitarist-songwriter-producer. During a recent interview, Derringer--who appears Sunday night at the Coach House--displayed the cheerleader’s enthusiasm, energy and optimism that has always hallmarked his image. True, he was staying in a Motel 6 rather than the swank digs of years past, but his spirit remained unbowed.

Derringer’s career began with a bang when, as front man for the McCoys, his group hit it big in 1965 with “Hang On Sloopy.” At the tender age of 16, Derringer had a No. 1 hit and his first taste of stardom.

“It was fantastic,” he said. “What teen-ager could ask for more than to have the top record in the world, girls screaming and pulling your clothes off everywhere you go? This time was like the heart of Beatlemania, so it was the perfect time to be a kid and have a hit record. It was like Christmas every day.”

By the late ‘60s the group’s success had waned, even as they flirted with psychedelia. In 1969, the McCoys were hired as the unbilled backup band for the then-arena-packing Johnny Winter.

Winter’s drug problems sidelined him the following year, and Derringer took up with Johnny’s brother, Edgar. They appeared co-billed on and off for a number of years--even as recently as 1990, when the two toured Japan and recorded an album together.

“It was a symbiotic relationship,” Derringer said of his tenure with the Winter brothers. “We all did well playing with one another. Johnny, of course, went ahead to play mostly straight blues, and Edgar--I’m not sure what he’s doing now; he seems satisfied just doing the old songs.”

Derringer ended his lucrative association with Edgar Winter two years ago due to what he saw as staleness in the act.

“To me, it got to be too much like an oldies show,” he said. “We had so many songs from the past, we weren’t playing any new music. Edgar wasn’t into writing, so I split off by myself. I think we could have continued to play longer together if he was into putting new songs together.”

Concurrent with his early days as Edgar Winter’s sideman, Derringer enjoyed his greatest success as a solo artist. His 1973 debut album, “All American Boy,” yielded a Top 30 hit with “Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo,” a Derringer song Johnny Winter had recorded three years earlier, and which has gone on to become a bar-band standard. More albums would come over the years, both as a solo and as sidekick to Edgar Winter, but as the ‘80s dawned, Derringer found himself without a record deal, his approach to rock ‘n’ roll easing ever more out of fashion.

He turned to producing albums and appearing as guest guitarist for other artists, working with Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper and Weird Al Yankovic, among others.

“I’ve been producing mostly Weird Al for the last five years or so because we’ve been so successful,” Derringer said.

“But people haven’t looked at that in the most positive light. They look at novelty records and put a negative connotation on it for some reason. But we made great records together--we won two Grammys. But it really wasn’t helping my career. A couple years ago, I figured I was working so much on other people’s records that I was ignoring my own career, basically. I decided it was time to go out and do my own songs again.”

To that end, Derringer hit the road with a band including his vocalist-percussionist wife Diane St. John, ex-Molly Hatchet bassist Kevin Rian and drummer David-Paul Presley.

Next month, he’ll begin recording an blues album for Blues Bureau International Records, but his current road show is a hodgepodge of new material, tracks from his solo albums, favorites he recorded with Edgar Winter and even “Hang On Sloopy.”

Derringer said his singing and guitar playing have improved with time, but age hasn’t diminished his love for stage antics.

“To me, music is something to be liked, and you don’t get that likability by just standing there,” he said.

Rick Derringer plays Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. $10. (714) 496-8930.