Rekindling the flame

Young Chang

Some of them had children, one tried a solo career, everyone took a

break from each other -- albeit, a 10-year break -- and then one by one,

each of the Bangles wanted her band back.

So in 1998, Newport Beach-native Susanna Hoffs, Debbi and Vicki

Peterson and Michael Steele regrouped and started working on songs, still

unsure whether the reunion held long-term promise. The band members got

to talking, some big-screen names --including Mike Myers and Jay Roach --

asked for an “Austin Powers” song and the harmonies that shot the

all-female quartet to mega-stardom in the early ‘80s came back.

“It’s so much better now,” drummer Debbi Peterson said of the Bangles’

reunion. “It’s like seeing an old friend, like wearing comfortable

shoes.”

These familiar “shoes” will tread the stages of the 13th annual Taste

of Newport on Saturday with hits including “Walk Like an Egyptian” and

“Eternal Flame,” and with new pieces from an album scheduled to be

released next spring.

“They bring back an ‘80s sound that we think is very popular,” said

Richard Luehrs, president and chief executive of the Newport Harbor Area

Chamber of Commerce. “Some of the radio stations feature ‘80s music these

days, and we’re excited to have them.”

When asked about their most common fan reaction, Peterson, 40, said,

“They are just amazed at how the sound is, how we’re all sounding really

good and that we look young!”

The band was first known as the Colours and then as the Bangs -- as in

the sound “bang” but also because everyone had hairstyles with bangs. But

the four women decided to add the “les” after legal issues with a

different band with the name Bangs.

They came together on Dec. 9, 1980, a significant date because John

Lennon was killed the day before. During a conversation about the

tragedy, the Peterson sisters and Hoffs discovered they shared musical

tastes, influences and hopes.

“I met Susanna at a garage with Vicki, we started jamming together and

it was one of those things that immediately clicked,” Peterson said. “It

was meant to be.”

Former Bangles bass player Annette Zilinskas joined soon after.

Michael Steele replaced her in 1983. The group’s second and third albums

during the mid-’80s scaled charts.

“Different Light,” the Bangles’ 1986 release, contained the Billboard

chart-topping hits “Manic Monday” and “Walk Like An Egyptian.”

“I don’t know what my favorite would be,” Peterson said of the group’s

songs. “I like quite a few.”

“Eternal Flame” became the fifth best-selling single in 1989, but the

late ‘80s proved rough for a group that had just spent the past nine

years together. The Bangles disbanded.

“For a while, we didn’t really talk to each other much,” Peterson

said. “We needed some rest from each other. We were so involved in the

Bangles world that we didn’t have any other lives.”

But three years ago, Hoffs became persistent in trying to reunite the

group.

“I think with the whole solo thing going on, she realized she didn’t

want to do it alone,” Peterson said of Hoffs’ intentions. “And very

slowly it seemed to come back together. It just had to be the right

time.”

And while bands coalesce almost as fast as they disperse nowadays,

every Bangles member has returned to rekindle a second flame.

“It’s the four of us,” Peterson said. “If one of us wasn’t going to do

it, we wouldn’t do it. It’s all or nothing.”

FYI

WHAT: The Bangles will perform at Taste of Newport

WHEN: 9:15 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Fashion Island, 900 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach

COST: $15 for general admission, which includes performances. Children

younger than 12 admitted free Saturday and Sunday.

CALL: (949) 729-4400