The 1980s tend to be remembered as a decade of more cheese than substance, rife with super-sized shoulders, big hair and power ballads with tormented lyrics.
Perhaps it was all a distraction from the nuclear "spectre of doom" that hung above everyone's heads back then, muses Jason Crewes of the band Never Ending 80s. "We were all worried that the bomb was going to go off at any minute."
![The Never Ending 80s have reignited the musical spark of the era.](/web/20170202145608im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/3/c/n/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gu3c9r.png/1486023510655.jpg)
Performing as JC Ant, Crewes is one of two lead singers in the five-piece band that launched a year ago with one gig, a bit of fun to reignite the musical spark of the era.
"We're trying to bring back that experience of seeing a band in the '80s," he says. His stage name and look are adopted from English musician Adam Ant and his New Romantic fashion sense. "Prince Charming was the first album I ever owned," Crewes says with a laugh.
His co-singer, Juliane Di Sisto, who goes by the name of Julez Electric, crafts her look as a "little bit of Cyndi Lauper, a little bit of Whitney".
"People would do '80s songs as part of a greater show but there was nobody really devoted to bringing back not just the music but the style of performance," Crewes says.
Their three-hour concerts are a time warp into the past, belting out sing-a-long hits and medleys from Michael Jackson, INXS, Madonna, Cindy Lauper, Prince, George Michael and more.
"The '80s was kind of the apex of musical ability being geared towards pop music," Crewes says. "You've got the best-trained musicians who are focused on pop music. It's amazing some of the songs, some of the time signatures and some of the key changes."
The audience response has been "incredible" from the beginning, according to Crewes. After their debut in February, the band played more than 45 shows last year6.
"Everyone's up and dancing from the word go," says Di Sisto. "We tag team and basically have a lot of fun. We jump into the audience and dance with them and get everyone moving and grooving."
"One thing that's been most amazing to me is that there's no break in generations," says Crewes. "We have people at our shows who are 18 and we have 70-year-olds."
He puts it down to the enduring musical legacy of the decade and the "unbridled joy" in the music.
"Everybody's getting into the spirit of it; they're dressing up and they're so committed to joining us on this trip back in time," says Crewes. "There's no cynicism in the room, which I think is very rare in this day and age."
Never Ending 80s
Gig February 4, Narrabeen RSL, Narrabeen (for more, see neverending80s.com.au)
Tickets $25.50, kingdomsounds.oztix.com.au
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