SUN CITY – “People hear what they see.” – Bobby Darin
Steve Wild takes that remark to heart, as his band, the Class of 68, follows it to a tee. Their music is as original as when it was played in the 1960’s or early 1970’s. The look makes the audience feel as though they have stepped back in time to the great performers of the era, but the crowd interaction is what he believes separates them from other bands in the area.
“We spend a lot of time and effort [on] the appearance of the thing,” Wild, one of the founding members of the band and CEO of Club-Net, Inc., said. “When people leave, I think they will look back and think they had a good time. That they’ll be able to leave on a high note.”
Residents of Sun City will be treated to a free concert on July 12, set for a 6:30 p.m. start time at the Prairie Lodge.
The Class of 68 formed in 2002, when Wild decided to put together a small group of friends to perform some live music at a friend’s 65th birthday.
Wild’s musical past extends beyond the birthday, though, as he played in bands from grammar school into high school.
“I quit for 32 years and didn’t pick up a guitar at all. I never dreamed I would be playing in a band like this; I had no desire to play in a band again, but as I was taking guitar lessons one day, my wife poked her head in and asked if I wanted to go to this birthday party,” Wild said.
Now six members strong, the Class of 68 primarily performs across the Chicago area. They will go as north as Kenosha, but prefer to stay within a one- or two-hour range of their home.
“We have a lot of equipment, equipment that takes two hours to set up and two hours to take down. And when you throw in that we perform for two hours, which already makes it six hours. If we go any further than the two hours, we’re looking at a 10- to 12-hour workday,” Wild said.
Although they perform from a set list, the band does take requests and have performed Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” in previous performances. The list is tweaked sometimes, as well, as band members are aware of the crowd reactions for the songs they play.
“For instance, we played this song that was fairly well-known, a song by the Searchers called ‘Every Time We Walk Across the Room,’ but people would scratch their heads and say ‘What?’ because not a lot of people knew it, so we had to drop it,” Wild said.
What makes the band different, in Wild’s opinion, is two members – Wild included – have master’s degrees in business administration and one has a master’s of fine arts from Northwestern.
“And the fact that we have six guys who are all wonderful performers is that our ability to do different types of music is pretty extensive. With those bigger songs with brass or different kinds of instruments, we can take on projects like that and do them really well. Our sound is very full,” Wild said.
When asked why ’60s music was the theme for his band, Wild said, “Something about the music…something about the different types of genres just resonates with different people.
“It’s some of the synthesis of modern music today. You had all these different forms of music come together on one radio station, and you didn’t have the fragmentation of the radio stations like you do today,” Wild said. “This kind of music has a universal appeal. Everyone enjoys it and dances to it. Once you get out of the ’60s and ’70s, it’s really hard to dance to that kind of stuff. You see the dance floor not fill up as much, except for that rare exception.
“It also generates a mixed crowd,” he added. “For instance, we’re playing a show in Lake Forest, and one of the songs will be ‘I’m a Believer.’ The newer generation will remember the song from ‘Shrek,’ while the older generations will remember it from The Monkees. To enjoy it, I think it’s not just appealing to the older people but it appeals to the young folks as well. We’re just trying to introduce them to that music that literally changed the world,” Wild added.
