Derry Grehan is just like everyone else. When he’s not writing songs with he shovels snow like the rest of us and drives his kids all over the country for hockey games.

 Except on the weekend, when he rocks out on guitar with ’80s rockers Honeymoon Suite, who come to Average Joes, Feb. 16.
He also spends a lot of time writing with people in Nashville.
“I haven’t been down there in eight months,” he said, from his home in Bloomington, Illinois, about two hours away from Chicago.

“My kids are in travel hockey ’I’ve seen the inside of a lot of arenas, though not to play, but to watch hockey,” he said.
 Honeymoon Suite played  quite a few arenas in the ’80s and ’90s  after scoring countless hits including “New Girl Now,” “Burning in Love, ” “Wave Babies,” “Stay in The Light” and many more.

 Thanks to that success and being busy with other projects, they have the luxury of only playing on weekends — usually big summer music festivals and fairs.
Their Lethbridge show ends an Alberta run including stops at the Century Casino in Edmonton and Deerfoot Casino in Calgary.
“Casino gigs really keep us going during the winter. Everything slows down in the fall. The summer is our busy season,” he said.
Honeymoon Suite is in the process of  writing new music.

“We have eight  or nine good songs. We‘re so busy we have no time to write together But All bands should do it every three or four years to  keep it fresh for the fans,” he said.
 He does feel disconnected from  the rest of the band, (original members Gary Lalonde and Dave Betts plus keyboardist Peter Nunn) who all live in Southern Ontario, while he lives in Illinois.

“I do miss them. Johnnie (Dee, lead singer) will call me up and  say ‘man, I’ve got some great ideas, I wish you lived down the street so we could  write.’ But we have to make time to do it,” he said.

 

We have some shows in Southern Ontario in March, So I’ll fly up a few days earlier and  we’ll write together then,” he said.
“ We have the original line up fromm the ’80s and Peter Nunn may as well be. He’s been with the band longer than Rob Preuss or Ray Coburn,” he said.
They are switching up  their set.

“We’re still playing all of the hits, but we’re also adding  three or four songs we haven’t done for a while.Off of “Monsters Under the Bed,” we’re doing “Say You Don’t Know Me,” and  “Wounded” form the “Big Prize,”” he said.

“We’ve also been playing “Lethal Weapon,” he continued adding it takes some work to relearn some of the older songs.

“I sometimes have to relearn my guitar solos, but it really quickly refreshes my memory,” he said.

He would also like to do a solo album some day. He has released a few home recorded demos online.
“I would like to do that. It would be a lot of fun,” he said.

 He is enjoying writing in Nashville. Recently he connected with fellow Canadian musicians Jimmy Rankin and Patricia Conroy for a writing session.
“We had a writing session and it was a lot of fun and Jimmy said he wants to cut one of the songs we wrote, so  I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that,” he enthused.
 Honeymoon Suite and the Raw Dogs play, Feb, 16 at Average Joes.
 Tickets cost $20.