KEY POINTS:
Max Merritt's parents were ahead of their time back in Christchurch during the 1950s. They didn't just let him go to rock'n'roll dances, they helped run them.
His mum made cups of tea and his dad was on the door at the Sunday dances that Merritt and his band the Meteors were playing at.
They'd also let him and "his boys" jam in the lounge on Monday nights while "mum and dad would go and sit in the bedroom and read the paper".
"We'd play until about 11 o'clock at night and if we were going on too late mum would come out and start turning the lights off. It was really supportive. I didn't really think about it at the time. And it wasn't until I had kids that I thought, 'That was kind of selfless'."
Those early years were the start of a rock'n'roll lifestyle - admittedly, one with its ups and downs - that the 65-year-old is still living today.
Next week Merritt returns home for a nationwide tour, including a concert at the Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland on March 16, with the Meteors and 60s pop diva Dinah Lee. He also plays a home town gig at the Christchurch Town Hall on March 24 as part of the city's Rock'n'roll festival celebrating 50 years of New Zealand rock'n'roll.
Merritt, along with Johnny Devlin (the original) and Ray Columbus, was one of New Zealand's first rock stars.
Early on he was influenced by Elvis and Bill Haley. However, in the late 50s his love of blues, R&B and Motown was piqued when American servicemen who were stationed in Christchurch gave him records by black artists like BB King.
He loved the songs because they told stories, but also as a result his sound started taking on a more rough and ready approach.
"It wasn't until then that I stopped trying to be a pop star and started doing the music that I loved, you know, the Motown stuff. I don't have a voice that's suited to crooning. I've got a voice that sounds like I gargle in sheep dip so I was suited to singing that sort of music," he says.
In 1959 a guy named Dick Letussier (nicknamed Butterfly Dick), who sold soft drinks at Merritt's dances, wrote the lyrics to one of his most famous songs, Get A Haircut.
"It was quite right for the times because the kids started having long hair, with the duck tails, and parents hated it and I remember I got told to get a haircut when I went to school because when Rock Around the Clock came out I had the Tony Curtis pompadour and duck tails at the back."
After popular success in New Zealand the band moved to Australia and although they took years to get noticed across the Tasman, Merritt stuck with it. Perserverance, he says, is the key to making it in music.
"If you're going to make music your career you've got to live it 24/7. You've got to think about when you're off to bed, you've even got to dream about it. There's no off time, you've got to persevere, and it's not for the weak of heart because you get knocked down so many times."
He moved to London in the early 70s and despite building up a solid following on the pub circuit and supporting bands like Slade and the Moody Blues, it wasn't plain sailing. In the mid-70s he had to resort to bricklaying - a trade his father had taught him - for a time.
He stayed in Britain for a decade, even playing with punk acts like the Stranglers. "But everybody hated us," he admits with a laugh. "We ended up causing fights because we weren't suited to the venues."
So he realised it was time to move on and nearly headed back to New Zealand. However, on his way through Los Angeles he thought he'd give that city a go.
That was in 1980 and he's been based there ever since. "It has a great vibe and the weather is fabulous," he says.
But he's looking forward to coming home. He says the string of tour dates in the New Zealand tour, which starts in Kerikeri on Wednesday, reminds him of the old tours he used to do around the country. He reckons it's been more than 40 years since he toured here with the likes of Howard Morrison and Bill and Boyd.
"They were more like variety shows back then, not rock'n'roll shows. You had fire eaters, comedians, country singers, and snake charmers all on the same show," he laughs.
They never played with Dinah Lee back then either but she did come to see them play in Auckland, and occassionally got up and sang with them. In fact, says Merritt, his girlfriend of the time was responsible for turning Lee's permed hair into the classic Dinah Lee 60s bob cut.
"We all used to hang out together and go and have a beer and raise a bit of hell," he says.
And he still does.
"It's always good, after a show the adrenalin's running, and it takes me about three hours to get back to normal again, so I like to go out, have a few beers with the guys in the band, shoot the breeze, have a few laughs and dissect things. I don't party as hard as I used, of course, but I still like a few beers."
Performance
* Who: Max Merritt and the Meteors with Dinah Lee.
* Where & when: Bruce Mason Centre, Takapuna, March 16. Plus, The Centre, Kerikeri, March 14; Forum North, Whangarei, March 15; Baycourt, Tauranga, March 18.
* More information and tour dates: www.ticketek.co.nz
