Chris Isaak returns to town for Beaver Creek show

A piano that catches fire, a 20-foot tall inflatable pin-up girl and a 35-pound suit covered in mirrors. Those are a just a few of the props Chris Isaak may bring to his show at the Vilar Center in Beaver Creek tonight. It’s that showmanship, combined with his unmistakable voice, that keeps audiences entertained as Isaak rocks out on stage, clearly having a blast.

“I have a great band who loves to play live and who really put on a show,” Isaak said in an email to the Vail Daily. “If you love what you are doing, if you are having a ball being up on stage, well, then people can tell, and it’s fun to be a part of. I love my job and I guess it shows!”

Isaak and his band will take the stage in Beaver Creek today at 8 p.m.

“We love Vail,” Isaak said. “My piano player is one of the only people I know who was actually born in Vail. We usually get a little time to walk round town before we play. (We’re) just strangers off a bus living it up.”

Nick Mahaffey, a Minturn resident, is an Isaak fan and said his music is so good, partially because he seems like the “tortured guy,” seen in one of his most popular songs “Wicked Game,” released in 1989 on the album “Heart Shaped World.”

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“You can tell he’s a dry, witty guy,” Mahaffey said. “The guy’s awesome; he’s a great musician.”

Some artists aren’t particularly fond of playing live because they get nervous or just don’t want to be there, Isaak said. But for him, it’s the best part of any day.

“My band is so darn good,” he said. “I have had these guys since the Dead Sea was sick, more than 25 years. I still look forward to getting on the bus after the shows and listening to my drummer crack everybody up as we head down the highway. Life is quick, you gotta have fun right? Well, I’m having a ball out here.

“I am so lucky to have a job that I love and to work with a great bunch of guys,” he continued. “I spend most of my days with the band and I still like them all, and they all feel like I do. We are really glad to play music and we try hard to make sure the people have a good time.”

Isaak is a firm believer in interacting with the audience while he’s on stage, and makes sure to keep things fun.

“I think you have to do more than stand on stage and sing one song after another while you look at your feet,” he said. “We come to play music, but we make sure we have fun.”

Isaak and his band play rock and roll American music, as well as romantic ballads.

“I love music that is pretty. So many people think pretty is a dirty word,” he said. “I don’t. I like music that can make you dance and smile and then music that can make you want to call up your first girlfriend again.”

At his concerts, Isaak and his band plays a “potpourri” of their music. Most of Isaak’s songs are based on his own experiences.

“Most of my songs are just cleaned up stories from my own bag of tricks,” he said.

Tonight’s audience can expect to hear Isaak’s most popular tunes, as well as some new work.

“I’m not one of those artistic types who refuses to play his hits,” he said. “I like people to be happy. I’m damn glad to see ’em so I show up on time and do my best to make it a party.”

Isaak grew up listening to his dad’s records – Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis. These songs are the reason why Isaak is a musician, he said.

A few months ago he and his band recorded some of his favorite old tunes, as well as some of his own. They plan to release the resulting record, titled “Beyond the Sun,” out in September.

“We are doing a bunch of these tunes in our new show, we kind of have a ‘show within a show’ section in the middle and we have a ball,” Isaak said. “Doing these songs and making the record has been the most fun I think I ever had playing.”

Aside from Isaak’s career as a musician, actor and talk show host, he has driven delivery vans, worked as a longshoreman, a roofer, worked in a funeral home, threw hay and was a doorman.

“Nothing is one-tenth as fun as getting to sing with my band,” he said.

But he loves it all.

“It really is just different flavors in a box of candy,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I know my first love is always singing. When I get back off a long tour, the first thing I do is walk in my house and find my guitar and start singing.”

Courtney Riley is an intern at the Vail Daily. Email comments about this story to criley@vaildaily.com.