By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Mar 01, 2015 at 2:06 PM

It’s been about 50 years since a bunch of bands made their way across the pond to America, sending the nation’s teenagers into a tizzy – as well as their parents into a harrumph – and changing music and pop culture forever.

Now, many of the figures from the era of the British Invasion – including Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and, later, Wings, Billy J. Kramer, Mike Pender of the Searchers, Terry Sylvester of The Escorts and The Swinging Blue Jeans, and pop duo Chad & Jeremy – land on American shores again for a 50th anniversary tour, coming to the Pabst Theater on Friday, March 6.

Serving as both a performer and as the evening’s master of ceremonies is Peter Asher, renowned producer and the former half of the successful Brit duo Peter & Gordon. Before the show Friday night, OnMilwaukee.com got a chance to chat with Asher about singing on tour again, the state of today’s pop music and remembering when America went bananas for Brits. 

OnMilwaukee.com: What is it like coming back and revisiting these songs for this tour?

Peter Asher: Well, it’s fun. As you probably know, I didn’t sing them for many years; Gordon and I went on a hiatus for 38 years and then got back together to sing for a benefit actually some years ago. That was really the moment of like, "Boy, this isn’t too hard singing these songs all over again." And it was actually fun. The audience enjoys it; we enjoyed it. So that’s when I decided that singing again was an interesting and respectable thing to do when I could fit in with all of my other projects.

In this particular case, they asked me if I wanted to be a part of this tour with friends – they did it before a year ago, but I was only able to the opening and closing nights; I was too busy – and this time, I put aside the time to do it. So far, we’ve done three dates, and it’s been really fun. Everyone has such a good time.

The nice thing about playing these modest-sized places – obviously, this is far from an arena tour – is that we get to meet the audience and talk to people and hang out afterwards. It becomes a really great event. You’re seeing people crying and laughing because this is the song when I met my wife or this is the song when our daughter was born. It’s great; it’s fun.

OMC: What was that reluctance for singing for those several decades?

PA: It wasn’t really reluctance actually; I was just so busy doing other things: producing records, managing people and stuff that I was loving doing – and still love doing. It wasn’t like I would never sing. In fact, during those years, I would sing for fun at home or with friends, and always have. There wasn’t any real reluctance. There was some uncertainty about whether doing so professionally would be a worthy thing to do. It turns out that it is.

OMC: You also serve as the master of ceremonies for the show. What does that all entail for you?

PA: It enables me to try and put the whole British Invasion idea in some kind of context. I talk about what Britain was like in the ’50s and why I think the revolution, in a way, of the ’60s took place. Of course, I point out that the whole thing musically was based on our admiration and love for America. It was all about American music. Everyone of us were essentially tribute bands to American music. We were trying to sound like their favorite American records, so in the end, you have yourselves to thank for whatever the British Invasion turned out to be.

OMC: Yeah, America inspired the Brits, who then in part inspired a new generation of American bands and so on.

PA: Exactly. It’s weird; it’s amazing. We stole your music and sold it back to you. It’s brilliant.

OMC: What is it like looking back on that era and craze 50 years later?

PA: It’s great. It’s exhilarating. First of all, you have to remember how much we wanted to come to America. America was a big deal for us. It wasn’t like now where people nip over for a week’s holiday in Florida or something. It was a long way away, and it was expensive to get to.

When we got the news that our record was number one, or six months earlier when The Beatles were number one, the big deal wasn’t just that we had a number one record. It was that we would get to go to America. The first time we landed in New York, I already had a poster of the skyline on my bedroom wall; I copied it down with the jazz clubs I would go to if I ever got to New York. Getting there and arriving there for the first time was incredibly exciting, and being met by screaming teenage girls trying to tear your clothes off made it even better.

OMC: How do you feel about the state of pop and rock music now?

PA: Oh, it’s fantastic. There’s so much great stuff out there. I’m astonished when I run into people who say, "Oh, they don’t write songs like that anymore," because I disagree vehemently. There’s some absolutely brilliant and amazing artists out there now. Ed Sheeran is astonishing. Bruno Mars is genius. Mark Ronson. Sam Smith. Adele. There’s tons of incredibly talented people out there.

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.