ON STAGE HAWAII We've aged well, haven't we? Original Knack bandmates Doug Fieger, left, Prescott Niles and Berton Averre.

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’70s band still
cooler-than-thou

After 27 years, I'm beginning to hear some improvement," Doug Fieger said in assessing his band the Knack. "We're better than we've ever been."

Knack attack The Knack with local opening band Tiki Taboo Where: Pipeline Cafe, 805 Pohukaina St. When: 7 p.m. Aug. 3 Tickets: $24 general and $60 VIP seats, 18 and over Call: 877-750-4400

That may be an understatement from a man who's been mostly known for enthusiastically singing "My Sharona" for 26 years running. The Knack has been spending the summer on tour, tearing into the ubiquitous song over and over again for audiences who love their now-retro music.

So what can local fans of the Knack expect years later when the band hits town Wednesday night? According to Fieger, exactly the same thing as before. While he's working at a leisurely pace on a new record with Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and Blondie drummer Clem Burke, he and the rest of the Knack are just as proud of their '70s cooler-than-thou image, as well as of material like "My Sharona," the hit single off their debut album "Get the Knack," which Fieger describes as being written by the band's inner 14-year-olds.

"We're still looking pretty good," said Fieger of his band, which has been together off and on since 1978. "We look pretty much how we looked in our 20s. We've been blessed with good genes. We haven't eaten ourselves out of our outfits."

Fieger has preserved the look and sound of the band because the Knack is something he still cares about. And yes, they will gladly play their "golden albatross" of a song.

Fieger, 53, whose baritone speaking voice still sounds like it belongs to a 20-year-old, isn't the sort of person who will decry the song that brought them riches and resulting royalties. He's respectful of the longevity of the song, which resurfaced after appearing on the 1994 "Reality Bites" soundtrack.

"My Sharona" is named after the girl he once worshipped from afar, Sharona Alperin, who is now a successful Californian real estate agent and mother of two.

"It's a great song," said Fieger via phone from his Woodland Hills, Calif., home. "It really appeals to people and still resonates with an audience. When it re-charted on 'Reality Bites,' a lot of people in the '90s didn't know it had been a former hit. So it was odd that it appeals to an audience of the ages. But it's good."

WHILE FIEGER was confident in his song, which sold an additional 3 million records in the '90s, the critics didn't always agree with its appeal or the follow-up single "Good Girls Don't," finding the intentionally simple songs, uh, simple, and jaded at best and immature at worst.

"I don't watch TV. I don't listen to the radio or read the newspaper because of what's out there. Our agenda was to write well-crafted, intelligent, sometimes funny, sometimes serious songs. But what we wrote about was our adolescent selves."

After the band's debut and second album, "But the Little Girls Understand," successive releases failed to reach the platinum status of "Get the Knack." Fieger believes their sound fell out of the public ear due to changing tastes, just as the public had tired of disco previously.

At the beginning of the band's career, the group didn't grant interviews upon the advice of a former manager who wanted to build up a mystique around the band. While Fieger said the Knack emulated the professionalism of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson, the Knack has maintained control over its own identity and image, right down to the skinny ties and mop-top haircuts.

"We wore those outfits because we wanted to look different. They were also a throwback to our 14-year-old selves. That's what was going on at that time. We were poor, so we wore the black pants, white shirts and ties.

"(Today), I don't have to do this. I could retire," said Fieger. "But we are people who love to entertain. We are trying to make people feel good, as well as make a buck. We're never going to be a contemporary of these new, young bands. As far as making new music goes, we'll only do something only when we feel like it. It's more about what we want to do at this point, than about a compulsion."