Bassist and founding member of Heart Steve Fossen didn’t set out to bring Heart back.
“Everything kind of fell together organically, which was kind of nice,” Fossen told The Era Monday. He and fellow Heart founding member Mike Derosier will be performing in Bradford Wednesday with Heart by Heart — more of a “second generation of Heart” than a tribute band.
The group’s fall tour will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bromeley Family Theater at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford as the first show in Bradford Creative and Performing Arts Center’s season.
Fossen explained he, Derosier and fellow founding member Roger Fisher were having a party, and had chosen Somar Macek to sing a few Heart songs.
“Over the course of that summer we became friends,” Fossen said, “and that friendship blossomed into romance.”
The two eventually married. The name of the band, Heart to Heart, was a play on their relationship. “We were in love, and our hearts were together.”
They started as a duo. He explained a friend was a promoter, and asked them to perform as an opening act for Dwight Yoakam. Figuring a duo wasn’t enough for an act like that, Fossen called Derosier and Fisher. Yoakam ended up canceling the concert.
“We didn’t have a gig but we had a band,” Fossen said. They were asked to play a benefit Oct. 2, 2011, for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. “And people started talking about us. Booking agencies started calling us.”
When the group was playing at a casino, the opening band’s bassist Lizzy Daymont approached them about needing a second female singer. “We had her over for rehearsal, and within a week, she was gigging for us,” Fossen said.
The band started playing to larger audiences, and Fossen realized he was having a lot of fun.
“When people see the band, they will bring their Heart albums and posters and memories,” he said. In the lobby after the show, the band members will sign memorabilia and listen to stories of what Heart has meant to its fans over the years.
“The people that see us, they really appreciate that we do the songs the way they were written and recorded,” Fossen said. “We try to reproduce what it was like to be at a concert in the 70s and 80s.”
He added that he loves all the original Heart songs they play, but Mistral Wind is probably his favorite. “Because Mike Derosier has such a great drum part for that song,” Fossen said, “I love to see him enjoying it. When we play I get a smile on my face that doesn’t go away until we’re done.”
Fossen said he loves that the music is still so popular and commonly played. “I will go into the hardware store and hear Barracuda,” he said with a laugh.
And for all those fans, Fossen has a message about Wednesday’s show: “We love playing music and we try to play it as good as we can every night. We do our best to do our best every night.”
