Mickey Thomas lives in Palm Desert, Calif., a land known for golf courses and retirees, about 110 miles east of Los Angeles.
But you won't find Thomas on the golf course very often. Nor is he close to retiring.
The 60-year-old frontman of the 1980s band Starship is finishing a studio album with the band and just released his first blues album, "The Bluesmasters Featuring Mickey Thomas." He hopes to tour with the Bluesmasters this fall after he wraps up the summer tour with Starship that stops at Sunday's KLPXfest.
Thomas chatted with Caliente about Starship's music and the appeal classic rock has on today's iPod generation.
You're still rockin' at age 60. What's the difference between doing it at 60 and doing it at 30?
"Not a lot. I seem to enjoy being on stage a lot more now than I did when I was 30. . . . I take better care of my voice now. I have more stamina. I just enjoy it."
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Do you mind the classic-rock label?
"No. Classic rock is cool."
Interestingly, the demographic leans heavily to people in their 20s.
"I have two daughters, a 22-year-old and a 21-year-old, and they and all of their friends love classic rock. I think what the kids like about it is . . . the melody of classic rock of the 1970s and '80s. That's a lot of the appeal."
You just finished a blues album.
"I kinda started out with blues, R&B, soul music. I got my start with Elvin Bishop on 'Fooled Around and Fell in Love.' That's where my roots were."
You live in Palm Desert, so does that mean you're thinking of retiring?
"No. Uh-uh. . . . I love the heat, and that's one of the reasons we moved here. I kind of like the way 115 feels."
When you stand on the stage and see all those people singing "We Built This City" back at you, what goes through your mind?
"Wow, this is still really cool. The audience still gets it. I still get it. . . . They say rock 'n' roll never dies, and that kind of proves it."
You're almost finished with a new Starship studio album. Is it more of the same or breaking new ground?
"Obviously, there's going to be certain Starship influences in there because it's me, and I sing the way I sing. But it's a little bit rootsier than what people would think of the Starship of the '80s. It's more organic, more acoustic guitars. Maybe a little bluesier, a little more Southern rock."
