John Oates Plays The Rockaway Hotel on Aug. 24

By Katie McFadden

Oh, oh, here he comes! John Oates, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and GRAMMY nominee, is bringing his legendary musical talents to town. On Sunday, August 24, the Hall & Oates co-creator will perform at The Rockaway Hotel.

After a falling out, Daryl Hall and John Oates, famous for classic songs like “Maneater” and “She’s Gone,” have parted ways, but with that comes new beginnings, and lucky for Rockaway, John Oates will be performing at The Rockaway Hotel at 6 p.m. on Sunday, just ahead of him releasing his newest solo album, “Oates” on Friday, August 29.

Celebrating 25 years as a solo recording artist, Oates felt there was no better way to honor that than with new music on a self-titled album, “Oates,” his ninth solo project. Unlike the more rock sound of Hall & Oates, with this album, John Oates took the opportunity to focus more on other aspects of his musical range. “It’s a return to more of my R&B, old-school soul kind of style. I’ve been doing a lot of acoustic singer-songwriter recording living in Nashville, but I wanted to get back to more of the R&B, soul groove that’s also part of my musical DNA,” Oates told The Rockaway Times.

About a year and a half ago, Oates started working on the new album, and he’s been releasing a few singles over the summer. “Enough is Enough,” a collaboration with New York-based pop-soul sibling duo, Lawrence, dropped on June 20. In mid-July, he dropped “Real Thing Going On,” and when his album comes out on August 29, so will the third single, “Away’s Away.” “That one might be my favorite track,” Oates said. “But they’re all good and all a bit different. I’m just proud of the record. It’s a feel-good record, it’s very danceable and fun and it’s got a real positive vibe to it.”

Oates and The Good Road Band will be playing all of those songs and more on Sunday. “I got this incredible band, The Good Road Band. They’re absolutely amazing and when people see the live show, they really get it,” Oates said. In addition to songs from the new album, Oates says they’ll be paying homage to some of the music that inspired him. “I do a segment of the show called ‘the songs that made me’ where I try to showcase some of the songs I liked as a kid that made me want to be a musician, play guitar and sing,” Oates said.

And Hall & Oates fans can expect a few of the big hits, but this show is all about a celebration of Oates as a solo artist. “This is not by any means a half of a Hall & Oates show,” he said. “I do a couple hits, but I don’t feature the Hall & Oates songs. They’re in the past for me. Those songs will live forever. What I want to do is introduce my new music and me as an individual.”

Oates arrived in his old stomping grounds of New York City on Monday as he gears up for Sunday’s show and other appearances around the tri-state area, and he landed in a familiar place. “I’m staying in a hotel a block away from where I used to live in the Village,” he said. Oates was born in New York City, living in Manhattan with his family until they moved to Pennsylvania when he was 4. But as Hall & Oates started to take off, Oates found himself living in Manhattan once again, from 1971 until the late ‘80s. And in that time, he drew a lot of inspiration from the city around him. “A lot of the big hits were written basically in New York. Daryl and I lived in New York and songwriters are always inspired by the things, the people, the city, the world around them,” Oates said.

“‘She’s Gone’ was inspired by NYC in the early ‘70s. It was in the middle of the night, and I was eating at a soul food restaurant in the Village. And I met a girl, a crazy girl, and thought things were going pretty well and it was December, freezing cold, and I wanted to see if she wanted to hang out on New Year’s Eve. She said yes and New Year’s Eve came, and she never showed up. It was great. The best thing that ever happened. I sat on the couch and said ‘well, if she’s not coming now, she’s gone,’ and I just started writing the song,” Oates said about the inspiration for their first huge hit.

One of their biggest songs, “Maneater,” was also inspired by a New York woman. “I was in the Village at a restaurant, this very hip ‘80s place where lots of musicians and actors and models would hang out and a girl came in and she was absolutely devastatingly gorgeous. She sat down at the table and one of the first things she did was tell one of the filthiest jokes you’ve ever heard and I thought, wow, her vocabulary and beauty were in stark contrast. That was exciting,” Oates said. “As I was walking to my apartment, I was thinking ‘man, that’s the kind of girl that would chew you up and spit you out’ and I thought, oh, she’s a maneater, duh!”

Oates says the songs on the new album aren’t inspired by New York, as he’s mostly spent his recent years in Nashville and Colorado, but working with New York-based band, Lawrence on “Enough is Enough,” Oates says that song “definitely has a New York vibe,” and was even recorded in NoHo. As for being back in New York recently, Oates says the vibe is still there, despite time. “New York has changed drastically. But it’s still got the old New York vibe, too,” he said.

Sunday won’t be the first time Oates has been in Rockaway, but it has been a long time. “Back in the days when dinosaurs walked the earth, my parents took me to Rockaway Beach. I have a picture of me, probably two years old, sitting on a blanket, holding my feet and my hands up in the air because I didn’t want to get sand on me,” Oates said. How does he feel about sand now? “I could care less,” Oates said. So, he won’t spend much time on the beach but may take in the ocean views before playing at The Rockaway Hotel on Sunday. “We end up at The Rockaway Hotel on the 24th and I didn’t know much about it, but it looks really cool,” he said.

And Rockaway is in for something really cool.  “If people want to hear a live band that plays live music with no pre-recorded stuff and people are actually singing and playing instruments without autotune, we’re your ticket,” Oates said. “We’re old school, I’m proud to be a musician who paid his dues and knows how to play and sing and that’s what we bring to the table, so if you want to hear a kickass band that’s actually playing, you’re gonna like it. You’re not gonna want to miss this. It’s gonna be amazing.”

Sunday’s concert is located at The Rockaway Hotel (108-10 Rockaway Beach Drive). Doors open at 6 p.m. For tickets, see: www.greetingsfromrockaway.com