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norfolk — The thing about a live album, Lucky 757 lead singer and guitarist Cory Spivey said, is no matter how many times you rehearse it, you never know what will happen once you’re recording.
His rockabilly/surf rock band learned that in December when they recorded “Live at the Goode Theatre,” a 21-track album they’ve paired with a video recording of the show that features interviews with the band. It releases today on their website, all major streaming platforms and YouTube.
With 20 or so tracks behind them, the band ripped into their song “Link Wray Way,” only to hear the Old Dominion University theater’s fire alarms screaming from up above.
Lucky for the band and the audience, there was no fire to be found when emergency crews arrived. Turns out, someone had put a fog machine on the second level of the theater and fire alarms mistook the fog for smoke.
“We only had two songs left and the firemen, thankfully, let us finish up when they saw there was no fire,” Cory Spivey said.
“We did the song two or three times during rehearsal in the building with the cameras and fog machine and never had a problem. We do it again for the audience and we set off the alarms,” Spivey said, after laughing at the irony of it all.
Truth be told, it’s why the singer and guitar-slinger has always wanted to record a live album.
Ever since he listened to Sam Cooke’s “Live at the Harlem Square Club” as a child, recording his own was at the top of his band bucket list.
“The way that album was recorded, you can hear the ambiance of the room, the crowd reacting and engaging. That one made you feel like you were there in the room,” he said.
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Spivey showed a natural talent for music at a young age, according to his father and bandmate, Danny Spivey.
By the time he was 3, Cory was singing nonstop. Danny Spivey bought him his first instrument, a mandolin, when his son turned 8. After that, Cory began picking up other instruments and taught himself to play by ear.
By the time Cory was 13, the father and son were playing on stages together. He’s now 29.
The two started Lucky 757 almost by accident after another of their bands parted ways.
“We had some songs we wanted to record, and we asked Sam to fill in on bass for that,” Danny Spivey said. “Angel had been playing music with us for years and he came and played the drums for us and it just kind of gelled from there.”
That was six years ago. Since then, the band — Cory Spivey, Danny Spivey (rhythm guitar and backup vocals), Sam Haga (bass) and Angel Lopez (drums) — has released three albums. Haga estimates they have another 40 or so songs they’ve yet to record.
The bandmates share an affinity for the sounds of rock music from the 1950s and ’60s. Cory Spivey’s rig, which consists of a vintage Fender Twin Reverb and a Maestro echoplex tape delay, ended up in his hands by chance after they opened for psychobilly rockers Reverend Horton Heat in 2018.
Spivey borrowed an amp from a friend for their set that night because his own just wasn’t cutting it.
After the show, he jumped at the chance to buy the gear, which he describes as crucial to his and Lucky 757′s sound.
“It was after I bought it that he told me they both had belonged to Pete Drake (a Nashville producer known for his “talking steel guitar” playing), and he used them at the Grand Ole Opry,” Cory Spivey said.
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Gearheads around the world chase after golden-era gear like that, Cory Spivey acknowledged, but he was lucky enough to stumble upon it.
“The gear — it just has this thing, this sound. You can’t replace classic gear like that,” he said of the 50-year-old amp and pedal.
Lucky 757 plans to record another album in the near future, and Haga said they’ll likely return to Memphis to lay down some of the tracks.
Until then, fans can take the live album and accompanying documentary for as many spins as they’d like, especially while live shows are still hard to come by due to the pandemic.
For fans ready to soak up some tunes in the fresh air, Lucky 757 will celebrate their album release tonight at the Cove Tavern in Newport News starting at 7:30 p.m.
To stream the album and the documentary, head to lucky757.com.
Amy Poulter, 757-446-2705, amy.poulter@pilotonline.com