DR Hook's biggest hits may have been written more than 30 years ago.

But that does not mean that Dennis Locorriere wants to be stuck in the past.

The band's former singer and guitarist told Weekend that it has been important for him to keep writing new material as a solo artist and his shows are always a mix of old and new.

"I wanted to know I could still be creative," said Dennis.

"I didn’t want to just rest on something I did 30 years ago.

"I always did this because I liked it and I thought it was exciting and I thought it was great to come up with a new song.

"And if all that’s gone then I’m pretty much just travelling around as a parrot saying just the same stuff over and over.

"Having said all that at the beginning of last year, I worked with Universal Records on a compilation called Timeless.

"I chose 40 tracks and the album went top 10. I thought that material is 40 years old and still has a place.

"It brought home to me the value of that body of work. I want to be appreciative and reverent of it but it doesn’t mean that I want to be slave to it."

So no plans for a Dr Hook reunion then?

Dennis, who grew up in New Jersey, added: "First of all there were seven of us and four of us are gone so any reunion would have to start with a séance.

"But no. I’ve been asked about a reunion so many times over the last 30 or 40 years and the only people who have never mentioned that to me are the other members of Dr Hook.

"When I was in Dr Hook we were a bar band and then we became an international act with hits all over the world.

"But we were friends so when I think of those days I think of it in the same way you might a group of friends you hung out with at college.

"I was really close to those people but life changes and moves on.

"So I have fond memories of those days but I think nostalgia has its place but I’m not the kind of guy who pines for yesterday as I think it is a lost cause. It doesn’t come back.

"People like to hear the music I used to do because it reminds them of another time of their lives and that’s cool."

Dr Hook's biggest hit was the 1979 UK number one, When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman.

But perhaps their finest hour was in 1972 when they released a song that poked fun at the idea that a musician had 'made it' if they had been pictured on the cover of Rolling Stone.

As a result they ended up on the cover of the iconic magazine themselves.

Dennis said: "We were playing with a lot of glam rock bands and bands that were taking themselves very seriously and we were walking out on stage and taking the mickey out of all of it with The Cover of Rolling Stone."

But in another twist the single was banned by the BBC as it was considered 'advertising'.

Dennis said: "I think there was a number you could call to hear the record. We always thought that was funny. How clandestine was that?"

But some quick thinking allowed it back on the airwaves.

Dennis added: "BBC liked the record but couldn’t play it so they took our recording and a bunch of DJs went into a studio and wherever we sang they Rolling Stone they bellowed Radio Times like a bunch of guys at a pub!"

- Dennis Locorriere brings his solo show to Parr Hall on Wednesday. The show is sold out.

DAVID MORGAN