Nelson brothers bringing Christmas show to Arcada Theatre

In the ’50s and ’60s, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and their family became television’s first family.

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, the identical twin sons of the late Ricky Nelson, who was killed in a New Year’s Eve plane crash in 1985, will perform Friday, Dec. 5, at the Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles.

Also on the bill are The Cowsills and the Cadillac Casanovas. The show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are available by calling 888-695-0888 or at the Arcada's website, www.oshows.com.

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson achieved success in the '90s with their band Nelson and their debut album, "After the Rain," which reached double platinum status. Kane County Chronicle reporter Eric Schelkopf had the chance to talk to Matthew Nelson about the upcoming show.

Eric Schelkopf: I know you were at the Arcada Theatre four years ago for the "Ricky Nelson Remembered" show. This time, you guys are doing a Christmas show, and its going to be multimedia. For those who come out to the show, what should they expect?

Matthew Nelson: People tend the love the vast amount of film footage that we're fortunate enough to have of our family, just from "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" television sitcom and we've also got some home movies.

My dad had done a couple of Christmas songs on the “Ozzie and Harriet” show back in the ’50s. The truth of the matter is that in our family, my fondest memories were Christmases.

I think a lot of it had to with the fact that my dad was incredibly hard-working. He had four kids in private school, and he lived in Los Angeles, so let’s just say he needed to work.

He was gone about 300 days a year playing shows. So, when Christmas came around, it was sacred. He wouldn’t work on the holidays.

It was kind of when everybody got together. People were happy, and differences were left at the door.

We actually are recording a Christmas album. It’s mostly acoustic-based, as the show is. It’s two brothers singing with acoustic instruments.

The idea was to take some holiday classics and do them our way, again respecting the heritage of them, but kind of putting our spin on them.

Schelkopf: Does it always amaze you what kind of impact your dad had on people?

Nelson: If you saw my dad, he was amazing on stage. He deserved to be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

I’m not surprised one bit. He deserves it.

It’s just a shame. He got a lot of attention from his fans when he was alive, but he didn’t get a whole lot of respect from his critics until after he died. And then people realized we lost a big one.

Schelkopf: I know Nelson reunited in 2009. What is the future of Nelson or what music projects are you going to be working on next year?

Nelson: Next year is an anniversary year for us. I shudder to say that it's been 25 years since the debut of our first album, "After the Rain."

I kind of want to keep challenging myself and do different things. I love the learning process.

We’re planning to mothball the Nelson moniker, which kind of keeps us stuck in what we did 25 years ago.

I think what we are going to wind up doing is a project that would be like The Everly Brothers making their first album now, with modern technology.

And it feels very comfortable for us. It’s still two brothers, a couple of guitars and a great song. And that’s really what Nelson was all about.

Schelkopf: What was your dad’s biggest influence on you?

Nelson: I grew up wanting to play music my whole life as an occupation. It's what I've always wanted to do since I can remember, aside from wanting to be a fighter pilot for a second when I was 6 years old.

Through doing what he did, he made me realize that it’s possible. It’s achievable.

I was pretty keenly aware that there were going to be a lot of people that looked at us like we didn’t deserve a break. I actually think that we were five years behind of getting a record deal when we should have, but it just made us stronger.

The truth is, I did have a pretty huge run there for a while at a very young age. It was phenomenal for a while, and it was scary.

There was a while there where Gunnar and I couldn’t go out in public together. We would cause riots. It was nuts.

What got me through it was something that my dad said about a career in music being just a series of comebacks. It’s how you handle the lows, not the highs. You’ve got to be able to come back and keep swinging.

Here I am, I’m 47 years old, and I can say that I play music that I believe in. I’m still liking what I do for a living. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it.