#34: Feel It Again by Honeymoon Suite

City: Saskatoon, SK
Radio Station: CKOM
Peak Month: April 1986
Peak Position in Saskatoon ~ #4
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #34
YouTube: “Feel It Again”
Lyrics: “Feel It Again”

In 1981 John Richard DeGiuli, from Niagara Falls, Ontario, formed the Honeymoon Suite. He was a guitarist and lead vocalist and went with the stage name, Johnnie Dee. After several years of line-up changes, he played alongside lead guitarist Derry Grehan and drummer Dave Bretts. In 1983 the band won a contest on Toronto’s FM station Q107 for playing a song Grehan wrote titled “New Girl Now”. The band expanded to include keyboardist, Ray Coburn, and Gary Lalonde on bass. A debut album followed that included their debut single and several other marginal hits. A second album, The Big Prize, included their first Top 20 single in Canada, called “Feel It Again”.

Ray Coburn wrote “Feel It Again”. In the song there’s one woman who is set apart from all the others. The relationship has its ups and downs. He confesses, “I thought this heart would never mend.” He tells her, he’s “wanting you here in the sheets.” Without the connection, he’s “wandering around incomplete.”

“Feel It Again” reached #3 in Buffalo, #4 in Saskatoon (SK), #5 in Golden Valley (MN), and Toronto, #6 in Colorado Springs (CO), #8 in Lloydminster (AB), #9 in Seattle, Regina (SK), and Akron (OH), #10 in Boston, and #13 in Ottawa.

Another single, “What Does It Take” was featured on the soundtrack for the John Cusack film One Crazy Summer. And in 1986, Honeymoon Suite had their song, “Those Were the Days,” appear in the Charlie Sheen and Randy Quaid action-horror movie, The Wraith. The following year, Honeymoon Suite recorded the title song for the  Mel Gibson movie, Lethal Weapon, which was played during the final credits.

By the end of 1987 Honeymoon Suite began to do studio work on their third album, Racing After Midnight. However, an accident happened when Johnnie Dee was hit by a car at the Los Angeles International Airport. His leg was broken in a couple of places. Surgery followed. When the album was finally released in 1988 it included several singles, with “Love Changes Everything” climbing to #9 on the Canadian RPM Magazine charts.

In 1989, Honeymoon Suite were invited to have one of their songs in the series finale of Miami Vice. “Bad Attitude”, was aired during scene while a Ferrari driving down a road. Also, that year, Honeymoon Suite issued a greatest hits album, The Singles.  The band continued to tour in the ’90s, although many line-up changes…

In 2002, they released their first new studio album in 11 years, Lemon Tongue. Playing on the album were Grehan and Dee, who were by now the group’s only official members. In June 2007, the band officially announced the return of a reunited classic line-up of Johnnie Dee, Derry Grehan, Ray Coburn, Gary Lalonde, and Dave Betts. The band toured extensively throughout Canada in 2007 and 2008 and then entered the studio to record a new album. The high point of the reunion was the new album Clifton Hill.

In the summer of 2017, at this time of publication, Honeymoon Suite has ten concert dates in Canada during August and September.

June 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
Derry Grehan, Honeymoon Suite, Canadian Bands.com
Honeymoon Suite, Canadian Classic Rock.com.

CKOM 650-AM Saskatoon (SK) | April 4, 1986