Slaughter, the original Las Vegas rock band, back on stage in hometown

Before Imagine Dragons, the Killers, “C.S.I.,” “Oceans Eleven” (with Clooney, Pitt and Roberts) or “The Hangover,” there was Slaughter.

Slaughter was the first multi-platinum rock band from Las Vegas — indeed, it was one of the first indigenous Vegas ambassadors to represent the 702 worldwide.

But back then, many Americans didn’t think it was very cool to be from here, as Slaughter’s Dana Strum recalls.

National journalists would try not to embarrass the band as a Vegas entity, saying instead that Slaughter was from Los Angeles. The band would correct the media.

Slaughter couldn’t even get gigs on the Strip.

“Casinos didn’t book hard rock and rock in the ’80s,” Strum says. “They hadn’t figured out yet, like EDM music, this brings in a whole new set of pockets.”

So where did Slaughter play their big hits “Fly to the Angels” and “Up All Night”? They rocked those tunes at UNLV’s sold-out Artemus Ham Hall, where classical fans usually went for opera or Mozart.

“You’d be shocked at how in 1989 it was unfashionable to be from Vegas,” Strum says.

The way he remembers that era, it took about a year for MTV’s promos to talk up Slaughter’s Vegas background as a cool factor.

In the ensuing years, Strum believes, America’s perception of Las Vegas’ image was next turned positive by the openings of the Hard Rock Hotel, Steve Wynn’s Mirage megaresort, and then the Maloofs’ Palms hotel.

“With the Killers, it was OK for them to be from Vegas. And there hadn’t been a (big national hit) band from Vegas in a long time,” Strum says.

Strum still lives here. Mark Slaughter lives in Nashville. Guitarist Jeff Blando moved to Florida. But the whole group is here to rock the Eastside Cannery Events Center on Saturday, with Great White.

The band, minus Mark Slaughter, has also been Las Vegan Vince Neil’s band for eight years.

And even though the band plays songs the way fans want to hear them, some things have changed. For one thing, Strum says he isn’t the lady chaser he used to be.

“I made some poorer decisions in the earlier part of my career when it came to, say, the typical ’80s rock womanizing, and all that.”

To this day, he sometimes wonders, “Why was I making foolish decisions like that?’

“Some of it was, I think, just boredom. Some of it was not realizing that, just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.”

Don’t misunderstand him. He’s not ashamed. He just moved on.

“Many of those people still show up at the shows, and some of them expect similar behaviors, and I’m not saying some of that doesn’t go on,” he says. “It’s just, I think — to the degree of the excess that I personally did it — ‘Really? What were you thinking?’ ”

He attributes part of his longevity to not doing drugs and thus rehab. He did drink, but now he’s into moderation.

“I can’t drink today what I used to be able to drink 30 years ago. And I don’t think I’d even want to. I threw down. I had a good time. But I think, ‘I can’t possibly drink a half bottle of Jack (Daniels).’ ”

Strum is also producing other singers. And he manages much of the band’s maneuvers.

“We just came back from Japan. That was all self-booked, and self-managed.”

He says Eighties rock bands weren’t designed to last but his did.

“When you hear people singing back your music, this many years later, and you know your place in the rock and roll food chain, you’re pretty lucky,” Strum says.

“I acknowledge Slaughter’s place. I don’t make something out of it that it’s not. Slaughter is not the Rolling Stones. Slaughter is not The Beatles.

“We made music we hoped would make people feel good. And we’re lucky it’s lasted this stretch of time. We try to be fun, uplifting entertainers.”

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.