It’s been more than 40 years since Men Without Hats gave the world permission to dance if they want to—and there seems to be more dancing than ever these days.
The Canadian synth-pop band behind the iconic hits “The Safety Dance” and “Pop Goes the World,” led by founding member and frontman Ivan Doroschuk, is experiencing something of a renaissance. Thanks to the enduring appeal of 1980s music—and, believe it or not, new material—the band is finding fresh audiences while staying true to its roots.
Men Without Hats is currently on a robust tour schedule that includes performances at OC Rewind Fest in Huntington Beach on September 27 and the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach on September 28. The OC Rewind lineup also features other ’80s legends like Tom Bailey of Thompson Twins, Bow Wow Wow, Naked Eyes, and Animotion.
KTLA recently caught up with Doroschuk to discuss the band’s relentless touring, his early musical inspirations, and the upcoming studio album, “Men Without Hats On the Moon,” set to release next month.
The Interview
KTLA: Checking your tour schedule and social media channels, it sure looks like Men Without Hats is busier than ever these days.
Ivan: We are. Since I put the band back together around 2010, we have done way more shows than back in the ’80s. We’ve been to more places, seen more people, done more shows. It’s really amazing. There seems to be a resurgence in ’80s music now. I think there’s a new love for all things ’80s. It’s really great.
KTLA: Let’s talk about how much you love the ’80s. You’ve got a new song, and you were here not too long ago playing in downtown L.A., and you rolled out “I Love the ’80s.” The crowd, probably many of whom had never heard that song, loved it. Are you getting that kind of reaction everywhere you go?
Ivan: We are. It’s doing really, really well. It’s been moving up the charts in the Heritage charts in the UK, and we’re just getting a great response. Whenever we play it, it seems to have touched a chord in people. It’s brought back a lot of good memories. And the video is doing really well, too. It’s our sing-along part of the set, and people just get right into it and really enjoy it. So, we’re really happy about that.
KTLA: A lot of ’80s bands, especially those that are playing the festivals, are relying entirely on material from a long time ago, but here you are. It’s 2025; you had two albums just a couple of years ago, you have this new single—you’re making a lot of new music.
Ivan: Yeah, we’re just on a roll, I guess. We’re just doing new music, and we are playing the old stuff when we play live. We play new stuff, too. And when we do live shows, I get to see my original fans, but they bring their kids, and sometimes even their grandkids, too. So, it’s good to keep current, and I hear a lot of ’80s influences in modern pop music anyway. So it’s a full circle. You hear the ’80s drum sounds, the big drum sounds, and the synthesizers and robot voices. So, it’s come full circle, and the next generation seems to appreciate that vintage ’80s sound. So, we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We keep doing what we’re good at, putting out new music, and keeping people happy.
KTLA: What can you share about the next album? I understand “Men Without Hats On the Moon” is coming out next month, right?
Ivan: Yeah. Well, it’s going to feature the “I Love the ’80s” single. It’s got our new single coming out, too, that’s coming out in about three weeks. The single’s called “Inglorious Days.” It’s also an ’80s-tinged sort of piece. And there are five or six more songs on the record that are classic Men Without Hats songs. There’s a John Lennon cover. I do “Jealous Guy.” I share a birthday with John Lennon, so he’s always been pretty close to me, and I was always a big Beatles fan, too. So, we’re honored to do a John Lennon cover on our new record. That’s it—seven or eight new, ’80s-influenced songs that have that classic Men Without Hats sound that people enjoy. So, it’s coming out soon.
KTLA: At every show, you pay tribute to ABBA, not just with the song you play (“SOS”), but also with what you share with the audience about how you feel about that band. Obviously, their music transcends generations; their music is still played a lot. Tell us about how they inspired you and still inspire you.
Ivan: I grew up listening to a lot of progressive rock music, but one of the bands that I consider further out in space than all those bands put together is ABBA. We actually just got back from a tour in Scandinavia and played Sweden, and they particularly enjoyed that song. ABBA just wrote some great melodies, some great lyrics, some great tunes, and they were a great live band, too. So, they were a big influence on me. I grew up listening to ABBA, listening to The Beatles, and those were kind of my mentors as far as songwriting goes. They’re the template for the songs that I write and always have been.
KTLA: Have you had a chance to see the virtual ABBA performance in London?
Ivan: No, I haven’t, but I can’t wait to see it. It looks like it’s going to be pretty good.
KTLA: You’ve shared the story of “The Safety Dance” millions of times, but I would love it if you could share the story behind your other big hit from the ’80s, and that’s “Pop Goes the World.”
Ivan: We’re fortunate to have touched on a couple of larger themes. Like, “Pop Goes the World”—we wrote that, and it was the birth of the Green Movement, kind of, and that seems to be on people’s minds today. “Safety Dance” was about doing your own thing and not succumbing to peer pressure, and that also is very relevant today with social media and the pressure that that puts on people to follow the pack.
But the story that I tell about “Pop Goes the World” is that it was 1986, and I had just signed a big record deal with Polygram Records in New York. I sent them off a 10-song demo, and at the last minute, I attached a one-minute-long instrumental that I had just written that kind of reminded me of “Popcorn” by Hot Butter, a big, synth-heavy kind of hook little tune, just an instrumental.
A week later, I get a call back from the record label. The A&R guy there says, “Okay, those 10 songs—you take those and you throw them in the garbage, they’re not very good. But that one-minute-long instrumental? If you stretched it out to three minutes and 30 seconds for radio, wrote some lyrics and wrote a chorus, and made a real song, and then wrote 10 more songs just like it, I think we’d have a hit on our hands.”
Back then, especially, I wasn’t really into taking record companies’ advice; it was kind of against my nature. But since the guy who was giving me the advice had just signed Bon Jovi, I figured, “Wow, he might know what he’s talking about.” So I followed his advice, and the rest is history, as they say. It proved that I did a good thing by listening to the record company’s advice.
The guy who gave me the advice was Derek Shulman, and he used to be the singer for a prog-rock band that I listened to growing up, a band called Gentle Giant. He went on from Polygram to form Roadrunner Records and signed a whole bunch of bands like Slipknot. He was very, very successful as a record label president and A&R guy. He also was in a band with two of his brothers, too, so that kind of made him close to me. I formed Men Without Hats with my two brothers, too, so we had a lot in common. So, I did a good thing by listening to him.
KTLA: Men Without Hats has been a family affair since day one. I know your brothers are not part of your live performance, but your niece is. Tell us about her.
Ivan: She’s the newest addition to our band: my niece, Sahara Sloan. She’s taken over from her father, my brother Colin, who was an original founding member and was in the band until a few years ago. He took on a new job as the head of the voice department at the Victoria Conservatory of Music here on Vancouver Island, where we live.
His daughter is a classically trained opera singer, actually. She graduated from the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto, and she plays keyboards, plays synthesizer, and sings vocals with us. But she’s been in the band since she was born; I mean, she sang vocals on our records when she was four or five years old. She’s grown up in the studio with us and on the road with us, so she was a logical fit for the band. She’s the next generation. She’s already a crowd favorite. She’s a lot better looking than I am, too. So, it’s a good thing.
KTLA: Ivan, it’s been great to have the chance to talk with you. Anything else you want to share?
Ivan: Oh, just we want to tell people that they can still dance if they want to, and to have fun at the show.
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