They’re the grandsons of Ozzie and Harriet. Sons of Ricky Nelson.

And rock stars in their own right: As the group Nelson, Gunnar and Matthew Nelson were behind hits like “After the Rain” and “Love and Affection” in the 1990s.

They’ll bring “Ricky Nelson Remembered,” a musical tribute tour, to the Merrill Auditorium in Portland on April 5.

But before they make the return trip to Maine (they were last here 2007,) we put the hard questions to Gunnar Nelson.

About his favorite lobster dish. The brothers’ amazing ’90s hair. Their new projects.

And we inadvertently discovered they’re not above penning a potty song.

Name:

Age: 45

Lives: Nashville, Tenn.

Describe the show a bit: It’s a couple of sons paying tribute to their dad and doing it in the most highly integris way possible. We start basically by utilizing the set list from the last tour our father actually did with his band and we play the same songs in the same order, but we punctuate it now with stories from our childhood and his, related by some of his friends.

The one lesson that Matthew and I learned when we lost our dad is that every day is precious. We just remind people of that, at the same time as giving them an escape for a couple hours and lots of laughs. We’re kind of like a combination of the Everly Brothers and the Smothers Brothers.

Your tour schedule is interesting — Florida, Maine, then California. Why fit in Maine? Well, first off, it’s one of the most beautiful areas in the country. We’ve been there before, we love it. I’m a huge Stephen King fan; every single one of his stories is pretty much centered there. We actually did an L.L.Bean event (in 2007). It’s God’s country, what can I say? We’re fisherman, too. (When traveling,) we try to get in with enough time to really enjoy what the locale has to offer. We always get a reference with the locals with what they’re most proud of with the town. Everything from the food to the sights and we go and enjoy it if we can.

You’re a King fan? Absolutely. Any guy that buys his own radio station because he thought what the previous programmer played sucked, I like that guy.

Tell us about your live cooking events: I love food, I’m passionate about it, and (making a meal is) the way I’ve always treated my friends and my family, other than the music. It’s really kind of a gift when you can share a night like that. The last event I did, it was really simple. I think people must know how to make three different dishes: When you’re trying to impress somebody of the opposite sex, that’s the first dish. The second dish is the morning-after dish, if things go well. Third, every bachelor, I’ve learned, needs to learn one thing that can give him some leftovers throughout the week and still be impressive.

Best lobster dish: I’m a big fan of steaming lobster and throwing on butter and just going for it. It’s so tasty just like it is, I wouldn’t screw it up.

Could you expand on your quote “Dare to be stupid”? A lot of times when people are being creative, whether they’re writing books or blogs or songs, you get in trouble when you allow your inner critic in the same room or space as the creative person. (‘Dare to be stupid’encourages) you to ban your inner critic until a later time. Dare to get crazy — that’s where real inspiration comes from. They say in my business “It’s not final until it’s vinyl,” and so you’re constantly working on improving things until the very, very end.

Unusual tactic for making a point: We went on this last run, 14 shows in 15 days, it was for a particular art council organization, and in most of these gigs we found that the audience members were far older than we were used to playing for. The average age was 80 — I’m not kidding, we’re talking about playing for 1,500 80-year-olds. And what we realized as we were doing this, there’s a certain decorum that most audiences adhere to when you’re going to see a show, which is you don’t get up and make people move so you can go to the bathroom in the middle of a song. It’s distracting; at least wait for when the song’s over. And that’s happening for like 10 shows in a row. So Matthew and I wrote a little song for the event and we kind of worked that in in case it happens:

“Going to the bathroom in the middle of our show, going to the bathroom, guess you really had to go.

Take your time, we don’t mind, we don’t think it’s rude, but while you’re gone we’ll wonder if it’s number one or two.”

The future? We actually wrote and released a Nelson rock record two years ago called “Lightning Strikes Twice.” I think it’s the best work we’ve ever done in the hard rock, pop metal sort of thing. What we realized in the process is: That was really our final statement as far as that project (Nelson) is concerned. In doing this “Ricky Nelson Remembered” show for almost a decade now, what we’ve learned is that the essence of what it is we do and what we’ve always done comes from the two guys singing brother harmonies off each other, two guys, two guitars. That’s what Matthew and I have now focused on. It’s going to be “Ricky Nelson Remembered” or that project, The Brothers Nelson, and that’s it. We’re not going to be doing any more touring with Nelson the rock band or anything like that. We’re going to be working on the new stuff.

I have to ask: Do you miss the hair? Yes and no. It was really nice being able to do a hair-flip on stage and feeling that stuff just sway in the breeze. Shoot, man, no one grew their hair better than the Nelson boys. I kind of feel like we’ve been there, done that, we were the world champion hair farmers of all time. We gave it to Locks of Love when it was time to cut it. When it got to the point, “Oh, you mean the two guys with the long hair?” and no one was listening to the music, it was, “Maybe it’s a good time to trim up a little bit.”

Interview edited for length

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