Micky Dolenz says he and bandmates are still monkeying around

The drummer of the famed TV show band the Monkees, which was so popular in the late 1960s that it outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, says he sees his spot in the band as just a role, similar to ones he’s played in “Aida” and “Grease” on Broadway and “Hairspray” in London.

“I was cast in that television show,” Micky Dolenz says by phone from Los Angeles, where he lives. “I was playing the wacky drummer, and singing the songs and playing the drums, and acting and improvising and playing the part on the television show.”

And yet, there’s no denying it was the role of Dolenz’s life — so much so that, more than 45 years after the series was canceled, Dolenz again finds himself on a tour with fellow Monkees Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith (the fourth member, Davy Jones, died in 2012).

“I’ll always be associated with the Monkees, there’s no question about that. But I’m not a Monkee every day,” Dolenz says with a laugh. “I can imagine going back and re-creating that role, and that is how I personally have always looked at the Monkees.

“It’s like Leonard Nimoy going back to ‘Star Trek’ and playing Mr. Spock.”

The new tour, which comes to the Fox Theatre on Thursday, is the third by Dolenz, 69; Tork, 72, and Nesmith, 71, who came together after Jones’ death from a heart attack at age 66. Nesmith hadn’t been on an extensive tour in 25 years.

Dolenz, Tork and Jones toured as the Monkees off and on since MTV revived interest in the series with a marathon rerun broadcast in 1986 that prompted a 20th reunion. The original lineup, including Nesmith, recorded a comeback album, “Justus,” that hit the Top 200 in 1996 and did a short U.K. tour in 1997.

Dolenz says there wasn’t anything about Jones’ and Nesmith’s relationship that prevented a reunion while Jones was alive. For decades, Dolenz says, “there’s always been talk” about reuniting with Nesmith, “and we invited Mike on every tour that we did.” It was just that Nesmith was busy with his career in production and distribution of television shows and movies, Dolenz says.

But when the surviving three got together “for a memorial for Davy at someone’s house … someone had suggested that we do a memorial concert in tribute to him.

“Mike had not been on the road for literally decades, but he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that. That would be great,’” Dolenz says, “so we thought maybe we’d ask to do two or three concerts. And then an agent got a hold of it and said, Well, why don’t you just go on tour and do, like, a few weeks?

“We talked about it a lot, and I went out and visited Mike, and we sat down and played through some of the stuff — you know, just to make sure he was comfortable doing it, and he finally said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’” The three did just a dozen shows on that tour, then toured again last summer.

Those initial shows included a lengthy tribute to Jones, part of which showed him singing along on a video screen. “It wasn’t the official Davy Jones memorial tour or anything, but we definitely paid a homage and a tribute to him,” Dolenz says.

He says the new tour still will acknowledge Jones, but the tribute angle has been decreased. “It’s two years later, you know?” he says. Dolenz, who with Jones was the Monkees’ primary vocalist, says he sings Jones’ vocals on songs such as “Daydream Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” Dolenz says they always sang each other’s songs.

He says all the Monkees have done solo tours — even Nesmith since the first reunion — and Jones also sang Dolenz’s leads on “I’m a Believer” and “Last Train to Clarksville.” “And of course we all sang Mike’s songs, even when he wasn’t there,” Dolenz says.

“That’s one of the wonderful things about this tour, is over the years we’ve always sung a lot of Nesmith material, because it’s so wonderful,” Dolenz says. “And it’s really nice to have him back doing the vocals, because I used to do a high, Everly Brothers-kind-of harmony to him in those songs, and it was a great sound. And we’re doing that again.”

Asked what compelled the three to do yet another tour, Dolenz says, laughingly, “Well, that’s sort of our job. ... That’s what rock ’n’ roll bands do.”

Clearly there remains a fascination with The Monkees.

The band was together just four years originally but produced 11 platinum and eight gold albums, four of which went to No. 1. It also had 12 Top 40 singles, six of which went gold and five that hit No. 1, including “I’m a Believer” and “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.”

Its television show had just two seasons but has been in syndication since.

Asked about the enduring interest in the band, Dolenz says it isn’t a phenomenon unique to The Monkees.

“You could ask that same question about any band or any TV show: What is it that keeps ‘Star Trek’ going for four decades? Or Paul McCartney or the Stones? You could say that about great TV shows, you could say that about great movies. ... Why do we keep watching ‘Dr. No’ over and over again?

“And you just don’t know at the time. No one knows at the time whether it’s going to work, no one. If there was a formula, there wouldn’t be any flops. So you do your best, and then what happens is that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. And it’s a bit like a fission reaction — it just takes off.”

Dolenz says one of “The Monkees” producers once was asked that question, and responded, “I don’t know — we just caught lightning in a bottle.”

“So there’s something about the Monkees — the show, the music, the songs, everything — that just resonated with a lot of people and still does. That’s the answer, and I don’t think that you can reduce it, like in any scientific sense. You can’t do that. It just doesn’t work like that.”

Dolenz says he, Tork and Nesmith continue to get along well. “I mean, you know, there’s always creative differences — that’s what kind of keeps things fresh and exciting. But for the most part, yeah, we all get along.”

He won’t rule out them making new music together again.

“All the time it comes up, and I wouldn’t be surprised,” he says. “There’s no plans, there’s no project or recording plans at the moment at all. But the subject is always there … and with Mike now touring with us, he’s such a wonderful writer, a very prolific writer, and so like I say, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

The Monkees

When • 7:30 p.m. Thursday

Where • Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Boulevard

How much • $30-$100

More info • 314-534-1111; metrotix.com