Concert Watch: Cheap Trick E-mail

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cheaptrickMommy’s alright, Daddy’s alright,
they just seem a little weird.
Surrender, surrender,
but don’t give yourself away, ay, ay, ay

“Surrender” by Rick Nielsen

Cheap Trick fans among the Millennial Generation can relate to the lyrics of the classic, “Surrender,” just as easily as the rockers did who first listened to them when the song was released in 1978. Celebrating 35 years together are original members Rick Nielsen (chief songwriter, lead guitar, vocals), Bun E. Carlos (drums, percussion), Tom Petersson (bass, vocals) and Robin Zander (lead vocals, guitar, piano).

Known for other hits such as “I Want You to Want Me,” “Dream Police,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Tonight It’s You,” “The Flame” and “Heaven Tonight,” Cheap Trick’s current album, The Latest, has been well received. The Japanese press referred to Cheap Trick as the “American Beatles.” In September the group played the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety for the album’s 40th anniversary, accompanied by an orchestra and artists Joan Osbourne and Ian Ball. In addition, Cheap Trick recorded the theme songs for both The Colbert Report and That ‘70s Show. “Surrender” was heard during the first and last episodes of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

Frontman Rick Nielsen, known for his onstage antics and trademark turned-up baseball cap, phoned me not long ago from Charlottesville, Va., between rehearsals for Cheap Trick’s current tour.

Jane Spietz: What’s happenin’, Rick?

Rick Nielsen: Today is the first show of the East Coast little trip we’re doing.

JS: I’m a little tired. I went to a great Brandi Carlile concert in Milwaukee last night and got home late.

RN: Brandi Carlile? My son (Daxx) played drums with her for the whole last year.

JS: Really? Small world! OK, the question everybody wants the answer to – how many guitars do you own?

RN: I’ve owned 2,000, something like that. I have about 450 or so right now.

JS: Name a couple of your favorites.

RN: My Gibson Explorer. They only made 19 of them in 1958, so they’re pretty rare. I have three now. I was up at the Les Paul Museum (in Milwaukee). Actually, one of my guitars is there. It’s been autographed by all kinds of different people.
JS: Everybody’s fascinated by your 5-neck guitar. What’s it like to play that?

RN: It’s very heavy!

JS: How much does it weigh?

RN: About 45 pounds. That’s pretty heavy for a guitar. I only play it on one song. I just did a photo shoot for a book that’s coming out and that’s one of the guitars they picked.

JS: What’s the name of the book?

RN: I don’t know what it’s called. It’s got 150 of the most influential guitars of the 21st Century. The book itself is going to cost around $1,000 or $1,500, something stupid like that. It’s going to be HUGE! (Laughs) I can’t imagine anybody buying it, but there you go.

JS: I think I’ll wait until it comes out in paperback!

RN: Me, too.

JS: Maybe it’ll only be $500 then! Who were your early influences?

RN: Duane Eddy, Les Paul, Jeff Beck. Those were the earliest. Plus, I was a drummer until I started playing guitar – so Sandy Nelson also. I’m self-taught on guitar.

JS: Let’s talk about Cheap Trick’s incredible popularity in Japan and the Cheap Trick At Budokan days.

RN: They liked our songs, our music. It actually started out a long time ago having something to do with Milwaukee. We opened for Queen in Milwaukee and Madison in 1977. Queen had heard our very first record and said “yeah, these guys are pretty good.” Our first record hadn’t even come out yet. So we did the two shows in Milwaukee and Madison. The Japanese press was big with Queen.

So the Japanese press were there documenting that tour. They saw us and liked what they saw. They asked the band to write an article for Music Life Magazine. I ended up doing a two-page article about opening for Queen. After that, we started getting fan mail. Later in ’77, we opened for Kiss, who were also very popular in Japan. By then, our first record had come out there and we started having hits. We started getting all of this fan mail from Japan. We were getting no fan mail in the United States. (Laughs) The press was there to see Kiss again.

We did real well on the Kiss tour; we were with them for three months. We had two top 10 singles with our first album (in Japan). We didn’t have any singles or do well anywhere else in the world. So that’s how it kind of started. It was because I was such a great publicist! (Laughs)

JS: You also played with John Lennon.

RN: Bun E. and I played (with Lennon) on August 12, 1980. We did “I’m Losing You” and “Moving On”.

JS: So that was just a couple of months before he died.

RN: Actually, a guitar that I’ve brought in to use on this tour is one that I gave to John that I got back three years after he was killed. We’re doing a song from the All Shook Up album called “Baby Loves to Rock” where I use this special guitar for that. I’m going to be using it on these shows coming up and we’re doing a Soundstage.

JS: Where can your recordings with John be found?

RN: They were not released on the original Double Fantasy album because they wanted some continuity of using the other guys that they’d used on the rest of the record. Wonsaponatime is the album compilation that came out about John Lennon. The “I’m Losing You” version that we did was the very first track on it. A video was done and you can find it on YouTube.

JS: You mentioned that one of your sons played with Brandi Carlile. Are any of your other three kids in the music business?

RN: Two of my sons are both with Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.

JS: Really? Our Cory Chisel?

RN: They helped discover him. He’s stayed at my house 50 times. My one son (Miles) plays bass and all of the other instruments; my other son (Daxx) plays drums. Cory’s great.

JS: How did April 1st become “Cheap Trick Day” in Illinois?

RN: Illinois has a soft spot for us. We’re one of the few companies that bring money back from the Far East! And that’s how we got there. April 1st is our day and we’ve had it for two years now. I picked the date.

JS: Rick, I wish you continued success with the tour and Cheap Trick’s most recent album, “The Latest”. Looking forward to having you in Milwaukee on March 2nd and 3rd.

RN: Hopefully there won’t be extreme weather. Every time we play there, it’s the coldest night of the year, or the most snow of the year, or the something of the year! Playing Milwaukee is great. Can’t wait. n