What does it take to redefine the role of a bassist in rock music? Join host Buzz Knight as he takes you on a captivating journey through the world of rock and roll in this encore episode of takin’ a walk. Buzz sits down with Tom Petersson, the legendary bassist of Cheap Trick, to explore the band's incredible rise from their modest beginnings in Rockford, Illinois, to their explosive fame in Japan and the U. S. This isn't just a conversation; it's a deep dive into the heart and soul of rock music history.
As they stroll through the memories, Tom Petersson shares his innovative approach with the 12-string bass, a game-changer that transformed the sound of rock music. Discover how Cheap Trick navigated their early struggles and the surprising fame they found overseas, turning their live performances into family reunions filled with devoted fans. Buzz Knight’s engaging style brings out the best in Tom Petersson as they discuss the creative process behind new music and how the band has adapted to the ever-evolving landscape of the music industry.
This episode of takin’ a walk encapsulates the spirit of rock and roll, showcasing not just the passion of the musicians but also the enduring legacy of Cheap Trick. From songwriting stories to the emotional healing power of music, Buzz Knight and Tom Petersson offer listeners a unique perspective on the cultural impact of music. Whether you’re a fan of classic rock history or exploring the indie music journey, this episode is packed with insights that resonate with anyone who loves music.
Join us as we celebrate the stories behind albums, the career breakthroughs, and the legendary musicians who have shaped our musical landscape. With every step, Buzz Knight leads you through a rich tapestry of music history, offering a blend of inspiration, nostalgia, and a glimpse into the lives of iconic musicians. Tune in to this episode of takin’ a walk and experience the joy of music storytelling like never before. Don’t miss out on this inspiring music conversation that promises to leave you with a deeper appreciation for the artistry and resilience of musicians everywhere. #live music history #cheap trick interview #music legends
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm buzz night and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Now few bands in rock and roll history have logged
more miles, more stages, or more unforgettable nights than Cheap
Trick and standing at the low end of it all
with that iconic twelve string bass and a grin that
says he's still having the time of his life is
(00:23):
Tom Peterson. This April, as our Live and Legendary series
celebrates the artist hitting the road this spring and summer,
we're bringing back by conversation with one of rock's great
road warriors.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Tom sat down with us about.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
The Cheap Trick journey from the scrappy club days to
live at Buddha Khan, from the arena peaks to the
relentless touring machine. The band never stopped being because that's
the thing about Cheap Trick, They never really left the road.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It's where they live.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Tom Peterson is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer,
a base visionary, and proof positive that if you love
which you do and you do it with everything you've got,
the crowd will always be there waiting for you.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So crank this one up.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Coming up next on our Live and Legendary Taking a
Walk Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Tom Peterson, welcome to Taking a Walk. It's such an
honor to have you on. We're going to talk about
new music, the Riff that Won't Quit and all washed
Up and the tour and you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Guys are busy as always.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
But before we get into the festivities, Tom, I ask
the opening question of everybody, So I'm not going to
let you escape the opening question. If you could take
a walk with someone?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Who would you take a walk with?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Take a walk with? I?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I don't know, could be anybody under the sun, living
or dead.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Good lord, Can I have a while to think about this? Yeah,
I don't have to answer right at first.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
In fact, you know what, apologies didn't mean to throw
it off.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It's just the opening icebreaker.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
All right, the ice is broken, I'll come back.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'll come back to it so anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And I'll be thinking the whole time. I can't think.
It was like who I want to take a walk with?
Who would I want?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, there's no right or wrong answer. But can you
take me back to Rockford, Illinois in the early seventies
and tell me paint a picture for Rockford? I was
in Rockford many years ago. But what do you remember
about that moment when Cheap Trick came together.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, we I left Rockford in nineteen seventy one, so
I wasn't the seventies it really, you know, we grew
up there. Everybody in the band, and Rick and Bunny
and myself happened to go to the same high school.
We weren't friends at that point. We knew about it
other because we were all in bands, and Robin was
(02:54):
in a different high school in a different part of town,
so we knew about it each other, but we didn't
really know each other. I really just started hanging out
with Rick after I got out of high school, and
he and I started hanging around together when we went
to England together in sixty eight. And before Chief Trick,
we had a couple other bands going and that, you know,
nothing was working out. And finally we got together with
(03:17):
Bunny and with Robin and we thought, okay, now we
have something, and we just that was seventy four and
we just kept going tried to get lucky.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now you had that twelve string bass early on. What
made you want to push the boundaries of what a
bass player and really redefine what a bass player could
do in a rock band.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, it was just to make the sound, to make
us sound more really orchestrated, without adding extra people in.
We didn't have a keyboard player, didn't have another guitar player.
Robin plays guitared about half of the songs, you know,
but it's basically a setup like the Who. You know,
it's a four piece with a lead singer, you know,
Zeppelin or whatever, The Who, all that kind of stuff.
(04:00):
It always to me sounded weird when you hear a
band live and there's like it's just then it's just
basing guitar level HENDRICKX, you know, like how great was he?
But I was thought, boy, it'd be great if it
was it just to fill up the sound when there's
you know, the guitar player is soloing.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Now, those first few albums, they didn't really explode in
the US right away, but Japan, yes, but Japan embraced
cheap trick immediately. What was it like experience in that
level of fame overseas before America really caught the magic
a cheap trick.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, it wasn't. Immediately. We had our first album came
out and that was not a success in Japan or
anywhere else. The second album in Color came out when
we were on tour with Kiss. At that time, they
were doing the Love Gun tour and they were huge
worldwide and because of that, they were very huge in
(05:01):
Japan as well. So the Japanese press followed them everywhere.
So everywhere we went there was Japanese press, and you know,
they were kind of stuck with us, and oh, here's
these goofballs, what's what's this? So that second album in
Color struck a chord with the Japanese and we had
a bunch of hit singles off of that second album,
(05:21):
which we had no success anywhere else none, And so
we went to Japan and did those songs and it
was it was pandem onum. It was really crazy. And
they decided to the record label said, you know, we're
going to film this and we're going to make a
TV show on hour long show, which they did and
it's you know, it's it's pretty interesting because it's the
(05:42):
Budaican show part of it. Anyway, an hour with commercials,
you know, tooth based commercials and all that stuff. It's
pretty funny. But after that they said, you know, maybe
we should release this as an album, do you mind?
Like no, and I remember our manager going, yeah, there
are department's going to do the cover. You don't, We
don't have to do anything. It's like okay, fine, and
(06:03):
we were like, the cover kind of sucks. This isn't
that great, and our manager said, don't worry about it.
No one's ever going to hear about this record. Okay,
that's wild. So much for the master plan, right, yeah?
So we uh. In fact, when we got to Japan,
we did not even have I Want You to Want
(06:24):
Me in the set list, and the promoter goes, hey,
we're I Want you to Want Me? Like, oh, you
don't even do it? What he's freaked? So oh well,
we played it a million times in bars, so yeah,
we can do that easily. That turned out to be
our biggest hit. What do we know, don't leave it
to us is what we know now.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
As far as I Want You to Want Me?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I mean that was even that was even around for
our first album. It didn't even make that record.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And now when you think about it playing a thousands
of times, how does it feel, you know, keeping it
fresh every time you play it?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It's not that it's fresh every time. It just as
long as it seems like it's fresh, that's what counts. Yeah, amen,
looks like we're having a good time, that's what counts. Now.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Who were your bass heroes growing up?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well? I started out as a guitar player, rhythm guitar player,
you know, and we were just you know, doing Beatles
songs and the Stones and all that, and you know,
high school events, and you know, we were teenagers. So
everybody's doing the same thing, The Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles,
who you know who, that kind of stuff. And I
can't remember what I was. I had lost my travel. Well,
(07:39):
how do we keep it fresh? But doing what I
just did, we're just kind of daydreaming, you know. They're like, oh, hey,
whoa where am I? You know? But our whole you know,
we're alive. We're a freaking bar band. And we played
thousands of gigs, five four or five sets of nights,
six nights a week, that kind of thing. Driving her
(08:00):
eye and completely destitute, no money, no nothing, but we
kept going. It doesn't seem like a good idea, but
it worked out for us. I wouldn't advise anyone else
to try it. But it's like if you've ever seen
behind the Music or one of you know, those type
of shows. Did you ever seen one of the happy ending?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
No? Definitely not?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah really, so there you are, maybe another type of
bro washed out all of us.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm gonna hit you with with five fast questions here, okay, these.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Take a walk with Okay, Norma Jean. Who would you like?
Norman Jean? Norma Jean, she's the art show queen. She
was the art show queen before she became Maryland. And
I only know that because we just played in Monterey
and we were going through this little town and they go, well,
this is the art show capital and Norman Jean. Okay,
so I'll pick Norma.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Perfect love it, okay. Twelve string bas or.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Four string, depends on what situation. Live. I only use
the twelve string. In the studio, I use whatever works
for the songs, and it's usually not the twelve string.
Because you're in the studios. You can overdub if you
want to want it to sound like a cello or
a grand piano while you get one of those things
and then batten up the sound. You don't need to
(09:25):
take up all the space on a record. It's Oh,
it's completely different live. All subtlety is gone. It doesn't
you know. You know, we're not out there making the
records sound exactly like the records. We never cared about that, like, oh,
we better not do that song because you can't do
it live. So what what matters is the recorded version.
(09:46):
That's what people are going to hear. So doing it live,
that's just a different thing.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Best city to play, to play live in?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And why best city? There is no best city. It's
just best venues. Usually they're your theaters or something like that. Indoors.
I mean, the worst venues are outdoor, the big arenas
and all that stuff. That's you know, it's just completely different.
The power you get in a club or a theater,
(10:16):
there's no comparison.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
A piece of gear you can't live without, well, a
bass guitar perfect, Well, I couldn't live without that too,
a piece of gear. Is there a bass player you'd
like to jam with?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They're all dead? No wow? Bass player to jam with?
No thanks? Yeah? Somebody does not? Yeah, somebody that's not
very good? That would be good, That would be good.
Do I want a jam with John n Whistler? Paul McCartney.
I did, you know, even if I wanted to, that
wouldn't it's not in the cards. Well, I can't do
it with Mt. Whistle, but he was one of my
(10:56):
big heroes. Even though at that point I was not
playing bass. I was a rhythm guitar player, same with Paul.
So all that stuff I did as a teenager was
rhythm guitar stuff, so all the Rolling Stone stuff. So
I wasn't really influenced directly by the bass player. I
liked their style so and then there were all sorts
of different ones that you know. Eventually I liked Jack
(11:18):
Cassidy with the Airplane. I thought he was great. I thought,
you know, it's just all different people. Ronnie Wood was
one of my all time favorites with the Jeff Beck group.
Now he doesn't get any credit, well for me, he does,
but doesn't get much credit for that work he did
with Jeff and with Rod's solo stuff. His bass playing
(11:38):
is terrific, and it's it's the kind of thing. It's
the bass playing that's kind of taken from a guitar
player's point of view, which is where I came from.
It's not typical. Oh, I sat around listening to this,
and you know, I got to hook up with the
kick drum and I gotta do it. Was none of that,
just what feels right, Just do it. So it's a
(12:00):
combination of a rhythm thing and an orchestra thing and
the base, you know, just it's just a it's basically
an orchestrated sound.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Finish this sentence. The new cheap trick music is.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The new cheap trick music is unbeatable.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yes, if you like riffs on't quit. It's your lucky day. Yeah,
don't too bad.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm gonna single out another song here since I live
outside of Boston down the road Tom from this place
called Woolster.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So oh yeah, that's how you pronounced that.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yes, A long way to Wooster, tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's always a long way to Wister. Always. There's no
great way to get that. It's impossible to get there
from here. I'm in San Francisco right now, so I
don't want to know about going to Worcester. That's way too.
That's a long drive.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
From here, always has been.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, especially in the of the sixties, Bondaville pulling a
U haul trailer, that's a long drive.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
It's a long drive. Yeah, but a terrific rock and
roll city.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I mean, you know, they love their rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Boston is in general, I say Boston in general, But
Wooster always had that little you know, we're the underdog.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
We started like Philadelphia, New York.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
A little bit like that. Yeah, in fact, as far
as Wooster versus Boston, for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean, he writes. I don't
know anything about it. We show up, we do the show,
and then we leave. I've never stayed in Worcester, but
I'm now I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, well, at least maybe.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
To pounce it and spell it.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Tell me about the process of putting the new music together.
It was recorded in a couple of different places, wasn't.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It mainly in Nashville? All the tracks and stuff we do,
we do those live and go from there. And some
of the vocals it's here that we're done in Los Angeles?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And so was there anything in this process that was
a little different for you guys? Or is this is
pretty much the way you guys always put great music together.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
This is pretty much how great music is put together. Yes,
the way we do it. If we do it. It's
gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Amen, Well but he agrees with that. That's a different story.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But I love twelve Gates.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's it's outstanding, and it's obviously got influence from a
band that's very close to you guys, namely the Beatles, obviously.
But tell me about that song and you know how
that came together because it sounds awesome like the whole album.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, that was just one of those things we put
together song ideas and then played them for each other, So, hey,
I got this, what have they got that? That was
a track that I had come up with, but I
didn't have any vocal idea, didn't have any vocals, hearts
or anything. And Robin immediately just jumped on like, oh
I love that. I've got some great ideas for that.
So that's just how that fell together. But that's kind
(15:21):
of like all of the songs. You know, somebody's got
an idea and I go, hey, that's what's that? And
usually the person that's idea it is is not sure
is this any good? It's you're too close to it.
You're like, hey, if somebody else goes, hey, wow, what's that? Like, Oh,
I don't know that was just some weird riff. Oh no, no,
that's great, let's okay, go with that. Usually the person
(15:43):
that's responsible for the original idea has no idea how
good or bad it is. Did this this for the
rest of us to decide like, ah, no, no, that's
a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You know, the music industry has changed completely since you
guys started out, you know, streaming and social media and everything.
How do you navigate that change? Do you even think
about that change or is it just full steam ahead,
cheap trick.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
We're here, man, it's we don't think about it. Anything
that we've actually planned never worked out, So just let
the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I have a feeling when I think back at the
way everything came together, you know, the success first abroad
and then obviously the success that came with the US.
Didn't it kind of first because of your you know,
Midwest roots. Didn't it first start in the Midwest and
kind of sprout to the respective coasts. Wasn't that your
(16:53):
core first in the US? A?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
No, the first place that we were really popular because
in those days, it just depended on what area you were.
In different parts of the country, they would all have
local radio stations, and the disc jockeys, believe this or not,
would actually choose what songs they played and just you know.
So we became successful for some reason out of the
(17:20):
blue in Buffalo, New York. Okay, so we're playing for
four people in Shaky's Pizza parlors everywhere else excepting Buffalo,
and we were selling out this theater downtown, Like wow,
this is wow, what happened here? And then the same
thing kind of happened to us in Los Angeles. Rodney
Bingenheimer he was he's the mayor of Hollywood. He took
(17:43):
a liking to us and took us under his wing
at that time and just showed us around and was
put us on you know, K rock and all this stuff.
So we had success in Los Angeles in the general
area that we are from. There was nothing there. We
weren't getting radio play, we weren't getting support. It's like,
you know, so now that's all forgotten, Like oh really, yeah,
(18:06):
hey great. We didn't break out of there. We started
there and we became a local bar draw. So we
were successful in that world, but beyond that, once a
record came out, it wasn't like, Oh, all the stations
in Chicago and Rockford and Madison and the Walker they
all started playing us. No, none of them did. Thanks,
(18:31):
thanks for nothing. It's just it's the luck of the
damn draw. Then when we get lucky in Japan, who knew?
You know, we had no idea. We still don't.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Are there some bands today, some newer bands that you
guys listened to, that you listened to.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yes, but I can't think of any of the top
of my head. But yeah, I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Is there anything on your playlist that we'd be surprised at?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Probably? You mean like VIAGRAA Boys or something like that.
You know those guys pretty funny.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I like stuff that's got a good sense of human
I don't really. I don't listen to the regular radio
as far as songs like it drives me crazy. I
hate everything that's you know, most things, and I don't
want to hear as much as i'd love led Zeppelin
or whatever act it might be. Do I need to
hear Ceboy the Heaven all the time. No, let's play
(19:30):
some damn deep tracks? Do I need to hear all
right now? By free? No? I like you, mister big,
it's not your whatever it is, it's all pop radio.
It never I don't listen to it. Kind of the
joke is if it's not played on NPR, I don't
hear it. But I get a lot of ideas from
people on Instagram that have like songs in the background
(19:52):
of their posts, and it's like, hey, Wow, what's that.
That's a cool one. Oh, that's L seven, what's that
that's cool? You know, it's just all different stuff. I
like to hear things that I have never heard before.
But the hard part with that is I also like
to know who it is. I can look them up,
you know, or something that's so bad that I have
(20:12):
to look it up. Pull over, who is this? I
got to wait till they say who this is? This
is the biggest bunch of shit I've ever heard, And
then it's then it's the top act in the US suddenly, like, okay,
I'm not going to name any names. If I was
an oasis, I can start naming names. I'm not going to.
You know, it's anybody has any success at all. It's
(20:34):
like more power to them. You know, this is far
be it from me to question anybody. It's just a
damn crap shoot anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So, but you said earlier about the state of the DJs.
Back when you know, cheap Trick broke out, the DJs
had an actual you know, say, they could play what
they wanted. They didn't have to go ask anybody, and
it was it was the freedom of that and they
knew they were all as you know, they were what
they were passionate about, they played, and it was it
(21:05):
was way different. I totally agree with you in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
You know, yeah, it was way different. And there were
college reps and college radio and you know, you didn't
just get every radio station you had to. You know,
there were all these underground like pirate radio kind of stations,
not a Little Rock Arkansas, Alferg and things, and you
can only really get it at night. It was cloudy,
(21:30):
so the radio waves, I don't know. So it was
different everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on anywhere else
except in their own neck of the woods. You know,
they didn't know anything of you know, all people dressing,
what are they doing? What I'm listening to? It was
all you had to just go there and try to
find out. In those days, there was no information basically
(21:53):
about anything. You had to really search for it. Now
it's the opposite. There's so much that you can't keep
track of.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It's it's overwhelming. Ultimately.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
First time I ever played you on the radio, it
was actually it was a college radio station. It was
the station that was owned by the University of Dayton
and Dayton, Ohio. It was called WVUD, and it was
like a it was a commercial college station, but we
still played whatever we wanted, and it was.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you're playing you know. In those days too, the
stuff that was on the right was more up with
people and Pat Boone or whatever, who just this kind
of middle of the road manby Pamby stuff. And then
we're listening to the Yardbirds and the Kinks and the
Beatles and the Who and the Stones and all this.
That stuff was completely underground. Those were not hit the Beatles.
(22:44):
That's they're in a different category. They're just you can't
even compare what happened or what they did or you
know anything about them. They're in a different world. But
everybody else from the Stones on down, that was all underground.
That was stuff led Zeppelin say that was to me
the led Zeppelin is one of the newer groups, and
that so far back that go. You know, they weren't
(23:07):
until a bit later. But even that stuff was I
wasn't played on the normal radio. Those weren't hits.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Tell me about your Ed Sullivan moment watching the Beatles
on Ed Sullivan described that moment for.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Me, Well, it was the second time I'd seen them,
because I saw them first a few months earlier on
Jack the Jack Parr Show, eased to about shag Pire.
Now that would have been sixty three, and he goes,
I went to England and there's this group and there's
throwing jelly babies and it's like this is nuts, and
they've got hair like girls in a sense pandemonium, like
(23:46):
what the hell is this? Wow?
Speaker 4 (23:48):
This is?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That was really these guys look are cool, all right?
What's that? So then you know that was that, and
then then they showed up in America. It's all of it,
and you know, everything change. It's hard to even describe it.
It's the whole society changed. Just everything, the whole culture
was turned on its head at that moment. And there
(24:12):
we are all these kids, baby boomers, you know, with
the World War two parents, you know, there there we are.
You know, they didn't like any of this kind of stuff.
They were not fans of the Beetles and the Stones
and the who, not even close. So it was this
battle against kind of the establishment. But it wasn't even
(24:33):
a fact like why we're not competing with these We
just like this stuff. But it was not popular. You
didn't see those groups winning Grammys or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
It was viewed as a subversive, right.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yes, yes, and then eventually it didn't help when Charles
Manson came around. But all of a sudden you were
not only you know, offensive to people, you were also murderers.
So there you go. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So cheap Trick is going to be out with a
non top, NonStop tour schedule.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Might as well be NonStop.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yes, pretty pretty close.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You're going to be out a long time and a
lot of places seeing people.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Tell me, tell me.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
What playing live to this day still means to you
and the band.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, it's different because now we've done it so long
and we have a lot of the hardcore fans and
at pretty much any show that we do, no matter
where it is, we will actually know people in the audience,
and it seems like a bit of a family reunion.
It's great, like, well, look at there's so and so
out there. Then we're in Tokyo. What the hell? You know?
(25:41):
It becomes like a big family in a way. Even
though you don't know necessarily the people's names, we do
know a lot of them. But now it's to the
point where we've got people bringing their kids and they're
you know, the young people are are singing along with
deep cuts. Now that's weird. It's one thing to sing
along with I Want You to Want Me here, obvious
songs that people probably heard, but once they start going
(26:04):
along with tracks that you know that no normal person
listened to, so I don't know, you know, it's it's
like a it's like a big family. We don't want
to go out there and sound like shit, but it
is what it is. So if we do, eh, like
(26:24):
Rick says, our mistakes are better than anyone else's. There's
something my dad know what he says. I can't listen
to him. That's all right.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Is there one song that surprises you that has emerged
as a deep track that you see people responding to?
You know that you're like, holy mackerel, that one they love?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I mean, is there one that?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Is there one that comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, the thing is, our biggest hit single was the Flank,
which we didn't write. That was a power ballad, and
it really wasn't. It wasn't something we we're doodling, even
though you know. And our second biggest hit was I
Want You to Want Me, which is ours. But none
of the other songs were hits, not big hits like that.
(27:10):
So people think, oh, dream Police it was a hit surrendered. No,
those were deep tracks. So almost all of our twenty
one records except where I Want You to Want Me,
they're all deep cuts. I don't care what it is.
Dream Police, that was not a hit. California Man, that
was not a hit. I want you to Want Me? Yes,
(27:32):
the Flame? Yes? What else was a hit? Don't be cruel.
We were the only act to cover an Elvis saw
to get into the top five besides himself, and I
thought that can't be true, and it is, I think,
But that was a minor hit. Ain't that a shame?
(27:53):
It was kind of a hit for us too, But
in general, they're all deep tracks. It's kind of like
an occasion, breakdown or whatever. Blood Zeppelin songs. You know,
those were not hits. I don't think stare what it happened.
Was I hit either, right, I don't think it was.
We've certainly all heard it enough. You know, it's Smoke
on the Water. Is that a hit? I don't know, maybe,
(28:16):
but we've heard it enough. You know, Oh that was
a big Yeah, dreamfully that was a big hit. No,
it was not a big hit. No it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So the band was was obviously inducted as it should
have been some time ago in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
As we're recording.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies just occurred.
As a band that's in the rock Hall? Is there
a band that annoys you to no end that should
be in that isn't in.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'm not surprised that a lot of the acts that
I like are not here. You know, I don't even
know what the parameters are, how you're getting or what.
You know. There wasn't the Hall of Fame when we started,
So it wasn't something we were like, oh, inspired you
to the Hall of Fame. No, you know, there wasn't.
And to start with and it's always like, well, who's
judging this? It's not like stats and baseball or footballers,
(29:08):
you know, it's why should we be in there instead
of somebody else? I have no idea, but it's the
kind of thing where we didn't think about it and
didn't really we weren't thinking about it. It's like whoa,
we got what, Oh, we're on the list, you know,
be voted on, Like wow, how do we get on
the list? And then boom we got in. It was
it didn't really hit us until we actually got there
(29:29):
and we're at the venue and it was like, wow,
look at all these people. He goes, what are how
do we fit in here? Like Jesus, Jerry Lewis, bats Domino,
you know, the Stones, Like but but the hell, We'll
take it.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It's wonderful. Tom Peterson, congrats on the new music, all
wash stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
See that's that that makes me happy. That's that's why
we do it. It's for you and for it's like
friends and family. If you can't play it for your
friends and families, like yeah, I know this is share it,
but people are gonna love it like uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I always like that. Oh they're they're getting bad press,
but they're laughing all the way to the bank. The
(30:10):
people that I know that got bad press were not
laughing all they were going to the bank. Yes, but
having your friends and family like your stuff is way
more important than them hating it and you're embarrassed, like
er geez, yeah, well that's sold ten million copies. Yeah,
but it's a brother that's bad. We don't look at
(30:30):
it that way. We don't know what the hell people
want to hear. We just know what we might want
to hear and what we Hey, that was where bad
come from? How'd you come up with that? That's a
good one, you know, it's exciting being in the studio
and coming up with this stuff out of whole cloth.
Now you've got AI, they can do everything right. But
to me, most music already was AI. It all sounds
(30:51):
like elevator music to me anyway. So what's the damn difference?
There's no accounting for caste. Who cares if it's you know,
if you like get there you are Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Oh man, you can't help I love it. I love
cheap trick. I'm so thrilled to be able to talk
to you.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
That is really not honest that means that, that means everything, honestly.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Oh I'm so. I'm so thrilled.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And next time you're in Worcesta or in Boston, we'll
see you there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
We're always in box, for God's sake. And I've got
good friends. So every time I g it's like here
in Boston again. I always my friend Jamie Rubin and
Reeves Gabriel, he they're they're from. So every time I'm there,
I'm sending him a picture of the expressway or whatever, like, hey,
I'm back in Boston, you know. And Reeves he's doing well.
He was a good friend and he lived in Nashville.
(31:43):
That's where I met him, and he he got that
gig with the Cure, Like, oh my god, what a
great gig and what a great player.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Anyway, Yeah, enough about read right.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, thanks man for being on the podcast. Thanks for
being on Taking a Walk. Tom Peterson, see you around, man,
see you.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Thanks bye.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I'm off doing me by.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to the Taking a
Walk podcast. Now, please check out our companion podcasts produced
by Buzznight Media Productions with your host Lynn Hoffman. Music
Save Me showcasing the healing power of music and comedy,
Save Me shining a light on how laughter is the
best medicine.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
All shows are available
Speaker 1 (32:31):
On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are part of the iHeart
podcast network.
I'm buzz night and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Now few bands in rock and roll history have logged
more miles, more stages, or more unforgettable nights than Cheap
Trick and standing at the low end of it all
with that iconic twelve string bass and a grin that
says he's still having the time of his life is
(00:23):
Tom Peterson. This April, as our Live and Legendary series
celebrates the artist hitting the road this spring and summer,
we're bringing back by conversation with one of rock's great
road warriors.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Tom sat down with us about.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
The Cheap Trick journey from the scrappy club days to
live at Buddha Khan, from the arena peaks to the
relentless touring machine. The band never stopped being because that's
the thing about Cheap Trick, They never really left the road.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
It's where they live.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Tom Peterson is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer,
a base visionary, and proof positive that if you love
which you do and you do it with everything you've got,
the crowd will always be there waiting for you.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
So crank this one up.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Coming up next on our Live and Legendary Taking a
Walk Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Tom Peterson, welcome to Taking a Walk. It's such an
honor to have you on. We're going to talk about
new music, the Riff that Won't Quit and all washed
Up and the tour and you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Guys are busy as always.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
But before we get into the festivities, Tom, I ask
the opening question of everybody, So I'm not going to
let you escape the opening question. If you could take
a walk with someone?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Who would you take a walk with?
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Take a walk with? I?
Speaker 3 (01:48):
I don't know, could be anybody under the sun, living
or dead.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Good lord, Can I have a while to think about this? Yeah,
I don't have to answer right at first.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
In fact, you know what, apologies didn't mean to throw
it off.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It's just the opening icebreaker.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
All right, the ice is broken, I'll come back.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
I'll come back to it so anyway.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
And I'll be thinking the whole time. I can't think.
It was like who I want to take a walk with?
Who would I want?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yeah, there's no right or wrong answer. But can you
take me back to Rockford, Illinois in the early seventies
and tell me paint a picture for Rockford? I was
in Rockford many years ago. But what do you remember
about that moment when Cheap Trick came together.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, we I left Rockford in nineteen seventy one, so
I wasn't the seventies it really, you know, we grew
up there. Everybody in the band, and Rick and Bunny
and myself happened to go to the same high school.
We weren't friends at that point. We knew about it
other because we were all in bands, and Robin was
(02:54):
in a different high school in a different part of town,
so we knew about it each other, but we didn't
really know each other. I really just started hanging out
with Rick after I got out of high school, and
he and I started hanging around together when we went
to England together in sixty eight. And before Chief Trick,
we had a couple other bands going and that, you know,
nothing was working out. And finally we got together with
(03:17):
Bunny and with Robin and we thought, okay, now we
have something, and we just that was seventy four and
we just kept going tried to get lucky.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Now you had that twelve string bass early on. What
made you want to push the boundaries of what a
bass player and really redefine what a bass player could
do in a rock band.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, it was just to make the sound, to make
us sound more really orchestrated, without adding extra people in.
We didn't have a keyboard player, didn't have another guitar player.
Robin plays guitared about half of the songs, you know,
but it's basically a setup like the Who. You know,
it's a four piece with a lead singer, you know,
Zeppelin or whatever, The Who, all that kind of stuff.
(04:00):
It always to me sounded weird when you hear a
band live and there's like it's just then it's just
basing guitar level HENDRICKX, you know, like how great was he?
But I was thought, boy, it'd be great if it
was it just to fill up the sound when there's
you know, the guitar player is soloing.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Now, those first few albums, they didn't really explode in
the US right away, but Japan, yes, but Japan embraced
cheap trick immediately. What was it like experience in that
level of fame overseas before America really caught the magic
a cheap trick.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Well, it wasn't. Immediately. We had our first album came
out and that was not a success in Japan or
anywhere else. The second album in Color came out when
we were on tour with Kiss. At that time, they
were doing the Love Gun tour and they were huge
worldwide and because of that, they were very huge in
(05:01):
Japan as well. So the Japanese press followed them everywhere.
So everywhere we went there was Japanese press, and you know,
they were kind of stuck with us, and oh, here's
these goofballs, what's what's this? So that second album in
Color struck a chord with the Japanese and we had
a bunch of hit singles off of that second album,
(05:21):
which we had no success anywhere else none, And so
we went to Japan and did those songs and it
was it was pandem onum. It was really crazy. And
they decided to the record label said, you know, we're
going to film this and we're going to make a
TV show on hour long show, which they did and
it's you know, it's it's pretty interesting because it's the
(05:42):
Budaican show part of it. Anyway, an hour with commercials,
you know, tooth based commercials and all that stuff. It's
pretty funny. But after that they said, you know, maybe
we should release this as an album, do you mind?
Like no, and I remember our manager going, yeah, there
are department's going to do the cover. You don't, We
don't have to do anything. It's like okay, fine, and
(06:03):
we were like, the cover kind of sucks. This isn't
that great, and our manager said, don't worry about it.
No one's ever going to hear about this record. Okay,
that's wild. So much for the master plan, right, yeah?
So we uh. In fact, when we got to Japan,
we did not even have I Want You to Want
(06:24):
Me in the set list, and the promoter goes, hey,
we're I Want you to Want Me? Like, oh, you
don't even do it? What he's freaked? So oh well,
we played it a million times in bars, so yeah,
we can do that easily. That turned out to be
our biggest hit. What do we know, don't leave it
to us is what we know now.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
As far as I Want You to Want Me?
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I mean that was even that was even around for
our first album. It didn't even make that record.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And now when you think about it playing a thousands
of times, how does it feel, you know, keeping it
fresh every time you play it?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
It's not that it's fresh every time. It just as
long as it seems like it's fresh, that's what counts. Yeah, amen,
looks like we're having a good time, that's what counts. Now.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Who were your bass heroes growing up?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Well? I started out as a guitar player, rhythm guitar player,
you know, and we were just you know, doing Beatles
songs and the Stones and all that, and you know,
high school events, and you know, we were teenagers. So
everybody's doing the same thing, The Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles,
who you know who, that kind of stuff. And I
can't remember what I was. I had lost my travel. Well,
(07:39):
how do we keep it fresh? But doing what I
just did, we're just kind of daydreaming, you know. They're like, oh, hey,
whoa where am I? You know? But our whole you know,
we're alive. We're a freaking bar band. And we played
thousands of gigs, five four or five sets of nights,
six nights a week, that kind of thing. Driving her
(08:00):
eye and completely destitute, no money, no nothing, but we
kept going. It doesn't seem like a good idea, but
it worked out for us. I wouldn't advise anyone else
to try it. But it's like if you've ever seen
behind the Music or one of you know, those type
of shows. Did you ever seen one of the happy ending?
Speaker 3 (08:23):
No? Definitely not?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah really, so there you are, maybe another type of
bro washed out all of us.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
I'm gonna hit you with with five fast questions here, okay, these.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Take a walk with Okay, Norma Jean. Who would you like?
Norman Jean? Norma Jean, she's the art show queen. She
was the art show queen before she became Maryland. And
I only know that because we just played in Monterey
and we were going through this little town and they go, well,
this is the art show capital and Norman Jean. Okay,
so I'll pick Norma.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Perfect love it, okay. Twelve string bas or.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Four string, depends on what situation. Live. I only use
the twelve string. In the studio, I use whatever works
for the songs, and it's usually not the twelve string.
Because you're in the studios. You can overdub if you
want to want it to sound like a cello or
a grand piano while you get one of those things
and then batten up the sound. You don't need to
(09:25):
take up all the space on a record. It's Oh,
it's completely different live. All subtlety is gone. It doesn't
you know. You know, we're not out there making the
records sound exactly like the records. We never cared about that, like, oh,
we better not do that song because you can't do
it live. So what what matters is the recorded version.
(09:46):
That's what people are going to hear. So doing it live,
that's just a different thing.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Best city to play, to play live in?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
And why best city? There is no best city. It's
just best venues. Usually they're your theaters or something like that. Indoors.
I mean, the worst venues are outdoor, the big arenas
and all that stuff. That's you know, it's just completely different.
The power you get in a club or a theater,
(10:16):
there's no comparison.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
A piece of gear you can't live without, well, a
bass guitar perfect, Well, I couldn't live without that too,
a piece of gear. Is there a bass player you'd
like to jam with?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
They're all dead? No wow? Bass player to jam with?
No thanks? Yeah? Somebody does not? Yeah, somebody that's not
very good? That would be good, That would be good.
Do I want a jam with John n Whistler? Paul McCartney.
I did, you know, even if I wanted to, that
wouldn't it's not in the cards. Well, I can't do
it with Mt. Whistle, but he was one of my
(10:56):
big heroes. Even though at that point I was not
playing bass. I was a rhythm guitar player, same with Paul.
So all that stuff I did as a teenager was
rhythm guitar stuff, so all the Rolling Stone stuff. So
I wasn't really influenced directly by the bass player. I
liked their style so and then there were all sorts
of different ones that you know. Eventually I liked Jack
(11:18):
Cassidy with the Airplane. I thought he was great. I thought,
you know, it's just all different people. Ronnie Wood was
one of my all time favorites with the Jeff Beck group.
Now he doesn't get any credit, well for me, he does,
but doesn't get much credit for that work he did
with Jeff and with Rod's solo stuff. His bass playing
(11:38):
is terrific, and it's it's the kind of thing. It's
the bass playing that's kind of taken from a guitar
player's point of view, which is where I came from.
It's not typical. Oh, I sat around listening to this,
and you know, I got to hook up with the
kick drum and I gotta do it. Was none of that,
just what feels right, Just do it. So it's a
(12:00):
combination of a rhythm thing and an orchestra thing and
the base, you know, just it's just a it's basically
an orchestrated sound.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Finish this sentence. The new cheap trick music is.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
The new cheap trick music is unbeatable.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Amen.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Yes, if you like riffs on't quit. It's your lucky day. Yeah,
don't too bad.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
I'm gonna single out another song here since I live
outside of Boston down the road Tom from this place
called Woolster.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
So oh yeah, that's how you pronounced that.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yes, A long way to Wooster, tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's always a long way to Wister. Always. There's no
great way to get that. It's impossible to get there
from here. I'm in San Francisco right now, so I
don't want to know about going to Worcester. That's way too.
That's a long drive.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
From here, always has been.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Yeah, especially in the of the sixties, Bondaville pulling a
U haul trailer, that's a long drive.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
It's a long drive. Yeah, but a terrific rock and
roll city.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I mean, you know, they love their rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Boston is in general, I say Boston in general, But
Wooster always had that little you know, we're the underdog.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
We started like Philadelphia, New York.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
A little bit like that. Yeah, in fact, as far
as Wooster versus Boston, for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I mean, he writes. I don't
know anything about it. We show up, we do the show,
and then we leave. I've never stayed in Worcester, but
I'm now I'm gonna have to.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, well, at least maybe.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
To pounce it and spell it.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Yes, exactly.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Tell me about the process of putting the new music together.
It was recorded in a couple of different places, wasn't.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
It mainly in Nashville? All the tracks and stuff we do,
we do those live and go from there. And some
of the vocals it's here that we're done in Los Angeles?
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And so was there anything in this process that was
a little different for you guys? Or is this is
pretty much the way you guys always put great music together.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
This is pretty much how great music is put together. Yes,
the way we do it. If we do it. It's
gonna be great. How about that?
Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Amen, Well but he agrees with that. That's a different story.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
But I love twelve Gates.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
It's it's outstanding, and it's obviously got influence from a
band that's very close to you guys, namely the Beatles, obviously.
But tell me about that song and you know how
that came together because it sounds awesome like the whole album.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Well, that was just one of those things we put
together song ideas and then played them for each other, So, hey,
I got this, what have they got that? That was
a track that I had come up with, but I
didn't have any vocal idea, didn't have any vocals, hearts
or anything. And Robin immediately just jumped on like, oh
I love that. I've got some great ideas for that.
So that's just how that fell together. But that's kind
(15:21):
of like all of the songs. You know, somebody's got
an idea and I go, hey, that's what's that? And
usually the person that's idea it is is not sure
is this any good? It's you're too close to it.
You're like, hey, if somebody else goes, hey, wow, what's that? Like, Oh,
I don't know that was just some weird riff. Oh no, no,
that's great, let's okay, go with that. Usually the person
(15:43):
that's responsible for the original idea has no idea how
good or bad it is. Did this this for the
rest of us to decide like, ah, no, no, that's
a bad idea.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 1 (16:05):
You know, the music industry has changed completely since you
guys started out, you know, streaming and social media and everything.
How do you navigate that change? Do you even think
about that change or is it just full steam ahead,
cheap trick.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
We're here, man, it's we don't think about it. Anything
that we've actually planned never worked out, So just let
the chips fall where they may.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I have a feeling when I think back at the
way everything came together, you know, the success first abroad
and then obviously the success that came with the US.
Didn't it kind of first because of your you know,
Midwest roots. Didn't it first start in the Midwest and
kind of sprout to the respective coasts. Wasn't that your
(16:53):
core first in the US? A?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
No, the first place that we were really popular because
in those days, it just depended on what area you were.
In different parts of the country, they would all have
local radio stations, and the disc jockeys, believe this or not,
would actually choose what songs they played and just you know.
So we became successful for some reason out of the
(17:20):
blue in Buffalo, New York. Okay, so we're playing for
four people in Shaky's Pizza parlors everywhere else excepting Buffalo,
and we were selling out this theater downtown, Like wow,
this is wow, what happened here? And then the same
thing kind of happened to us in Los Angeles. Rodney
Bingenheimer he was he's the mayor of Hollywood. He took
(17:43):
a liking to us and took us under his wing
at that time and just showed us around and was
put us on you know, K rock and all this stuff.
So we had success in Los Angeles in the general
area that we are from. There was nothing there. We
weren't getting radio play, we weren't getting support. It's like,
you know, so now that's all forgotten, Like oh really, yeah,
(18:06):
hey great. We didn't break out of there. We started
there and we became a local bar draw. So we
were successful in that world, but beyond that, once a
record came out, it wasn't like, Oh, all the stations
in Chicago and Rockford and Madison and the Walker they
all started playing us. No, none of them did. Thanks,
(18:31):
thanks for nothing. It's just it's the luck of the
damn draw. Then when we get lucky in Japan, who knew?
You know, we had no idea. We still don't.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Are there some bands today, some newer bands that you
guys listened to, that you listened to.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yes, but I can't think of any of the top
of my head. But yeah, I listened to all sorts
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Is there anything on your playlist that we'd be surprised at?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Probably? You mean like VIAGRAA Boys or something like that.
You know those guys pretty funny.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
You know.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I like stuff that's got a good sense of human
I don't really. I don't listen to the regular radio
as far as songs like it drives me crazy. I
hate everything that's you know, most things, and I don't
want to hear as much as i'd love led Zeppelin
or whatever act it might be. Do I need to
hear Ceboy the Heaven all the time. No, let's play
(19:30):
some damn deep tracks? Do I need to hear all
right now? By free? No? I like you, mister big,
it's not your whatever it is, it's all pop radio.
It never I don't listen to it. Kind of the
joke is if it's not played on NPR, I don't
hear it. But I get a lot of ideas from
people on Instagram that have like songs in the background
(19:52):
of their posts, and it's like, hey, Wow, what's that.
That's a cool one. Oh, that's L seven, what's that
that's cool? You know, it's just all different stuff. I
like to hear things that I have never heard before.
But the hard part with that is I also like
to know who it is. I can look them up,
you know, or something that's so bad that I have
(20:12):
to look it up. Pull over, who is this? I
got to wait till they say who this is? This
is the biggest bunch of shit I've ever heard, And
then it's then it's the top act in the US suddenly, like, okay,
I'm not going to name any names. If I was
an oasis, I can start naming names. I'm not going to.
You know, it's anybody has any success at all. It's
(20:34):
like more power to them. You know, this is far
be it from me to question anybody. It's just a
damn crap shoot anyway.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So, but you said earlier about the state of the DJs.
Back when you know, cheap Trick broke out, the DJs
had an actual you know, say, they could play what
they wanted. They didn't have to go ask anybody, and
it was it was the freedom of that and they
knew they were all as you know, they were what
they were passionate about, they played, and it was it
(21:05):
was way different. I totally agree with you in that regard.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
You know, yeah, it was way different. And there were
college reps and college radio and you know, you didn't
just get every radio station you had to. You know,
there were all these underground like pirate radio kind of stations,
not a Little Rock Arkansas, Alferg and things, and you
can only really get it at night. It was cloudy,
(21:30):
so the radio waves, I don't know. So it was
different everywhere. Nobody knew what was going on anywhere else
except in their own neck of the woods. You know,
they didn't know anything of you know, all people dressing,
what are they doing? What I'm listening to? It was
all you had to just go there and try to
find out. In those days, there was no information basically
(21:53):
about anything. You had to really search for it. Now
it's the opposite. There's so much that you can't keep
track of.
Speaker 3 (21:59):
It's it's overwhelming. Ultimately.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
First time I ever played you on the radio, it
was actually it was a college radio station. It was
the station that was owned by the University of Dayton
and Dayton, Ohio. It was called WVUD, and it was
like a it was a commercial college station, but we
still played whatever we wanted, and it was.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
Yeah, you're playing you know. In those days too, the
stuff that was on the right was more up with
people and Pat Boone or whatever, who just this kind
of middle of the road manby Pamby stuff. And then
we're listening to the Yardbirds and the Kinks and the
Beatles and the Who and the Stones and all this.
That stuff was completely underground. Those were not hit the Beatles.
(22:44):
That's they're in a different category. They're just you can't
even compare what happened or what they did or you
know anything about them. They're in a different world. But
everybody else from the Stones on down, that was all underground.
That was stuff led Zeppelin say that was to me
the led Zeppelin is one of the newer groups, and
that so far back that go. You know, they weren't
(23:07):
until a bit later. But even that stuff was I
wasn't played on the normal radio. Those weren't hits.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Tell me about your Ed Sullivan moment watching the Beatles
on Ed Sullivan described that moment for.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Me, Well, it was the second time I'd seen them,
because I saw them first a few months earlier on
Jack the Jack Parr Show, eased to about shag Pire.
Now that would have been sixty three, and he goes,
I went to England and there's this group and there's
throwing jelly babies and it's like this is nuts, and
they've got hair like girls in a sense pandemonium, like
(23:46):
what the hell is this? Wow?
Speaker 4 (23:48):
This is?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
That was really these guys look are cool, all right?
What's that? So then you know that was that, and
then then they showed up in America. It's all of it,
and you know, everything change. It's hard to even describe it.
It's the whole society changed. Just everything, the whole culture
was turned on its head at that moment. And there
(24:12):
we are all these kids, baby boomers, you know, with
the World War two parents, you know, there there we are.
You know, they didn't like any of this kind of stuff.
They were not fans of the Beetles and the Stones
and the who, not even close. So it was this
battle against kind of the establishment. But it wasn't even
(24:33):
a fact like why we're not competing with these We
just like this stuff. But it was not popular. You
didn't see those groups winning Grammys or anything like that.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
It was viewed as a subversive, right.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yes, yes, and then eventually it didn't help when Charles
Manson came around. But all of a sudden you were
not only you know, offensive to people, you were also murderers.
So there you go. Thanks.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So cheap Trick is going to be out with a
non top, NonStop tour schedule.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Might as well be NonStop.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Yes, pretty pretty close.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You're going to be out a long time and a
lot of places seeing people.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Tell me, tell me.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
What playing live to this day still means to you
and the band.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Well, it's different because now we've done it so long
and we have a lot of the hardcore fans and
at pretty much any show that we do, no matter
where it is, we will actually know people in the audience,
and it seems like a bit of a family reunion.
It's great, like, well, look at there's so and so
out there. Then we're in Tokyo. What the hell? You know?
(25:41):
It becomes like a big family in a way. Even
though you don't know necessarily the people's names, we do
know a lot of them. But now it's to the
point where we've got people bringing their kids and they're
you know, the young people are are singing along with
deep cuts. Now that's weird. It's one thing to sing
along with I Want You to Want Me here, obvious
songs that people probably heard, but once they start going
(26:04):
along with tracks that you know that no normal person
listened to, so I don't know, you know, it's it's
like a it's like a big family. We don't want
to go out there and sound like shit, but it
is what it is. So if we do, eh, like
(26:24):
Rick says, our mistakes are better than anyone else's. There's
something my dad know what he says. I can't listen
to him. That's all right.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Is there one song that surprises you that has emerged
as a deep track that you see people responding to?
You know that you're like, holy mackerel, that one they love?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I mean, is there one that?
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Is there one that comes to mind?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Well, the thing is, our biggest hit single was the Flank,
which we didn't write. That was a power ballad, and
it really wasn't. It wasn't something we we're doodling, even
though you know. And our second biggest hit was I
Want You to Want Me, which is ours. But none
of the other songs were hits, not big hits like that.
(27:10):
So people think, oh, dream Police it was a hit surrendered. No,
those were deep tracks. So almost all of our twenty
one records except where I Want You to Want Me,
they're all deep cuts. I don't care what it is.
Dream Police, that was not a hit. California Man, that
was not a hit. I want you to Want Me? Yes,
(27:32):
the Flame? Yes? What else was a hit? Don't be cruel.
We were the only act to cover an Elvis saw
to get into the top five besides himself, and I
thought that can't be true, and it is, I think,
But that was a minor hit. Ain't that a shame?
(27:53):
It was kind of a hit for us too, But
in general, they're all deep tracks. It's kind of like
an occasion, breakdown or whatever. Blood Zeppelin songs. You know,
those were not hits. I don't think stare what it happened.
Was I hit either, right, I don't think it was.
We've certainly all heard it enough. You know, it's Smoke
on the Water. Is that a hit? I don't know, maybe,
(28:16):
but we've heard it enough. You know, Oh that was
a big Yeah, dreamfully that was a big hit. No,
it was not a big hit. No it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So the band was was obviously inducted as it should
have been some time ago in the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
As we're recording.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
This, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies just occurred.
As a band that's in the rock Hall? Is there
a band that annoys you to no end that should
be in that isn't in.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I'm not surprised that a lot of the acts that
I like are not here. You know, I don't even
know what the parameters are, how you're getting or what.
You know. There wasn't the Hall of Fame when we started,
So it wasn't something we were like, oh, inspired you
to the Hall of Fame. No, you know, there wasn't.
And to start with and it's always like, well, who's
judging this? It's not like stats and baseball or footballers,
(29:08):
you know, it's why should we be in there instead
of somebody else? I have no idea, but it's the
kind of thing where we didn't think about it and
didn't really we weren't thinking about it. It's like whoa,
we got what, Oh, we're on the list, you know,
be voted on, Like wow, how do we get on
the list? And then boom we got in. It was
it didn't really hit us until we actually got there
(29:29):
and we're at the venue and it was like, wow,
look at all these people. He goes, what are how
do we fit in here? Like Jesus, Jerry Lewis, bats Domino,
you know, the Stones, Like but but the hell, We'll
take it.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
It's wonderful. Tom Peterson, congrats on the new music, all
wash stuff.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
See that's that that makes me happy. That's that's why
we do it. It's for you and for it's like
friends and family. If you can't play it for your
friends and families, like yeah, I know this is share it,
but people are gonna love it like uh yeah, okay, yeah,
I always like that. Oh they're they're getting bad press,
but they're laughing all the way to the bank. The
(30:10):
people that I know that got bad press were not
laughing all they were going to the bank. Yes, but
having your friends and family like your stuff is way
more important than them hating it and you're embarrassed, like
er geez, yeah, well that's sold ten million copies. Yeah,
but it's a brother that's bad. We don't look at
(30:30):
it that way. We don't know what the hell people
want to hear. We just know what we might want
to hear and what we Hey, that was where bad
come from? How'd you come up with that? That's a
good one, you know, it's exciting being in the studio
and coming up with this stuff out of whole cloth.
Now you've got AI, they can do everything right. But
to me, most music already was AI. It all sounds
(30:51):
like elevator music to me anyway. So what's the damn difference?
There's no accounting for caste. Who cares if it's you know,
if you like get there you are Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
Oh man, you can't help I love it. I love
cheap trick. I'm so thrilled to be able to talk
to you.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
That is really not honest that means that, that means everything, honestly.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
Oh I'm so. I'm so thrilled.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And next time you're in Worcesta or in Boston, we'll
see you there.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
We're always in box, for God's sake. And I've got
good friends. So every time I g it's like here
in Boston again. I always my friend Jamie Rubin and
Reeves Gabriel, he they're they're from. So every time I'm there,
I'm sending him a picture of the expressway or whatever, like, hey,
I'm back in Boston, you know. And Reeves he's doing well.
He was a good friend and he lived in Nashville.
(31:43):
That's where I met him, and he he got that
gig with the Cure, Like, oh my god, what a
great gig and what a great player.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You know.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
Anyway, Yeah, enough about read right.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Yeah, thanks man for being on the podcast. Thanks for
being on Taking a Walk. Tom Peterson, see you around, man,
see you.
Speaker 3 (32:02):
Thanks bye.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I'm off doing me by.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to the Taking a
Walk podcast. Now, please check out our companion podcasts produced
by Buzznight Media Productions with your host Lynn Hoffman. Music
Save Me showcasing the healing power of music and comedy,
Save Me shining a light on how laughter is the
best medicine.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
All shows are available
Speaker 1 (32:31):
On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and are part of the iHeart
podcast network.
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