An interview with Cheap Trick; new album 'All Washed Up' out now

photo: Big Hassle

Cheap Trick is well-known for crafting such power pop gems as “Dream Police,” “Surrender,” “Voices,” “Southern Girls” and others.

But the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Famers from Rockford, Ill. also had a darker side (“The Ballad of TV Violence,” “Oh Candy,” “Auf Wiedersehen”), which bassist/co-founder Tom Petersson once said comprised “scarier lyrical content and subject matter, sometimes bordering on heavy metal,” especially during the band’s mid-1970s period.

An intense sonic undertow is also prevalent on the hard-charging, sexually suggestive title track to the group’s 21st album All Washed Up. The same can be said regarding a frantic “The Riff That Won’t Quit,” and a sludgy, bass heavy “Bet it All.”

In a recent Zoom interview after opening for Heart in Anaheim, Petersson affirmed his earlier comment. “We’re a heavy band. We do all sorts of different things. I think that surprises people.”

According to Robin Zander, the tune “All Washed Up” was inspired by Iggy and the Stooges. Petersson, 75, recalls everyone being fans of Pop back in the day. “We thought Iggy was hilarious.”

Julian Raymond (Brian Setzer, Glen Campbell, Fastball) returned to the produce the solid new album, extending his association with Cheap Trick, either as songwriter, musician or the guy manning the boards, to 20+ years.

“He sees us in a different light than we see ourselves, and he’s really like a fifth member, so he has been invaluable to us, and we love working with him.

“Julian is a great songwriter and singer and is just really good at making us sound like we want to sound as opposed to somebody else to be successful. We just sound like we sound and that’s fine with us.”

For his part, Raymond has admitted to his goal is always to hew closely to Cheap Trick’s concert dynamic.

“That’s what we wanted to perfect,” says Petersson, “that sound we’re always chasing: the tone. It is never quite right.”

Guitarist and fellow band co-founder Rick Nielsen’s playing style is riveting and manic as ever on the new album. Petersson says he is always amazed at what Nielsen creates, but concedes, “it really is a group effort…you don’t know who’s going to come up with a good idea.”

All Washed Up standouts include passionate power ballad “The Best Thing” and the blissful pop of “Twelve Gates,” where Zander’s affecting vocals stand among his finest.

“I love those songs to life - all of them. He’s a really good writer and it just works.”

Zander’s son Robin Taylor has provided rhythm guitar and backing vocals in studio and onstage with Cheap Trick (and briefly assumed bass duties following Petersson’s 2021 open heart surgery). 

The younger Zander contributed guitars and backing vocals to several new songs. Meanwhile, Robin Zander’s daughter, Robin-Sailor, also added backing vocals, further sweetening the Zander family vocal harmonies throughout All Washed Up (Cheap Trick is rounded out by yet another family connection, Rick’s son Daxx, who replaced original drummer Bun E. Carlos in 2010).

Petersson moved to Nashville in 1995. The first musicians he gelled with there were from Grammy Award-winning Americana band The Mavericks. Current keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden and former bassist Robert Reynolds co-wrote “Carnival Game” off Cheap Trick’s eponymous 1997 album. Another demo from the same writing session resulted in another new album highlight, the psychedelic-tinged “Long Way to Worcester.”

Petersson’s signature Gretsch USA Custom Shop 12-String Falcon Bass Guitar is heard on nearly half the All Washed Up songs; his other 12-string models (which the musician first pioneered during the ‘70s in partnership with Hamer Guitars) were utilized elsewhere on the album. He said the 12-string bass is typically used in a live setting to give the band a richer sound onstage.

Next April, Cheap Trick will perform the setlist from triple-platinum 1978 concert album At Budokan twice alongside hits and fan favorites at The Venetian Las Vegas.

Legendary producer Jack Douglas - who helmed the band’s self-titled 1977 debut album, served as mixing supervisor for At Budokan and returned to do 1985’s Standing on the Edge – surprisingly revealed last month on Billy Corgan’s Magnificent Others podcast that the iconic live album, which put Cheap Trick on the worldwide map, was actually culled from another Japanese concert in Osaka the night before the Budokan gigs due to better sonic quality.  

Since double concert albums by Peter Frampton and KISS had previously sold tons of records, did Cheap Trick or Epic Records have any inclination to follow suit with two live LPs?

Not exactly. “We were shocked [Sony Japan] wanted to do an album in the first place,” recalls Petersson. “They filmed those first shows, Budokan and Osaka, and wanted to make a TV show. So, they did. It’s an hour-long television show in Japan with toothpaste commercials, and crazy stuff.

“Then, after they did that, the Japanese label said, ‘We should just release an LP of this.’ OK, fine. We didn’t even know. They said they’d do all the artwork…[but] none of us were really happy with the pictures they had.

“Our managers said, ‘Look, what difference does it make? No one’s ever going to hear this album anyway.’ [Suddenly], I was famous. I always say, Jeez, if we knew it was going to be this popular, we would’ve put a lot more thought into it! But it just happened and you know, it struck a chord with the rest of the world for some reason - the live record - because that’s exactly how we sound.

“That second record, In Color, was a hit in Japan,” Petersson continues. We had all these hit singles off that record. And it doesn’t sound like us.”

By that point, Cheap Trick gained a reputation for being road warriors, performing more than 200 concerts a year, while opening for KISS, Queen, The Kinks, Santana, and others.

“You know, everybody played a lot back in those days,” affirms Petersson. “It was a different [time]. We weren’t Milli Vanilli or anything. Bands all started out as bar bands. I don’t know how they start out now and if you’re successful, then you put it together. We were the opposite. We played for years - bars and wherever - you know, just hell holes. For no money. We kept going.”

Unlike other heritage rock acts that have been around for decades, Cheap Trick often changes up the setlists nowadays to keep things fresh.

“Why not? We can’t make everybody happy, so you’re going to make a lot of people unhappy or happy at the same time. We just do what we’re going to do…a lot of heritage acts are not necessarily doing new records either. Honestly, there’s no money in it, so people don’t bother. We just like making records.”

Last year, Cheap Trick performed at Fremantle Prison in Australia, alongside Suzi Quatro. Petersson says the decommissioned penitentiary and tourist attraction was among the more unusual gigs Cheap Trick has ever played.

“That was Bon Scott’s former home,” Petersson notes, in reference to the original AC/DC singer’s juvenile detention center stint there as a teen.

“We’re not normally playing in prisons. That was a first, but it was great…It’s really a concert venue. You go through it and [you get told about] all the horror stories, the classic examples of man’s inhumanity to man. And you’re like, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’

Honestly, it’s like any other [venue] or backstage…It’s just different because of the situation you’re in. It was great working with Suzi Quatro. I don’t think she played there either. And she’s done like 40 or 50 tours of Australia. But she’s really popular there. That was fun.”

With the holiday season in full swing, Petersson recalled the experience making 2017’s terrific Christmas Christmas album.

“That record really surprised us. We never thought about doing a Christmas record, and then we got talked into it. We picked songs by artists that we liked. We don’t [normally] do a bunch of standards, [but] we liked Slade, T-Rex, Roy Wood - all that kind of stuff. Songs by those groups had been mostly popular in England. We just did whatever would strike us, like The Kinks’ ‘Father Christmas.’ We only recorded it at the end. Somebody came up with the idea that we should do that song. We thought, ‘Let’s do it like The Who would do it.’ I thought that version we did was great.”

Upcoming Tour Dates:

JANUARY

24 – The Sylvee; Madison, WI

25 – Vibrant Music Hall; Waukee, IA

FEBRUARY

25 – Hertz Arena; Estero, FL

27 – The BayCare Sound; Clearwater, FL

28 – St. Augustine Amphitheatre; St. Augustine, FL

MARCH

3 — Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium; Chattanooga, TN **
4 — Tennessee Theatre; Knoxville, TN **
6 — Margaritaville Resort Casino; Bossier City, LA **
7 — Beau Rivage Theatre; Biloxi, MS **
9 — King Center; Melbourne, FL **
11 — Hard Rock Live; Orlando, FL **

20 – Starland Ballroom; Sayreville, NJ **
21 — Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino; Mashantucket, CT **
27 — Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races; Charles Town, WV **
28 — The Pantheon at Caesars Virginia; Danville, VA **

APRIL

3 — Xcite Center – Parx Casino and Racing; Bensalem, PA **
4 — Seneca Niagara Casino; Niagara Falls, NY **
17 — Venetian Theatre at the Venetian Las Vegas; Las Vegas, NV ** (Performing Cheap Trick at Budokan + Greatest Hits)
18 — Venetian Theatre at the Venetian Las Vegas; Las Vegas, NV ** (Performing Cheap Trick at Budokan + Greatest Hits)

21 – Bridges Auditorium at Pomona College; Claremont, CA **
22 — Vina Robles Amphitheatre; Paso Robles, CA **
24 — Humphreys Concerts by the Bay; San Diego, CA **
** “All Washed Up Tour”

cheaptrick.com

A version of my interview originally appeared at www.rockcellarmagazine.com.

Check it out there for the band's music video clips and more images.