- 11 months ago
Pierre x Rick Nielsen from Cheap Trick
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00:00It is 93.3 WMMR here in our Studio Z.
00:04We have a Zoom conversation with one Rick Nielsen of an amazing band by the name of Cheap Trick.
00:11Their latest record is out.
00:13It's called In Another World.
00:15And there are some really, really cool songs on this album.
00:19Rick, good day to you, man.
00:20Welcome to MMR.
00:22Hello, Pierre.
00:23Good to see you.
00:24Very good to see you, sir.
00:26Congratulations on, is this, oh, that's a better shot.
00:29A better close-up, actually.
00:32But being a master of promotion, I would expect nothing less from you.
00:36Well, we have it here just so I can remember the titles.
00:40Is this album number 20?
00:43Yes, it is.
00:44The 20th studio record, yeah.
00:46Excellent.
00:47So I'm wondering if it was done before the pandemic, because a lot of people who are releasing records now actually did them before the pandemic started and kind of sat on them for a while.
00:58Some people have recorded, you know, got tested and stuff or knew that they were all negative and did get together and record.
01:06Some did virtual stuff.
01:08How did this album come together and when?
01:10We started pre-pandemic, you know, because we record all the time.
01:16We didn't really set up to make an album at first.
01:20You know, we're just doing song after song.
01:22And before you know it, you know, it's like before you know it, you've got 15 or 20 things that you've recorded.
01:29And then, so that was, it was basically kind of finished, but we hadn't figured out a song order or a name of the album or whatever.
01:42But we added, Summer Looks Good on You or Here Comes the Summer.
01:48Which is a couple years old, I think, right?
01:50Yeah, we added, Give Me Some Truth towards the end.
01:58And then we got the song order.
02:00And plus, we went from Big Machine Records to BMG.
02:03BMG thought we were worth a hoot or whatever and got the rights to us.
02:11And they've been great.
02:13Excellent.
02:14All the promo we've been doing has been going all over the world.
02:19Is there a song on the record that's your favorite as you view it?
02:23I suspect that might change over the course of the recording process or even once it's been out for a while.
02:29Well, it's kind of changed.
02:32You know, me, I'm kind of a hyper nut anyhow.
02:38So it's like, I kind of like to light up the fire, you know, just because it's got, you know, it's up for action.
02:48Right.
02:48And, and, and boys and girls of rock and roll.
02:53I like that because it was kind of, kind of.
02:56Well, let's talk about light of fire because that's the first single that we've been playing or the second single, I think.
03:02But tell us about that song in particular.
03:04Well, we, it was an idea we had and it just, it had, it had some good elements to it.
03:12And, and as we were doing it, the, the part that, the solo part that I came up with was a, was a direct steal from the Yardbirds from Happenings 10 years time ago.
03:27So I just liked, I just liked the, I just liked the solo that Jeff Beck did on there.
03:36And it just seemed to kind of fit.
03:38So I, I, it's kind of a, a weak attempt at trying to be Jeff Beck for, for two and a half minutes.
03:46But it just, it wasn't set out to do like that, but it was just the, the, the, how we were doing it just kind of inspired me to do that.
03:55And actually I'd played with, I did an award show with, with Jimmy Page.
04:03And that was the first song that Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were on together.
04:11Jeff did the solo, but I was at this award presentation and, and they had all these different guys, all these great guitar players who were coming up and playing for Jimmy.
04:21And, and you're all doing the long, you know, all this stuff that, you know, the eight minute long Zeppelin songs.
04:30And I thought, well, I'm not a guitar virtuoso, but you know, like a lot of these guys, I'm more of a songwriter, I think, or a rhythm player or whatever.
04:41And so I thought, let's do Happenings 10 years time ago, you know, two and a half minutes and I'm done.
04:49And it went over great.
04:51And so Jimmy was missing a guitar because he got up to play rock and roll with everybody at the end.
05:02And he says, oh, I don't have a guitar.
05:04I said, here, take mine.
05:06And I handed him my checkerboard and Explorer.
05:10He's, oh, I can't play that.
05:11It's funny.
05:15Somebody gave him a Les Paul, but it was, it was, it was interesting.
05:20Didn't you, on a side note, didn't you loan a guitar to John Lennon that you got back not that long ago?
05:27Yeah, I did.
05:29When I did the Double Fantasy sessions, I didn't know that it was called at the time.
05:35I played the song Losing You with John.
05:40And he said, oh, I wish I would have had you on cold turkey.
05:45He says, Clapton froze up.
05:47And I said, well, thank you.
05:50Thank you very much.
05:51And, and, but I was playing this, a Fender Telecaster string with a string bender on it.
05:59And he says, I'd never seen one of those.
06:01I said, well, I'm going to Japan tomorrow.
06:03Here, you keep it and I'll pick it up later.
06:07And I gave that to him.
06:08And three years after he was murdered, Yoko sent it back to me saying, saying, I think Rick would like you to have this.
06:18John, John would want you to have this back or something like that.
06:21Were you surprised?
06:22Did you ever think you'd get it back again?
06:24Yeah.
06:25Yeah.
06:26Because, you know, hey, where's my guitar?
06:29You know, it's like, I couldn't do that.
06:32No.
06:32And plus, in the meantime, I had a guitar built for John that I gave to him.
06:38Hmm.
06:38That I think was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
06:42Yoko has it now, wherever it is.
06:44Did he tell you what he thought of it?
06:47Well, he played it.
06:48How about that?
06:49I think that's as good.
06:50I got some pictures of him playing it and it's got my checkerboard strap on it and the whole thing.
06:55What was your experience of him?
06:57You've met just about everyone there is to meet, but I mean.
07:01Well, that was kind of like the better than Elvis, better than, you know.
07:06I met Hendrix, but it was like, you know, it's like, that was 1968 or 67.
07:13So I was like, meeting John Lennon was like the, you know, the ultimate.
07:20And I called him John.
07:21You know, I didn't, when he was with me and he called him Mr. Lennon.
07:26And I called him John and we talked about guitars.
07:29And it was the day that my son Dax was born, who's now the chief trick drummer.
07:35And so the night before, the day before, I went and got some Cuban cigars up in Canada and smuggled them in.
07:46And I said, oh, I didn't say that, did I?
07:49Brought him to the session and we smoked cigars.
07:52But I talked more about guitars and Mellotrons and I was going to take them guitar shopping and, you know, guy stuff.
08:01It wasn't really, you know, because I'm not a session guy.
08:05I'm not a session player.
08:07So I played what I felt like playing and they loved it.
08:11How did you come to meet him?
08:12I mean, how did you get into that universe even?
08:15Well, Jack Douglas was the guy that produced that.
08:18And he produced our first album and he did another record with us.
08:22And we also mixed a live at Budokan record.
08:27So I'd known Jack and Jack and John, I guess, they wanted a little harder edge on some of the stuff he was doing because he had great players.
08:42But it was just a little sought.
08:44If you listen to the version that I did in the versus of the lesson or the version that was on the Double Fantasy, you'll see the difference.
08:52It's like it's it's kind of loungy to me the way they did it.
08:57And I just toughened it up.
08:59And so Jack said, I'd like to bring in a couple of guys.
09:02And he called Bunny and he called, then he called me, too, to come in and toughen a sound, I guess.
09:13And when he walked to the studio, he saw me.
09:16He says, oh, it's you.
09:18It's you.
09:19And it's like, I think my joke is maybe he thought I was Ricky Nelson going to be there, you know.
09:25But it was it was great.
09:28It was a fantastic day.
09:30One of the best days of my life.
09:31It's 93.3 WMMR.
09:33We're speaking with Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick.
09:35And we're talking about the MMRBQ and also the brand new record, In Another World.
09:41The first song on the record, Rick, I really like.
09:44It's called The Summer Looks Good on You.
09:47And as you mentioned at the beginning, it's a couple of years old.
09:51I think you dropped it as a single a couple of years ago.
09:55But it's perfect for this time of year as we approach summertime.
09:59And it's a great opening of the album.
10:02Yeah.
10:03It was a single we put out.
10:05You know, I'm not even sure the reason.
10:07We just had a good song.
10:08So, you know, it's changed titles a couple of times.
10:11You know, The Summer Looks Good on You or Here Comes the Summer or whatever.
10:14But, yeah, it's a good pop song.
10:16You know, we can do pop pretty good.
10:20And, you know, we can do non-pop.
10:24And we can do metal kind of stuff.
10:26And we can do ballad stuff.
10:28And, you know, the only thing we had never tried before, really, we have a hinge of it.
10:34But when we did Final Days, just kind of a bluesy song, cheap trick style.
10:42I like your guitar on Final Days, too.
10:45I really love the way you did it.
10:48And actually, I sent it to Joe Bonamassa.
10:53I said, why don't you take a swing at it?
10:55Wow.
10:55We'll have another version of it, maybe.
10:58He liked it.
10:59So, you know, I haven't heard what he's done.
11:00But that might be something else to play later.
11:05So the album concludes, speaking of John Lennon, with the amazing song, Give Me Some Truth.
11:12And you guys just rip into it.
11:14And you have a guest on that particular song, which might surprise some people.
11:18Tell us who that is.
11:20Well, yeah, we had gone out to, well, first off, give me some truth.
11:26We wanted it on the record because, you know, we're not a very political band, you know, amongst ourselves, maybe.
11:34But, you know, to the audience or whatever, we keep our mouths shut.
11:37But we were doing Jonesy's Jukebox, Steve Jones, out in California.
11:46And we'd been with him before.
11:48And the first time we were with and did a show, we actually asked him to play with us because we knew all the Sex Pistols songs.
11:57And we could do them.
11:59You know, I don't know how many other bands know that stuff, but we knew it.
12:03And so we played with him and he liked that.
12:05And so then the next time we went, which was a year and a half ago, we went to do a show again.
12:12It was just Robin and myself.
12:13And I brought a guitar and he had a guitar in the studio.
12:17And we said, we're going to do this one.
12:19And we started playing Give Me Some Truth.
12:21And he fit right in because he's a really good rhythm player and a good lead player.
12:28And we looked at each other while we were doing it.
12:30He says, hey, do you want to play our record?
12:31You know, we'd already kind of done the track, but here, we'll send you the stems, you know, send them out to the, so he could work on them in his studio or whatever.
12:42And he sent back the tracks.
12:45It was cool.
12:46He does some vocals on it too, doesn't he?
12:48I think you can hear him.
12:52Making some noise.
12:53Between my noise, my nasal, Midwest nasal twang and his cockney voice.
13:05Yeah.
13:05Yeah.
13:06It's a, it's a nice, it's a collision of, of bad turned into good, sort of.
13:12The, it's, it's an interesting choice of songs.
13:16Because it fits in every bit as well now in today's world, divided as it is.
13:23That's why we, that's why we wanted to do it.
13:26Like I said, we wanted to either, we're going to give John Lennon the credit and also the blame.
13:31At the same time, it's like, it's such a, it's such a political powerhouse.
13:37It's, in a way, but it's just so simple.
13:40Give me some truth.
13:41You know, like, I don't care about this, that, the other, and whatever.
13:44Just tell me the truth.
13:46You know, let, let me deal with, with the reality.
13:49Not, you know, the, the fake news crap.
13:52You know, it's like, that just, that was awful.
13:54I mean, it's like, you know, how do you tell your kids?
13:58How do you tell anybody what's, what's going on?
14:00What do you believe?
14:01And it's like the truth.
14:02And, you know, it's like, you know, no matter what side you're on or this or that.
14:06But, um, the truth is the only way to deal with stuff.
14:11It's not, if you make up something, then you gotta, it's like telling somebody,
14:16a guy used to call me all the time.
14:18Hey, could you call my wife and tell her I'm doing this and that?
14:20So I, you know, so I don't get in trouble with her.
14:23I said, Paul, you can't even remember your, uh, I can't remember my own truth half the time,
14:29let alone try to remember yours, a made up one.
14:32So it's like, you know, it's like, uh, I don't know what I'm talking about there.
14:36But there you go.
14:37No, I, I understand completely.
14:39Uh, it's, it's because you're Pierre.
14:41Well, we're all seeking our own truth.
14:45Uh, we are all seeking to keep, as I like to say, keep the car on the road.
14:50Uh, when people say, how are you doing?
14:51I'm just trying to keep the car on the road.
14:53There's a lot of, yeah, right.
14:56Hit a few ditches, hit a few potholes, get a few flats, but just keep going.
14:59Um, Rick Nielsen is visiting with us here in Studio Z on MMR.
15:04And, uh, you guys are going to be the stars of our MMRBQ along with Jane's Addiction and
15:10Cheap Trick.
15:10You've done a zillion festivals.
15:12I have to tell you, uh, about three or four years ago, you did one of our festivals.
15:18So normally they're in May, but with the pandemic, we pushed it back to September and, um, you
15:24played maybe an hour and I must tell you, and I can't remember the other bands that were
15:29playing that particular day.
15:30You guys, everybody thought, and I stay with a microphone at the end of the evening and
15:36shake hands and talk to people on the way out and ask them how, you know, if they had
15:40a good time and person after person, Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick stole the show.
15:45And I just thought there was something marvelous to be said about that.
15:50There's this, I don't know if you can describe what this unique spirit of perseverance, integrity,
15:58absolute rock and roll, carefree, yet committed to your craft that you guys bring each and every
16:06time, whether you're, you know, doing a huge headlining gig or, you know, I mean, you guys
16:11work so hard.
16:11You're happy to do a county fair.
16:13I, I think when you're on tour with Aerosmith, you'd make side trips and do county fairs
16:18on offices and stuff.
16:20And there's this just marvelous quality that when Cheap Trick is on the bill, you know,
16:26is going to be there regardless of the other bands.
16:28We've got a really nice lineup of younger and veteran bands, but you guys stole that show.
16:34And I just, I love that people were saying that.
16:37Well, that's great to hear.
16:38I mean, I hadn't heard that before, but I'm glad that the first thing you said was, I don't
16:43remember who the other bands are.
16:44That's good.
16:45That's all right.
16:48We're not afraid to play, you know, we, you know, we're, we're not, you know, we're not
16:55this, we're not that, but we're a bit of this and that.
16:57And we, it's amazing that we have so many musicians that, that come to see us of, of
17:04all, of all genres.
17:06You know, it's like, uh, uh, two, three nights ago, I played in, uh, uh, with Buddy Guy
17:13in, uh, Chicago.
17:15He asked me to, or it was in Gary, Indiana.
17:17He asked me to play with him.
17:18And I, and I, I go there and we talked to Buddy.
17:22I'd known him for, you know, not, not real great personal friends, but we have known
17:27him and have, uh, played with him in Japan and in Chicago and here and there.
17:32And I'm, I'm sitting there waiting to go up and play.
17:35And one guy comes over to me and he says, is this seat taken?
17:38I said, uh, no, it's yours.
17:41You can have it.
17:41Then after about five seconds, he says, I'm Buddy's grandson.
17:45It's an honor to sit with him and say, what, how do you know that?
17:50It was like, and then I get up on stage and I played with Buddy and he brings up his son.
17:56So I was like, yeah, so I'm at his grandson and his son and, and him all in the same place.
18:01And, you know, it's like, how do I fit into that crowd?
18:04Well, you know, I don't know.
18:07I just, uh, I go up there and do what I, what I can do.
18:10I'm not a great blues player.
18:12I'm not a great metal player.
18:14I'm not a great, you know, it's like, but I, but I love playing music and I think they
18:18know, uh, you know, I've made every mistake in the world.
18:21And so, and I flirt and don't squirt, you know, so like, so, you know, I, I get along
18:27with everybody.
18:28Well, it's interesting in, in terms of our festival, um, our morning show, Preston and
18:32Steve had Dave Navarro on from Jane's Addiction and a fascinating guy.
18:38And he said, I am so excited about this show.
18:42First of all, we haven't played in so long, but secondly of all, I want to see some of
18:46these other bands.
18:47And, uh, uh, he really wanted to see you guys.
18:50And he said, I'm purposely getting to the venue early so I can see cheap trick because the
18:56last time I saw them was at my very first concert was open when they were opening for
19:02a kiss.
19:03So, um, that's pretty cool.
19:05And he's the other person he wanted to see is, uh, this young artist who's on the bill,
19:10who happens to be the son of a gentleman.
19:11I suspect you've crossed paths with it.
19:13He's no longer with us, sadly, but that's Eddie Van Halen and his son.
19:19Yeah.
19:20So we've got a Wolfgang, uh, it's called mammoth WVH mammoth was the original name of
19:26Van Halen, but they'll play in the afternoon.
19:28But, uh, Wolfgang will be with us, uh, in his first solo.
19:32He played with VH, um, a few tours, um, towards the last few tours, but, um, he'll be on and
19:39it was interesting.
19:39Yeah.
19:39Well, I, you know, I know of Dave, I've never played with him.
19:44I've played with, with all the guys that he's played with, you know, it's like I've played
19:49with, uh, uh, Barry.
19:51Yeah.
19:52And I've never, uh, yeah.
19:54So it's going to be good.
19:55You know, I'll, I'll come to see him too.
19:57You know, I'll come to see Wolfgang.
19:59Do you know Wolfgang or did you know?
20:01No, not really.
20:02Not really.
20:03Did you know Eddie?
20:04Did you cross back?
20:04I knew Eddie.
20:06He used to come and see us play.
20:08Wow.
20:08And I always tried to get him, get him up to play with us.
20:12But Alex was, no, no, no, don't do it.
20:14You know, I don't know why, you know, he can run rings around everybody, but I think
20:20you just to keep their band separate from all that kind of stuff.
20:23But, uh, yeah, uh, it was, it was fun.
20:26Uh, it was a nice, nice, sweet guy and, um, a little, a little crazy, but, uh, gee, welcome
20:34to the territory.
20:35It does happen.
20:36And I mean, how would you say that you and the rest of the guys have stayed, uh, relatively
20:41sane in the midst of the, of the amazing wave you've been surfing all this time now?
20:48Um, we like what we do.
20:50Uh, and I tell, I tell, I tell a lot of people that, you know, it's like, uh, we've never
20:55progressed.
20:56You know, it's like, we never, we never tried to be something that we weren't, you know,
21:01we never tried to be, well, here's what, here's what's popular today.
21:05Let's go do the, you know, I, I still like the yard birds, the who, the beetles and the
21:09stones and, and that kind of stuff.
21:11But then I like newer stuff too.
21:14I mean, I would, I just did a, uh, um, a round table with, uh, with all, all pals of
21:21mine, Linda Perry, uh, Corey Taylor, uh, Butch Walker and Jack Douglas.
21:28It was like, you know, it's like, we're, we're all different, but it was like, um, they produced,
21:34they've all produced some great stuff.
21:36And, uh, and Corey, I worked with him with Dave Grohl on, uh, uh, Sound City.
21:41Sound City thing.
21:42Yeah.
21:43So, you know, I got to meet a great singer, a great guy.
21:46And it's like, you know, and, uh, I went to, he told me that I brought my son, one of my
21:54younger sons, they're all younger.
21:57I brought, uh, one of my sons to, to see Slipknot.
22:00And he says, Oh, I was, um, everybody in the band was looking at you.
22:04Like, what are you, what am I doing here?
22:06And what am I, it's like, you know, I didn't think anything of it.
22:09Um, but so, but it was cool, you know, cause I liked the band.
22:13It was like, Oh my God, what's going on here?
22:15This is crazy.
22:16You know, I like crazy.
22:18Yeah.
22:19When you do it well, I don't like, uh, you know, it's like, uh, just for the sake of being
22:26crazy, that's not good, but they were well-organized crazy.
22:29Yeah.
22:29So your son Dax has been playing drums in the band for how long now?
22:34Uh, well, 11 years in a row here now.
22:40Uh, but he'd been with us before when Bunny broke his, or had his back operated on.
22:45Uh, he was out on an Aerosmith tour, doing a, doing a tour with him, you know, uh, with,
22:51with them was, you know, kind of, kind of like when he came to work with Cheap Trick, uh,
22:57it was a one day tour.
22:59Uh, don't go to Europe.
23:02We're going to Austin to do South by Southwest and Austin city limits.
23:07No rehearsal.
23:09Do two shows, you know, cold.
23:13And so, uh, yeah, it's been great.
23:17Uh, it must be, it must be a thrill for you to, you know, look back and, and see your son.
23:22Uh, and I see somebody younger back there, you know,
23:24he calls me Rick and, you know,
23:28How long has he been a musician?
23:34Um, basically his whole life.
23:36He's a classically trained, uh, piano and he can play guitar.
23:40He can play banjo.
23:41He can play everything.
23:42And he was, he was actually the, uh, the drummer for, uh, Dick Dale for three years.
23:48Wow.
23:49And, uh, he was with, uh, uh, Randy Carlisle also, and a bunch of different stuff.
23:56Yeah.
23:56And I, I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years because he lived in LA starving out there,
24:01but it's really neat that he was able to come into the band and how, what's his reaction
24:06to it?
24:07Because he seems to, he, he, I mean, he's, he's a natural fit obviously, but it really
24:12seems to work.
24:13But does, is, does he get off on it as he is happy about it?
24:17He enjoys it.
24:18Yeah.
24:18But he, he does his own projects too.
24:20But same time, it's like when, when we knew that we needed a drummer, I mean, I had three
24:25guys that were willing to do it.
24:26Um, uh, Chad Smith, Tommy Lee and Dave Grohl, but they all had their own bands.
24:34And plus they, you know, they'd, they'd overplay everything when we do.
24:40And it's like, uh, so anything permanent that wouldn't have worked.
24:45I mean, we've had, we've, I played with all those guys, uh, individual shows, but, uh,
24:51an overall temperament and an overall compatibility with, uh, with what we do.
24:57Um, you, you, you gotta have kind of that.
25:02Uh, I don't, I don't know what it is.
25:05You know, we, we just do it naturally how we play, um, with, uh, kind of the feel that
25:12we have, you know, it's like, it's, it's, it's tougher than it, than it looks and sounds.
25:18In terms of putting a set list together, because obviously a festival, you don't play quite as
25:23long headlining gigs are different than co-headlining or, or opening gigs or having spots earlier
25:29on in the day or the evenings events, but you've got, you guys have got to get yourselves
25:35off, uh, and the catalog is so large and so much larger than just surrender or I want
25:41you to want me or any of those great songs so that they are, and you sort of know you
25:46got to play them, but, but how do you fill in the rest of that space so that it pleases
25:52all of you?
25:53Well, we've been, uh, uh, I don't think we've played the same set, uh, back to back in 11
26:02years.
26:03And, and we, you know, there's the core songs that we always play, but, uh, then we write
26:11the set about 40 minutes before we go on and we look at the, at the big list and it's like,
26:16let's do this.
26:17And it's like, and if we make mistakes and we, we, we, we rehearse because it's hard to
26:22remember, uh, you know, all this stuff, but we, you know, we're like I said, I'm not a
26:26studio guy, so my mistakes are real and, you know, and it's, uh, I meant to do that.
26:32You know, that's the way it was supposed to be.
26:34But when we, we did a tour of, of England a few years back and we did like, uh, I think
26:44it was 65 songs in three shows, you know, like we, you know, we really screwed those
26:51sets up, but it was like, we, we went pretty deep, uh, you know, really switching it around
26:58because we don't, we never got to Europe that much.
27:00And so for the real fanatics that we have over there, it's like, we wanted to play as
27:04much different stuff because almost everybody that came to the first show went to the second
27:08show and the third and so on, you know, even they were all in different places, Dublin and
27:12Glasgow and London and Manchester and whatever.
27:17You're also though, one of the first bands that, um, I've, I think you are the, the first
27:22band I've known because you came here to Philly some years ago to a little theater on
27:27South street, the TLA, and you did three nights and on each night, and I went to at least two
27:32of the three of them, you did your first, second and third albums in their entirety.
27:36And years later, and I mean, years later, bands started doing that with maybe one of
27:42their albums.
27:43Uh, you guys took three nights and did three different albums, plus a million other great
27:48songs.
27:49And I was blown away at that concept.
27:51It's, it's so simple.
27:53And yet to the best of my knowledge, you're the first band to do that.
27:56I think we were, and we actually in Chicago, we did four, we did the fourth album too.
28:03And it was like, and I was like a little apprehensive.
28:07It was like, you know, I look back at this stuff and it's not all great, but it's not
28:12all bad.
28:13And, uh, you know, like some of the songs that I thought would be, and this might be a
28:17little fishy, uh, you know, like the song on the radio, on the radio, it's kind of a pop
28:25and dopey, but it's kind of cool in a way too.
28:28So it's like, I was a bit worried about that.
28:30And, uh, but we do them in, in order too.
28:34So that was like, we've always made albums.
28:37And so it's like, you know, when I always like it when an album gets to the last cut,
28:42if you feel like going back to the first cut, you know, it's like a lot of people don't
28:46have the patience to sit and listen to albums from what I do.
28:49But see, that's the beauty of that one.
28:52That's a good one.
28:54I mean, you know, first of all, to me, it's a three-dimensional experience.
28:58So it's the artwork, you know, and then it's taking out the record and then it's, you know,
29:03taking out the package, you know, and, and reading the lyrics and learn, you know, who
29:07might be playing on it, where it was recorded thoughts.
29:10I always like to read, you know, the thank you sections that a lot of bands will put
29:14on, you know, who produced a record.
29:16Yeah.
29:16I love that stuff.
29:17See, I grew up, you know, when I lived, I lived in Philly in 72 and 72 and 73.
29:24By Rittenhouse Square, I think, right?
29:26Yeah.
29:26By Rittenhouse.
29:27I lived at a 2126 Walnut, I think it was.
29:31And, and, um, we used to rehearse down at third and race with good God at their place.
29:40And, um, I always liked an album because I liked the artwork and I liked to see where
29:48it was recorded.
29:49Who's, who's on first, you know, I mean, who's, you know, who's, who's on base or what,
29:54or what's the engineer's name?
29:56I mean, I miss that.
29:56It's like, you know, as I get older, my eyesight's no good.
29:59And I for sure can't read, uh, what's on a cassette or a CD.
30:05And it's like, uh, and I like to pick up pictures because I like the artwork.
30:09I mean, it's like, that was one of the fun things we did with Cheap Trick, you know,
30:12having two guys in the front, two in the back.
30:14Well, guess what?
30:15You, your picture's bigger.
30:16Right.
30:17And you do it that way.
30:18If you got all four or five or whatever you got in your band.
30:21It's a three-dimensional experience.
30:23So, you know, you, you lose it.
30:26Yes.
30:26And, you know, you record has all that stuff.
30:29I was surprised.
30:30Plus, I think we have some, some vinyl coming out too.
30:34And well, I, vinyl is actually one of the fastest growing, um, you know, uh, items of
30:40music in the music industry these days, which to me is encouraging.
30:43Cause I preach this from my little pulpit on the radio.
30:46I've been on MMR for almost 40 years in November.
30:49It'll be 40 years.
30:50I've been here.
30:50This station's been on the air for 53 years.
30:53So we play new bands and we play veteran bands and we play them side by side as I think
30:58it should be.
30:59It's the whole pizza pie, if you will.
31:01But I, over and over, we'll tell folks, go to a record store and buy a record.
31:06Yes.
31:06You could download a song, but allow yourself to delve into the experience of what an album
31:14is because, you know, on any legendary album, you've come to know by the time that first
31:19song is fading, you're already in anticipation of that second song.
31:24You know what I'm talking about.
31:25Oh yeah.
31:26Yeah.
31:26And you know what it's going to be.
31:28And even on this record, it's like, even if there's something I, um, not as fond of,
31:35put it that way or whatever.
31:37Um, even I go out and buy a box of popcorn.
31:41Well, I mean, uh, the third track in is another world.
31:44And then there's a reprise of it a little bit later on in the record, which is cool.
31:48Tell us about another world, by the way.
31:50I really liked that one.
31:52Well, another world was, uh, you know, it was kind of a nice, uh, speaking about the,
31:59once again, the kind of the state of what's going on, you know, we'll, we'll meet together
32:03in a different place.
32:04Well, we did that and we kind of liked how it went.
32:07And our, uh, producer, we worked with us, uh, Julian Raymond.
32:11I think he went to make a phone call or something like that.
32:14And he says, Hey, one, two, three, four.
32:17And we, all of a sudden we did a, um, a Ramon speed of the same song and, uh, ran through
32:27it.
32:27And then he came back in and it was like, you know, we were done with it.
32:30You know, I think we did it one take.
32:31And, um, and we just liked that.
32:34You know, it's like the song is, is King.
32:36Not, we're not King.
32:37And we're the songs are song dictated that.
32:41And it's like, it was good enough to put on the record twice.
32:45And it, and it seems like it's a different song, right?
32:48But you talked about, you know, uh, being willing to make mistakes.
32:54And, um, uh, Graham Nash told me about Neil Young when the, the four of them would, uh,
33:00in all of their explosive nature, but occasionally brilliant nature when they could overcome their
33:06things and rise as they often did.
33:09But, uh, Graham said to me, uh, he said, Neil would rather have you make a mistake with
33:14passion than do the part over and over and over and get it so perfect that it's pasteurized
33:21and homogenized.
33:23Yeah.
33:23Then you're, then you're the Eagles.
33:24I mean, it's like, you know, it's like in Fleetwood Mac and I said, how, how, how can
33:29you do a song for a year?
33:32It's never going to be perfect.
33:33It's never going to be, you know, whatever.
33:35You know, even like the songs on this record, the fact that I played some of them, uh, live
33:40now, it's like, I'm playing them different than I played on the thing.
33:44And, and yeah, our mistakes are real, you know, it's like same thing.
33:48Do you see the, um, in terms of your upcoming sets, when you get back on the road that these
33:53will, uh, that you'll try to incorporate a lot of them in?
33:56There'll be some things in there for sure.
33:58I mean, actually, um, um, um, laid out the fire.
34:04I think it went to number one, uh, in various areas.
34:08And I think in, in, in, in Japan also.
34:13So, and, you know, they're playing all kinds of different stuff.
34:16That's always been the thing with Chief Prigod.
34:17It was kind of hard to define, you know, what should we put out?
34:22What's a single?
34:22It's like, I mean, to me, if you, if you put out any song and played enough, it's a single.
34:28So, right.
34:29You know, it's like, uh, same way to heaven and surrender people say, Oh, that was a
34:34big single.
34:35Well, for us, it sure wasn't.
34:37I don't think it was, it was called a turntable hit, you know, it was played by radio and
34:41everybody kind of knows it, but it was never a hit.
34:44I mean, I wish it was, but it, you know, it gets played enough.
34:48Anyhow, who cares?
34:49Well, there's something to it.
34:51Uh, there's a, there's a magic, but you guys clearly have it.
34:54Speaking of surrender, I had told you this story before, but was it always you that,
35:00um, during that song in the earlier days, I guess, insurance liabilities as they are
35:05these days would prevent you, uh, throwing the record.
35:08But I remember seeing you when I was living in San Francisco at, uh, the cow palace or
35:13Oakland Coliseum doing surrender.
35:15And, uh, you would get a kiss record and throw it kind of like a frisbee out into the
35:20audience.
35:21Uh, you'd get the jacket and then you take the album out when the line comes, uh, in
35:26the song, got my kiss records out and you'd fling it like a frisbee.
35:29And there I am.
35:31And I happened to watch this disc.
35:33I'm about, it's a, it's an arena, uh, indoor arena sports arena.
35:37And I watched the disc fly out and then gain altitude.
35:41I'm about halfway back and up a little bit.
35:44And I just watch it sort of, and I was there by myself and I watch it gain altitude and
35:49I watch it come down and it bonks me on the nose and, and bounced off.
35:58And I was dumbfounded by this Rick.
36:01And, and I didn't even grab the record.
36:03All these guys around me, I was there by myself.
36:05I had no one to even share this moment with.
36:07And I said, what is the cosmic and cultural significance of the fact that I have been
36:13bonked in the nose by a kiss record at a cheap trick concert.
36:18And I still have not been able to, I've been to therapy.
36:20I've been to gurus.
36:22I've traveled the world to seek the answers to that cosmic question.
36:24I do not know the answer to it, but I, I, I believe I used to think it was Robin that
36:29threw it, but it was always you that threw the record.
36:31Yeah.
36:31Yeah.
36:32Well, it's like we're talking today, you know, kind of steer you away from the lawsuit.
36:38I would never, I would never.
36:40I'll get you a copy.
36:44Gene, of course, loved the fact that we'd, we'd have to go out and buy those records.
36:53That sounds like, he was thrilled.
36:56All right.
36:56Well, we, we will let you go here in just a moment, but the, the, the, the,
37:01the thrill that we have at MMR, uh, not only for your 20th record, which is a great album
37:07and getting great reviews and doing great business.
37:10You deserve every success.
37:12You, if, if we could, we would, uh, we would make you Kings of the world, but, uh, you are
37:17for us.
37:18You can't, that won't offend me.
37:20Okay.
37:21All right.
37:21Well, then we will get working on that between now on our MMRBQ, which is a Saturday, September
37:2725th, uh, over in Camden and, uh, all kinds of bands will be on it in the earlier part
37:32of the day.
37:33Uh, a young people like Aaron Jones and Dorothy.
37:36And, uh, as we mentioned, mammoth WVH, that's a Wolfgang Van Halen, uh, dirty honey, who,
37:42um, I think they're going to be touring with you and Dax in a little side project at some
37:47point.
37:47I think so.
37:49Um, you and Dax are going out on your own pretty shortly.
37:52Uh, and then.
37:53We're called TNT, the Nielsen Trust.
37:56Oh yeah.
37:57Cool.
37:58Cool.
37:58Uh, and then our headliners, uh, Cheap Trick and Jane's Addiction and The Offspring.
38:02Well, one last question before I let you go during this time off, how did you spend it?
38:08Because you're so used to being on the road and this band works so hard.
38:12I have to think that the juxtaposition between massive, continuous activity, be it in the
38:18studio or on the road, and all of a sudden an imposed break of a fairly significant amount
38:26of time might've been jarring to you, was it?
38:28It was a very uninspiring time as far as me wanting to write volumes and spend lots of
38:39times writing songs, but, but I, you know, I'm an only child.
38:43So I was like, I was never, uh, I've never been bored.
38:47So it's like, you know, I kind of found things to do.
38:50I, you know, I've re-found my coin collection from 1960.
38:55Uh, I've polished a few guitars.
38:58I bought a few guitars.
39:00Um, I did my, you know, I just did stuff that I haven't been able to do for the last 40
39:07years, you know, traveling so much.
39:10So it's like, you know, I always tell people, I said, I haven't unpacked since Budokan.
39:14I just buy more luggage.
39:17Really?
39:18You know, I come home, I got all, I got, I got, I got 50 pieces of luggage.
39:22You know, not that I won't, I'm addicted to luggage, but it's like, Hey, you get home
39:26and put all this, uh, yeah.
39:27Yeah.
39:28And you go back and I find it.
39:30Whoa.
39:30You know, I, I forgot about that, you know, from 35 years ago.
39:34So, so, you know, it's like, I just kept busy and I've got other projects that I do all
39:38the time.
39:39And, you know, do you feel, was it refreshing?
39:42Are you, are you, I thought, you know, I think it was the, the, the whole fact of it
39:47was uninspiring, but the fact of it, I think it's, it was, it was a real learning experience.
39:54I think whether it sunk into everybody or not, I mean, this is, this is serious stuff, you
40:00know, it was like, uh, the people dying and, and, uh, the, the truth or the fake news or
40:06believe this, or, or it's like, when it, when it first started happening, it was, everything
40:11was like a ghost town where I live now.
40:13It's like busier than I've ever seen it.
40:16You know, it's like, it's, it's crazy.
40:17And I think, uh, um, you heard about the, the famines and you hear about the pandemics
40:25from 150 years ago, why wouldn't it happen again, you know, like, and then you read about
40:31the, you know, um, buddy guy said to me, he says, if I would have known what I know today,
40:36he says, I would have invested in water.
40:39You know, what would you, uh, what would you say, Rick, to our audience, uh, and the many
40:45cheap trick fans in the Philly area and people listen to us all around the country now in
40:49terms of those, a lot of folks have gotten vaccinated, but there are a healthy.
40:54Get vaccinated.
40:56Why?
40:56Get vaccinated.
40:57It's like, um, well, I take the chance and why do it to be macho or whatever?
41:04I'm not going to do this.
41:06Well, think of everybody else.
41:07I mean, it's like when we used to go to the first time I went to Japan, people were in
41:10masks way before Michael Jackson wore masks and stuff.
41:13They care about what, not just that they're sick, but they, they don't want to infect anybody
41:18else.
41:19You know, think about, you know, think about somebody besides yourself.
41:24But think about yourself too.
41:26I mean, like you think of all the people that have died and it's like, it's not funny stuff.
41:31You know, it's like, uh, you know, I'm double vaccinated and it's like, that doesn't mean
41:37I can't get anything, but it's like, I feel more confident than, well, I'm not going to
41:41do this.
41:42It's, it's good.
41:43It's for your health.
41:43It's for, it's for everybody's health.
41:45It's a great point.
41:47Uh, we can't wait to see you in 2016.
41:49You were inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame, which was a great moment.
41:54And, um, you've said, um, we never, as you mentioned earlier in this conversation, you
42:00said in a quote, we never tried to be something that we weren't for the people who still don't
42:05really know who we are.
42:06It kind of validates us.
42:08You're in a rock band.
42:09Oh, good.
42:09You're 72 years old and play in a rock band.
42:12Oh, Jesus.
42:13What's wrong with you?
42:14People used to say that if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.
42:17I say, if you can make it in Rockford, Illinois, you can make it anywhere.
42:23You still stand by that?
42:24Stand by that.
42:25And, uh, when I talked with, uh, with Corey Taylor, they're from Iowa in the middle of
42:33Iowa and they've done phenomenal, phenomenal success and, um, creatively cool stuff.
42:41I mean, it's like, uh, it doesn't matter where you're from.
42:44I mean, I, I think there's more, uh, yeah, I stick by those words.
42:49You can make it in Rockford.
42:51You can make it, you know, you can make it in Philadelphia.
42:54Well, you did.
42:56Yes.
42:57I think it was a sign from God that restaurants was not to be your life.
43:01Yeah, that's right.
43:02But, um, you were not to be, uh, stealing toilet paper from him was not my future.
43:07Rick Nielsen, uh, part of cheap trick.
43:10We cannot wait to see you and Dax and Tom.
43:13And of course, Robin, uh, as part of our MMRBQ Saturday evening, September 25th over
43:18in Camden, uh, tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com.
43:22Thank you for spending some time with us.
43:23That's the album.
43:24It's called in another world.
43:26It's just been out a month.
43:27We've been playing a couple songs from it now, and we shall continue to, and you've got
43:32to see this band.
43:33If you have never, this is the time.
43:35Thank you, Rick, for your time on MMRBQ.
43:36Good to talk to you.
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