Wild At Heart
It has been an interesting week as I started out seeing Guess Who lead singer/songwriter Burton Cummings who wrote or co-wrote many of their biggest hits such as "These Eyes", "Laughing", "American Woman" and "Share The Land", all of which he played during the show along with lesser known songs like "Guns, Guns, Guns" and his solo work like "Stand Tall". His band played for shy of two hours and just rocked all night long. I was a bit taken aback as this native Canadian did do some bad mouthing of his former band, which he had reunited with for some good shows only a few short years ago calling them a karaoke band and pretenders. He urged the audience to avoid this band when they come around but I think that might be disingenuous in a way. While Burton did write a number of sings, and owns the rights to all the early songs (even the ones he didn't write), the touring band which will be rocking the riverfront by the Ren Center this Friday night does include 50 year Guess Who veteran drummer Gary Peterson and bassist Jim Kale, who while he left the band in 1973 was a member before Burton Cummings. With a band, it is a group effort and while great songs are needed for staying power, so does a sound that you get from good musicians and that is what the touring Guess Who has in spades. I would say that one would enjoy both versions no matter what Burton says. While like the Who, Cummings and Bachman might be the Daltrey and Townsend but Peterson and Kale are the Entwistle and Moon of the band which is just fine.
Before I share the Burton Cummings pictures, I will share some words with drummer Gary Peterson of the Guess Who. Basically a child prodigy who learned music by ear, his dad was a drummer and Gary himself started performing at the age of 4. He was a drummer in a stage band in Winnipeg that performed for local artists that would perform in a variety show atmosphere at the Red River Exposition. Some of the names include the Four Lads, Ames Brothers, Peggy Lee and the Andrew Sisters (of which Gary remembers Patty telling him he was cute). By the time he joined the Guess Who (then Chad Allen and the Reflections), he was a big name on the music scene and the band life "seemed like normal". At this time "rock n roll was perfect to play for people my age" and he met Randy Bachman while playing softball and they decided to form a band. While starting out as Chad Allen and the Reflections, things changed when a promoter had an idea to put the words "Guess Who?" on there newest single "Shakin' All Over". The band didn't really like it because of the confusion between them and the Who and the fact the band name wasn't on the single. The song took off in Canada (going to #1) and before the next single which would have had the Chad Allen and the Reflections name on it, they were captured by a DJ blitz who kept referring to them as the Guess Who. Needless to say, the name stuck and the band decided to go with it. Gary admits "it was a period name" that they got used to it after awhile like the great names such as the Shadows, etc.
Gary is an old timer who while missing the old vinyl records has embraced the new mediums. He is a little disappointed that RCA has never put out a box set of their music, but he is excited that fans are able to find their music on downloads. He states "more young people come out because they can find the music" which is great for the band to see these new fans come in. While he admits stores don't have to stock physical copies of the records, he does miss one thing about albums that downloads don't have. He enjoys seeing the people who played on the album which is missing off the majority of downloads. Hopefully someone will take note and work on a way to get the information to us so you know who is playing drums or bass on a song. That was really important to him growing up to find out who was making those wonderful sounds on all those great records.
Reacting to Burton's criticism of the current line-up, Gary puts in all down to ego. While not admitting it, one gets the feel that there is a bit of bitterness that Burton owns the rights to their music (while Peterson and Kale own the name). At least to the point he owns even the songs he didn't write and that means the Guess Who cannot put downloads of their own songs on their website. He also feels that "he (Cummings) has been given two chances to be part of the band (and he has turned them down)" and that Cummings originally left the band to go solo so Cummings has no reason to be so belligerent towards this version of the band. It almost feels he (Cummings) is discounting the contributions of the bands sound that Peterson and Kale, among others, have made. No band is just one person and it seems like that is what Cummings is trying to say. Making it all about him and maybe Bachman. The "band put the sound together despite the fact he (Cummings) wrote lots of the songs". Peterson does state that the current players are great and they have wonderful personalities that don't get in the way of making good music. Currently, there "is no tension and the onstage dynamics are good and that comes through". The new singer, Derek, is very talented and does a wonderful job on the songs. There seems to be a truly family feel to the band that makes playing a joy and Peterson admits, though don't tell the record company, that "at this point I would play for free" because he enjoys it so much.
While things between Cummings and Peterson might not be great, he does have a good relationship with Bachman. Despite leaving the group to form BTO in a rather awkward way. Randy was supposed to be having gall bladder surgery and the band found him in NYC working on another band. This did get Bachman thrown out (or did he quit). The meeting in NYC was awkward, but Peterson did later play on a live BTO album with Bachman so things do seem to be OK in that arena. The Guess Who is getting ready to record a few new songs, some of which they will play during their Detroit show and will be available on their website. Peterson also laments the fact that traditional radio has no formats which embrace aging classic rock bands no matter how good their material might be so make sure to look online for their stuff. And while it can be frustrating playing the same songs for 30 years, he does take pride they play their songs as close to the originals as they can. I wish Gary the best and hope a lot of people get to check out the band when they play the Ren Center. My buddy Saad promised to review the show and provide the insights to the band playing live.
Now as promised are some pictures of the Burton Cummings show I saw in Lockport. There is some fuzziness on some due to the distance and the darkness but some of the shots came out really good. so enjoy.
Burton say cheers and good night!
I hope that maybe some day, Cummings will get off his high horse and get back together with the Guess Who, but I am also content if he did his thing and the Guess Who did theres. I look forward to Saad's review of the show and wish I could be there. In the meantime, keep an eye out for my pictures and interview with Jen Lenz and the Jaguars as well as some pics I took at a Motivational Speaker show which featured Bill Cosby and Colin Powell among others. That will be up shortly. Take care Detroit Rock City.
PS - check out http://www.TheGuessWho.com/