B次元官网网址淐lassicB次元官网网址� Rock, as a term, is a bit of misnomer. Rock isnB次元官网网址檛 a language that no one speaks anymore. Rock music is ageless, organic, hardworking, vital, and speaks a language that everybody understands, and sings along to.
That said, there is something about the music of the late B次元官网网址�60s and early B次元官网网址�70s that defines guitar-based rock B次元官网网址� a driving energy and unprecedented songwriting that really warrants the term B次元官网网址渃lassic.B次元官网网址�
You can ask Randy Bachman, who was at the forefront of the creation of the genre. He and his bands, like Bachman Turner Overdrive, helped define rock in the early B次元官网网址�70s. That sound, and those songs, are going rock Western Financial Place in Cranbrook when BTO comes to town Sunday, April 6. Time is going to stand still.
B次元官网网址淚 look back now, itB次元官网网址檚 like a whole genre,B次元官网网址� Bachman said, on the phone from his home in Victoria, ahead of going on tour with BTO next month. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 like Blues, or Jazz. Classic Rock, itB次元官网网址檚 a thing all over the world.
And IB次元官网网址檓 so grateful for the blessing of having started B次元官网网址� in the mid-60s with the Guess Who, and living through the wonderful period of time from about B次元官网网址�61 or 62,B次元官网网址� to the late B次元官网网址�70s when Disco came in B次元官网网址� 14 years of amazing Classic Rock.B次元官网网址�
The early B次元官网网址�70s was a fertile, inventive time for music. B次元官网网址淭here was so much happening musically,B次元官网网址� Bachman said. B次元官网网址淎nd it was almost like people were waiting for BTO to arrive on the scene.B次元官网网址�
A song has a unique power to grow beyond itB次元官网网址檚 original writing B次元官网网址� an organic quality that leads it to take on a life of its own, to become something greater than its writer, and to exist outside the time it was created. This is perhaps nowhere more true than in the case of B次元官网网址淭aking Care of Business.B次元官网网址� The hit from BTOB次元官网网址檚 second album, released in December, 1973. That song in particular has achieved an almost mythological status.
B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址楾aking Care Of BusinessB次元官网网址� has become universal," Bachman said in an interview with The Townsman. "It is used as a sports anthem B次元官网网址� kids at summer camp sing it, high school bands play it, symphonies play it. Presidential candidates have used it for theme songs. The world record for most guitar players have played it B次元官网网址�"
"Taking Care Of BusinessB次元官网网址� took seven years to write, Bachman says.
B次元官网网址淸I first] wrote it in the late B次元官网网址�60s, as B次元官网网址橶hite Collar Worker.B次元官网网址� It died. Because I was copying B次元官网网址楶aperback Writer,B次元官网网址� And I threw away the choruses, just kept the verses. And [one night] we sang the new hook B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址渢aking care of businessB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� on stage live. And it was magical. The crowd went crazy, and they still go crazy every night.B次元官网网址�
Bachman Turner OverdriveB次元官网网址檚 origin story is also legendary in the annals of Rock history. Bachman, of course, a founding member of The Guess Who, was already in the thick of Rock and Roll with that band, experiencing international success and hit songs, and the accompanying grind and all the turbulence that comes with that success.
B次元官网网址淚t was survival of the fittest, honestly,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 left The Guess Who B次元官网网址� it was 1970 B次元官网网址� it was not a great time in my life. To leave a band B次元官网网址� punks from Winnipeg, whoB次元官网网址檇 had a number one album and single in the worldB次元官网网址� [American WomanB次元官网网址漖.B次元官网网址�
It was then Bachman developed a medical issue, and had to stay home in Winnipeg for three months.
B次元官网网址淭hey went on without me. And suddenly IB次元官网网址檓 out of the band. And I want to start over, but I canB次元官网网址檛 compete with the magic voice of Burton Cummings, one of the greatest singers in the world. Still today.
B次元官网网址淚 didnB次元官网网址檛 want to be second-rate Guess Who. I can write Guess Who pop songs, but I didnB次元官网网址檛 want to do that anymore.
So Bachman formed a Country Rock band B次元官网网址� Brave Belt.
B次元官网网址淲e all liked Country Rock, so I started a band called Brave Belt, doing Country Rock. Buffalo Springfield had broken up, Poco had broken up, the Eagles hadnB次元官网网址檛 quite started yet, theyB次元官网网址檙e still backing Linda Ronstadt. Neil Young got me a deal with Reprise Record in L.A. I fly down there, I do two Brave Belt albums, they kind of like it, but it just doesnB次元官网网址檛 click. WeB次元官网网址檙e not in L.A. playing the Whiskey a Gogo, weB次元官网网址檙e in Winnipeg, right? WeB次元官网网址檙e too far away. And then they say, B次元官网网址榳e gotta drop you.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭hen I had a guy in New York tell me having a name of a band that doesnB次元官网网址檛 do you any good. No one knows who this new band is. Use your name, itB次元官网网址檚 under all these records B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址楴o Time,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址楢merican Woman,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址楽heB次元官网网址檚 Come Undone B次元官网网址� you gotta go with name recognition. Use the name Bachman.B次元官网网址�
At this time, Bachman said, he couldnB次元官网网址檛 get anyone to join his band.
B次元官网网址淣obody would play with me, after leaving the Guess Who, the golden boys. So I had to go to my younger brothers [Robbie and Tal]. We start a band with Fred Turner, who IB次元官网网址檝e known since I was 15 or 16. And we became Bachman-Turner B次元官网网址� three Bachmans and a Turner.
B次元官网网址淭hat was the early B次元官网网址�70s. At the time there was Seals and Crofts, Brewer and Shipley ['One Toke Over The Line'] B次元官网网址� two guys with guitars. So we go in as Bachman-Turner, people think weB次元官网网址檙e a folk act with two guys. WeB次元官网网址檙e trying to get people up dancing. IB次元官网网址檓 trying to evolve out of Country Rock into something heavier, that people will dance to. And weB次元官网网址檙e getting nowhere, but we keep trying.B次元官网网址�
Then, in an almost apocryphal story, Bachman picked up a trucker magazine at a Husky truck stop in Windsor, called B次元官网网址淥verdrive. B次元官网网址淎 trucking term, but no one had ever used it in music,B次元官网网址� Bachman said. He sought and got permission from the publisher to use the name Overdrive in the band.
B次元官网网址淲e called the label, weB次元官网网址檙e going to be called Bachman Turner Overdrive. They said, 'wow, those are three powerful words, but itB次元官网网址檚 too long.' I said, we can call it BTO. They said, B次元官网网址楾hatB次元官网网址檚 it!B次元官网网址�
BTOB次元官网网址檚 eponymous first album, was released in May, 1973. Shortly after its release, the band got a call from Scott Shannon, a programming director in St. Louis. Missouri.
B次元官网网址淗e said, B次元官网网址橧 just got your album. I really like it. NobodyB次元官网网址檚 is playing it, but I think thereB次元官网网址檚 something there. IB次元官网网址檓 doing the same thing with a couple other friends of mine B次元官网网址� Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top, Pat Johnson from the Doobie Brothers, Charlie Daniels, the Alllman Brothers. You guys come and play my drive-in movie theatre, weB次元官网网址檙e going to have a rock and roll weekend.'B次元官网网址�
And so it happened. From there to New Orleans, and on tour with ZZ Top et al.
B次元官网网址淓verybody thought we were a southern band. WeB次元官网网址檙e getting no airplay in Canada. And then the second album comes out, and we hit it lucky, with B次元官网网址楲et It Ride,B次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址楾aking Care of BusinessB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� top 40 singles. And weB次元官网网址檙e selling millions of albums and millions of singles.
B次元官网网址淎nd suddenly, weB次元官网网址檙e on top, and we donB次元官网网址檛 even know it. Because weB次元官网网址檙e on the road, 300 days a year in a station wagon, and we donB次元官网网址檛 know whatB次元官网网址檚 going on in the world B次元官网网址� thereB次元官网网址檚 no MTV, thereB次元官网网址檚 no news or internet. WeB次元官网网址檙e struggling from gig to gig. And suddenly we hit number one again, with the Not Fragile album, and B次元官网网址榊ou Ain't Seen NothinB次元官网网址� Yet.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淭hree solid years on the road. Three hundred gigs a year. ThatB次元官网网址檚 what paid off. We worked and worked and worked.B次元官网网址�
And the timing, after all, was right. The music was an idea whoB次元官网网址檚 time had come.
B次元官网网址淧eople were looking for something a little bit heavier,B次元官网网址� Bachman said. B次元官网网址淶eppelin was coming out. Things were getting away from the Beatles, and Pop music. This is like heavy, heavy guitars, which became heavy metal. It was a great genre to be in. Heavy pop, and suddenly, heavy rock.B次元官网网址�
The original BTO line-up of Randy Bachman, Fred Turner, Tim Bachman, and Robbie Bachman released two albums in 1973. Blair Thornton joined in 1974, in place of Tim Bachman, and this line-up released four albums between 1974 and 1977, including two that reached the top 5 in the U.S. pop charts.
As the '70s moved into the '80s, through changing times and changing personnel, BTO released several more albums. The band disbanded in early 1980, reunited some year later, took a hiatus in the early 2000s. But their hit songs never went away.
And now, Randy Bachman has revived the band and is hitting the highway this year on a tour that hits B.C. in April. Joining Bachman are his son Tal Bachman on lead vocals and guitar, Koko Bachman on drums, Lance LaPointe on bass and vocals and Brent Howard on guitar and vocals.
Their aim is to electrify the crowd and see them get up and dance.
"The whole trick of our tour thing is people having fun and dancing," Bachman said. "And if you can do that when youB次元官网网址檙e a kid B次元官网网址� and we were back in the B次元官网网址�60s and B次元官网网址�70s B次元官网网址� then youB次元官网网址檙e lucky.
"And to get to now, 50 years later, and playing the same 18 or 20 songs, and having everybody, of all ages, from five and six to 95, reacting to these songs B次元官网网址� dancing, singing, playing air guitar, playing air drums, reliving moments of joy that are long forgotten, because nobody knows what the hell is happening tomorrow B次元官网网址� playing this music just unlocks memories for everybody."
B.C. tour dates:
April 1: Save-ON-Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria
April 3: Abbotsford Centre, Abbotsford
April 4: SOuth Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton
April 6, Western Financial Place, Cranbrook
April 8, CN Centre, Prince George
More information on the tour is.
