Randy Bachman, founder of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, will play Sept. 17 at Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center. The show also chronicles his greatest hits with The Guess Who. PHOTOS COURTESY OF RANDY BACHMAN
Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Randy Bachman has become a legendary figure in rock ‘n’ roll through his talents as a guitarist, songwriter, performer and producer. Bachman has earned more than 120 gold and platinum albums and singles around the world. His songwriting has garnered him the coveted No. 1 spot on radio playlists in more than 20 countries with hits such as The Guess Who’s “American Woman” and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “You Ain’t See Nothing Yet,” the first two songs by Canadian artists to the top the U.S. charts. Throughout the course of his 60-year music career, Bachman has sold more than 40 million records. His songs have been recorded by a broad range of artists and have been placed in dozens of TV shows, films and commercials.
Bachman first scored Billboard radio chart success in The Guess Who with the 1965 debut single, their version of “Shakin’ All Over.” The Guess Who went on an unprecedented run of five singles that each sold a million copies, all the product of the gold-plated Randy Bachman-Burton Cummings songwriting team. By 1970, The Guess Who had sold more records than the entire Canadian recording industry to that point, even outselling the Beatles that year. Their hits included “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “Undun,” “No Time,” “No Sugar Tonight,” and “American Woman.”
Due to health concerns and desiring a change in lifestyle, including spending more time with his young family, Randy left The Guess Who at the height of their success. While this move stunned the music world, Randy knew that he could never leave music behind. He formed Brave Belt, a country-rock outfit in 1970 and experimented with a new musical style and lineup that eventually metamorphosed into the chart-topping Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Randy's success with Bachman-Turner Overdrive would eclipse his earlier triumphs and give him yet a third run at the pop music charts. Monstrous hits for the band included, “Let it Ride,” “Roll on Down the Highway,” “Takin' Care of Business,” “Hey You,” “Looking Out for #1,” “Four Wheel Drive” and “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet,” which reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries.
Randy's career has been built upon his unstoppable drive to work at creating music. He has released numerous solo albums throughout his career and simultaneously has worked at producing for other artists. His production/writing work with Canadian rock band Trooper generated gold and platinum records in the 1970s.
In 2005, following the phenomenal success of the much-heralded four-year Guess Who reunion, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings decided that the time was right to finally go out under their own names. Together as Bachman-Cummings, they starred and performed in the top-rated television concert special entitled “First Time Around,” which aired throughout North America on CBC and PBS. Following its success, they released their platinum-selling 2006 album, “Songbook,” followed the next year by “Jukebox.” Bachman then started to work on a solo album to include collaborations with friends Neil Young, Burton Cummings, the late Jeff Healey and Fred Turner, co-namesake of BTO. Instead, this led to Bachman and Turner working together again after being apart for more than 20 years, and Bachman & Turner was born. They released a self-titled studio album in 2010 that seamlessly fit among their previous classic rock anthems, then went on a world tour in support.
Bachman’s love of guitar music and a desire to support unsung and legendary guitar greats, including his early mentor Lenny Breau, led him to found the jazz guitar record label Guitarchives Music, which rescues and releases otherwise lost archival guitar music. He also founded Ranbach Music, a label that releases archival Guess Who recordings and other material that never made it to CD.
His songs have been recorded by a diverse selection of artists, including Lenny Kravitz (“American Woman”) and have been used on television and movie soundtracks, including “Seinfeld,” “The Simpsons,” “American Beauty,” and “Austin Powers 2.” He had the honor of being animated on “The Simpsons.”
Noted for his contributions as an iconic Canadian rock musician and for his support of emerging artists as a producer, Bachman has received many awards, including in 2009, the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest civilian honor for lifetime achievement. He continues to be in high demand as a songwriter, session player, and solo artist. His music industry awards include dozens of coveted acknowledgments of legendary achievements.
While the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has snubbed The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, perhaps that will change now that “Rolling Stone” founder Jann Wenner has been ousted as chairman of the nomination committee. However, Randy says he’s not going to hold his breath, having been inducted twice into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2001 with The Guess Who and 2012 as a solo artist, as well as the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2016.
The release of the acclaimed 2018 full-length documentary film “Bachman” by award-winning director John Barnard brings the oft-described architect of Canadian rock ‘n’ roll’s story full circle with an insightful retrospective of his many remarkable career milestones while continuing to look forward to what is still ahead. Bachman is also the subject of a new documentary, currently in production, that chronicles his recovery of a long-lost Gretsch guitar. He has played an integral role in the evolution and growth of the Canadian music industry and continues to serve as both an inspiration and impetus for others to succeed.
In 2023, Bachman revived BTO for a fall tour that has continued into 2024. Led by Bachman, BTO's latest lineup includes Mick Dalla-Vee, Brent Knudsen, Marc LaFrance, and his son, Tal Bachman. With Randy's legendary guitar, Mick's versatile talents, Brent's dynamic vocals, Marc's rhythmic beats, and Tal's contemporary flair, BTO forges ahead, blending classic hits with a fresh energy that captivates audiences worldwide.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive has area shows coming up Sept. 13, Music Box at the Borgata, Atlantic City; Sept. 17, Carteret Performing Arts and Events Center, and Sept. 20, St. George Theatre, Staten Island. Enjoy the following chat with rock ‘n’ roll legend Randy Bachman, who currently resides on Canada’s west coast in Victoria, British Columbia.
How has playing the violin as a child influence your guitar playing?
It’s a lead instrument, like a flute, so it’s at the top of the melody. I would play the melody, and when I switched to guitar, I just started playing lead guitar. I learned chords afterwards. As a kid, I played rhythm guitar, but one time, I had to play lead, and they said, ‘You play better lead guitar than our lead guitar player.’ I’ve played lead ever since, and that comes from the violin.
I started when I was 5. Before school every day, I had to practice for a half hour, and after school, I had to practice, so I was rehearsing an hour every day. My parents made me practice before I could go outside to play. When I started playing guitar, I couldn’t stop playing to the records of Elvis and Chuck Berry. I had a ‘phonographic’ memory. I could remember everything in my head. It was life changing.
A few days after you play Carteret on Sept. 17, you’ll turn 81 on Sept. 27. At 80, is BTO still fun?
I’m doing this for fun. I’ve been playing music since I was 5. People would say, ‘Why don’t you get a real job’ until it becomes a real job. It’s the most fun way to make a living, to get to play guitar. And I’ve got my son in the band. He started playing drums when he was 2. Now he’s got a couple of hit songs. We do The Guess Who songs I wrote and the BTO stuff. It’s several decades of classic rock music.
Is Fred Turner on the current BTO tour?
No, he recently lost his wife so he’s in secluded mourning.
Do you have any plans to record with Fred as Bachman-Turner Overdrive?
We’ve been asked to do another album. I’ll be in Winnipeg with him soon. I’m on the West Coast in Victoria. We correspond by email and text, and we’re working on songs together. He’s one of the great voices in rock ‘n’ roll. I’ll be in Winnipeg for three days so I’m hoping we’re going to write another ‘Let It Ride’ together. He definitely can sing on the new album.
Also, I recently got ‘BTO Live in Budokan’ going from 1976. That’s coming out soon. I’ve been hearing the tapes. They are fantastic.
With ‘American Woman,’ The Guess Who were the first Canadian band to top the U.S. charts. Bachman-Turner Overdrive scored a No. 1 album in the U.S. with ‘Not Fragile,’ which included “Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” a second No. 1 single in the U.S. that you wrote. Because of this success, among other accomplishments, you are in Hall of Fames and received many awards and honors. Is it just a matter of time before BTO and The Guess Who are inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame?
No! The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, people don’t realize, is owned Jann Wenner. If you’re not one his favorites, you don’t’ get in there. BTO and The Guess Who are not his favorites. When ‘Rolling Stone’ was in San Francisco, we were supposed to have an album review, but he vetoed it.
I’m friends with everybody in show business. I love show business, but when Leonard Cohen, who’s a balladeer and writes great poetry, got in the Rock Hall, it got all distorted. I just gave up on it at that point.
For decades, fans passed around a thing on the Internet and got thousands of signatures to get us inducted. Jann Wenner doesn’t care. I don’t care either. I’m in my own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in my own mind.
At least our buddies Rush are in there. They were the third Canadian band to top the U.S. chart. Then there was Loverboy and Bryan Adams. At least there’s one feather in our Canadian cap.
But how could they neglect ‘These Eyes,’ ‘American Woman,’ ‘Let it Ride,’ ‘Takin’ Care of Business,’ ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,’ ‘No Sugar Tonight’ ... I’ve got 15 hit songs, starting with ‘Shakin’ All Over’ when I was 19 years old.
Does BTO ever play any of your solo songs and/or The Guess Who hits you co-wrote, such as ‘American Woman’ and ‘These Eyes?’
Yes, we open with a couple of Guess Who songs. I tell a great story about how Winnipeg was the Liverpool of Canada. It has 150,000 people and is the capitol city of Manitoba. The top bands in Winnipeg were Chad Allan and the Expressions (who became The Guess Who), Neil Young & the Squires, Burton Cummings & the Deverons, and Fred Turner & Pink Plumm. And we’ve all still got records today and have music all over the radio.
For me, it started with ‘Shakin’ All Over.’ I tell stories about how we got the name The Guess Who, and how Burton and I wrote ‘These Eyes’ and ‘American Woman,’ then we do those songs. It’s a journey, and it’s presented almost in a timeline fashion.
At some point, will you continue to do Bachman Cummings with Burton?
Yeah, the phone’s always ringing between us. We text and go back and forth. We get offered gigs, so we’re open to do anything. It’s just fun to get together with a guy since we were kids. He was 17, and I was 20.
When he was a kid, he had a great voice and played the piano, and I taught him to play guitar. I would get together with him and write as kids. I went to his house every Saturday, and I’d show him the songs I was working on, and he’d show me the songs he was working on. His mother and his grandmother would make us cookies, and we’d drink 7-Up. We were a songwriting duo, like Lennon & McCartney and Burt Bacharach & Hal David. It’s quite a flashback to when he was a 17-year-old kid. He had a great Irish tenor voice. Still does. Every once in a while, I’ll show up at one of his shows or he’ll join me and my band. A Guess Who reunion is coming.
Your late brothers Rob and Tim were original members of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and your brother Gary was BTO’s manager for a time. When they died, were on good terms with your brothers?
I was, but we didn’t live near each other. We’re not in the same city anymore so I never saw them. And I had my own life with eight kids and 25 grandkids.
Bachman-Turner Overdrive will also play Sept. 13, Music Box at the Borgata, Atlantic City, and Sept. 20, St. George Theatre, Staten Island.
Your son, Tal, a successful singer-songwriter in his own right, plays in the current BTO lineup in place of his late uncles. You also have play with him in the Bachman & Bachman duo. What do you enjoy most about performing with your son Tal?
When he was 2, I have a picture of him in my book. You see this little blonde kid, 2 years old sitting behind my brother, Robbie’s drums. We would practice in my basement. Robbie would give him his sticks. He became a great drummer and learned the styles of Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts, John Bonham and Keith Moon. He learned all that stuff, but then he switched to guitar when he was 10. He was into Eddie Van Halen. Then he got into keyboards, Keith Jarrett. He’s a talented musician and songwriter. He grew up with it.
When Tal was in college, my drummer broke my law: no motorcycles, skydiving. He broke his knee and couldn’t drum. So I called Tal while he was in college and asked him to come be my drummer. He knew exactly what to play. He was a natural.
He has his own guitar style. At first, he would emulate my guitar style on the solo of ‘American Woman,’ but then out of the blue, he’d go into a harmony, like The Allman Brothers Band on ‘Jessica.’ We developed a bond that was intuitive and healthy. It’s really fantastic being on stage with him.
Will Bachman & Bachman remain active?
We are somewhat active doing gigs once in a while. We have a jazzy dual guitar thing that came out of COVID. We do a Friday ‘Trainwreck’ at 6 o’clock. Tal would bring five songs that I never played, and I would bring songs he never played, like Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’
I got my ’57 Gresch guitar back that was stolen in 1976 at the Holiday Inn in Toronto. I got it back through YouTube after 49 years. It was in Japan. I Zoomed with the guy who had my guitar. I had to wait two years to get it back because of COVID. It was off by two serial numbers from the guitar I had, so I gave him the twin. Netflix has a video coming up about my guitar that is going to be screened at film festivals. I wrote ‘These Eyes,’ ‘American Woman,’ and ‘Taking Care of Business’ with that guitar. It’s a magical guitar.
The Netflix film is called ‘Taking Care of Business.’ I started out playing violin, but I switched to guitar when I saw Elvis on TV. I’m a real Elvis fan, and Priscilla was in an HBO interview, and she said Elvis heard this song by this Canadian band. Now his logo with the lightning bolt that says Takin’ Care of Business is on Elvis’ tombstone at Graceland. I feel very blessed by that.
Have you read any of the Stephen King books he wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman, a name you inspired?
I was very disappointed I was never called to be in the movie ‘Maximum Overdrive,’ but I’m a fan of Stephen King, and he’s a fan of BTO.
Do you miss doing your radio show, ‘Vinyl Tap’?
Yes, I did it for 15 years. It was fantastic! I had 5 to 6 million listeners every show across Canada. I do miss it. I had 16 stations interested in it, but I couldn’t find a sponsor so I couldn’t pay an engineer. If a sponsor comes forward, we have 3,090 shows we can re-air, and we can do brand new ones.
It was the most fun. I would go through my record collection and tell stories about Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, how I met with Jimmy Page when he was on a Yardbirds tour, The Beach Boys. If I got a sponsor, it would go on Sirius. Tal and I do a Sirius Beatles show every month. I need a national sponsor, like Toyota or Apple or a pizza chain.
Is there anything I didn’t ask on which you would like to comment?
I’m thrilled and happy that BTO is back on tour. I went a couple of months ago to see Neil Young play with Crazy Horse. It was a great show. I knew every song. They played all the hits with incredibly long guitar solos. Classic rock is back.
I flew to New Jersey to see The Rolling Stones. Here are these 80-year-old guys who keep on rockin’. Classic rock guitar is back backed by real drummers. Autoplay is gone.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at makinwaves64@yahoo.com.
