AND FOR OUR NEXT TRICK...
The Illinois Anglophiles “didn’t plan for any of this to happen” but, deep into their fifth decade of existence, Cheap Trick are enjoying a late-career surge of creativity.
Words: Rob Hughes
“Rock’n’roll moves like a roller-coaster, the same way our career has gone,” offers Robin Zander, Cheap Trick’s lead singer and rhythm guitarist. “We’ve had our ups and downs over the years. We never had goals, we just keep on doing what we do because we love it. What can I say? I like rock songs with good energy.”
Zander is trying to account for a couple of things. Firstly, the longevity of Cheap Trick, the band he’s fronted with dashing elan since 1974. Then there’s the uncurbed intensity and verve of the band’s latest album In Another World, which distils everything that Cheap Trick do best – punchy popmetal, great ballads, hooks, harmonies, glam-bam rock’n’roll – into 50 wondrous minutes.
The album also crowns a prolific late-career surge that has yielded four albums in nearly as many years. “We actually enjoy the challenge of recording,” explains flamboyant lead guitarist Rick Nielsen, he of the trademark baseball cap, bow tie and crazy stage moves. “There’s thirteen songs on In Another World, and we probably had at least another half dozen on top of that. In the same time frame we also did a Beatles track for Howard Stern, a David Bowie track with [producer] Jack Douglas and a song for a Harry Nilsson tribute album. So we like to work. And we never seem to be searching for things to do – things search us out.”
Live at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo: (l-r) Robin Zander, Tom Petersson and Rick Nielsen.
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Cheap Trick actually started recording the album while still with Nashville label Big Machine, who released 2016’s return-to-form Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello and the 2017 double whammy of We’re All Alright! and Christmas Christmas. They’re now signed to BMG. In Another World was initially down for release in 2019, but was disrupted by covid. Opening track The Summer Looks Good On You (aka Here Comes The Summer), all burst lungs and power chords, came out as a taster single as early as 2018.