Interview with Randy Bachman

Written by Ty

Tuesday, 04 August 2009 19:00

Randy Bachman is a Canadian music legend and a darn good guitar player to boot. Besides his solo work he has been a member of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. He has co-written and sung on almost every song recorded by the various bands he has been a part of. Besides selling millions of albums and concert tickets, Bachman has also been awarded the Order of Canada, hosts a radio show on CBC Radio One, has created a theatre show based on the writing of his most famous songs, and produced tracks for other artists including Kalan Porter.

Now he and his sidekick Burton Cummings are back on the road together touring as Bachman-Cummings. They will be in Montreal on August 12th. We had the opportunity recently to talk to Randy Bachman about his career and passion for guitars.

Orcasound: Where do you call home nowadays?

Randy: Vancouver Island, near Victoria

Orcasound: When did you leave Winnipeg (his hometown)?

Randy: Oh, the early 70s.

Orcasound: Are you still in touch with Fred Turner? Is there a chance we're going to see a new tour or album from Bachman-Turner Overdrive?

Randy: I don't know if that's possible, but I am doing a new rock solo CD which will be released next spring and Fred Turner is doing a track on it with me. I also have Jeff Healy on a track, Neil Young on a track and I'm working on a couple of other surprises, so I guess there'll be 3 or 4 really cool guest artists.

Orcasound: What was it like recording with Neil Young?

Randy: Neil Young is quite amazing because he does things in an instant with no rehearsal. You go in and you show him the song and he kind of ad-libs his way through it. You say let's do it and he says, "It's done" and you say, "What!?" and Neil says "The tape's rolling. We captured it." You'll say there was a bad note in there and he says, "It's ok. We captured that moment. It's done." And that's pretty much it. Then I brought some of the stuff home and tried to fix it. I sent it back to him and it's like working with Frank Sinatra because the manager calls you back and says, "Neil thinks the thing you first did is perfect. It's done. Don't mess with it." Then you say, "But I just want to fix this." And he says, "Can you not understand me? It's done." Then you just have to say, "Ok, thank you very much."

Orcasound: What does it feel like to be immortalized in a Simpsons episiode?

Randy: It was quite surreal to actually see myself with yellow skin and blue hair - in that Simpsons mode. I have a cell from that episode that Matt Groening autographed and sent to me. It's almost like getting a platinum album as it's in a box set. It's really quite amazing.

Orcasound: Tell me about "Road to Guitar" airing on the Discovery Channel.

Randy: Well, that got pitched to me as a special and an ongoing series. It would be on Discovery then PBS and other educational channels. I met with the people several times. We're waiting for some scripts to be developed because "The Road to Guitar" the 2-hour special would feature me and then the ongoing series of maybe 13 episodes would be me trying to search for the origins of the guitar. Which means Egypt and Arabia where the oud - these first instruments - started and then lead into what we look at today as the shape of the guitar, specifically the acoustic guitar. Which basically Carlos Monteya standardized in the early 1900s. He was learning to play guitar and it wouldn't stay on his knee because it was pear-shaped and the back was round, so he is the one that made it violin-shaped so the guitar could sit on your knee. We trace all those origins. Then go to the factories - Fender, Gibson, Rickenbacker and see how they're made and who designed them. We really trace down that origin of a particular guitar - say the Gibson Les Paul and then go and interview Les Paul, sit and jam with Les Paul, then go to play with Jimmy Page, who also plays the Les Paul and then Slash (Guns 'N Roses). The whole episode would be on Gibson guitars and the next show would be on Fender guitars.

Orcasound: Sounds great!

Randy: I did it on my Saturday radio show on CBC - every Saturday night for 2 hours - and we did Fender guitars, Stratocaster for one show, the next week was the Telecaster, the next week a solid body Gibson and the next a big body Gibson and on and on and on. I compared all the different guitars and all the different sounds. It just won a Silver Medal Award at the International Radio Conference in New York just last week. Out of 38 countries and thousands of entries it was voted the second best show. The e-mails I had on the radio show was staggering. I had thousands of e-mails. The television show I'm looking at taking it on the road next year going to each city and having a guitar player with me onstage, having a set of Fender guitars, a set of Gibson guitars and explain a little of the history of each. He plays a song. I play a song. We play a hit that was done on that guitar and try to recreate the original sound.

Orcasound: When do you think we can expect to see this show on tv?

Randy: It's another work in progress. I'm booked all through next year, so it's down the road. The minute I heard about this I wrote a theme song for it because I'm really a songwriter. So the theme is done. We've discussed several options. The tour...well, it's all coming together. It's funny how these things happen. I talked to one guy in Montreal, where this was pitched to me, from the Bravo Jazz Guitar Festival. Then I get an e-mail from somebody else saying I want you to be the spokesman for a guitar. I get a call from CBC saying would you take your radio show on the road and do that live? And it all converges into one. The live tour might, in fact, become part of the television show. I might be part of a big special where I'm onstage with a couple of guitar players who are actually playing and getting sounds out of these guitars and explaining it to the people. So it's all coming together, but I can't give you a timeline. It starts with one idea and then it expands to become a hundred ideas that are all similar.

Orcasound: What are some of the guitars you enjoy to play?

Randy: When you're a guitar player there's certain tools you need in your arsenal. Whether you're on stage or in a recording studio. First of all you have an acoustic guitar. That's pretty much the one you play around the house. I have ones around the house. Everywhere I walk I pick one up and I can write songs. It's too hard to do electric in a house because everyone complains. Then you need a Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster for their inherent sounds. Then a big body Gibson and a Les Paul Gibson. Then a 12-string Rickenbacker. So there's 5 or 6 guitars that everybody needs in their arsenal if you're playing an array of music, which I am and most musicians are, if you want different sounds. I've got a lot of guitars. I love guitars. I'm a sucker for a beautiful guitar. They have become my whole life.

Orcasound: Any advice for aspiring guitarists?

Randy: Find somebody that you really like on guitar and get their catalogue. See what it was that rang your bell and if it keeps ringing your bell then you start to write like them. You change it a little bit and suddenly you have your own style. You start to put yourself in there.

Orcasound: What do you remember from the year 1969 since we're coming up on the Woodstock anniversary?

Randy: I remember deciding not to go to Woodstock. I was with The Guess Who. We had already played the Seattle Pop Festival, which was 3 days of glorious sunshine and a fabulous array of bands - it was Led Zeppelin's first tour, The Byrds were there, Ike and Tina Turner, The Doors - it was unbelievable. Two weeks later we were in Chicago recording what was going to be the "American Woman" album and I got a phone call saying do you want to come to Woodstock, New York? We had already seen on the news that it was raining there, that there was a lineup of people, that the highway was blocked, there wasn't enough water, there wasn't enough toilets, there wasn't enough food, and they were flying the performers in on helicopters. We had just gotten to Chicago and they had built a brand new studio for us. So I said, "No, I think we'll pass." We did record the "American Woman" single, which went to number one on all the trades.

Orcasound: What can we expect to hear at the Bachman-Cummings show in Montreal?

Randy: Touring as Bachman-Cummings we get to embrace all the hit songs from The Guess Who, all the hit songs from Bachman-Turner Overdrive, some of Burton's solo stuff, and some of my solo stuff - new and old. So for the fans it's an incredible trip down memory land. It's about 4 decades of Canadian rock 'n roll. The soundtrack to your life and it's a really great ride. The fans love it.