![]() It was also the late ’70s that begat the bassist’s first effort developing a 12-string bass. Interestingly, the album that firmly established Cheap Trick as a long-term and memorable force in rock music was 1979’s Live at Budokan, recorded at the Tokyo venue. Oddball looks aside, the band and its music clicked, particularly in Japan at first, where their first three albums sold better than in the United States. But when are your drummer and guitarist going to get with it?’ We used to love that!” “Back then, people used to tell us ‘Wow, we like your band. Whereas Petersson and Zander had the long-haired rockstar aesthetic down pat, Carlos looked like a harried junior high school principal and Nielsen affected a goofball persona that recalled Huntz Hall (of the Bowery Boys and the Dead End Kids). The look of the band was also unique, for that matter. They’d be playing the current disco songs, but we stuck with what we were doing. “And nobody else – at least where we started playing – was doing that. “Besides the usual stroke of luck, the main thing was that we did original songs and obscure covers,” he said. The band’s approach to songwriting and performing was “against the grain” for the times, and we asked Petersson why he thought the band broke out in the late ’70s i.e., during the “dark days of disco.” Carlos, and vocalist/guitarist Robin Zander became the legendary lineup. ’62 Fender Precision in Sonic Blue.Ĭheap Trick formed in the mid ’70s, and after a couple of personnel changes, the foursome of Petersson, Nielsen, drummer Bun E. ’56 Fender Precision in factory black finish. (left to right) ’64 large-body Framus Star with “Humbug” finish. However, the Fuse record left Petersson dissatisfied (“Everything that could go wrong did”), and he and other former band members would go on to play in a version of the Nazz, sans Todd Rundgren, in the early ’70s. Petersson’s bass has a noticeable and prominent sound on songs like “Across the Skies” and “To Your Health,” not unlike the tone of original Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper (the Purps’ first album, Shades of Deep Purple, dates from ’68). Ultimately, the Grim Reapers begat a quintet called Fuse, which released a solitary album on Epic in 1969. That band evolved into the Grim Reapers, which ultimately included Petersson on bass. Another band on the same circuit was a grittier-sounding aggregation called the Phaetons, which included keyboardist/guitarist and fellow Rockford resident Rick Nielsen. Petersson’s first band of note was called the Bol Weevils, which specialized in harmony vocals and Beatle covers (thus the pun behind the name) he played a Cherry-finish Gibson ES-330. I’ve since converted a ’72 Mapleglo 4001 to a single-pickup, neck-position-only version.” I liked the horseshoe pickup, but hate that it blocks your right hand from muting the strings at the bridge. In 1969, I bought a blue Rickenbacker 4001 to replace the Jazz Bass. “But I never liked it, and much prefer Fender Precision Basses. “My first bass was a Fender Jazz,” he said. Petersson’s conversion to bass took place circa 1967. My first concert, in 1962, was Johnny Cash at the Coronado Theatre in Rockford.” Before the Beatles, I’d been a huge fan of Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy, and Bo Diddley. “But I really wanted a Rickenbacker 12-string back then, because of George Harrison. It wasn’t particularly one that everyone wanted, and of course, now I wish I still had it,” he said. Originally from Rockford, Illinois, Petersson is, like many bassists, a converted guitarist. Now a resident of Nashville, Petersson still plays the 12-string electric bass he is credited for envisioning and developing in the late 1970s in conjunction with the original Hamer company. Photos by Rick Malkin It’s been a long time comin’… Like his longtime bandmate, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick bassist/songwriter Tom Petersson collects classic stringed instruments. Tom Petersson with a ’61 Rickenbacker 4000 bass.
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