Cheap Trick has '3 great guys and 4 great chords'

Cheap Trick frontman Robin Zander has described the band’s songwriting team as “three great guys, and four great chords.”

Referring to himself, guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson, Zander says the group’s upcoming 17th album – tentatively called Bang Zoom Crazy Hello – harks back to their classic works thanks to the working relationship of the three core members.

Zander tells UCR: “It has flavours of 1975; it really does. And it’s the same guys in the band, so it sounds like Cheap Trick. I don’t think anyone is going to be very disappointed.

“I think all of our records are a progression of some sort. There’s three great guys and four great chords. There are three songwriters in the band and we’re all vying for space on the record as we go along on this journey of over 40 years. So, it’s going to be diverse, just like all of our records.”

He adds that the trio’s varying influences help make for interesting tunes. He says: “I think that comes from just being four guys that have different tastes in music and we want to project that through our records. I always liked that about bands like the Beatles. They could be so touching at one moment and then Helter Skelter the next.”

Petersson previously said they were working on two albums at the same time. Cheap Trick are in the running to be inducted in to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.