By Matt Conner
For The Herald Bulletin
Nearly 40 years as a band, The Guess Who continue to remain an American cultural staple. Their greatest hit, “American Woman,” finds new life every few years via its Rock Band placement or Lenny Kravitz remake.
That band, however, only holds two original members – drummer Garry Peterson and bassist Jim Kale – still touring today. Other famous figures like singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman have long since left, yet Peterson insists the band’s current live sound is the best representation yet of the original recordings.
Formed in Winnipeg, Canada in 1965, the band’s only No. 1 hit was “American Woman” in May, 1970. However, they had a string of Top 40 sounds including “No Sugar Tonight,” “These Eyes” and “Undun.”
With two sold-out Saturday shows at Hoosier Park, Peterson sat down to talk about the power of the music, what fans (known as Guess Whooligans) can expect and the drama behind one of rock history’s iconic bands.
Herald Bulletin: How much of the original ethos still exists for The Guess Who?
Garry Peterson: The musical character of the band, or the interplay, far surpasses anything the original band had or even could hope to have.
HB: Really? What makes you say that?
Peterson: Because we all hate each other. How can you make music when you feel that way? Actually I’m overstating it a bit, but there’s nothing in common there. I don’t even truly know whether some of the members liked others. There’s always been a history of fighting. Burton (Cummings, former singer/keyboardist) sued Randy (Bachman, former guitarist). Randy sued Burton. It’s amazing that amongst all that tension that any music at all was able to be made. [Laughs]
Personally, I don’t have any animosity among the others who were in the band. I think it’s a tragedy that ego and greed got in the way of a band that had created so much pop music that they couldn’t stay together and would have been together now for about 50 years. That’s a tragedy. I’m the longest-existing member of this band and the one who didn’t do drugs, by the way, so I have all of my faculties in order. So it’s a tragedy we couldn’t have just celebrated the great music we were able to put together in spite of all of that.
HB: At what point did you start lamenting that?
Peterson: Oh, I never lamented it, because I’m a musician, so I will play regardless. The band members that we have together today are absolutely superb musically but also on a personal level, they’re just great guys. I love all of them and I’m sure they feel the same.
HB: You said you look back and wonder why you couldn’t get along, but were you aware of those tensions in the moment?
Peterson: Yeah. Sure, you’re aware of it, but you just keep hoping that something will happen. Of course, we did two reunions and the first one was a disaster. Then the second one turned out just to be as big of a disaster. That said, to me that even at the ages of 50 years old, certain people hadn’t learned a thing. They hadn’t learned anything about life. No one gets to a position of that height in your business unless others help you along the way. You can’t do it by yourself...
Is “American Woman” just a hit with voice and guitar? No, it takes the combination of the team to do that.
HB: Are you still in love with the songs as much as ever?
Peterson: Of course, it’s just great music. Better still, it’s not about whether I love the songs. It’s about the fans. They’re still playing the songs on the radio, so it’s not important whether or not I like the songs. It’s about whether the public likes the songs. That’s really the whole point here.
Yeah, I do like some of the songs better than others. You can’t like everything. I mean, my musical background was playing drums in 1947. There was no rock ‘n’ roll. So my first love is jazz. I ended up playing in a rock band, so that’s where that went. But if you listen to “Undun” you can hear where I came from.
But the music is what keeps the band going. Even today, there’s two original members in the band, but people today don’t care who was in the Guess Who then. Real hard-core fans do because they’re sticklers. Needless to say that Jim and I, who played on all of the major records, were 50 percent of the sound that was playing on those records. So there’s a validity to us playing those songs.
HB: Why does the Guess Who continue to linger while other bands have faded?
Peterson: The music stands the test of time and that’s why it’s being played on the radio today. And that’s why people want to see these songs like they hear them on the radio. And I can guarantee you if you go back and listen to live tapes of the original band and all of the permutations that it’s went through, what you hear today is the closest performance that any of those bands has ever put to record. There’s no question.
We use technology today that wasn’t available when those bands played. We use a computer on stage that has all of the violins and flugelhorn and the vibes. I played a leather chair at the end of “Laughing” and it’s on-stage when you hear the song. So the representation is as close to the record as you’re going to hear and that’s what people say when they see us.
HB: After all these years, what makes it worth continuing in this position?
Peterson: It’s all about coming to play for people and making them feel good for the 90 minutes that we’re on stage. That’s what it’s about.
We come down to the merchandise table and we sit and sign autographs until everyone is gone after the show. That gives you the chance to meet the people who bought these records and put you where you are today. In a brief little interchange, you get a sense of what they feel about the music that you helped to create. And that’s what’s really special.
