{"id":122750,"date":"2019-09-18T07:51:10","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T12:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=122750"},"modified":"2019-09-21T13:55:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-21T18:55:42","slug":"guess-who-drummer-still-loves-to-perform-after-57-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/09\/18\/guess-who-drummer-still-loves-to-perform-after-57-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Guess Who drummer still loves to perform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is anyone who knows the iconic rock band The Guess Who intimately, it\u2019s founding member and drummer Garry Peterson. That\u2019s because Peterson has been there for every album, every concert, every personnel change in the group\u2019s 57-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Guess Who, with original member and drummer Garry Peterson on the left.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Peterson was a musical prodigy growing up in Winnipeg, Canada, and said he doesn\u2019t really remember when he first picked up a pair of drumsticks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always played, ever since I had memory,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson\u2019s father, who himself played drums in jazz and Big Bands, taught his son the basics when he was a toddler. He had his first professional gig when he was 4 years old and had performed with Peggy Lee in Chicago by the time he was 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The music he was playing was jazz at that time, like his father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was actually playing his music, but I thought it was my music,\u201d Peterson remembers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That all changed in high school when fellow student Randy Bachman introduced himself and asked if Peterson would like to play the new music: Rock and Roll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018yeah, I love it\u2019,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The band was first called Allan and the Silvertones, for lead singer Chad Allan. Later, Allan left to return to college and Burton Cummings, who had joined the group, which became The Guess Who? (the question mark was dropped later), took over as lead singer. Peterson, Cummings, Bachman, and Jim Kale were the original Guess Who members, although Peterson is the only one still playing with the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, Peterson said he\u2019s enjoying performing now as much as he ever did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe (recently) played Altoona, Pennsylvania, and the show started and all of a sudden we were playing the last song,\u201d he noted, adding that he was enjoying it so much that the time just flew by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEntertaining people and making them feel happy or sad, or whatever human emotion \u2026 is quite a drug,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThere\u2019s no drug like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are things he doesn\u2019t like about touring: flying and hotels, but he also noted that much of the music written over the years wouldn\u2019t have been written without touring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of the inspiration for writing songs comes from bands being on the road, and the interaction in different places, meeting different people, and being entangled in different scenarios,\u201d Peterson explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also added that The Guess Who has experienced some historic events over the years, including being in Alaska when the Exxon Valdez accident occurred, in California when a big earthquake occurred, and in Times Square when 9\/11 occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a musician, I feel, who travels and plays all over, you\u2019re kind of a witness, and sometimes you\u2019re a witness on an international-global scale, such as 9\/11, and sometimes you\u2019re in Youngstown or Van Wert and you\u2019re witnessing a local, or one person\u2019s epic event,\u201d he said. \u201cOne is no greater than the other, except in volume.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson noted that the Canadian group\u2019s first foray into the U.S. was memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst of all, it was a big thrill — this is where the British groups had to come to make it big, this was the heart, the birthplace of rock and roll,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing he particularly remembers is having Dick Clark present the group its first gold record on \u201cAmerican Bandstand\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had watched Dick Clark on TV (in Winnipeg) and now he was presenting us with our first gold record,\u201d Peterson said, with awe still in his voice after half a century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, with Cummings, Bachman, and other members long gone, the drummer plays with a new group of musicians, including lead singer\/guitarist Derek \u201cDee\u201d Sharp, lead guitarist Will Evankovich, bass legend Rudy Sarzo, and keyboard player and flutist Leonard Shaw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne requirement of anyone coming into the band is they really have to be fans of the band in the first place,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, he noted that Sarzo, who has played bass with a number of groups, including Whitesnake and other heavy metal groups, was a big fan of The Guess Who as a kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He told me: ‘This is the soundtrack of my life’,\u201d Peterson said, adding that Sarzo said he grew up listening to the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson said audience members will hear all of The Guess Who\u2019s greatest hits: \u201cThese Eyes\u201d, \u201cAmerican Woman\u201d, \u201cUndun\u201d, \u201cNo Time\u201d, \u201cHand Me Down World\u201d, \u201cShare the Land\u201d, \u201cNo Sugar Tonight\u201d and \u201cClap for the Wolfman\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to see an excellent version of the songs and hear exactly how they should sound or be played,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson also said the concert will include three cuts from the group\u2019s first album in 40 years: The Future IS What It Used to Be.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that the group\u2019s new album has a vintage feel, and was recorded on analog recording equipment, while band members played old instruments on the album\u2019s 10 songs. The album is also designed to look like one from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Peterson added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also talked about a couple of the album tracks, noting that the song \u201cPlayin\u2019 on the Radio\u201d is sort of a paean to the great rock groups of the past: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Who, and many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of our pop culture was delivered via radio and the printed word,\u201d he said, adding that the song hearkens back to the days of cruising and kids listening to their favorite groups on AM radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson said the video of another cut off the album, \u201cHaunted\u201d, has already won several awards in Europe, as well as a regional Emmy award in the U.S., while the album itself has garnered positive reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, though, that albums aren\u2019t as relevant today as they were back in the Sixties, and added that he would like to do live videos of future songs and then bundle the videos into a \u201ccollection\u201d rather than a physical album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the band\u2019s original songs, Peterson said \u201cUndun\u201d is his favorite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know of any other band in the history of rock and roll that had a hit record with a style like that,\u201d Peterson said, adding that the song\u2019s jazz roots also connect with his past, when he was playing in jazz bands as a young kid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran drummer also likened The Guess Who to iconic groups such as the Beatles, because the band embraced a number of different musical styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peterson said the new configuration of the group is, in his opinion, just as good as the original band. He also noted that many of the current members have been in the band longer than original band members. One example, he said, is Sharp, who has been singing in The Guess Who for 12 years, while Cummings was only in the group for nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in all the incarnations of this band and I\u2019m so excited at this age,\u201d the drummer said of his zest for performing at age 74. \u201cIn order to understand what I\u2019m saying about this band you have to see it live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets for Sunday\u2019s performance at the NPAC can be purchased at the Box Office from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. by calling 419.238.NPAC or online anytime at www.npacvw.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor If there is anyone who knows the iconic rock band The Guess Who intimately, it\u2019s founding member and drummer Garry Peterson. That\u2019s because Peterson has been there for every album, every concert, every personnel change in the group\u2019s 57-year history. Peterson was a musical prodigy growing up in Winnipeg, Canada, and said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 17:54:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}