Randolph Charles Bachman
, OC, OM (; born September 27, 1943) was lead guitarist, songwriter and a founding member for both the 1960s-70s rock band The Guess Who, and the 1970s rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Bachman was also a member of the band Brave Belt with Chad Allan and a band called Ironhorse, and has recorded numerous solo albums.
|
RANDY BACHMAN TICKETS
|
The Guess Who 1960 to 1970
In 1960, Bachman and Allan co-founded Al and The Silverstones in Winnipeg. By 1962, the band changed names to Chad Allan and the Expressions and later on to
The Guess Who. In 1965, the Guess Who had a #1 hit in Canada with their cover of "
Shakin' All Over", which also charted in the U.S. at #22. In 1966, Chad Allan left the band and Burton Cummings became the primary vocalist. Starting in 1968, the group released three successful albums:
Wheatfield Soul
(1968);
Canned Wheat
(1969); and
American Woman
(1970) which brought them mainstream attention. Bachman wrote or co-wrote (primarily with Cummings) most of the groups songs during this period.
In early 1970, the
"American Woman"
single hit #1 on the U.S. charts, a first for a band from Canada. A group composition, the song critiques the "ghetto scenes" and "war machines" of the U.S., reflecting the Guess Who's experiences based on their extensive touring in large American cities. With the Vietnam War at its peak, many American males went to Canada to seek refuge from the military draft, a fact that the group's members surely recognized. Surprisingly, Bachman left the band after the release
American Woman
. He has been quoted for leaving due to the band conflicting with his
Mormon religion and wanting to spend more time with his brothers and other family members.
The Road to B.T.O.
After his depature from The Guess Who in 1970, Bachman recorded a solo album for
RCA Records,
Axe
. The following year, he formed the group
Brave Belt with Chad Allan. Brave Belt released its first LP,
Brave Belt I
, in 1971. It had much more of a country rock sound than a rock 'n' roll sound than either
Axe
or albums by The Guess Who.
Robbie Bachman, one of Randy's brothers, was the drummer for Brave Belt.
Fred Turner subsequently joined Brave Belt on bass and vocals, resulting in a much heavier sound which led to the departure of Chad Allan, though Allan still contributed two songs to
Brave Belt II
in 1972. Left with a three member line-up,
Tim Bachman was added to Brave Belt as the second guitarist. The group then signed with
Mercury Records in 1973 and changed their name to
Bachman-Turner Overdrive, often referred to as "B-T-O". They released their first self-titled album,
Bachman-Turner Overdrive
in May, 1973.
In December, 1973, BTO released their second LP,
Bachman-Turner Overdrive II
, which featured the hits "
Takin' Care of Business", which charted at #12 in the U.S., and "
Let It Ride", which rose to #23. In 1974, they released the LP
Not Fragile
which hit #1 on the album charts. It also contained the #1 single "
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" and the hit "Roll On Down The Highway" which charted at number 14.
BTO stayed on the charts with their next two albums,
Four Wheel Drive
and
Head On
, through the mid-1970s. The band began to fall apart in late 1976 with the recording of the
Freeways
album. Randy Bachman wrote or co-wrote all but one song and sang on every song but two. The album only scraped the charts at #70 in America and had no hit singles. He then left the band in mid-March 1977.
Post BTO
After his depature from BTO, Randy recorded a solo album called
Survivor
. It did not chart in the U.S. . He formed a band with bassist/ singer Tom Sparks called Ironhorse and released its debut album in 1979. It contained the single "Sweet Lui-Louise" and the single charted at #36 in the U.S. and #26 in Canada. Sparks left after the tour for this album and was replaced by Bob Ludwig. Ironhorse, with Ludwig, released another album,
Everything Is Grey
, in 1980. In 1981, Fred Turner joined Ironhorse and the band changed its name to Union. BTO had broken up in early 1980. Union released one album before disbanding.
80's and 90's Reunions
Randy joined The Guess Who reunion in 1983 with Burton Cummings and other members of the
American Woman
era. They did a tour of Canada and released a live video performance of it. Once The Guess Who reunion ended, Randy rejoined a new BTO reunion, consisting of Randy, Fred Turner, Tim Bachman, and Garry Peterson of The Guess Who on drums. Robin Bachman and classic line up guitarist Blair Thornton could not join the reunion. Randy stayed with this version of the band until 1987 and they put out an album in 1984. The classic
Not Fragile
line-up reformed in 1988 and they toured together until 1991 when Randy left the group. It would be the last time he played with BTO. The Guess Who reunited, including Randy, on August 8, 1999.
2000s
Randy played on several tours with The Guess Who until July 31, 2003. Both he and Burton Cummings left the band and formed
Bachman Cummings. They are currently on tour together in Canada.
In 2000, he made a guest appearance on
The Simpsons
as himself with his former
Bachman-Turner Overdrive bandmates,
C.F. Turner and
Robin Bachman. Simpsons creator
Matt Groening (whose father is originally from Winnipeg), is a well known BTO fan.
Homer Simpson yells at Bachman to "get to the working overtime part" while playing "
Takin' Care of Business".
In 2001 Bachman received an honorary
Doctorate of Music from
Brandon University in
Brandon, Manitoba along with the other members of the Guess Who. In 2005 Bachman was awarded the
Order of Manitoba, the highest award in the
Province of
Manitoba. Bachman, along with The Guess Who, was also the recipient of The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in the performing arts, in 2002. In 2008, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada.
[1]
Bachman travels the world with his wife
Denise McCann to write with many European songwriters, including
Douglas Carr (producer of the Swedish band Ace of Base) and
Michael Saxell in Sweden. Bachman has also performed with Swedish rockers
The Soundtrack of Our Lives and appears on a vinyl picturedisc with them from a live performance at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada's Commodore Ballroom in 2004.
Since the summer of 2005, Bachman created and is currently hosting the series
Vinyl Tap
on
CBC Radio One, where he tells stories about music and musicians while playing appropriate recordings.
Randy helped
Kalan Porter on his CD
219 Days. He suggested that Kalan do a drone on his violin on one of his songs, In Spite Of It All. He was also featured in his song, And We Drive, playing a guitar solo near the end of the song.
Bachman tours with his own band, the Randy Bachman Band and the
Bachman-Cummings Band. He has also created a popular theatre show he calls "Every Song Tells A Story" featuring Bachman live and unplugged with his band, telling the stories behind the writing of his famous hits from the 1960s and 70s. Randy Bachman and
Burton Cummings toured throughout Canada as
Bachman & Cummings in the summer of 2006 with Toronto, Ontario, Canada's,
The Carpet Frogs.
Randy Bachman has also released an album of original melodic jazz songs called "Jazz Thing" which is available on his official website.
Bachman's coast-to-coast CBC Radio One show
Vinyl Tap
, featuring Bachman playing audio recordings and reminiscing about his personal encounters with famous artists and musicians from his 50-year career in rock, runs from 7-9 p.m. every Saturday night and can be accessed via the and
Sirius channel 137. There is a replay of the Saturday show on the following Friday night at 11 pm.
Streaming audio of the show is available through the
internet in every
Canadian time zone at http://www.cbc.ca/listen/
Although Randy and Fred turner are working on new songs for Randy's album, Randy has been noted for trying to put a Bachman-Turner Overdrive reunion together. However, the only former members of BTO that have been in any known discussions are Fred Turner and Randy Bachman.
Personal life
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Karl (Charlie) Bachman and Anne (Nancy) Dobrinsky, Randy is half German, half Ukrainian in ancestry. Bachman now lives on
Salt Spring Island,
British Columbia, near
Vancouver Island, and is married to singer/songwriter
Denise McCann. They were married on March 27, 1982.
The guitarist had an operation on his shoulder in November 2007 to repair a torn
rotator cuff. The operation was successful.
His son
Tal Bachman is a signed recording artist also and to date, of what Tal released, he sold most units worldwide of his 1999 song "
She's So High".
Bachman was a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During his early Guess Who years his religious beliefs conflicted with the
sex, drugs & rock n roll lifestyle of the other band members and caused some bitterness between Bachman and bandmate
Burton Cummings.
[2] Bachman later renounced his Mormon beliefs, together with his son Tal, citing their doubts on the validity of
Joseph Smith's testimony, as detailed on the Recovery from Mormonism web site http://www.exmormon.org/. Tal now lectures publicly about the flaws and falsehoods in the Mormon doctrine and made an appearance in the film
Religulous with
Bill Maher.
[3] [4]
Solo Discography
- 1970 Axe
- 1978 Survivor
- 1992 Any Road
- Referred on the cover simply as Bachman
- 1993 Bob's Garage
- Live 5 track mini-album recorded for a radio show in Seatle
- 1996 Merge
- 1998 Songbook
- 2001 Every Song Tells A Story
- 2004 Jazz Thing
- 2006 Bachman-Cummings Songbook
- Compilation that features tracks from The Guess Who, Burton Cummings, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive
- 2006 The Thunderbird Trax
- A compilation of previously unreleased material recorded by Bachman and Cummings in Bachman's tool shed back in 1987
- 2007 Jazz Thing II
- 2007 Jukebox
- Bachman & Cummings album which is also Cummings' first studio album in 17 years since Plus Signs. The album features covers of songs by such artists as Bob Dylan, The Shadows and The Beatles
- 2008 Takin' Care Of Christmas
- A compilation of Randy performing classic Christmas songs, with the title track being a reworked version of BTO's "Takin' Care Of Business"
- 2009 New album in the works for release in Fall of 2009. It will contain prerecorded tracks with Jeff Healey and Neil Young. It will also contain new material with former BTO vocalist/ bassist Fred Turner.
Video Discography
- 2001 Every Song Tells A Story
- 2005 Live 8 Barrie
- Performs Takin' Care of Business with The Carpet Frogs, Burton Cummings was scheduled to perform with Bachman, but was unable to attend.
- 2006 Jazz Thing Live in Toronto
(Featuring Curtis Stigers, Joel Kroeker, Tal Bachman, Stephan Moccio, and Denise McCann Bachman)
- 2006 First Time Around
(with Burton Cummings and The Carpet Frogs as Bachman-Cummings Band)
See also
- Canadian rock
- Music of Canada
References
- Title Unavailable
- Bachman bio at CBC.ca
- http://www.famousmormons.net/about.html
- http://www.postmormon.org/exp_e/index.php/pomopedia/My_Abbreviated_Exit_Story/