Cheap Trick released their 20th studio album In Another World and we joined the iconic band on release day to talk all about it.
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Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick joined Audacy’s Remy Maxwell to provide an inside look at the group’s latest album In Another World. Before getting to the nitty gritty of the album, Maxwell asked Nielsen what it was like being part of the fabric of Americana. “Without bragging we always thought we were cooler than we were… We never wanted to be anybody else,” the guitarist responded.
That statement helped provide a view into the band’s mindset when making their new album. Being authentically themselves and being darn good at it. It also highlights the tongue-in-cheek attitude that's made the band so beloved throughout their career.
“Every record I think we always go out to kill it, to do what we do. We don’t start out with a theme or concept of the whole thing. It’s just good songs with what we try to do, it’s all we’ve ever tried to do,” Nielsen said.
In Another World has been a long time coming and represents the first Cheap Trick album since 2017. Despite the length between records and the fact the band is coming up on their 50th anniversary soon, there’s a sense of newness that continues to be present.
“It’s funny you said being a new band, I don’t know about Rick, but I feel like that always,” Petersson said. “It is a new band, we’re always trying to make a better record… It’s one of those things where it feels like it’s a new thing. It doesn’t feel that much different from when we first started,”
“We do have fun, even on the sad slow stuff we’re smirking on the inside,” Nielsen added.
Part of that desire to continue to mix things up and search for something new is shown on the album’s track “Another World.” The song is at a slower tempo creating a beautiful grooving track, but as you work your way through the album, you’ll discover that it appears again. Cheap Trick did that intentionally and it goes back to something they’ve done throughout their career. Reinvent their songs to play them in a different style.
“I’m glad we did the (‘Another World’) reprise,” Nielsen said. “All our songs, we’ve done them differently from the studio version to the way we do it live. Lightened up so to say.”
“It’s like a Sex Pistols version of that song,” Petersson added.
Like most artists, Cheap Trick is ready to get back out on the road. Whenever that does happen, Nielsen and Petersson revealed they have two separate tours already lined up. One with Rod Stewart and one with ZZ Top.
Before we bid Cheap Trick adieu, Petersson shared a fantastic story on how he ended up becoming a bass player.
He originally started on guitar, but made the move to bass eventually. “It started to get to the point where people were getting really, really good on guitar,” he said. “I was never a soloist, I was really a rhythm guitar player.”
“The guitar player that Rick and I ended up working together with was our guitar player Craig Myers, who was in Fuse. We were in a couple of bands together and he was really good. He’s a great soloist and I thought, ‘you know if I switch to bass I think I’ll be better off.’ In a way my style is more like a rhythm guitar player.”
Cheap Trick’s latest album In Another World is out now.
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