Who would have thought that a concert more than 30 years ago could provide the catalyst to reunite the Guess Who today?
"Back in August 1999, I got an e-mail from the premier of Manitoba," Randy Bachman explained. "Burton Cummings also got an e-mail. The premier told us that he would love for his favorite band — the Guess Who — to play four songs at the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am Games.
"I was working on my own tour and so was Burton, so we immediately wrote and declined. But later I found some old pictures of the band playing to the athletes during the 1967 games. There we were, just up there playing to a line of athletes who were standing in line to get their dinner. They looked like soldiers in a mess line. I thought, 'Wow. What would it be like to play the games some 30 years later?' Luckily, the premier called on us again, and we decided to do it."
And that little gig eventually grew into a bona fide Guess Who reunion.
"Right after the show, I turned to Burton and asked him if he felt what I did when we were on stage," Bachman said during a telephone interview from Atlanta. "He said he did, and we decided we could try to go at the Guess Who again."
Salt Lake City will reap the benefits when the band — featuring guitarist Bachman, lead singer/guitarist Cummings, bassist Bill Wallace, guitarist Donnie McDougall and drummer Garry Peterson — plays the Delta Center on Saturday, Oct. 20. Opening the night will be another classic singer, Joe Cocker. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster by calling 325-SEAT. Show time is 7:30 p.m.
It wasn't long after the reunion was formalized that the band started getting calls. "We played in Winnipeg on Canada Day and opened a new stadium," said Bachman. "Then Toronto, all the way on the west end of Canada, heard about the show and wanted us to play there. It kind of helped patch up the east side/west side rivalry. We played quite a few places in between. It turned out to be a 50-date tour. Then we started getting calls to tour the States."
The touring with this former bandmates has been magical, said Bachman, who cited Elvis Presley and most every seminal rock band afterward as his main musical influences. "This whole thing has stunned us. We're doing the impossible. We don't have a new album with new material out. But we have the opportunity to tour a headlining tour and not a packaged tour. We've already played a sold-out show in Red Rocks (Colorado), and we've seen many different ages in the audience. My guess is 12- to 60-year olds."
Bachman said one funny thing about the reunion is that the band didn't have to rehearse too much to get it together. "We were all in bands playing Guess Who songs when we were apart. So it wasn't like we were rusty. But there were some things we had to do before the reunion actually took place."
First off, Bachman and Cummings had to cancel their previous engagements, which meant they had to buy out their dates. "That was the biggest problem. But then we contacted the others to make sure they were for it."
Although original bassist Jim Kale had played the recent Pan Am Games show, he wasn't up to rejoining the band. So the band called Bill Wallace, who had replaced Kale in 1972. (Just for the record, McDougall also originally joined the Guess Who in 1972 after Bachman's departure.)
"I left for some personal reasons," said Bachman, who later went on to form Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
It was during his absence from the Guess Who that Bachman joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "One of the things that has helped me in my career is — and this is going to sound very LDS — but it's my family. I've got a family that I've been blessed with. This family has helped me keep my focus. It's kept me off drugs, alcohol and other dangers of the road. And that support has been very dear to me, especially on this tour."
The band was scheduled for some down time in September, but the attacks on the World Trade Center prevented the band from returning to Canada.
"It was my faith and my family that helped me through that time," Bachman said. "Some of the others on the tour got so depressed and lonely that they spent a bunch of money obliterating themselves from what had taken place."
Bachman, a devout Mormon, said his religion plays a big part in his professional life. "As an artist, you will always come across rejection. Critics, record companies, publishing companies — they all, at one time or another, tell you a song isn't good. And to keep going, sometimes you have to rely on religion to help you feel good about yourself. It gives you something to grab onto."
He also has something else to be thankful for. His son Tal Bachman had a hit with a little song called "She's So High" a couple of years ago.
"Tal has given me grandchildren," Bachman said. "And I see my grandparents in their faces. And it's funny how smart they are. I ask them what Dad is reading them at bedtime, and they tell me Homer's 'Odyssey.' "
Bachman said Tal's new album should be out sometime next year. "He's working on it while I'm gone. Tal is a clever songwriter."
E-mail: scott@desnews.com