CHEAP TRICK

Fifty years in, they're still knocking out classy songs, and still Anglophiles when it comes to music, both of which are evident on their latest album, All Washed Up (which clearly they're far from).

- Interview: Rob Hughes

Self-deprecation tends to mask a certain degree of inner confidence. Take Cheap Trick. Apart from providing a sassy throwback to their 1980 triumph All Shook Up, the title of this year's All Washed Up could be taken two ways: a band with nothing more to give, or one freshly scrubbed and ready to go. “That's exactly the idea,” charismatic frontman Robin Zander tells Classic Rock. “That's why I liked it. I kind of forced that title down everybody else's throat.”

Studio album number 21 in a career of half a century and counting, All Washed Up finds Cheap Trick on killer form, dispensing heavy power-pop, anthemic choruses and, as the title of one song attests, audacious riffs that refuse to quit. Alongside fellow veterans Rick Nielsen (guitar) and Tom Petersson (bass), Zander sounds as energised as ever.

The release of your previous album, 2021's In Another World, was delayed by covid. So had you been chomping at the bit to record these new songs?

Oh yeah. At the same time, everybody's got their own thing going on, so All Washed Up was recorded a little differently than our other albums. We did the basic tracks without melodies or lyrics, then built the songs around those instrumentals. We basically recorded in three different studios. We started out in Nashville for the instrumental stuff, then we took it to Sweetzerland Studios in LA to do the melodies and vocals, then we brought it back to Florida, where I live, to finish it up. And it worked out great.

The band have been together for such a long time. Why does that creative relationship between you, Rick and Tom work so well?

In my opinion, it's because we were never friends. We were never close, so we never pissed in each other's backyard. We still don't socialise much outside of touring and recording. It was musical glue that held us together. We have a lot of respect for each other musically.