Rock guitarist Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive fame brings his “Every Song Tells a Story” tour from his native Canada to the Canyon Santa Clarita at Westfield Valencia Town Center for a headlining show Sunday night July 22.
Bachman’s powerfully tasty Les Paul licks, riffs and solos on now-classic rock hits like “No Time,” “American Woman,” “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and “Takin’ Care of Business” have helped him earn more than 120 platinum, gold and silver records in Canada, the U.S. and around the world in his five-decade career.
One of Winnipeg, Manitoba’s two most famous favorite sons (the other being Neil Young, who was in a rival teenage band and remains a close friend), Bachman scored his first #1 hit in Canada with The Guess Who’s “Shakin’ All Over” in 1965.
Fifty-three years later, Bachman’s supporting his latest album, “By George By Bachman,” a collection of his imaginative reinventions of songs by his early and enduring idol George Harrison, as a Beatle and solo.
“It’s all revisions or reinterpretations of George Harrison songs done totally different – you don’t know what the song is until I start singing, because they’re all different grooves,” Bachman said on the phone from Ottawa, with more energy and enthusiasm than one might expect from a guy who’ll hit 75 in September.
Sunday night, he’ll sing and play lead guitar, backed by longtime touring-recording bandmates Marc LaFrance (drums-percussion), Brent Knudsen (guitar) and Mick Dalla-Vee (bass), with his son Tal Bachman (keyboards) also joining up in fall 2017.
“I’ve had this band over a dozen years and they’ve been together like 30 years, so they know everything,” Bachman said. “And some of them are from Winnipeg, so I’ve known them way back from the early days of The Guess Who and BTO. My son, Tal, joined the band because of this ‘By George’ album – there are twin guitars playing slide and extra harmonies. And it’s great, because near the end, he does his big hit, ‘She’s So High,’ and the crowd goes nuts. All the women love that song.”
Bachman will kick off the set Sunday with a trio of Harrison songs “to give people a taste of what ‘By George By Bachman’ (is like),” he said. “Then I just start ‘Shakin’ All Over’ and walk everybody through my life, to ‘These Eyes,’ ‘Undun,’ ‘No Time,’ ‘American Woman’ and all through the BTO stuff. In between, we do the odd George Harrison song and then Tal’s song. And we end, obviously, with ‘Takin’ Care of Business.’”
Check out Bachman’s website at https://randybachman.com/ for lots more career and album info.
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Doors open at 6 p.m. Preceding Bachman’s headlining set at 9 p.m., California-based hard rock quartet Ampage [https://www.ampage.com/] will take the stage at 7 p.m. followed by L.A. alt-hard-rockers Rules of Society [https://rulesofsocietyband.com] at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $28, $38, $48 and $58 plus applicable fees. To purchase a ticket at a table, you must also purchase dinner and arrive by 7 p.m. Minimum is $25 per person. Juniors younger than 18 must be accompanied by a paying adult.
Get tickets through TicketMaster or the Canyon Santa Clarita’s box office. Walk-up hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Telephone hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; call 888-645-5006. TicketMaster is open 24/7 at 866-448-7849 or online at TicketMaster.com.
You’ll find the Canyon Santa Clarita on the ground floor at Westfield Valencia Town Center, 24201 Valencia Blvd., #1351, Santa Clarita 91355.
Find out more about the club at www.WhereMusicMeetsTheSoul.com.
Stephen K. Peeples is an award-winning journalist based in the Santa Clarita Valley who has covered the SCV music scene for local media since 2004. Contact him via https://www.stephenkpeeples.com.
