The Casino File
If you’re going to see the Randy Bachman-fronted, reconstituted BTO (aka Bachman-Turner Overdrive) at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Halloween night, you definitely won’t be hearing Sly & The Family Stone’s 1971 hit, “Family Affair,” even though it actually could be the unit’s theme song. That’s because Bachman (the “B” in “BTO”) will be joined onstage by his son Tal, a multi-instrumentalist, and Tal’s wife, KoKo, who plays drums.
It’s a situation that had the 82-year-old classic-rock titan kvelling (as they say in Yiddish) during a recent phone chat.
“We’re Canada’s First Family of Rock” proclaimed Bachman, who co-founded BTO in 1973 with bassist Fred Turner (who’s not on the current tour), and was responsible for such signatures as “Taking Care of Business,” “Roll On Down the Highway” and “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.”
“It’s quite incredible how Tal has turned into the bandleader. I don’t have to go to soundcheck anymore. He gets the band on stage before a show. He goes through the set list. He gives it to our video guy because we have videos behind every song that are from the early-’60s right up to today.
“He gets it all coordinated. I just show up and do a quickie rehearsal, like I’m Elvis,” he added with a chuckle.
Bachman, who first gained stardom in the late-1960s as half of the duo (the other was Burton Cummings) that propelled The Guess Who to turn-of-the-1970s pop-chart domination, also pointed out that Tal performs “She’s So High,” the hit single from his self-titled 1999 debut album which stands as a pop-rock masterpiece and one of that decade’s best discs. “And he sings a couple Guess Who songs—’No Sugar Tonight’ and ‘No Time,’ which the crowd loves because his voice is like [Cummings’].”
Nonetheless, according to Bachman, a native of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is his daughter-in-law who has emerged as the star of the show.
“When she comes up front for the bow and people see that she’s this little bundle of dynamite, this hurricane, and I introduce her as ‘KoKo Rolling Thunder on drums,’ the women go crazy; the guys go crazy. She’s great-looking. She’s got rock ‘n’ roll hair, like Robert Plant and Roger Daltrey used to.
“We got a new agent who I met with [recently] in L.A. and he said, ‘The new star of your band is not you or Turner or anybody else. It’s KoKo. All eyes are on her drumming. We want her to be two feet higher. We’re gonna get a higher drum riser. She’ll be above your head.’ And I said, ‘Great, that’s what I want.’”
However, he continued, there’s more to KoKo than fabulous stage presence. As he explained, she is the only drummer other than his late brother, Robbie, to unfailingly nail all of the drum parts of Bachman’s songs.
“She channels the whole thing,” he said. “She knows every note. And when I’m doing a guitar solo and there’s a little pause and there’s a hole to fill, it’s filled the way it used to be.”
There is yet another family member who gets a turn in the spotlight: Tal and KoKo’s 10-month-old daughter, Dahlia.
“For the final bow,” he beamed, “we bring out this 10-month-old who’s in a [carrier] on Tal’s chest. She’s wearing pink headphones and has a pair of chopsticks because she’s half-Japanese, and she plays air drums with the chopsticks. And the crowd goes wild for sure.”
If things go according to plan, the current BTO tour will definitely not be Bachman’s last hurrah. Next year will see him back out with BTO, but, more significantly, he’ll be re-teaming with Cummings for the long-awaited Guess Who revival that was delayed by legal issues.
“Burton and I were lucky enough to endure a three-year lawsuit battle with guys who were clones, who were going on stage saying they were us,” he said. “They were impersonating us. They were [defrauding] the audience.
“They had a right to play the songs. Anybody can [legally] play the songs. But the bass player took the trademark for the name without telling us. But Burton found a really good lawyer that shut them down. And then we bought them out. So, Burton and I now own the name to The Guess Who.
“Our first gig’s in January at [Fallsview Casino-Resort] in Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. Then we go do the Rock & Roll Cruise at the end of February with [Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS], Eric Burdon & the Animals and Lover Boy. And then we play the Hard Rock [casino] in Hollywood, Fla.
“Then I have a month off, then I play with BTO. Then, in the summer I go out with Burton.
“I’m getting ready for a big year next year.”
For tickets, go to ticketmaster.com.
Shameless plug
Next Monday (Oct. 20) would have been the late Tom Petty’s 75th birthday. To mark the occasion, my tribute band, Pure Petty, will be celebrating what we’re calling “St. Petty’s Day” at the Hard Rock Café inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.
We’ll be doing two sets filled with both hits (e.g. “Refugee,” “Runnin’ Down A Dream” and “American Girl”) as well as deeper cuts and several on which Tom dueted with Stevie Nicks, including “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”
The show starts at 8:30. Admission is free.
Chuck Darrow has spent more than 40 years writing about Atlantic City casinos.
