Chicago Tribune: “Cheap Trick’s bass player talks music, luck, family”

Full article at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/lifestyles/ct-lns-cheap-trick-st-0303-20170223-story.html
Bass player Tom Petersson admitted when he and the rest of the founding members of Cheap Trick were just starting out in the 1970s, “We never expected a thing. Honestly, it was one day at a time. There was no master plan – not even close. All we have ever done is try to make great records as great as we possibly could.”
Those great records, including “I Want You to Want Me” and “The Flame,” earned Cheap Trick its induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016.
The band performs March 11 at Genesee Theatre.
This probably is the best time in Petersson’s life as he continues to make albums with Cheap Trick and also writes rock music as therapy for his son, Liam, and children like him who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Petersson’s dad always wanted to play violin and never had the chance, so he bought his son a guitar when he was teenager. Petersson, who lived in the Rockford, Ill. area, began performing and meeting musicians such as Rick Nielsen, founding member of Cheap Trick, and Robin Zander, who stepped in as lead singer of the band shortly after the group started.
Petersson recalled the early 1970s: “We were playing five shows a night in little podunk towns with eight people in the audience.”
He also remembers performing in 1976 at Waukegan’s Night Gallery, which was open until 6 am. “It was a long night,” he said…
Full article at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/lake-county-news-sun/lifestyles/ct-lns-cheap-trick-st-0303-20170223-story.html