Rock & Pop

Jon Brant with his Red Hamer B12S 12-string bass.

Rock & Pop Magazine - 1988

The music magazine Rock & Pop was published in Argentina. In a 1988 issue it relates how Cheap Trick’s music fell into disarray after Tom Petersson left the band, and how his return along with producer Richie Zito made the band popular again. But then they included a photo of bassist Jon Brant playing his Red Hamer B12S 12-string bass rather than Petersson.

‘From then on, Cheap Trick could never climb higher: "Dream Police" was excessively polished and cold, and people who had been hooked on the rawness of the group were disappointed. The successor, "All Shook up", produced by George Martin, was another fiasco and immediately Tom Petersson left and Pete Comita joined and was later replaced by Jon Brant. This is how "One On One" and a series of works like "Next Position Please", "Standing on the Edge" and "The Doctor" happened.’

‘Now, with the return of Tom Petersson (with his characteristic 12-string bass) and the edition of "Lap of Luxury", Cheap Trick proved to be current and that its history of 50 gold and platinum records was no accident. The result, thanks to the production of Rich Zito, is a record with the irrepressible ballad "The Flame", the singular "All we Need is Dream" and the pop songs "Let Go" and "Never Had a Lot to Lose".’