Nielsen Trust—A Rockin’ Family Affair

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Music Features

The Nielsen Trust’s inaugural show in Milwaukee was originally set for March of 2020, but the pandemic forced the band to pull the plug on that show and their entire tour.

Twenty months later, Rick Nielsen and his family are back on the road and working feverishly across the upper Midwest for make-up Nielsen Trust dates while at the same time peppering in a couple of Cheap Trick shows.

“We’ve been in Dubuque, Michigan, Madison, splitting time with both bands,” said Rick. Obviously, a taxing proposition, but Nielsen quips the toughest part is, “I’ve gotta learn a lot of names.”

Other than a more hectic schedule, Rick and his crew promise to finally deliver the fun, freewheeling fret-fest fans have been waiting for on Dec. 9 at Shank Hall. Here’s the original story we published prior to the postponed show:

It’s a nearly universal experience for families with more than one child—a mother urging her children to “play nice together.”

That sentiment was the catalyst behind a new side project from Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick’s Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame guitarist, and his sons Miles and Daxx, along with Miles’ wife Kelly Steward and multi-instrumentalist Adam Plamann.

Dubbed The Nielsen Trust, Rick said that this extremely limited run of live performances promise “a Midwest musical legacy—memories, dreams and nightmares.” Or, as Miles puts it, “a way to experience music and stories between a father and his family, an intimate look at the life and songs of a family that isn’t completely f#*ked up.”

In a phone interview, Miles recounted the genesis of the project. “About 3 years ago, my mom had the idea that we should be doing this. We thought it would be fun to do someday—but as busy we all are (Cheap Trick, with Rick and Daxx, plays upwards of 150 shows a year and Miles’ Rusted Hearts tours consistently)—three years later was the only time we’ve been able to figure out that we can actually do it.”

The opportunity presented itself [in early 2020] when Robin Zander accepted an invitation to tour in Europe with an “Alice Cooper and Friends” thing for a month—so Cheap Trick has a month off, which is a pretty rare occurrence.

The Nielsen Trust’s first public appearance took place during a Rusted Hearts show in Bloomington, Ill. back in October [of 2019]. “We did a teaser four or five song set in Bloomington to introduce the idea of the band and see the reaction to it. Everybody was into it—so after that it was full speed ahead,” said Miles.

“We said, well why don’t we see if there’s any interest – let’s book some shows—and all of sudden, there were 13 of them.” The re-scheduled Milwaukee gig at Shank Hall is the fourth stop on a quick tour of the Upper Midwest in December and January—in many of the cities and type of clubs where Cheap Trick honed their chops well over 40 years ago.

“This is going to be fun. How often do people get to play in a rock band with your Dad? Now, I’m a band with my Dad, my brother and my wife … there’s really no drama—we just get down to what songs do we want to play and figure out how can we make them fun and different?” Miles adds. “There’s a collective song list we’ve been going back and forth on—some of my favorite deep cuts from the Cheap Trick catalog, like ‘Borderline,’ ‘Can’t Hold On,’ ‘Need Your Love’ and ‘Downed.’”

They’ll also be resurrecting some songs from their collective musical past—from Daxx and Miles “Harmony Riley” band and Rusted Hearts songs that have connections to Kelly, Daxx or Rick like “Hey, Hey, Hey.”

“We’re not going to take ourselves too seriously, we want to make sure we have a good time and enjoy the moment, said Miles. “And while musicianship is a thing, we take pride in, it could go off the rails at any time—there’s no safety net.”

Regardless of how any single show or the entire the tour turns out, at the very least, mom will be happy.

The Nielsen Trust plays 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9 at Shank Hall with special guest Dan Hubbard. For more information and tickets ($30) visit shankhall.com.