Photo courtesy of the band
Nielsen Trust
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 recounts the genesis of the project: “About three 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 as we all are (Cheap Trick, with Rick and Daxx, plays upwards of 150 shows a year and Miles’ band, The 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 when Robin Zander accepted an invitation to tour in Europe with an “Alice Cooper and Friends” thing for a month, giving Cheap Trick a month off, which is a pretty rare occurrence.
The Nielsen Trust’s first public appearance took place during a show in Bloomington, Ill., that The Rusted Hearts gave last October. “We did a teaser of four or five songs 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,” says Miles.
“We said, ‘Well, why don’t we see if there’s any interest—let’s book some shows’—and all of sudden, there are 13 of them.” The Milwaukee gig at Shank Hall is the second stop on a whirlwind tour of the Upper Midwest in the cities and type of clubs where Cheap Trick honed their chops well over 40 years ago.
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“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 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’ band, Harmony Riley, and The 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,” says 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 show or the entire the tour turns out, at the very least, mom will be happy.
The Nielsen Trust plays at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at Shank Hall with Dan Hubbard. For more information and tickets ($30), visit shankhall.com.
Editor's Note: An advertisement in this week's paper for the show incorrectly listed the price of tickets. The correct price is $30.
