Guess Who's coming to Cape

The British may have developed their military leaders on the playing fields of Eton, but some Canadian rockers laid their plans on the Little League fields of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

That's where guitarist Randy Bachman and drummer Garry Peterson decided to start the band that became The Guess Who. The group's contemporary incarnation will play two 90-minute shows in the Isle Casino Cape Girardeau's Events Center at 7 and 9 p.m. July 5. Tickets are $25, $50 and $75.

Peterson had been taught to play by his father, Ferdinand, beginning at age 2. By the time he was 11, he was well known around his hometown for his talent.

"Randy was playing first base for the Red Sox, and I was playing third for the Tigers," Peterson recalled during an interview with the Southeast Missourian from his home in Greensboro, North Carolina. "Randy said, 'Hey, you're a very good drummer. You're famous. Let's start a rock 'n' roll band.'"

Peterson had begun with jazz music, admiring Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa, but found an affinity for rock and joined Bachman, bassist Jim Kale and singer Burton Cummings on Guess Who hits such as "American Woman," "No Time," "These Eyes," "Clap for the Wolfman," "Laughing," "Share the Land" and "Undun," all of which they'll play in Cape Girardeau.

With Chad Allan and the Expressions, Peterson, Kale and Bachman first hit with "Shakin' All Over" in 1965.

"The British Invasion was happening, and the president of Quality Records in Toronto, George Struth, was afraid a Canadian band wouldn't be accepted," Peterson said. "So he put the album out as The Guess Who."

The rhythm section of the band remains intact with Kale, 70, and Peterson, 69. Derek Sharp is the lead singer, and Leonard Shaw is the keyboardist, flutist and horn player.

Bachman and Cummings tour with other groups, although Peterson and Kale have remained close to them because they all grew up in Winnipeg along with another big rocker -- Neil Young.

"It was too early to tell that Neil would be a great writer of songs," Peterson said. "We released 14 albums on RCA Records, and some of my favorite songs are album cuts that were not hits. My favorite hit of ours is 'Undun' because it's almost quasi-jazz."

Peterson said nostalgia rock acts are not having a banner year because country music stars are filling arenas, but The Guess Who still will play 30 to 45 times this year.

Asked why drummers are so prominent in the history of rock 'n' roll, he said: "All you had to do was listen to the kids Dick Clark asked to rate new records on American Bandstand in Philadelphia. They always said things like, 'It's got a great beat, and we can dance to it.' The basic foundation of most popular music is the rhythm, which is the drums."

Peterson, now an American citizen, said he is in a unique position as a native Canadian whose band became integral to American popular culture.

"Canada is like my mother, who gave birth to me, but most of my success was in the states, which is like my father," he said. "It's so cool and so great to go out and make people feel good."