RTL Talks: Burton Cummings

Rock the Lake will shake the Prospera Place parking lot from Aug. 11 to 13.

Ahead of the show, 104.7 The LIZARD, 103.1 Beach Radio, and Kelowna10 is the place for all things RTL - from exclusive interviews to ticket giveaways!

Among the bands taking the stage is Burton Cummings who brings the three-day spectacular to a close on Sunday night.

The renowned Canadian singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of The Guess Who, gained popularity in the late 1960s and 1970s and rose to international fame as their frontman.

The band achieved significant success with hit songs like "American Woman," "No Time," and "These Eyes," cementing their place in rock music history. Cummings' powerful and distinctive voice, coupled with his ability to write captivating lyrics, played a pivotal role in the band's popularity.

His music and impact on the rock genre remain timeless.

Ryan from 104.7 The LIZARD, sat down and spoke with the man himself.

Below is a condensed and edited version of the interview.

Ryan: Growing up in the prairies, how did that affect your music & your writing?

Burton: Winnipeg is really a place. There aren't a lot of other big cities around, so we were kind of, I wouldn't say at the mercy of because we had three great AM radio stations. We heard a lot of different music, different genres. But I think that crept into the songwriting. The fact that Randy Bachman and I were exposed to so many different styles of music, these three radio stations in Winnipeg were all competing for the audience. At that point, it was still only maybe 400,000 people, which is not that huge to have three major radio stations. So we were lucky in the fact that we got to hear so many different styles and then doing the television show for two years, we got to play all those different styles. And what it did for me was whenever we would be covering other artists, I would try and imitate the singer. So, if we did Manfred Mann, I would try and imitate Paul Jones. If we did Beatles, I would try and imitate John or Paul. If we did a Rolling Stones song, I would try and imitate Mick Jagger. So I was imitating all these people at some point in my life, and I think that crept into the song writing and the singing as well.

R: Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on the radio?

B: As a matter of fact, yes, I do. I was still in The Deverons, I was still living in a home, and we had cut a record in the local radio station in Winnipeg and they had this thing at night called the Instant 11, which came on at 8 p.m. And people were supposed to phone in and vote for what they wanted to hear, and they would pick the top 11 songs that got the votes. The very day our first record came out, I was 17 years old. We snuck on to the Instant 11 at number 11, and I had gotten a lot of my friends to phone in and hold on. But however, we pulled it off, we were on the Instant 11 that night, and it was a shock to me because I was still 17. I was still living at home with my mother and grandmother, and there I was on the radio. A big thrill for me.

R: When I saw you last in like 2019, it was the Up Close and Alone Tour, and it was just you and a piano on stage, and you made a joke that people in the audience kept yelling out to you, “do you play American Woman?” and then you did a little bit of a riff on the piano. Now you’re coming here, Burton Cummings and his full band, and be able to play some of the songs that rock a little bit harder.

B: Oh, absolutely. It's a full rock and roll show. We do all the big records that people expect to hear, you know, and from the days and from The Guess Who days, and my solo days. And I have a great band. It's five guys besides myself. They all sing. So the vocals are very strong. We have two lead guitar players, both tremendous stuff. I have a damn good band and we've been together now close to 20 well over 20 years. The same band; that's twice as long as I was with the Guess Who.

R: I know you've played all across this great country, for I believe 60 years now. How many times have you played here in the Okanagan?

B: I almost moved to Kelowna years ago because it was so pretty and picturesque. And compared to where I grew up in Winnipeg, which is very, very cold, as you know, which almost led me to moving to Kelowna. I've played the Okanagan a million times since... going back to the 1960s.

R: Do you have a specific moment out of all those times you’ve been in Kelowna? Is there one moment that stands out to you?

B: We did a big festival there before, and we used to stay at this hotel that was right across from the big arena, that much I remember. So, it was just a short walk out the front door across the street to the arena. And I do remember being in Kelowna one time and I found a store that sold antique comic books. I collect old comic books once in a while. So I remember going there and finding some pretty special stuff. But I've always liked Kelowna. It's pretty, and compared to where I grew up, it's quite warm. It's quite tropical.

R: Aside from music, what else have you been up to? Because when I saw you last time, I know you were very excited about a book of poetry that you just published.

B: I have. I have volume two coming out of ‘The Writings of B.L. Cummings.’ So it's my second book of poetry. It's going to print very soon, and I have a whole bunch more shows coming up this summer with my band. So I'm fairly busy and I'm always working on my music library and I have a fairly good following on social media. So I talk to a lot of people from all over the world, sometimes from behind the Iron Curtain, sometimes from Australia, New Zealand, Japan. I'm talking to people from all over the world. And the flattering thing is, that they are still talking about lyrics that came out of my head 40 or 50 years ago. That's always flattering to a writer, that’s what a writer hopes for: that people will still be talking about his stuff years later.

R: Is there anything you wanted to say to the good people of Kelowna before you come play Rock the Lake?

B: Well, I’m looking forward to another return trip to Kelowna for sure. And as I said, this time will be with the whole band. We're rocking, we're ready to go. After the COVID layoff. It was awful. My chops were not where they should have been, and I took a while to get my chops back. But we just did 17 cities in a month, and that was a lot tougher than it used to be when I was younger. But we pulled it off. So we're back, and we're rocking again. The band is rocking again and we're looking forward to Kelowna.