Burton Cummings lashes out at 'fake Guess Who,' says band needs to get its own songs

Burton Cummings has written countless rock and roll hits and was inducted into the Canadian songwriters Hall of Fame back in 2005 the songs though he wrote when he was with the Guess Who can no longer be performed live by the current band earlier this month Rolling Stone reported that Cummings terminated agreements with performing rights organizations for every guess who song he wrote and published this means fans of hits like American woman or these eyes might not be able to hear them played live in a concert now it's the decision that comes of the heels of a lawsuit filed last year by Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman the suit accuses basist Jim kale and Gary Peterson of deceiving fans with a band currently touring Under The Guess Who name Britain Cummings himself the former frontman of The Guess Who is on the line welcome to the program hello thank you uh first of all thanks for having me you know uh I've been told by a lot of friends of mine and a lot of my lawyers including all my legal team that there's a lot of misinformation floating around out there especially in the last 10 days or two weeks so thank you for having me on to clear a lot of it up and I am glad you're here because let's talk about that decision um why did you decide to to pull the rights to your songs wa what what would you say motivated that step well my lawyers are probably the better ones to ask but in short terms the songs are not registered with any organization that provides a blanket license to venues so you know the fact is I've taken intellect intellectual property sorry uh intellectual property I own and made the decision to stop this deception by the cover band um the the cover band has used my songs and Randy's songs over the years to draw people to their fake shows so now the it's not the band on the records that is showing up to the gigs and this is what we're we're going to stop and you know it it it doesn't matter if someone wants to use the original recording or a cover version commercially it doesn't matter what version they're using that they have to apply for a sync license from the publisher and now the fake band has gone and re-recorded new fake versions of the classic songs and um not once has the fake band applied applied for or paid for a sync license and they've recorded their own versions of the classic songs Burton current band members say that they they lawfully own the The Guess Who trademark and and are allowed to call their band by that name um you're you've characterized them as a cover band or even a fake band um what what what leads you to call them that well here's the thing over the years I've said it dozens of times um we have never signed the name over it it to kale or we you know it always it always seems that people say we signed the name over to kale or we sold it to him and now I'm just changing my mind because I don't like the situation the truth is it was many years after the band folded when the three of us had given kale permission to use the name for a few shows kale discovered at that time that the band's name had never officially been trademarked he lied on the documents and claimed to the patent and trademark office that the band's name was first exploited in 1978 had he written the truth 1965 the actual year his application would have been turned down the current group has canceled shows um on the heels of the decision we did reach out to the manager of the current Guess Who band who says he's worried the decision will impact the livelihoods of of musicians that are touring right now um what do what do you say to that what what can I possibly say to that they've been they've been um giving out uh false information and this isn't a battle of who's better than whom it's you know they had four 45 years to produce their own legacy to produce their own history decades to produce their own history and um they borrowed the hit songs to to to draw people to the fake shows now as evidenced by the cancelled shows they they didn't step up and create their own hit songs they didn't create their own classic records there are many folks then when they look up your song American Woman Lenny Kravitz's performance comes up um for for folks like Lenny Kravitz C can he still perform American woman of course he can I I would issue I would issue licenses to anybody um I own the publishing for the catalog which means I control the use of the songs in the marketplace uh I'm I'm here to say you know the information given to CBC recently was a 100% incorrect I can perform the songs Randy can perform the songs I can also issue licenses at will to anyone I grant permission to perform the songs anyone but the fake guess who will no longer be performing the songs that's it's as simple as that if they believe in their own band let them let them uh stand on the maror of what they've done I I don't see their records zip zipping up the charts or creating a separate history Bron I'm going to ask you one more question on on this decision um there was that article by Rolling Stone magazine um that said quote in effect he shot himself in the foot to try to shoot the Guess Who in the face unquote is that a fair characterization well let me put it this way um someone I know online a friend friend of mine from social media he put it in perspective he wrote this online the other day the guest who cover bands they're like a band of bank robbers who are upset that the bank they've been robbing for years had decided to improve their security to prevent any future robberies it's a simple you know the the bank let's put it this way the bank is now closed Britain it will not come as a surprise to you that you are and the guests who are Hometown Heroes to so many here in Winnipeg um what what do you want the band's Legacy to be I just want the music to stand on its own strength on its own honor I want people to realize that uh Randy Bachman Kurt winter Phil Wallace um all the people that wrote the uh wrote wrote the um songs you know we're the ones that made the records I don't want the history of the band to be tied up with these fakes you know for in 2022 and 2023 Peterson was was uh barely on stage at all and for a two-year period he barely showed up for any of the shows that means at that point there were five fake people uh Peterson tried to show up since the lawsuit was filed but I don't know if how you know if if he's in that good shape anymore the truth is in 2022 and 23 he was absent from most of the gigs which means there were five false people that didn't make the Guess Who records you are still performing and you um have several dates to at several performances which includes one in Vancouver um can you commit to uh to wneg fans about when they might be able to see you in concert again well I'm not sure but I love you know it's my hometown let's put it this way let's put this into perspective I wouldn't have gold records if it weren't for Winnipeg I grew up listening to the radio in Winnipeg my my look at the world was Through The Eyes of a Winnipeg kid and I want the city to realize what we did ESP especially I me I mean not just for Winnipeg but but for Canada you know we we toured all over Australia with the Canadian flag as our background we went to Hawaii many times we played in every state including Alaska every Province went all over Europe um and these guys didn't do any of that to create the history oh listen I wanted to mention one more thing before you know I appreciate you having me and and and letting me give you the truth um on all of these I wanted to mention one more thing I've been told by my legal team that the current lead singer in the fake guess who says in interviews he's been in the guest who longer than I was he went out and said hey I've been in the guest who longer than Burton was you know what no he hasn't he has been in a Guess Who cover band longer than I was in the real guess who bton I don't think you said no to uh coming back to Winnipeg to play a show oh absolutely I uh I love listen I I love wiip Pig you know I I don't like to to think that that I think we may have uh lost Burton there are you still there oh there you go anyway anyway Burton um we're looking forward to us speaking again thank you for making time today and uh I'm I'm sure we'll see each other soon okay thank you so very very much for having me I'm glad we cleared up some of these lies thank you Bron Cummings songwriter and performer former frontman of Canadian rock band The Guess Who