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

Burton Cummings has cranked up the volume in his ongoing and long-standing dispute with some former bandmates over the licensing of songs made famous by the Guess Who.

Cummings, the former frontman of the legendary rock band originally formed in Winnipeg in 1965, spoke at length about the feud with the current incarnation of the Guess Who, or as he calls it, "the fake band," in a Thursday interview with CBC Manitoba's Up To Speed.

"I want people to realize that Randy Bachman, Kurt Winter, Bill Wallace, all the people that wrote the songs … we're the ones that made the records. I don't want the history of the band to be tied up with these fakes," he told host Faith Fundal.

"The cover band has used my songs and Randy's songs over the years to draw people to their fake shows. It's not the band on the records that is showing up to the gigs, and this is what we're going to stop."

Cummings recently terminated agreements with performing-rights organizations for every Guess Who song he wrote and published, which means fans of hits like American Woman or These Eyes can't hear them played live in concert unless he allows it to happen.

"I own the publishing [rights] for the catalogue," which means the songs are "intellectual property I own," he said.

"I can issue licences at will to anyone, to grant permission to perform the songs. Anyone. But the fake Guess Who will no longer be performing the songs. It's as simple as that."

As a result, the current group has cancelled upcoming shows, apologizing to fans and saying "legal threats made by the publisher of classic the Guess Who songs have caused some venues to decide not to proceed with scheduled shows" in a post on its Facebook page.

The manager of the current Guess Who lineup, Randy Erwin, told CBC News earlier this month he's worried the decision will impact the livelihoods of the musicians.

He said they're willing to sit down with Cummings to negotiate, but whether or not that happens is "up to him."

In response, Cummings said the band should "stand on the merit of what they've done."

"They've had 45 years to produce their own legacy, to produce their own history. Now, as evidenced by the cancelled shows, they didn't step up and create their own hit songs [that they could still play at those shows]."

Lawsuit filed over use of name

Cummings's annulment of the licensing permissions is the latest move in a discord that dates back decades, after the group disbanded and bassist Jim Kale secured the trademark to the Guess Who name in 1986.

He and original drummer Garry Peterson hired musicians to perform Guess Who songs at venues across the United States, capitalizing, Cummings said, on songs that were never theirs in the first place.

Bachman and Cummings, who have been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, wanted to tour in 2005 to mark the 35th anniversary of the release of American Woman but were unable to get permission to do so under the Guess Who banner.

They have since toured together as Bachman Cummings.

In late 2023, they launched a lawsuit against Kale and Peterson, alleging they are deceiving fans. The suit also the Guess Who make it clear they are a "tribute band" in all advertising and promotion.

Kale hadn't performed with the band since 2016 and Peterson was infrequently on stage, according to the suit, filed with the U.S. District Court in California.

"That means at that point there were five fake people … that didn't make the Guess Who records," Cummings told Fundal, adding that Peterson has since tried to show up since the lawsuit was filed.

In their own court filing, Kale and Peterson argued they've always been upfront about the band's numerous member changes and have never advertised Cummings and Bachman as being part of the current lineup. They also maintained they lawfully own the Guess Who trademark and are allowed to call their band by that name.

Cummings disagrees. 

"A friend of mine from social media, he put it in perspective," he told Fundal. 

"He wrote this online the other day: the Guess Who cover band, they're like a band of bank robbers who are upset that the bank they've been robbing for years has decided to improve their security to prevent any future robberies," he said.

"Let's put it this way — the bank is now closed."