There’s no shortage of great docs at this year’s TIFF; one of the best music offerings is Takin’ Care of Business. The film offers an intimate portrait of Canadian rock icon Randy Bachman, who racked up numerous hits throughout his legendary career with The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Writer/director Tyler Measom’s film brings Bachman’s incredible journey to life, exploring everything from his musical triumphs to his unexpected marriage into the Mormon faith and his obsessive quest for a missing Gretsch guitar. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, Measom has crafted a film that’s both a brisk, fun ride and a heartfelt tribute to a rock and roll family man. The day before the film premiered at TIFF, we had the chance to chat with Measom about how Bachman’s story came to him, the intersections of faith and family in both their lives, and a sneak peek into his next project centered on the storied Sunset Marquis.
JG: What drew you to Randy Bachman’s story, and how did you first become interested in documenting his life and career?
Tyler Measom: A few years ago, a producer of mine, Rick Krim, one of the nicest guys in the music industry and I’ve produced a few movies with him, he forwarded me an email from Tal Bachman, Randy’s son, of course. And Tal had outlined the story. They had just found Randy’s guitar in Japan, his Gretsch guitar that he lost in 1977. I got about halfway through the email, and look, I get a lot of requests. As a documentary filmmaker, people say, “Oh, you should make a movie about this. Why don’t you make a movie about this?” And 99% of them aren’t that good. But I got halfway through that email and said, I must make this film. And then, of course, I had to ask my wife, who read the email and said, “you have to make this. “
We all know Randy Bachman’s music, but you add a layer onto it of this missing guitar, this muse that he’d been trying to find for so long, and it makes the story even more interesting. And then about a day after I had read the email it, it dawned on me, oh, my god, Randy Bachman was a Mormon. I was raised as a Mormon as well. I am no longer, much like Randy, so that was another wrinkle in the story. And ultimately, I wanted to make the film more than just your typical rock bio doc. It’s more about being a father and juggling a career and fatherhood whilst in the middle of trying to find this lost muse.
JG: That definitely comes across, the elements of fatherhood and Mormonism in the doc. And, I mean, as much as it is a look at his career, it’s almost just as much a love letter to the stolen 1957 Gretsch guitar. So when you saw that email from Tal, were you surprised that the guitar was all the way in Japan? Did you see that wrinkle coming?
Tyler Measom: Everything about this film has been sort of magic in some ways. And I don’t use that term too lightly, but everything about the finding of the guitar, the fact that Tal’s wife KoKo spoke Japanese, that it was in Japan, that the guy who had it didn’t know it was a magic guitar, that there’s this missing gap from 1977 to 2014.
Every piece has been magical, even up until tomorrow, when we premiere this thing at the renowned Toronto International Film Festival. So I’ve kind of just fallen backward into the swimming pool, and I’m just letting whatever happens with the film.
JG: Speaking of the premiere tomorrow at TIFF, how excited are you for the film to be screened in front of a TIFF audience?
Tyler Measom: You know, making movies is fucking hard, man. It is so hard. And like I said, this film has been three and a half years in the making, and it’s been exhausting and tiring and trying to find the money and finishing and then for TIFF to say we want to show this film. Then there’s three months of finishing the film and color and sound and mix, and graphics in three weeks. All to know that it’s going to play tomorrow in front of a Canadian audience. This being a very Canadian story, I don’t know how it could end any better. Of course, this isn’t the ending, but it is a nice end for this.
JG: Oh, for sure. Jumping off your point on how important it is for this to be screened for Canadian audiences. How would you describe Randy Bachman’s impact on rock music? Given his significant contributions through The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Tyler Measom: Having a hit is extremely difficult. Having one hit is a rarity of a rarity. It’s more rare than hitting a home run in the major leagues to have a gold record. And Randy’s had more than one hit. He’s had multiple dozens of major hits. And in that era of ’70s rock and roll, when rock stars walked the earth as Titans. You know what I mean? Like, you look at these bands, they’d sell out arenas, and they sell millions and millions of records like that. That doesn’t exist anymore. There’s a handful of artists right now that could sell out arenas, and frankly, most of them are probably from the ’70s and ’80s, to be honest with you. So it was this different era of music and where Randy Bachman was not only important in the ’70s, but he was incredibly important with the chain of individuals who came after him and not just the Canadian artists, But many rock and roll artists.
JG: Great point. Randy’s not just a Canadian music legend. He’s inspired so many people around the world, which I guess kind of speaks to the journey his lost guitar went on as well,
Tyler Measom: Right? And now, outside of Canada, it’s very different. You say the name Randy Bachman here and most people will know who it is. But in America, he’s not as well known. You say the name Randy Bachman, and they don’t necessarily know who that is. Now, you say The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive, or you hum two bars of “Takin’ Care of Business” or “American Woman” and they know his songs. So I’m incredibly excited for the film to be released and that his name will be synonymous with these songs that they hear, not just on the radio, but in television commercials and movies,
JG: You’ve directed things like I Wanna Rock: The ’80s Metal Dream, and also explored Mormonism through Murder Among The Mormons. How did your experience with those projects, as well as your own background within Mormonism, influence how you approached Takin’ Care of Business?
Tyler Measom: Like I said earlier, making movies is extremely difficult. Making documentaries is hard and at some point, every documentary just gets really hard to do. I have to be interested in a subject, otherwise I’m going to turn in a C minus paper. That’s just the truth. So I’ve learned not to take projects that I don’t absolutely love and want to tell as a unique story. It’s cliche, but everyone says when you write your first book, write something you know. And I kind of know that world. I was never a rock star in the 1970s but I know what it’s like being raised as a Mormon and to juggle Mormonism and family. I know what it’s like to be a Mormon, and know that there was a saying in the Mormon Church, especially directed at fathers and men and husbands “No amount of success can make up for failure in the home.”
Randy Bachman, a teetotaling Mormon during the heyday debaucherous period of ’70s rock and roll, was able to juggle somehow these two worlds and possibly felt more guilt than he should have because he was spending 250 days a year on the road and trying to be a father at the same time. And that is a world that I know, that is a world that I grew up in. My father being an accountant and juggling being a father. There’s seven kids in my family and there’s six kids in Randy’s family, so I know that that world of juggling family and career and I think that’s ever-present, not just in the Mormon community, but among anyone, whether you’re a dentist in Oklahoma or a construction worker in Saskatchewan.
JG: It’s definitely relatable. Were there any particularly memorable moments or revelations from the interviews that you did throughout the film?
Tyler Measom: Randy Bachman and his songwriting, that’s special. He’s something of an odd conduit. And when you watch the film, you’ll see that a lot of these anthems that he wrote and these songs that he wrote just kind of came out of thin air, came almost as an accident. “Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” was a work track. It wasn’t meant to be released. “American Woman” came part and parcel from a jam session, from a broken guitar string. You know, these moments of magic that happen. And you hear about these things you know, Bruce Springsteen wrote “Born in the USA” in 20 minutes. And you think, how does that happen? Like, how does it happen? And there’s something where the Muse can come down and land on your shoulder for 15 seconds and bless you with a piece of art that will continue to be played on rock stations 50 years later. And that’s what surprised me the most, is how easily these songs came to him.
JG: Definitely, that stood out to me as well.
Tyler Measom: It pisses you off a little bit, doesn’t it, Jeromme? It took me three years to write and make this documentary and he wrote a hit song in 20 minutes,
JG: It’s like these sort of divine moments of genius that can just happen out of nowhere and that happened a few times for Randy. I’d like a few moments like that to happen for me. Looking ahead, you’re working on a documentary about the Sunset Marquis. What can we expect from that?
Tyler Measom: The Sunset Marquis is one of the most famous rock and roll hotels in the world. And for 60 years in LA, it has been the place that rock and rollers have stayed. And it’s a little bit of a secret spot. And I have interviewed, and I’m going on record right now saying that I have the greatest lineup of rock and rollers of all time, of any documentary. We have 45 interviews plus, and 30 of them are Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. It really is an amazing story about an amazing place. And moreover, it’s not just about a hotel. It’s about the changing evolution of rock and roll and how it went from a huge anthemic moment in rock where people were selling millions of records in the ’70s to a little bit less large, where artists are more interested in selling T-shirts than perhaps selling albums. That’ll be interesting. Oh yeah, it’s crazy. Plus there’s a little bit of rock and roll debauchery. Who doesn’t love that?
JG: That always helps!
