Miles Nielsen brings musical mix to Cedar Rapids concert

Miles Nielsen opted to joke about recently being stranded in Hooker, Okla.

“There wasn’t a hotel in town so we had to live for 20 hours at a Love’s (Travel Stop),” Nielsen said while calling from his Rockford, Ill., home. “Our alternator went (out), and so we had no option but to hang out there at the gas station. It was like ‘Clerks’ meets ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ minus the good-looking people.”

Hit the rimshot.

Humor runs in the Nielsen family. His father, Rick Nielsen, Cheap Trick’s guitar wizard, is one of the funniest characters in the world of rock.

“Humor is in our blood,” the Nielsen son said. “My daughters joke about how we speak fluent sarcasm. My dad’s no different. He’s quick-witted, smart and funny. A great way to deal with things is through humor. You have to laugh about everything, even when things go wrong like it did for us in Hooker. There are a lot of songs from that experience.”

Nielsen and his band, The Rusted Hearts, are overdue for a new album. Recording has been on hold, with guitarist Daniel James McMahon battling esophageal cancer.

“That’s been a real huge curveball for us, since I’ve been making music with Dan for 18 years,” Nielsen said. “We’re missing a huge piece of our puzzle. We’ve just been trying to keep the train on the tracks and not do him a disservice.”

However, the live show must go on and Nielsen and The Rusted Hearts will deliver their soulful roots-rock Friday night at CSPS Hall in Cedar Rapids.

“We love performing,” Nielsen said. “I’ve always enjoyed getting in front of an audience.”

Nielsen, 48, has been around the business since birth. The charismatic singer/songwriter has met many rock stars, who made quite an impact.

“It’s been a fascinating life,” Nielsen said. “I’ve not had too many disappointments with these icons. The only person I’ve been disappointed by was Axl Rose, which you sort of expect. (Guns N’ Roses guitarist) Slash was so cool,” as were his bandmates bassist Duff McKagan and guitarist Izzy Stradlin.

“(Aerosmith vocalist) Steven Tyler, Joan Jett and Robert Plant couldn’t have been nicer,” Nielsen said. “Robert Plant has had an amazing second career with Alison Krauss. I love that what he’s doing sounds nothing like Led Zeppelin. Going back to Axl, I don’t fault him at all. It’s got to be super-weird to have everyone pulling at you when you become this overnight superstar and then you’re dating Stephanie Seymour.”

However, the group with the greatest effect on Nielsen is his father’s band. Despite the tremendous success of their 1978 breakthrough album, “Cheap Trick at Budokan,” the band — which has so many hits, including “I Want You to Want Me,” “Surrender” and “Dream Police” — is so underrated.

“Cheap Trick has always been an underdog,” Nielsen said. “They’ve been the underdog for 50 years. Part of their plight is that they come from a small town.”

Rockford, Ill., is just a three-hour drive from Cedar Rapids and two hours from Chicago. The northern Illinois city has always been home for Nielsen.

“I love it here,” he said. “My wife and I (recently) opened a 175-capacity venue, The Music Box, and it’s all about live entertainment. There are no televisions or gambling machines at The Music Box. We’re going to be doing comedy and hopefully some jazz trios. Rockford is a nice blue-collar town, which has had a great deal to do with my music, and that’s the same for Cheap Trick. It’s a great place to be.”

Cheap Trick is working on a new album in Nashville.

“My dad is 75 years old and he still is making records,” Nielsen said. “That’s so inspiring.”

Nielsen and his Rusted Hearts bandmates — keyboardist Adam Plamann, bassist Dave McClellan and drummer Jeff Werckle — are looking forward to getting back into the studio.

“We have a number of songs to record,” Nielsen said. “We’ll get to the studio eventually. We’re going to focus on the shows first and see what happens in the future.”