Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander shared some cool news in a recent interview with Hits Daily Double: The band is working on its first studio album since 2009’s The Latest.

Zander says the forthcoming album, which he claims has the working title Bang Zoom Crazy Hello, is “going to be one of our best records.”

The singer tells Hits Daily Double that Cheap Trick is exploring some new sonic ground on the upcoming album, while insisting that it also will include material that will please the band’s longtime fans.

“I think all of our records are a progression of some sort,” Zander explains.  “There’s three great guys and four great chords.  There are three songwriters in the band and we’re all vying for space on the record as we go along on this journey of over 40 years.  So it’s going to be diverse, just like all of our records.”

Zander adds that the upcoming record also “has flavors of 1975.  It really does.  And it’s the same guys in the band, so it sounds like Cheap Trick.  I don’t think anyone is going to be very disappointed.”

It’s worth noting that Cheap Trick’s current lineup features three of the band’s four original members — Zander, guitarist Rick Nielsen and bassist Tom Petersson.  In recent years, Nielsen’s son Dax has taken over drumming duties from Bun E. Carlos.

Asked what his favorite all-time Cheap Trick album is, Robin says he loves the new one the best, while ranking the band’s 1997 self-titled effort at #2.  “Each record is sort of like a brand new baby, where it’s your favorite thing at that moment in time,” he points out.  “I think we’ve come up with a gem.”

Meanwhile, Cheap Trick is among the nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.  Inductees are slated to be revealed this Thursday.  Zander tells Hits Daily Double he feels honored that the band’s even in the running.

“Just being nominated alone makes you feel like you have the respect of your peers after all this time,” he declares, “And to be honest, I thought I’d probably be dead before anything like that would happen to me.  It’s exciting.”

Cheap Trick currently is winding down their 2015 tour itinerary with a string of West Coast dates, and also has one show scheduled already for 2016.  Here are all of the group’s confirmed tour dates, according toCheapTrick.com:

12/15 — Solana Beach, CA, Belly Up Tavern
12/16 — Riverside, CA, Fox Performing Arts Center
12/18 — Napa, CA, Uptown Theatre
12/19 — Stateline, NV, Harrah’s Hotel Casino, Lake Tahoe
12/20 — San Jose, CA, City National Civic
3/5/16 — Plant City, FL, Strawberry Festival

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