Cheap Trick has always been a rock 'n' roll oddball -- just look at Rick Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos -- but it's even more so on this Poison/Def Leppard bill.

Formed in a Chicago suburb in the early '70s, Cheap Trick took its cues from the Beatles on hits like "Surrender" and "I Want You to Want Me" that have endeared them to musicians and power-pop fans ever since. Kurt Cobain once said of Nirvana: "We sound just like Cheap Trick, only the guitars are louder."

Thirty-five years in, Cheap Trick still has a lot going on. The band performed the title song for "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen," it has a run of shows at the Las Vegas Hilton in September doing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and, best of all, the boys have a new album, "The Latest," which blends thrashy rock ("Sick Man of Europe") with Beatlesque balladry ("Miracle") and tosses in a vintage version of the Slade song "When the Lights Are Out."

Last month, the 62-year-old Niel­sen, not only a daddy but a grandfather, talked to us, while getting scolded by a handler for not doing the interviews fast enough. "I'm not being my usual, horrible self," he said in his growling voice.

How did you end up on a bill with Def Leppard and Poison?

I don't know. We must have done something wrong somewhere [laughs].

What happens if the crowd is all out in the parking lot while you play?

I don't know. We can't predict what's going to happen. If they don't show up, they'll miss the whole, they'll miss ... history. It's not like Little Big Horn, General Custer, not that kind of history.

You guys are celebrating 35 years ...

Well, I don't know if we're celebrating ...

OK, well when you first came out there was nothing like Cheap Trick. You guys looked so different. Did you think it was going to work?

If you are what are you, then ... Imagine the bands that forced themselves to dress up as this or that. Then on their days off, they're completely different. It must be tough to know when you're on and off. We are what we are.

Did you have any clue that it would be a live album that would break you?

No, it wasn't even supposed to be released in the United States, so ... it was just an anomaly, I think.

When you put out a record now ...

Yes, and we don't count on getting airplay ...

What kind of expectations do you have?

We just try to make good records. What the trend of the week is or the local flavor, we don't even go by that. We just try to make good records and not just a good song. We try to make albums, which some groups don't even bother with. They have a single and 10 other things that sound not as good as the single.

Sick Man of Europe was a former band name. Is the song an anthem for the old generation?

That was a name we used for about nine months living in Philly in 1972. Such a horrible name. Nobody could ever figure it out. It doesn't sound like a bunch of old farts playing guitar.

"When the Lights Are Out" was recorded in the '70s?

We were Slade fans years ago, and I can't say that we're still Slade fans, but the song was kind of funny, so ...

How did the Sgt. Pepper gig come out?

Hollywood Bowl people approached us saying they were looking for a group that could actually perform the songs from "Sgt. Pepper," because it had never really been done. There had been cover bands that dress up in satin suits and come up with phony English accents. But using the whole orchestra with original charts and a band that could perform it ... They saw us and said that we could. Robin [Zander] can do both McCartney and Lennon. Imagine Van Halen, I'm sure they can play everything, but to be true to the thing, there's no band with a lead singer that can actually do it all, and has background vocals like we do. Nine months later, we were like, "We better rehearse."

You guys are revered now in these power-pop circles.

I have no idea. I never see it. What power-pop circles?

Certain message boards and various things where Cheap Trick is iconic.

Uh, I've never read them ...

Do you think you've had a big part in influencing ...

I don't know if we have a big part. But I think that's what we still do. We do power-pop songs. We make songs that are three minutes long. Two and a half minutes sometimes. We don't sit around a room and say, "Boy, we're power pop, how 'bout that?" But we always liked pop and we like power.

What is it like for Robin to sing "Surrender" now? He's a parent himself.

Well, every person I've ever met, young or old, thinks their parents are weird. His kids probably sing it more often than he does. Every generation is weird, if you think about it. No matter what age. If your parents are sitting around listening to a Kiss album, I don't care what generation you're from, that's weird.