Brad M. Carlson (born June 12, 1950), better known by the stage name Bun E. Carlos, is the original drummer for American rock band Cheap Trick.

[5] Carlson's elder brother, Kurt, was a major in the United States Army Reserve when, on June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847 was hijacked by terrorists belonging to Hezbollah.

[12][a] Carlson's father played the accordion, his mother played keyboards and several other instruments, and his brother Kurt was a drummer in the Guilford High School band,[12][11] Carlson did not start paying attention to music until about 1962 or 1963, when songs like "The Twist," "Return to Sender" and "Sugar Shack" became chart toppers.

He initially taught himself to play piano,[11] but when The Beatles' single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", received radio airplay in the United States, Carlson became a fan[13] and decided to switch to drums.

[12] The Pagans broke up, and Carlson played in another local band, Probe and the Lost Souls (which later changed its name to Albatross), in 1969.

He and Robin Zander, the future lead singer of Cheap Trick, were members of the same band for a brief period at this time.

[18] In June 1973, Carlos and Nielsen formed a new band[11] to take over the gigs which Sick Man of Europe had booked.

[11] Tom Petersson, then living in Europe,[17] returned to the United States and joined Cheap Trick in November 1973.

He told interviewer Robin Tolleson in 1986 that, like most young drummers, he was mostly interested in making his drumming stand out ("Where can I get the most licks in, and how cool can I sound").

While listening to a tape of a Cheap Trick concert, he realized he was rushing the beat and interfering in the performance of the other band members.

Afterward, he began taping every Cheap Trick show to study his own drumming much more objectively, focusing on keeping time and supporting his bandmates.

[19][20] Cheap Trick played a last concert at the Second Chance club in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in October 1976, then headed for New York City to record an album.

[22] The album's liner notes[23] and Epic's promotional advertising made the tongue-in-cheek claims that "Bunezuela E. Carlos" was from Venezuela, his parents helped build the Panama Canal, and that he abandoned his family to come play rock music in America.

Ten tracks taken from the Osaka concert were compiled and released as a live album titled Cheap Trick at Budokan, which was intended to be exclusive to Japan.

[27] Demand for Cheap Trick at Budokan became so great that Epic Records finally released the album in the U.S. in February 1979.

[citation needed] Cheap Trick at Budokan launched the band into international stardom, and the album went triple platinum in the United States.

[39] According to Carlos, he and Zander had a falling-out shortly before the band made its appearance on the television program Austin City Limits.

"[44] Carlos told Andy Greene of Rolling Stone that the settlement resolved issues with monetary payments, business participation, and voting rights.

These live recordings of concerts, sound checks, covers, and acoustic and semi-acoustic versions of Cheap Trick songs were released via the band's web site.

There were just 1,000 pressings of each release, issued in "bootleg" packing (e.g., simple white cardboard sleeve, little information about each song).

[48] Carlos appeared with Cheap Trick on April 4, 2016, when the band was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Nielsen was reportedly excited to play alongside his original bandmate, saying, "they are inducting the people who made the records way back when and that's good.

[50] In his induction speech, Carlos thanked his family, his bandmates, CBS Records, his drum techs, his managers, and producers Tom Werman and Sir George Martin.

The group includes members of The Doobie Brothers, Kansas, Little River Band, Pablo Cruise, and Toto.

Tinted Windows played its first publicized gig at SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 20, 2009, and appeared on late-night network TV shows.