From serving as Bruce Springsteen's
longtime music partner in the E Street Band and Underground Garage
radio host to activist and actor on HBO's "The Sopranos," Steven Van
Zandt has maintained a multi-faceted career for nearly five decades.
On Monday night, he discussed all
that work and more during a rare sit-down at the Grammy Museum in downtown Los
Angeles.
It was moderated by the museum's executive director Robert Santelli -
a former New Jersey music journalist and author of Springsteen books with a
long history of covering the rocker.
Also in attendance in LA were two
musicians with ties to Jersey: Blondie drummer Clem Burke and current Breakfast with the Beatles/Underground Garage radio show host Chris Carter (during the
'90s, the pair were bandmates in Dramarama).
Since 2015 marked the 40th
anniversary of "Born to Run," the sold out 95-minute program
(including audience Q&A) began with Van Zandt reminiscing about making the
landmark album. "It was a special record and Bruce was making a statement,"
he said. "Back in the '70s, it was uncool and courageous to have the
sax" play a prominent role in a band. "But tradition mattered to
him." Then he recounted the popular story about how did helped guide the
horn arrangement on "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out" without any formal
training.
Santelli asked about Van Zandt's
stint with Southside Johnny & the Jukes. At the time, all the other bands
playing Jersey Shore clubs like The Stone Pony did covers. "We played
original songs, which was unusual." Onstage, Van Zandt would
sometimes say his songs were by another successful artist instead. "Back
then until now, I never fit into the modern world. I create my own world. We do
it today with 'Underground Garage.'"
About his formative music
influences, Van Zandt said, "The British Invasion was everything to
me," citing The Beatles appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and
how they popularized the idea of the band as a fully creative entity (while
acknowledging predecessor Buddy Holly & the Crickets). "The Beatles all
had nice outfits and haircuts. Then the Stones came along, weren't so nice and
made it look easy. I thought, 'I could do that.'"
Flashing forward, Van Zandt said
Springsteen asked him to co-produce "The River" album to help get a
full live band sound. Then on 1984's "Born in the U.S.A.," they
eschewed studio overdubs in favor of playing entire songs again and again.
"I did the mandolin solo in my vocal mic."
Regarding "The Sopranos,"
Van Zandt talked about how producer/creator David Chase had seen him induct The
Rascals during the televised Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame ceremony and insisted
he should accept an acting role on his new mobster drama. In the 1990s, Van
Zandt was at low ebb musically. "I didn't relate to anything about
grunge," so the TV opportunity came at a good time in his life.
A fascinating part of the discussion
centered on Van Zandt's creation of Artists United Against Apartheid in 1985.
He had gone down to South Africa twice the previous year and felt "I
needed to bring attention to the problem. I wanted to get a cultural
boycott." Although 49 acts participated in benefit song "Sun
City," he said only a few people turned him down, including Frank
Zappa.
"Radio wouldn't play the song,
but MTV and BET aired the video." The uprising eventually led to South
African bank sanctions and Nelson Mandela being released from jail. "We
couldn't do it now," said Van Zandt.
He said today's music is mired in
mediocrity. The Underground Garage show and station on SiriusXM radio are about
"getting the standards back up. Everything gets diluted the further you
get from the source" of rock 'n' roll. "We plant as many seeds as we
can" on the show (which launched in 2002). "You get great music 24
hours a day" on the channel.
"As far as I'm concerned, 1951-1971
was a Renaissance period for music. It needs to be accessible. "
The audience Q&A portion saw Van
Zandt touch upon a variety of other subjects (and go over the allotted time), including...
All the great songs left off
"The River":
"One of our best albums was
that second disc on (1998 outtakes box set) 'Tracks.'"
Reuniting The Rascals and the
Broadway show he spearheaded:
"No one person is more
important than others in a band...Felix (Cavaliere) caused all the
problems."
How he felt when the E Street Band
broke up and how things are now:
"If you have a band with that
kind of chemistry, you should never break up...that last tour was one of our
best ever. We broke four new markets around the world with little promotion. We
still have unfinished business left."
Producing/writing and arranging the
new Darlene Love album:
"All 40 years of my music
knowledge went into it...I couldn't deal with the injustice of not hearing this
woman sing. Greatness is not supported enough in this world."
All photos by Rebecca Sapp, wireimage.com, courtesy of the Grammy Museum
My report also appeared at www.musicnewsnashville.com
For more information on the museum programs and more, go to www.grammymuseum.org
3 comments:
It was indeed another awesome program at the Grammy Museum. In addition to all the great stories that Steven shared, I would pay to see him do a standup act: his comic delivery of some of those stories was spot on! He is a very funny dude.
Indeed! Thanks for the input.
When I wear a black bandana minus the specs I have been approached by strangers who claim they thought that I was Steven Van Zandt. As a former drummer & guitarist that twin assumption is obvious.
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