An interview with Rick Springfield

Rick Springfield has described the new album Automatic as a cross between his Eighties albums Working Class Dog and Tao. 

The former was the artist’s long overdue commercial breakthrough after a minor 1971 hit (“Speak to the Sky”), years of television acting work. 

It generated his pop chart-topping signature song “Jessie’s Girl.” The latter release was inspired by European music and Eastern philosophy and contained top 30 hits “Celebrate Youth” and “State of the Heart.”

“They’re short, chorus-driven pop songs,” Springfield said about Automatic, in a phone interview from a “I Want My ‘80s” tour stop over the summer. 

"There are “more keyboards that were on ‘Working Class Dog.’ It’s more like ‘Tao’ in that respect. The subject matter is God, sex, and death - my favorite things to write about” lately.

While making the new album last year, he decided to emphasize female vocals and recruited Windy Wagner, who has appeared on recent albums by Springfield, plus Ringo Starr, Neil Young, and others.

“I wanted someone else in there, so I wrote specific parts for her - not just backgrounds,” explained Springfield. Since “I get sick of my voice…I wrote some lead lines that countered me.”

The first tune Springfield did with her was “Exit Wound,” which features hard edged electric guitar. “I liked the way it worked, so I wrote a couple more.” He said the collaboration was “really fun” and Wagner has “an amazing voice” that “I just love.” Their emotional duet on the piano and strings-infused ballad “Make Your Move” is a stunning standout.

This time around, Springfield took a different approach than usual: songs were recorded in his home studio as soon as they were written. The musician produced, arranged, and handled the lion’s share of instrumentation “because it was easy to do that.” The process “allowed me to look at the songs finished and try some different styles. I think there’s a lot of different sounding” ones on there.

Indeed. Automatic is among the more eclectic albums in Springfield’s five-decade catalog. Sound effects intriguingly tie some of the pop and rock songs together. Kick drum-based rhythms are king and EDM-styled touches (which he admires for its bottom end) abound. “Did I Just Say That Out Loud” and “In Case of Fire Break Glass” - where Springfield’s voice is eerily pitch shifted - are prime examples. The propulsive “Invisible” contains an Arabic phrase loosely translated as “peace be upon you” within the lyrics.

Besides Wagner, Monty Neuble (Katy Perry) contributed some bass synth, Jimmy Zavala (Rod Stewart, Eurythmics) played sax, Bill Churchville (Tower of Power) handled trumpet and trombone and Matt Bissonette added a background vocal line to Automatic. “The Cure for Loneliness” and “Come Said the Girl” are horn-driven standouts reminiscent of vintage ‘60s Motown. Springfield said he “absolutely” sought that type of musical vibe. 

“I’ve never been a big brass guy, but those songs called out for it, and I made them pretty brass heavy. ‘The Cure for Loneliness’ is kind of a Motown riff, and I loved all the bass work [primarily done in studio by James Jamerson] on all those Motown songs. It’s just so powerful.

“For ‘Come Said the Girl,’ I put synth brass on it first,” he continued. “The only synth stuff that I don’t really love is the brass; synth guitars don’t really work either…it really needs a real player.”

Springfield was on such a creative tear that he ended up with a 20-track double album he felt strongly about.

“I listened to them all and I really didn’t want to delete anything,” he affirmed. “They all mean something to me, and I know there will be songs people listen to and go, ‘He could have cut that one.’ But for me, I just finished them and (thought), ‘Let’s put them all out and see what reaction they get.’ It’s the first time I’ve done a double album.” 

If push comes to shove, Springfield said his favorite double album from the 1960s or ‘70s would be The Who’s Quadrophenia.

“There are no wasted songs on it at all. That’s the most staggering achievement for one writer to have done. Plus, I loved the subject matter. I was there (in England), in the Sixties. I had my scooter and my navy coat. I was very into that album. It’s probably the perfect double album. 

During Automatic’s realistic, yet bleak title track, the seductive “Works for Me” and elsewhere, Springfield references social media in the lyrics. He’s a fairly active poster and “likes doing it,” but doesn’t “espouse my political, religious, or social views” on various platforms because he believes they are meant for entertainment purposes.

Certain songs “reference the dark side and how I think (social media has) been very destructive for teenagers. I’m just really glad I didn’t grow up with it. I’ve seen it hurt people close to me. I dislike people who use it to hurt others.”

Springfield crafted a new potential new sporting anthem a la Queen’s “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” with the stomping rocker “Heroes.”

“I wrote it with that in mind. I wanted something that could be a real cheer. But you know, it always turns kind of personal when you get to the actual lyrics.

“At a couple live shows [in Clear Lake and Memphis], I had the audiences” participate, “even though they didn’t know what it was going to be for. It’s all live. That’s a real audience, really shouting ‘hey.’ You can fake it, but I wanted to get the real thing.”

Throughout his career, Springfield has written memorable tributes to special people in his life who died (“My Father’s Chair,” “Irreplaceable” “Saint Sahara”). Automatic adds to that list. The effusive “She Walks with the Angels” is about Grammy-winning engineer/mixer Matty Spindel. 

He worked extensively with Springfield over the years and had a wry sense of humor about his long hair. Poignant and uplifting album closer “We Are Eternal,” complete with a children’s choir, concerns Brett Tuggle, a mid-‘80s Springfield keyboardist/backing vocalist and later a key part of tours or albums by David Lee Roth, Fleetwood Mac and Lindsey Buckingham. 

In April 2021, Springfield and band recorded his 1981 album Working Class Dog live front-to-back at his Malibu home for a 40th Anniversary CD/DVD package. It was the first time the musicians had assembled since the pandemic started. Having not performed half the tracks live in concert in years or ever before, Springfield gained a new appreciation for a pair of tunes. 

“We started doing ‘The Light of Love’ and ‘Everybody’s Girl’ in a medley [in concert] because I liked the songs and liked playing them again. I realized we’d just come off punk back [when Working Class Dog was recorded] and I’d been listening to a lot of punk” back then.

“Although that album is very power pop, it was infused with a punk energy. And you can hear that. Playing ‘Everybody’s Girl’ live, it’s got a very punk vibe to it, although it’s translated into a power pop sense. I didn’t realize that at the time. It was such a driver for the album. I loved the whole punk thing of short songs and guitar, bass, and drums.

“‘My Aim is True’ [by Elvis Costello] and the first Police album were very inspirational and blueprints of ‘Working Class Dog’ for me. They were drivers as far as short, chorus driven songs with a small band. And after disco and all the ballads [dominating Top 40 radio immediately prior], it was like, ‘Please God, let’s play some guitar again.’”

Another ruby anniversary, for Springfield’s Living in Oz album, recently passed on the calendar. It is one of the musician’s favorites. Tuggle and Mitchell Froom (of Crowded House) played keyboards, Richard Eliot did the sax solo on “Human Touch” and Richard Page of Mr. Mister was among the background vocalists. Certified platinum, it spawned two top 20 singles in “Affair of the Heart” and “Human Touch.”

“I wanted it to be heavier and guitar oriented…It was described in a bad review as that I dictated the drums, but I loved that sound. I think it still holds up sonically and lyrically, because I was into the whole thing about how my life had changed because of fame. That’s what the whole album is basically about - how it affected me. I look at that as kind of a little diary.”

Unlike many of his contemporaries who achieved major success in the 1980s, Springfield releases a new album every few years. For example, his side project The Red Locusts - including frequent collaborator/bassist/vocalist Matt and drummer/vocalist Gregg Bissonette - released its power pop-leaning, self-titled debut in 2021. A follow-up Springfield described as “a little heavier, with maybe a touch of The Who in there,” is already completed. 

“We’re all great Beatle fans. We took that love and said, ‘Let’s go to Beatle jail and record some songs that sound like they could have been Beatle songs.’ I wrote ‘Miss Daisy Hawkins,’ which was the original title for ‘Eleanor Rigby’ that Paul came up with and he changed [the title]. There’s strings and I wrote it from the perspective of this woman, Daisy Hawkins, who missed out on being famous and being a byword in the pop world because [McCartney] changed the name…You can hear a lot of the Beatle influence on purpose. It’s like subconscious plagiarism. We actually worked to make it sound like the Beatles.”

What continues to motivate Springfield, who turns 74 on Aug. 23, as a songwriter? 

“I started doing it for myself because I love writing and instead of sticking (songs) on the shelf, I wanted to share what I’d written. What I loved was when I’d hear a song that would hit me and that someone could write a song that I recognized - recognize the feeling. It made me feel great. I wanted to experience that myself and share it with people and I still do. I never thought of money when I wrote.

“I’ve never said, ‘Yeah, this might make me some money.’ I don’t think any musician worth their value ever got into the music business because they thought they could make money. We all got into it for the love of it and the money’s a byproduct if you do get successful. I still love to write. 

“It’s a different music business now with albums. There’s not much chance of my era people being played on the radio. I hear so many great albums. I think the new Queens of the Stone Age album [In Times New Roman] is awesome. Maybe you hear them on a couple rock stations, but there’s no chance of mass play anymore. I know a lot of bands don’t put music out now because of it. They go, ‘what’s the point?’ But hardcore fans want to hear new stuff. I want to put songs out. As long as I have something to say and I’m inspired by it, that’s my driver.”

Upcoming Tour Dates:

Nov. 10-11 Las Vegas, NV - The Strat

Dec. 14 Tuscon, AZ - Rialto Theatre

Dec. 15 Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theatre

Dec. 16 Rancho Mirage, CA - Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa

Feb. 22, 2024 Miami, FL - Rock Legends Cruise XI

March 13 Sarasota, FL - Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

This feature originally appeared at rockcellarmagazine.com.

Photos courtesy KMJ Public Relations.