|
Bankrate:
Silvio fits you like a glove, yet what would you
have in common with a mobster?
Steve Van Zandt:
Almost nothing. The only thing we have in
common is we're not of the current era. I'm
very happy to be stuck in the '60s. And Silvio
is a bit of a fish out of water, too, because
he's in the '50s. He thinks the glory days
of the mob are over and it's on the decline. Everyone
is ratting on everybody else and things are not
the way they used to be. There's no sense of honor;
there's no sense of tradition. Now, of course,
he's probably romanticizing it all. There
was probably never that sense of honor that those
guys thought there was.
Bankrate:
Your "Little Steven's Underground Garage"
show -- this is one of your radio programs that
has propelled garage rock into the mainstream
of sorts. Explain what garage rock is.
Steve Van Zandt:
We use a pretty broad definition of it. People
are going to define it in different ways but I
think most would agree that it's pretty basic,
simple rock 'n' roll, no drum machine, no synthesizers,
mostly guitar-oriented but not big, fat heavy
distortion like hard rock is. It's more textured
with subtleties to it. Very little keyboard; virtually
no piano. Basically, it took its form when Lenny
K put together a compilation called "Nuggets"
in 1972 of all the one-hit wonder bands of the
'60s. That was the defining moment for the genre.
The term, of course, comes from that fateful day
in history -- Feb. 9, 1964 -- when the Beatles
played Ed Sullivan. Before that, there was no
such thing as a band, and after that everybody
had a band and they all practiced in the suburbs.
Bankrate: Who are some of our garage bands of today?
Steve Van Zandt:
Well, we've introduced 110 over the last three
years. The greatest ones ... certainly Detroit's
The White Stripes, Boston's The Charms, The Chesterfield
Kings of Rochester, The Hives of Sweden, The Vines
in Australia, The Strokes of New York. Just so
many.
Bankrate:
Your radio shows have become a very successful
venture for you, adding to your successes in "The
Sopranos" and the E Street Band. Not
bad from a kid thrown out of high school.
Steve Van Zandt:
I think that underdog thing stays with you. Forever,
you keep that sense of the underdog and I think
underdog types just try harder in life because
we don't get the respect right away, or didn't
in those days anyway. So it's like, "I'll
show you." My first wave of success and financial
freedom came with the E Street Band and then 20
years later, my second wave of success came out
of the blue with "The Sopranos."
Bankrate: I can't see Silvio listening to garage bands.
Steve Van Zandt:
Naw, ... he's strictly Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale
and, of course, Sinatra.
Bankrate:
Ever think you and the E Street Band will go out
on tour again?
Steve Van Zandt:
Haven't really talked about it but I imagine we'll
make another record and do another tour. Why
not? We're all in reasonably good shape. We
might not be as pretty as we used to be but, you
know, we're better.
|
