Steven Van Zandt : Our redeemer of Rock 'n' Roll

By Tom Keogh
Special to The Seattle Times

BUCK ENNIS Actor, musician and DJ Steven Van Zandt's radio show can be heard on KMTT-FM on Saturdays.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Other links Search event listings

The first day of production on season six," groans Steven Van Zandt, "will probably coincide with the first day of Bruce's next tour. That's my prediction."

Talk about enviable scheduling difficulties. Van Zandt, who plays likable killer Silvio Dante on HBO's "The Sopranos," is also a charter member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, hailed for three decades as the consummate American rock 'n' roll ensemble.

Currently on hiatus before cameras roll for "The Sopranos' " 2006 season, Van Zandt, 53, is juggling other commitments, including his appearance with Springsteen on the high-profile Vote for Change tour. Van Zandt has also showcased his drive

as a solo recording artist, activist, and, with much mirth and infectious passion, in his recent role as host of a successful, syndicated radio program called "Little Steven's Underground Garage." A weekly celebration of hook-heavy songs in the three-minutes-or-less, pop-rock tradition, "Underground Garage," heard in 190 markets, made its debut on Seattle's KMTT-FM last May (it airs from 10 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays), introducing local audiences to Van Zandt's latest persona as a disc jockey in the intimate but fun-loving mold of rock radio pioneers Alan Freed and Tom Donahue.

Eclectic guy, eclectic show

It's a free-form jaunt through 50 years of spirited rock 'n' roll invention, with an emphasis on studio tracks from the 1950s to early '70s (Little Richard, the Beatles, the New York Dolls), the late-'70s/early-'80s punk era (the Ramones, the Clash, the Fleshtones) and 21st-century bands (Rainy Day Saints, Reigning Sound) that Van Zandt happens to like. "Underground Garage" reflects its host's penchant for making a splash while resisting popular momentum.

Speaking about Vote for Change in a recent phone interview, for instance, Van Zandt puts a little distance between himself and lifelong friend Springsteen about the rallying nature of the upcoming concerts. Where Springsteen has given a qualified endorsement of Kerry, Van Zandt stresses he is not a Democrat and cherishes independence of thought in fellow artists and others.

	ANTHONY CORREIA / GETTY IMAGES At right, Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen perform with the E-Street Band last year.

"I'm doing this tour because Bruce wants me to," Van Zandt says, "and friendship is far more important than politics. ... The important thing is that if you're going to vote for John Kerry, do so as an independent."

Self-determination is a major theme in Van Zandt's eclectic career. In 1984, he left his post as guitarist, vocalist and fun guy ("The Dean Martin role," he says) in the E Street Band, at the height of Springsteen's popularity, to pursue a risky but critically lauded calling as soul gypsy Little Steven. He rejoined Springsteen in 1995 and has toured with him since, but there is always an aura of restlessness about Van Zandt. His most recent album in release, 1999's "Born Again Savage," found him wrestling with the ghosts of musical influences — from George Harrison's Indian-flavored raga-rock to Led Zeppelin — in a loud, bare-knuckled attack on themes concerning disillusionment, faith and mortality.

"Cool is timeless"

For several years, however, Van Zandt's passion has been manifest in a commitment to bring rock back to the airwaves.

"Somehow we ended up in a society where we have a format for every kind of music except rock 'n' roll," he says. "Three or four years ago, I thought maybe it was over. The whole world seemed dominated by hard rock and hip-hop and a few oldies. Maybe rock 'n' roll came and went. But then I discovered a whole bunch of bands that couldn't get on a major label and weren't getting played anywhere. I said, all right, let me take whatever celebrity capital I have and get a radio show, just to prove rock 'n' roll isn't over yet.

" 'Underground Garage' is a world where everyone lives forever and they're in their prime," Van Zandt laughs. "We have no regard for chronological time. We treat [1950s rockabilly star] Eddie Cochrane like a new, exciting artist and [contemporary Seattle band] the Boss Martians like legends. Cool is timeless."

A student of cultural context, Van Zandt enriches the show's format with short, piquant essays, some about various chapters in rock 'n' roll style and history, but many others about aesthetic underpinnings of modern society.

"We may talk about Da Vinci or Pasolini or Ginsberg or Kerouac or John Huston," says Van Zandt. "Kerouac is as interesting to a 15-year-old as a 65-year-old. It's the same thing as the music."

An era of radio changes

Asked about his radio influences, Van Zandt's thoughts turn to a founding father.

"I didn't grow up listening to Alan Freed," Van Zandt says, "but I went back and studied him. Really, I grew up just as AM radio was turning into FM radio. I'm not quite as crazy-frantic as the old AM guys, but not quite as laid back as the original FM guys. I really have come to favor the AM radio, pre-art-form era of rock 'n' roll. I'd rather hear the Beatles play 'Please Mr. Postman' than 'Sgt. Pepper.' "

Episodes of "Underground Garage" are often organized around anniversaries — Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson's birthday, for example, or the release of the Rolling Stones' first album. In those cases, song selections go beyond those specific artists' discographies, celebrating influences they absorbed, precedents they set, contemporaries they knew, and their resonance within a living, organic rock legacy. The June 27 Stones program, for instance, included tunes by fellow 1960s Brits the Beatles and the Kinks, plus Creatures of the Golden Dawn, the White Stripes and Muddy Waters. (Archived "Underground Garage" shows can be heard on www.littlesteven.com.)

More provocative, and typically more surprising, are shows Van Zandt builds around rich themes, such as great recent programs focusing on New York City, love, revenge and even film noir.

A nod to the Northwest

"Underground Garage" made its Seattle launch with a remarkable show celebrating Northwest rock. The Wailers, the Kingsmen, Nirvana and the Boss Martians were all included, of course, in a generous sweep of history, but so were non-Northwest artists such as Leadbelly, Moby Grape and the Stooges. Thus Van Zandt underscored the universality of the garage band tradition — of reaching for and extending rock 'n' roll's mysteries and legacies — and placed Northwest rock in heroic perspective.

"It's especially meaningful to me," he says, "to be on in Seattle, because the Northwest is so important in garage-rock history. The Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Ventures. It's very significant."

It took awhile for "Underground Garage" to come here. KMTT's program director, Chris Mays, says she talked for a couple of years to the program's syndication company, but found the show, with its blend of old hits, forgotten tracks, and barely known contemporary groups "too weird."

"It took some thinking," Mays says, "and I met with Steven. I became convinced our listeners were adventurous enough. There have been no complaints, and we play it on Saturday nights [from 10 p.m. to midnight] because it's a party show. It's destination radio."

There are not yet official ratings for the show, but Mays says, "The audience is very strong for the show's new time slot."

Musician on a mission

Van Zandt is used to sticking by his guns. In his early years with the E Street Band, he found his own outlets as a composer and producer for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. When it came time to record his first solo album, 1982's "Men Without Women," Van Zandt stripped the gloss from those blue-eyed-soul settings and harmonies he'd given the Jukes and, with help from former Rascals Felix Cavaliere and Dino Danelli, achieved a more raw and rapturous sound.

Still, for some who saw the jovial Van Zandt on stage with Springsteen in unforgettable Seattle performances in 1975 or 1978, the transformation from his breezy E Street identity as Miami Steve to his makeover as Little Steven was abrupt.

"I guess, looking back, it was a bit silly, overly idealistic," Van Zandt says. "I didn't want to take advantage of the fact that I was in the E Street Band... . I thought it would be easier to start anew with as little baggage as possible."

In 1984, Springsteen himself declared Van Zandt's politically charged second release, "Voice of America," the "most important album of our time." But it was Van Zandt's 1985 creation of the Sun City Project — which raised money to battle South Africa's racial policies — that defined him as an artist with a sense of mission. Despite that, and despite Vote for Change and the battle to restore faith in rock 'n' roll through "Underground Garage," Van Zandt waves away any suggestion he is a champion of difficult causes.

"I wish I was that noble," he says. "I either get pissed off, or fall in love, or feel compelled by some unknown force. That's what motivates me."

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More Entertainment & the Arts headlines...