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Tuesday September 9th, 2003

Little Steven's 'Underground Garage' makes rock 'n roll radio fun again

Little Steven Van Zandt, who's often seen playing a Gibson Firebird reissue when he's out on the road with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band [he played a Gibson Les Paul Custom for this year's Grammy Awards], has a smokin' syndicated radio program called "Little Steven's Underground Garage." The series debuted in April 2002 and was added to the Voice of America Music Mix Channel in 45 countries around the world. The program is broadcast on 115 radio stations in 157 radio markets.

Little Steven, who also plays Silvio Dante, one of Tony Soprano's henchmen on the hit HBO series "The Sopranos," recently took some time away from his busy touring schedule with Springsteen to talk to gibson.com.

What was your first guitar? How did you acquire it?

In 1964 my father bought me a red Epiphone semi-hollow body guitar. It was a thin single cutaway. I can't remember what the model was but it may have been the Sorrento. I don't have the guitar anymore; I traded it a long, long time ago.

Who influences you as a songwriter and musician?

The British Invasion bands are my biggest influences, the Beatles, Stones, the Who, Kinks, and Yardbirds.

Do you have a particular method when you write - are you inspired lyrically first, or musically? How do you make those ideas tangible?

No, there is no method. Sometime I write the music first, sometimes the lyrics. I have a studio I work in to put my thoughts down, but right now it's not set up. With The Sopranos, the Springsteen tour, and my radio show all going full tilt right now, I don't have time to work on anything really. The only thing I've done recently is co-write and co-produce a track on the new Chesterfield Kings record, The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings.

What sound characteristics do you appreciate in a guitar? Do you choose different models for recording as opposed to performing?

It depends on what I am working on. For example, on my last album, Born Again Savage, I was looking for a distinct tone, it's hard to describe obviously, but it's basically the tone that you would find on the Yardbirds records and on Jeff Beck's first two solo albums. Born Again Savage is a straight-ahead rock record, with just three of us playing, me on guitar, Adam Clayton [from U2] on bass, and Jason Bonham on drums. So for that album, I used my '57 Les Paul Custom, one of the best-sounding guitars ever made. The old Les Paul has a slightly different tone that has never been replicated. I would never take that guitar out on the road - it's purely a studio guitar. I have a newer Les Paul I play, the one I used on the Grammy Awards during the Joe Strummer tribute.

What are you playing while you're touring?

When I am on tour with Bruce I play a lot of different guitars. I use a Fender '57 reissue Stratocaster and a Gretsch Tennessee Rose. But I'm also using the new Gibson Firebird reissue. Normally the humbucker pickups would sound too big for this type of band, but I run it real clean and I get a nice sustain out of it. I also play the Rickenbacker twelve-string quite a bit, an Ovation mandolin and a Takamine acoustic twelve-string.

How has your approach to music changed during the last decade?

I've come full circle over the past 20 years or so. During the '80s I tried all the new technology, digital whatever, computers, the whole thing. But now I'm back to the basics -- strictly organic, analog, mono, rock 'n roll.

How many markets is "Little Steven's Underground Garage" covering at the present time?

Right now we are on 115 radio stations in 157 markets across the U.S. and Canada; we are in 45 countries around the world. You can also get us on the web if you log on to www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com. We started out with only 20-some stations a year ago, and we are adding stations every week. We have also played more than 60 new bands in the past year, more than anybody. Two of our bands were signed to major labels when we started. Now 12 are signed, so we're slowly changing the world.

Is the future bright for garage rock?

Yes! It certainly is. Although it has been around and underground for some 20 years or so, its time has finally come.