That's all for today
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Thatfellaoverthere asks:
Should rockers and other high-profile names do more about the Trump presidency?
Trump is a distraction. What needs to happen is we all must get together and try and save the Republican party. The way to do that is to bring them to their senses. And the way to do that, is to vote them completely out of office in 2018. And again in 2020.
barden44 asks:
How long did it take you to put the band together? It was an incredible set on Saturday @The Roundhouse.
The beginning of this band started with the Darlene Love album called Introducing Darlene Love last year, which was one of the best records I've ever made. The music director I had put together with Darlene, Marc Ribler, I borrowed from her for this tour. He was largely responsible for putting the band together with the exceptions of Eddie Manion and Stan Harrison, who go all the way back with me and Banana (I told you I love bananas) from a group called the Youngbloods from the 60s and happened to be available to play piano on this tour.
Pagey asks:
What was it like working with the Norwegians on Lilyhammer? They seem to have a really dry sense of humour.
They were some of the most brilliant and accomplished actors I've ever worked with. They had a great sense of humour – who knew?
mikebhoy asks:
Top 3 favourite guitar solos please.
Mike Bloomfield from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band second album East-West - the title track.
Eric Clapton playing with Cream, White Room, which I believe was on their third album Wheels Of Fire.
Jeff Beck - Beck's Bolero from their first album Truth.
The Beatles were the reason I got into a band myself
jfd999 asks:
Great night on Sat – seeing you finish I Saw Her Standing There with Sir Paul was an unexpected but very welcome bonus (I was at Hyde Park when you were cut off in your prime!) Who would you like to work with next?
That was one of the greatest nights of my life! Paul and his first band the Beatles were the reason why I got into a band myself. To have his endorsement was a great honour and great feeling of accomplishment. I didn't anticipate Paul performing with us, so that was a great surprise. As to who else I'd like to play live with? Anybody from the British invasion is welcome on my stage any time.
AncientRylanor asks:
Do you have a favourite guitar?
Yeah. I've been using the Fender Stratocaster lately. It's quite versatile and works for almost any kind of music.
clandejoe asks:
We’re living in a golden age of TV but The Sopranos has yet to be equalled in my view; are there any TV series that have come close for you or any you can pick that stand out?
My greatest regret (and my greatest opportunity) was leaving the E Street Band when I did
Evierose asks:
What is your greatest regret, and what gives you most satisfaction?
My greatest regret is also probably my greatest opportunity, which was leaving the E Street Band when I did. On the one hand I wish I'd never left - after working for 15 years, we had success with The River but the greatest success was about to come and I missed our greatest success. I also felt I'd abandoned the group at a critical moment and I regret that. On the other hand, I've learned everything I know since I left. I'm not sure I would have accomplished the one really important thing - which was helping to bring down the South African government – if I'd stayed in the band.
Bonnylad asks:
Bruce played a hitman in Lilyhammer. If you could hire him to “take out” one person from the music industry, who would you choose?
It would be a close call between the guy who invented stereo and the guy who invented digital. It's been all downhill ever since. Music belongs in analogue and mono the way God intended - the way you hear a band when you walk into a room.
I've never seen our world more divided
MonikaOd asks:
You’ve said you only write songs when you have a reason to. Now that you’ve got one – a new solo record – are you writing songs again?
I will be. The only things I have been writing were for the score of Lilyhammer these last few years but writing a whole new album will be a new challenge. I'm just beginning to reawaken those muscles. It's going to be interesting because everything I've written in the past had a political purpose. This new album - because of the political atmosphere now - is the least political I've released. When I started in the 80s, nobody was political in my country, there were things that the government that needed attention and I felt obligated to bring attention to things like South Africa. Now it's 24/7 and you can't escape politics in my country. So I feel that I am most useful, with this tour and album, bringing people sanctuary from the politics and providing inspirational music that gives people hope for the future and a reinforcement of common ground that I think our world needs at the moment. I've never seen it more divided.
As for the lyrics, all of the political stuff is pretty much autobiographical
Jaredkey asks:
Mr Underground Garage, what is your songwriting process like? Melody, chords, lyrics ... what comes first? When writing lyrics, how much of it is autobiographical?
What comes first is purpose. Why am I writing this song? That must be answered before I do anything. When I'm in the process of writing an album I'm always conscious of it being a concept so I collect bits and pieces of melodies and lyrical ideas over a certain period of time with the overall theme in mind. And then I start to get specific when I've collected enough ideas. As for the lyrics, all of the political stuff is pretty much autobiographical. There's an element of truthful experience in every song and I do believe that rock'n'roll is the most autobiographical artform. But every song should not be taken literally. There are elements of autobiographical things in everything I write, but not always the whole thing.
Fussyandhonest asks:
Why can’t I buy Sun City by AUAA on iTunes? And why didn’t Silvio make a smarter getaway? And who did the best Blinded by the Light – Bruce or Manfred Mann?
I plan to re-release everything I've done next year. I just never got around to remastering and putting things out again.
Chris Wilkins asks:
Thanks for The Underground Garage and The Coolest Songs in the World series, introduced me to so much stuff that I’d never have found otherwise. How do you go about finding the songs and bands?
In the old days I would go into every record store I could find on tour, talk to local bands, talk to local radio people. Now I still try and do that but mostly people send me things now. Believe it or not, we've been on 15 years now. In the beginning there weren't that many rock records being made. It was a very slow period because there was no outlet for it. The radio formats had all tightened up and so it turned out when we built it, they came. Once there was an outlet for new rock'n'roll then people started doing it again.
I prefer to be doing five or six things at once
MemphisFlash asks:
With the acting roles, did you find it difficult to fit it into touring schedules? And would you have swapped acting for music if you had a choice?
Luckily David Chase, the Sopranos creator, was a big E Street fan so he scheduled my acting scenes on days off from the tour. With Lilyhammer I was much more in control and I was able to schedule that around the tour for the most part.
As for music and acting, you don't need to choose. I don't ever do one thing at a time very well. I tend to do better when I'm multitasking - so I prefer to be doing five or six things at once. Unless it's something intensely creative, in which case one must be totally focussed. But the physical stuff like acting or performing in rock bands, you can do multiple things at the same time.
ID840891 asks:
What was the toughest thing the script on The Sopranos asked you to do? (Long Term Parking gets me every time!)
Having to drag Drea de Matteo out of the car and kill her. To make it look real I had to really use force which I found very difficult. And just the thought of any man assaulting a woman like that was quite repulsive, so it required extremely focussed acting. She was a great actor and she wanted it to be real and encouraged me to be as rough and violent as possible. After a scene like that you're emotionally exhausted because you do it for two or three hours. To maintain that intensity for that length of time is exhausting.
I'd love to produce another E Street record
DC41RM asks:
In his biography, Bruce has said how much he enjoyed seeing the Stones working together in the studio. And it seems to me that that was when the legend we now know was at its best. Is there any chance that Bruce and E St will get back in the studio together and make another album the “old-fashioned” way?
The old fashioned way, to me, means getting together for rehearsals, all contributing to the arrangements and then I would co-produce it. I always hope that will happen. I'd love to produce another E Street record. We will see.
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pconl asks:
I enjoyed the commentary you did on the music for the Sopranos and the arguments you had with David Chase. Is it true you wanted Procol Harum’s The Devil Came from Kansas instead of Don’t Stop Believing at the end? Also, who suggested the Kinks’ Living on a Thin Line for the episode when Ralphie killed the girl? That worked so well for such a leftfield choice.
I had three suggestions. That was one of them. Loose Ends by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. And Pretty Ballerina by The Left Banke. The argument lasted about three weeks – and I lost.
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MelonMouse asks:
What do you think is the best thing you have ever been involved with?
Well Once Upon A Dream was one of them. My Rock'n'Roll Forever Foundation is currently writing the history of rock'n'roll for schools. We have 100 lessons online at teachrock.org, which is free, with licensed videos and music and meets all state standards for teaching. I'm quite proud of that.
johnnyfingers asks:
Would you or Maureen like to reprise the Rascals’ Once Upon a Dream in the future?
In spite of it being some of the best work I've ever done, the only Rascal I'm still talking to is Eddie Brigati - unfortunately I fell out with the others. But I have just produced a fabulous new cabaret show for Eddie which we're gonna try and bring to London.
The Republican party has become horrifyingly un-American
bonscottnot asks:
Thoughts on Trump?
I try not to think about Trump. But keeping in mind we only have two parties in America – one of them, the Republican party, is in big trouble. They are currently opposed to cleaning up the environment and opposed to equality for women and gays and transgender people. So they've become horrifyingly un-American.
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johnnyfingers asks:
How did Bruce tell you that he was benching the E-Street Band back in 89/90? Legend has it not everybody took it well?
PeppinoGaribaldi asks:
Will you ever reprise the role of Frank Tagliano/Johnny Henriksen? I loved Lilyhammer, as many other people did!
I loved it. And you never know. But there's no plans on it at the moment. It was great to get a chance to take the one craft I'd begun to learn with the Sopranos which was acting and expand that to co-producing, co-writing, doing the score and directing the final episode. The one new craft turned into multiple new crafts. I love learning new things. And I'm quite proud of the fact that it was the one European success that was not remade for America – America actually used the original version, in Norwegian, with subtitles.
OttoMaddox asks:
Did you have a list of artists drawn up that you wanted to be on Sun City or was it more of a spontaneous, word-of-mouth thing? Was there anyone you wanted to be on it that turned it down or couldn’t make it?
The first few I wrote down included Gil Scott-Heron, Peter Gabriel and Miles Davis. Gil Scott-Heron had a song called Johannesburg, Peter Gabriel had done Biko, and Miles Davis had fought prejudice his whole life. I thought if I can get those three, I've got a record. It wasn't easy. Gil I had to call from a phone booth at a certain time each week because he was sort of hiding out - I wasn't sure from who. Miles Davis I tried to reach and then spontaneously walked in at 3am one night. Peter was a bit more accessible.
PF77 asks:
Do you think the attention Paul Simon brought to black South African musicians outweighed him breaking the boycott?
No I don't. It was a life and death situation and what the South African musicians needed most was freedom, not attention.
Steven Van Zandt is with us now ...
Steven Van Zandt webchat – post your questions now!
For years, Steven Van Zandt was known mostly as Little Steven – bandana-wearing guitarist for the E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen’s right-hand man during his rise to arena-straddling fame. Van Zandt had knocked around in Jersey Shore bands with Springsteen since the mid-60s, and after co-writing the timeless riff to Born to Run, he joined the E Street Band for the Boss’s run of hit albums, leaving just before the release of Born in the USA in 1984 and returning for good in 1999.
That same year, Van Zandt became known to millions of new fans as someone else – generously-quiffed strip club owner Silvio Dante, from The Sopranos. He’d never acted professionally before being tapped up by series creator David Chase, but Van Zandt proved so popular in the role that he was even given his own mafioso-out-of-water TV vehicle in the form of Lilyhammer.
Yet rock’n’roll clearly remains Van Zandt’s first love. As well as Springsteen, he’s worked with U2, Bon Jovi and Meat Loaf, and has hosted his weekly syndicated radio show Little Steven’s Underground Garage since 2002. This month, he brings his band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul across the pond for their first UK tour in 25 years. A former rock firebrand, in the 80s he helped to rally rock stars against apartheid, although he says his new album is “the least political thing I’ve ever done”.
You could ask him about any of that, how Little Richard came to officiate at his wedding, why he’s sometimes called Miami Steve despite being born in Boston, or if he’s any better at poker than Silvio. Van Zandt will be answering your questions from 1pm on Monday 6 November 2017 – simply post them below (one question per comment please!).
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Nice talking to you all! I will see you hopefully soon at one of the many cities we're playing here in Great Britain.