Anyone who caught Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Air Canada
Centre last week probably thought: "How can a chemistry this good come to an
end? Again?"
The Boss and his band's first roadtrip together in just over a decade is
scheduled to wrap on July 1 after a 10-night stand at New York's Madison
Square Garden.
But that's not the end of their collaboration.
At least, not according to E Street Band guitarist "Little Steven" Van
Zandt, as well known these days for both his role on the hit New Jersey mob
TV series, The Sopranos, and for his socio-political causes, including the
mid-'80s anti-apartheid anthem Sun City.
Record talk
"I think the rebirth of the band is permanent," the headscarf-wearing Van
Zandt, 49, was saying during an interview last week in his Toronto hotel
suite, which he had decorated with green silk scarves, candles, religious
symbols and Native American art prints. (This guy even brought his own
ashtray, whose base is made of tiny human skulls, in which he extinguished a
steady stream of Marlboro Lights.)
"Now, what does that mean exactly? I don't know. Does that mean we will
immediately start a record? I don't know. We haven't talked about that.
"I think it is probably inevitable that we will think about doing a new
record, but will it be the next record that Bruce decides to do? I don't
know. He may do something else first. But I think it feels a little too good
to just sort of walk away. I don't think that's going to happen."
For now, Van Zandt has his own 1999 album, Born Again Savage -- his fifth
solo effort -- which was recorded with U2 bassist Adam Clayton and drummer
Jason Bonham.
The hard-rocking, spirituality-oriented collection pays tribute to
pioneers, "The Kinks, the Who, the Yardbirds," and others, who the
Boston-born, Jersey-raised musician says in the album's liner notes kept him
"alive" while growing up.
Otherwise, Van Zandt begins shooting the third season of The Sopranos in
August, and aside from a few weeks in July, he won't be free again until
next March or April.
He denies rumours that Springsteen and the E Street Band were already in
the studio last year.
Van Zandt also says the group is only recording some of the live shows.
"We've recorded here and there, but that doesn't necessarily mean there'll
be a live record either."
'Reaffirmation'
Still, Van Zandt says the long-running reunion tour's designation as the
hottest show of 1999 is a "reaffirmation of all the work we put in in the
first place. "We were trying to do something that was important, that was
long-term, that was timeless. We were doing our best to achieve that, and I
think the excitement around this tour suggests that maybe we were on to
something then, and it is still relevant now."
There's also a sense of democracy. Van Zandt, saxophonist Clarence Clemons,
guitarist Nils Lofgren, and singer-guitarist and Patti Scialfa
(Springsteen's wife) share the front of the stage with The Boss night after
night.
"What we communicate basically is community, and it begins within the
band," says Van Zandt.
