Little Steven Online

Q & A Part 1 \| Q & A Part 2 Q & A Part 3\| Q & A Part 4
1.	I was wondering if there's any chance the long-form video you did for Men Without Women will ever see the light of day as a video or DVD?
	Afraid not. It wasn't intended to be a long form video. It was excepts from what was going to be a full-length film. We showed it as a work in progress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983. Before we got started I asked my friend Jay Cocks for advice about how to maintain control of the thing - I had a lot of anxiety about the entire art form of moviemaking which seemed to be overloaded with collaborators. He took me to see John Cassavettes who told me if I maintained control of the script everything else might go wrong but at least I wouldn't embarrass myself. So with that excellent advice, I promptly caved in to pressure from the record company and started shooting before we had a script! In the end it never got done and what was shot was a series of unrelated scenes that were either misconceived, made no sense, or were simply incomplete. Prince did it the right way two years later with Purple Rain.
2.	I read in Rolling Stone about a Hunchback Of Notre Dame project you started - what's the word on this?
	It's true. I started writing a Broadway type musical version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" five or six years ago. I demo'd about half of it and sent it around to Broadway producers. They liked it a lot but got scared off when Disney put out the animated movie and hinted they'd be coming to Broadway with it. It's a shame because it's really a different kind of writing than I've ever done before and I think it's quite good. I guarantee it blows away that Disney version. Anyway it will die on the shelf half finished unless some producer calls me and says I got 20 million, let's do it.
3.	How do you feel about the local music scene that you grew up in and what it has to offer now?
	The local music scene was unlike any local scene before our time or after. For the only time in history there were dozens of places for teenagers to hang out and see live rock bands. High school dances, VFW halls, union halls, all the beach clubs in Sea Bright, coffeehouses, colleges, festivals in parks, and even a teenage nightclub called Le Teendezvous. There were also a lot of music shows on T.V., one of which was Hullaballoo which had a string of clubs in Middletown (where I was), one to the west in Freehold (where Bruce was), and one to the south in Asbury Park (where we all ended up). Now? Forget about it. There's not much left. The beach club called Tradewinds is still there and they actually rebuilt it and it's doing better than ever - other than that there's a few bar type joints from Red Bank to Long Branch but nothing for under bar age kids that I know of. It's a terrible thing that there is no place for kids to go and I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this. If you are between the ages of thirteen to seventeen what do you do? Write in. If you have kids that age write in and tell us what they do because I haven't got a clue. Hang out at the mall? Video arcades? What? They're probably at home on the internet porn sites (that's probably where I'd be too) but they've got to go out sometime right?
4.	We have seen such a drastic change in the "sound" of each of your CD's. I always felt that tunes written for Southside's "Better Days" could have been part of the best CD you never released. Two questions.......when you are writing for someone such as Southside, do make a conscious effort to write songs which contain the Asbury Park sound? Do you think we will ever get to hear a Little Steven CD containing that sound as well? Nothing better than hearing the guitar and horns together.
	I've always regretted not being able to lock on to one signature sound and sticking with it. I really envy the Rolling Stones, AC DC, the Ramones, and other groups who were able to do that. Alas, that was not to be my destiny. But along the way we did create the "Asbury sound" as you call it and what the world now calls the "bar band sound" of combining 60's rock with 60's R&B with 50's blues with 70's reggae, and occasionally other tropical elements, and adding 5 horns for punctuation. Yes, I was very conscious of returning to the sound we invented with Southside's first three albums in the 70's with "Better Days." I returned to it myself on my first solo album. The challenge of "Better Days" was doing something that was as good as "Hearts of Stone." The sound was easy. I was a much better producer in the 90's than I was in the 70's so "Better Days" got the benefit of that. Essentially I don't produce anybody the way I produce myself. I work quickly with an artist I'm producing but I use whatever patience is required. I'm very careful about everything being right. With myself I've got no patience at all. Someday I'll do a Little Steven R&B Revue tour and we'll do all those oldies with the horns.
5.	Is touring with the E-Street band seem just like a job to you after all those shows? You sure looked as though you were enjoying yourself in Fargo.....
	Nobody is that good an actor. We're having a ball. Yeah it's just a job. Just the greatest fucking job in the world!
6.	You have obviously given much as an activist in human rights repeatedly. I believe we share many of the same v0lues and work toward similar goals. I am wondering if you have thought about animal rights/animal protection? Although many people see human rights and animal rights as an either/or proposition, I see them as all inclusive, and prefer to do the least harm as possible to any sentient being.
	Are you kidding? I'm an animal rights fanatic. My dog Jakie insisted on it. I went so nuts when I first got enlightened in the 80's I gave away all my leather jackets and coats! There was a line of my friends around the block. I've backed off slightly since then with jackets and shoes and I still wear my python boots that I have rebuilt every ten years or so. And when I'm out of balance I still eat meat, but when it comes to rights I'm still fanatical. I'm against animal testing, fur, experimentation, hunting, bullfighting, cockfighting, pit bull fighting, and of course any kind of domestic mistreatment. There are no laws that protect animals. It is disgusting. Everything is alive and should be protected. People, animals, forests, oceans, all of it.
7.	Can you explain a little bit which are, in your opinion, the task of a producer? - or at least in your case. What's your approach, your method when you are going to produce someone? Is it always the same or it depends on the artist or the music you're gonna deal with?
	Hmm. This question is an essay unto itself. Let me try to be brief. (Ha!) There are no absolutes here but most of the time the producer is responsible for the record. The artist, the record company, the manager, the accountant, all come to you. Yes the job does change depending on the producer's capabilities and the artist's expectations and what the circumstances are. Obviously every situation is different. The spectrum reflecting the amount of artistic input ncessary for each project ranges from the far left - no artistic input - the producer plays traffic cop / organizer / referee / sounding board / non-threatening confidante / possible mouthpiece for hype to the record company / exclusively positive opinion when asked, etc. -- to the far right - the producer is the artist / writes or co-writes - arranges / the singer just sings. For the most part it's somewhere in between. An artistic collaboration. The producer must make sure everybody's intentions are the same and that there is some level of trust before you go in to the studio. My intention is always the same. I plan on making the greatest album the artist has ever made. One they will be proud of forever. One that realizes their potential. One that realizes their vision. And if they don't have a specific vision it is the producer's job to discover it or supply it. Before I get carried away here let me outline what a good producer is. The producer/artist relationship is one of the most intimate that exists in the world. In that relationship the producer ideally is prepared to be: a brother, a father, a protector, a realist, an idealist, a psychotherapist, a coach, a rabbi, a music historian, a music lover, flexible, disciplined, technically proficient, verbally skilled, patient, prepared, committed, focused, a cheerleader, an organizer, a skilled warrior, very aware of the smallest details, very aware of the big picture, good with people, a lover of art, good with business, and a good actor. Sort of a combination of Spencer Tracy, Alan Greenspan, Conan the Barbarian, Dr. Melfi, and Mr. Spock.