By: Jesse Regis
Click here for the full length interview
After nearly two years of non-stop touring as a guitarist with Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, Nils Lofgren is excited about the next chapter in his life: refining and performing his work as a solo artist.
“We had a great run, put out a couple great albums. I’m totally shifting gears now trying to get back to my own music,” Lofgren, who will play September 3, 4, and 5th at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an interview with Jesse Regis and Pat Baranowski on WRGW Radio.
Lofgren said that while it’s not time to hang up his rock and roll shoes with E-Street, he wouldn’t say whether the band is expected to come back within the year and a half that many have expected.
“[Expected is] not really the word. It’s a great band. Bruce knows it. He’s the one who has to kind of decide when to fire it up again. This is another chapter. Right now there is no plan so we’re jumping back to our own thing. I wish I had an answer for you. It was honestly vague.”
The break is giving Lofgren a chance to pursue solo work.
In addition to his shows at the Birchmere, three vintage performances were just released on a DVD called “Cry Tough.” His 1977 album “I Came to Dance” was reissued August 24th.
“No disrespect but I’m probably more excited about another chapter than anyone else. I was a fan buying tickets in the 70s so obviously I’ve got a better seat now then I did then.”
Flubber Hips:
The E-Street Band, formed in the early-70s, has had its share of health problems in recent years. Lofgren joined in the mid-80s, but nevertheless many question how long the band can continue. Lofgren, 59, is a former gymnast, known for his flips, and twirls on the stage, sometimes with a trampoline. He underwent hip surgery before the last tour but said he has a sense of humor about his health and that he doesn’t like to dwell on it. Instead he focuses his energy on delivering come show time.
“I had to put the trampoline back in the closet,” he said. “I had asked the doctor for some bionic hips with the flubber, so I can jump and they said we don’t have those.”
As for saxaphonist Clarence Clemons, who recently underwent back surgery, Lofgren said, “The last few times I’ve spoken with him he’s in good spirits and he’s on the mend.”
34 & M - That Pivotal Corner
More than 40 years have passed since Nils Lofgren snuck back stage at The Cellar Door in Georgetown, and somehow, in what seems like the unlikeliest of scenarios but nothing out of the ordinary in 1969 D.C., ended up playing with Neil Young – a path that led to a spot in the E-Street Band and a successful solo career.
He wasn’t LinkedIn. He didn’t use Facebook or connections his parent’s had. All he was doing was seeking advice on how to be a better front man with his band Grin.
As the story goes Logfren sung for Neil, the two stayed in touch, Loftren moved to Los Angeles, lived with Young’s producer David Briggs, and played piano, guitar, and contributed vocals on “After the Gold Rush,” what Rolling Stone listed in 2003 as the 71st greatest album of all time.
It didn’t matter that Lofgren didn’t even play piano when Young asked him. He learned.
“That was a huge experience for an 18-year old rookie,” Lofgren said.
In an age of security guards, metal detectors, and lunatic fans willing to have artists put sharpie to cleavage is it even possible to have those experiences now?
“It’s a different time now,” he said. “Back then even though it was Neil Young from the Buffalo Springfield...there was very rarely security and music was more of an underground thing back then and it was a little easier to access people.”
The Cellar Door, a 163-seat venue located at 34th and M Street in Georgetown, was among the places to go for D.C. area musicians. It was what punk and the CBGB in New York City was to rock and roll in D.C.
“The 60s was an amazing scene of playing music. Right across from the Cellar Door was The Apple Pie. Had some great owners. It was kind of a gathering place for all the local musicians because we could play originals – we jammed a lot. A lot of jam sessions. We didn’t have to do the normal top 40 thing and it was a good hang out. I would regularly buy tickets and down to the Cellar Door across the street and see whoever I could I got to see Muddy Waters there a couple times. B.B. King many times. Tim Harden.”
Now a Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory, the building’s change represents fond memories in Lofgren’s life (it was, after all, where it all stared for him) but symbolizes the motivation for pursing new chapters.
“I get to DC to see my mom, my brothers, my family. We often drive through Georgetown. I’ll point out the Exorcist steps and the old Apple Pie, which is gone, and the old Cellar Door, which is gone. But it’s a very pivotal little corner there for me.”
The Performance
In addition to accessibility to artists, Lofgren said that live music and intimate venues were so important to his generation because these venues taught artists to perform.
“We’re the last generation that grew up with no computer, no video, no choreography,” he said. “Basically, there was nothing you could want that you could have as a young musician in the 60s unless you learned how to play in front of people."
Lofgren, who said he wishes he could have performed with Sam Cooke or Ray Charles, said he often speaks with band mate Stevie Van Zandt about rising young artists and how they must be taught how to perform.
“You can talk to them, share it. A lot of great young musicians get it and there’s a way you can seek that out – it’s just that in the 60s there was no other way. That’s what you had to do was learn how to play in front of people.”
He credits his early experience with being able to find the comfort zone on stage that allows him to be confident in improvisation as when he plays with Springsteen who comes up with new ideas during the show.
"It's just as important that you know that whatever surprises you're hit with that day that you have the goods to deal with it, roll with the punches, and by the time you walk out there be ready to do a great show for somebody." he said.
The Birchmere
September 3, 4 and 5 Lofgren will play along side his three brothers, friend Greg Varlotta, and on the first two nights soul singer Maryanne Redman. The show will focus on Lofgren’s acoustic work but he said he’ll bring his Fender Stratocaster electric guitar.
Comfortable in sold out stadiums and intimate clubs, Lofgren said he doesn’t prefer one over the other.
“It’s just the idea that you’ve got the goods, now the challenge is can you present them in their best light tonight because there’s a few hundred people, tens of thousands of people that are coming that are expecting something special and it’s a nice challenge if you have the right team – the band and the crew,” he said.
Those challenges continue to drive Lofgren, the once anxious 18-year old kid who turned raw drive into a legendary career that continues to unveil new chapters.
Find out how Lofgren prepares for a show, more about the night be met Neil Young, and how record deals stifle creativity, by listening to the full interview, which is linked above.
Tickets to the performances at the Birchmere are available at www.birchmere.com, and www.ticketmaster.com. Visit www.NilsLofgren.com for more information, the latest news, free music, or to view his online guitar lessons. Photo credit: Joseph Quever.
