ROCK
REPORT
by
Ross CAT
 Concert
Preview:
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Buffalo,
NY- HSBC Arena
Interview:
NILS LOFGREN
SHINE
SILENTLY…..In
1978 guitar sage
NILS LOFGREN
released his first Double Live LP titled “Night
After Night”;
6 years
later he would bring his six-string magic night after night to the
stage with
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
on the “Born
to Run” tour as part of
the “heart stopping, pants dropping, house
rocking, earth shaking, booty quaking, love making
Legendary” E –STREET- Band.
Although
the BOSS
may scribe the legendary lyrics, it’s the
E
STREET Band
that is the driving force transcending
those songs to scripture with epic brilliance during their
celebrated 3 plus hour marathon concerts.
While
NILS LOFGREN
has been a
significant cog in the tightly knit
E STREET Band
since 1984,
those contributions barely scratch the surface of his illustrious
career.
He began with
another band of legendary lore at the age of eighteen; playing
guitar & piano on the
NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY
HORSE
renowned
record “After the
Gold Rush”.
LOFGREN is known by his peers
as a consummate professional who is constantly working on his
craft with over forty solo releases to his credit. Whether in the
studio or on the road LOFGREN
is the go to sessions sideman to Rock’s elite; his lofty
resume reads like a lexicon from the Rock ‘n” Roll Hall of Fame
including collaborating credits with artists like ROD STEWART,
BOB SEGER, RINGO STARR, STEPHEN STILLS, GRAHAM NASH, DAVID CROSBY,
LOU GRAMM, WILLIE NELSON, CARL PERKINS & JERRY
LEE LEWIS.
On Sunday Night the
BOSS & his E STREET
Band
will roll into
Buffalo
for the last gig of the monumental “Working
On a Dream”
tour. They will close it out the tour where it all began by
performing songs from their first record
“Greetings
from Asbury Park, N.J.”
in its entirety for the first time in the bands history.
The
Rock Rapport
had the great fortune to catch up with
NILS LOFGREN
during the final week of the
tour.
***********************************************************
Ross CAT-
Good
Morning NILS
I consider this my “Lucky
Day” to
be able to speak with you;
Buffalo
is extremely excited about hosting the final show of this amazing
tour.
NILS LOFGREN-The
band is really excited too, we’re in
the best shape of our musical lives.
While we’re all
a little homesick its bittersweet to see a great band like this
have to stop workin’ it for the time being.
Ross CAT-
To make this evening even more memorable
Buffalo
will get to help
STEVEN VAN ZANDT
celebrate
his birthday.
NILS LOFGREN-Yeah
it’s actually on the day of the show, I’m certain we’ll have
something planned to embarrass him properly.
Ross CAT-
Talk about the rare six-string synergy you share with the
BOSS & LITTLE
STEVEN
both on stage & in
the studio.
NILS LOFGREN-It
was great finally in 1999 to get
STEVEN back in the fold, not only
for his musicianship but the personality he adds to the band.
Most of all for me
its STEVEN’S
voice; he and
BRUCE have this
Rough Rock duet thing going on that is only matched by MICK &
KEITH, having that sound & camaraderie back on
E STREET
is great.
BRUCE & STEVE
played together on all the early records writing all the parts
with STEVE producing a lot of them, whatever guitars they have in
a song I just pick up on the next idea.
It’s a very organic
process, if they have parts of a song covered I’ll pick up the
acoustic guitar, or if
STEVEN
is focused on singing an intense duet I’ll cover the line & vice
versa.
We all work well
with others in a Rock Band setting, it’s been especially great
having STEVE
back in the studio on the last few records. Working again
together in New Jersey & Atlanta recording “The Rising”, “Magic”
and of course “Working on a Dream”, it’s like a big high school
reunion.
Ross CAT-
To say the band is in the best shape of its career on every level
would be an understatement.
The relevance of the 3 aforementioned albums is exceptional; is it
the constant influx of new material that keeps the band driven to
perform at such a high level at this stage of your career?
NILS LOFGREN-We’re
just so grateful and impressed that
BRUCE
continues to challenge himself as a writer finding new heights to
take his music & this band.
As a group we all
benefit from his expertise as a songwriter; in particular on stage
there’s nothing that we can’t do or follow if he’s ready to sing
it and lead us.
It’s been really
fun to work on all these new songs we’ve never played together as
well as the covers we’ve been doing on this tour.
It’s funny we’ll
realize half way through a song that we forgot to figure out the
bridge of a song &
BRUCE
will just shout out instructions on the cuff; whatever it takes to
get through it we keep our focus on the soulfulness of the piece
and it always seems to work even with the ragged edges.
Ross
CAT-
There has been so many historical moments during the “Working
On a Dream”
tour beginning with the phenomenal Super Bowl performance, tell us
about that amazing evening?
NILS LOFGREN-I
guess BRUCE
had been declining on the Halftime show since the “Born to Run”
album.
It was a special
week for all of us I had my wife AMY with me so it was great to be
able to share the festivities with our families.
I had also recorded
the original Rock Music for the ALL-MADDEN teams CD called “Tough
Stuff” Best of the All-Madden Team”. JOHN was kind enough to lend
some of his football expressions inside the music, football fans
can check that out @ nilslofgren.com.
Of course for
BRUCE & the E
STREET BAND the
twelve minute performance was a remarkable experience to
participate in and culminated an extraordinary week for the band &
our families.
 Ross
CAT-
Another of the many highlights of the tour was the 5 sold out
shows that bid farewell to Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, a
place not to far from the corner of
10th Avenue
& E Street
in nearby
Delmar, New Jersey were it all began for
The BOSS & the E STREET BAND.
Are there plans
to release any of these amazing shows on DVD to share with the
fans that didn’t have the opportunity to attend those
unforgettable performances?
NILS LOFGREN-There
always filming and taping our shows there might have been some
extra cameras at those particular shows.
At least from my
perspective, I don’t want to speak for
BRUCE,
there’s never a commitment to release anything; the rule of thumb
has been to record it, look at if off the road at a calmer moment
and then decide if it has a use to be shared at a later date.
It’s never
something that’s planned before we take the stage, as of right now
there are no plans to release anything; that being said there are
a number of great moments from this tour that have been recorded,
I guess we’ll see what happens with that when the dust settles.
Ross CAT-
I’m sure the
LOFGREN
clan including your dog “Outlaw
Pete”
is thrilled about the Yankees
winning the World Series.
Some might even
say your song “Yankee Stadium” may have been a good luck
charm as you helped say goodbye to the house that Ruth built.
NILS
LOFGREN-Yeah
we actually got to the first playoff game in the first round, it
was great to see them go all the way.
There’s a great
Steakhouse inside Yankee Stadium, their using the song on their
website and where kind enough to make a donation to the food bank
charity my wife AMY works with.
The song was
actually her idea, going back to the fond memories of growing up
in West Orange and going to the games taking in the unique aura
that is Yankee Stadium.
I wrote the song
through her eyes, she helped write the lyrics “Everyone is
Beautiful in Yankee Stadium” & we came up with a roaring three
minute Rocker that is available as a free download at
Nilslofgren.com.
Ross CAT-Lets
talk about your remarkable career and where it all began. In 2008
you paid homage to the music of
NEIL YOUNG &
CRAZY HORSE
with the critically acclaimed
disc titled “Loner”;
tell us what making that record meant to you.
NILS LOFGREN-
I was fortunate enough to be able to work with
NEIL
on the “After
the Gold Rush”
album when I was only 18 years old.
Subsequently I also
worked on the
“Tonight’s the
Night” & “Trans”
albums and tours along with the MTV “Unplugged” performance in the
90’s.
I Love the guy
we’ve had a lot of great adventures together; to make a long story
short I sang his songs live at home with a guitar & piano, no
production, no overdubbing basically just a performance piece.
When I finished I was so pleased with the raw emotion of the songs
I decided to
share it with our fans.
Ross CAT-Being
a multifaceted musician what’s your go to instrument when writing,
the guitar or piano?
NILS LOGREN-I
write primarily from the guitar, although a few songs from my solo
record “Sacred
Weapon” were
written from an old beat up piano that belonged to my
father-in-law most notably “Frankie
Hang On”
Traditionally I
have guitars set up in different rooms around the house; I’ll just
pick one up and start messing around.
Also, Thanks to
BRUCE
and being the swing man in the band I’m playing some Steel Pedal
and Bottleneck; the first song I ever wrote on the Bottleneck
Dobro was a duet with WILLIE NELSON called “In Your Hands” another
track from the “Sacred
Weapon” record.
That song
was a Christmas gift for my wife AMY; not to mention being one of
the highlights of my career getting the chance to collaborate with
WILLIE.
Ross CAT-
Not only have you shared your unique musical talents through the
amazing body of work in your storied career; you also offer
lessons at your website
www.nilslofgren.com,
surprisingly the lessons are more then affordable tell us about
that innovative concept?
NILS LOFGREN-Before
getting started I checked with the local teachers and they were
charging $50-$60 bucks an hour so I decided that $20.00 a lesson
would be a really good deal.
The Beginners school
starts you off at zero there is free information about getting
yourself a guitar & tuning things like that.
The Beginners
lessons are for the people that for the last forty-one years have
come up to me and said I really want to play guitar but I have no
talent or rhythm. What I try to tell people just learning that
it’s not a race, you don’t need talent or rhythm to enjoy the gift
of music you just need a love of music.
More then anything
playing takes more effort then talent it’s
gymnastic for the hands. I’m trying to
take the fear & frustration out of playing because it can turn
people off pretty quickly.
You may practice
for months before you can play anything but that’s the deal, JIMI
HENDRIX had to do it, I still do it there is just no shortcuts.
We just posted the
“Because the
Night” solo if
any Intermediate players want to learn that you can go from there
with those particular licks.
Ross CAT-As
the “Working
On a Dream”
tour comes to a close what’s in store for you on the solo front in
2010?
NILS LOFGREN-I
always have ideas flowing; but out of respect to myself as an
instrumentalist & singer and to
BRUCE as a bandleader & songwriter
I just completely immerse myself in the
E STREET BAND
and his body work, which I’m thrilled & inspired to do.
I will go back and
start writing for another solo record but there’s never a
timetable; I would certainly enjoy getting out sometime next year
and play some solo shows with my band.
Ross CAT-
Lastly NILS
my readers would lynch me if I didn’t inquire as to the future of
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & the E STREET
Band.
The
BOSS
has mentioned during numerous interviews
that he feels that this band is at the top of their game and he
loves his job, where does the band go from here after a well
deserved holiday break?
NILS LOFGREN-Well
Yeah as a fan we all hope that this continues on; obviously we’re
all aware that were kind of a special Band with him out front and
were all very proud of that.
Just like at the
end of every tour we’re all so fried so there are really no plans
at this point.
The way I approach
it is to get home to the family take care of yourself & your
craft. Hopefully down the road God willing there’ll be another
chapter, but that’s something none of us can really know at this
point, including
BRUCE.
Meanwhile I’ll just
keep on moving forward musically, if the
BOSS
calls as always I’ll be ready.
The
Rock
Rapport
would like
to thank NILS LOFGREN
for pulling off
E STREET
for a few minutes to speak with us.
Check out
NILS LOFGREN
@
www.nilslofgren.com,
also at
www.brucespringsteen.net.
We would also
like to Thank Jeff Albright of Rock Star PR for
hooking us up once again.
*********************PEACE & Harmonies******************* |