Songwriting Gets Harder, but Also Easier

By Travis Dvoracek
Contributing Writer

We have one of the biggest names in music coming to town before he heads out to sea
with a bunch of his friends for his annual cruise. Rick Springfield has been around the proverbial block when it comes to music, and he’s still working hard on giving everyone something new to hear and enjoy.

He’s had two releases in the past couple of years and they have both been big hits. His
newest studio album, “Venus in Overdrive,” made it to number 28 on the Billboard 200. Last year he released an album of lullabies from material he had made for his kids years ago that he’d recently found stuffed in the back of a drawer.
 
He has also been getting a lot of acting gigs in the last five years. For those that don’t know, Rick starred in the soap opera “General Hospital” as Dr. Noah Drake in the 80s, and
was the title character in a short-lived ABC show, “The Human Target,” in the 90s. But in
recent years, “General Hospital” has asked him to return as his old character as a recurring guest star.  He also appeared in a couple episodes of Showtime’s “Californication” where he played himself.

And now he’s finally going back to the music. He’s just getting back from Europe to do his next North American tour. I had a chance to speak with him for a couple of minutes about his tour, the road and his upcoming book and annual cruise. He seemed in high spirits and ready for his show at The Venue.

High Plains Reader: So how’s the road treating you since you’re on the road a lot now?
Rick Springfield: Great! Yeah, the shows are going great.

HPR: Anything awesome happening while on the road?
RP: Sure, it’s been pretty great. We just got back from Germany, Europe and Japan. And
that was pretty amazing. The energy of the show is great, I love it. I love the people that
show up. And they take so much energy from the show, it’s great.

HPR: Yeah, that would be amazing to see a show over there; I’ve wanted to see a
show across borders. Is there anywhere you like to go when you’re over there?
RS: It’s always good to get out of the country, go somewhere where it’s customarily
different. It’s really official, not a lot of time to go sightseeing. It’s pretty full on tour
when you get there. But there are different cultures, which is fun.

HPR: Yeah, but you’re going to be happy to get back in the States though?
RS: Yes I am, always happy to get home. Everyone always is.

HPR: Yeah, come to see family and stuff.
RS: Yeah.

HPR: So I saw you had your cruise coming up, anything special happening with that?
RS: It’s going great, we’re leaving on November 12 from Miami and we’re going to the
Bahamas for 5 days. And we got Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon joining us on
the cruise, and some friends of mine, Mark Goodman from MTV is gonna host it, and we have some other friends of mine that will also be on it. And it’s a pretty full-on party for
five days. It’s amazing; this is the most fun thing we do all year.

HPR: Yeah, I heard cruises are just a blast to go on. My parents have gone on a couple
cruises. I’ve wanted to go on one and that sounds like an amazing cruise to go on.
RS: Yeah, it really is. We do all kinds of shows and acoustic sets and songwriter
sessions. We do a question-and-answer, and the actors have a movie night where we
show the different shows and movies we’ve been in. And it’s really a great time.

HPR: Anything different you try to do every time you’re down there? Change it up a bit?
RS: We do different sets every night. We do songs we’ve never done before, we do
whole albums. This year we’re doing an acoustic set of songs that’s the real spirit of
things, that is for the fans that have never heard me play before. I’ll be doing stuff with Kevin Cronin, some REO stuff. It’s always a different kind of show every night. There’s
nothing like it.

HPR: Is it still easy to find inspiration to make newer sings?
RS: No, it’s more of a struggle. Yeah, it’s always difficult to find something unique and
different to write about. Songwriting is something I enjoy sometimes, something I hate
sometimes. When I’m not feeling it, it’s hard. We’re about to start working on a new
record now and I got a lot of good ideas, it’s just sitting down and banging them out, you
know.

HPR: That brings me right to my next question: do you feel a lot more
pressure to do new material than you did when you just started to make music?
RS: No, no, it’s a lot more pressure when you’re waiting for a new record, it’s a lot of
pressure. Now I have my own company and my own studio and we do it when it’s right.
And that’s why my last couple of records have been my best records so far. Because we
pop stuff out, and we do it when we have the time to do it with who we kinda want.

HPR: So I saw your book was coming out soon, how is that coming?
RS: Great, I’m very happy about it. It’s scheduled to come out October 14 and there will be
a lot of press about it, they’re very excited about the book.

HPR: Is it all done then, and you’re just waiting for it to print?
RS: Yeah, it’s all finished…there are a lot of surprises in it.

HPR: Is there anything you like to do before shows, before you get into towns?
RS: No, we just travel a lot so we’re tired and there’s not really much to do but to go play.

HPR: Just let it fly.
RS: Yeah.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If You Go

What: Rick Springfield
Where: The Venue at The Hub
When: Sat, July 17, 9pm
Info: 701.232.6767