Steven's Day

“It was probably the first time Bruce and myself had been in the same room together, although neither of us realised until a few years later when we were having one of those, ‘I was a fan before you were a fan!’ pissing contests.”

Steve Van Zandt is referring to The Rascals’ June 1965 gig in Matawan, New Jersey’s Keyport Roller Drome. Tickets were two bucks apiece and The Motifs and The Soul Set were also on the bill.
“The Rascals were the first blue-eyed soul band,” Steve fondly reminisces. “They started off – like the Stones and The Beatles – as a covers band and then started writing these amazing songs. They had the greatest frontman, literally, in history who made Mick Jagger look like he was standing still. They also literally had the greatest drummer in history, a fantastic guitar-player and this guy on keys, Felix, who introduced the B3 organ. Nobody had ever seen one before. Even though they were white, they performed like a black band. They had something like 15 top ten records in the States, but because you had plenty of your own bands at the time never crossed the Atlantic. If you were to travel back to the Keyport Roller Drome, you’d see how massive an influence they were on myself and Bruce and the rest of the E Street guys. What we do goes directly back to The Rascals.”
In an act of wanton fandom, Steve and his wife Maureen brought the chaps back together for a 2010 benefit gig, and then assembled The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream, a “combination concert/theatrical event”, which earlier this year enjoyed an 18-night sell-out Broadway run.
“It wasn’t enough to get these four original guys on stage together for the first time since 1970; we had to tell their story,” Steve resumes. “So I called my good friend Mark Brickman, Bruce’s first lighting guy who’s gone on to become a world-renowned production designer. He’s done Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd… all that iconic stuff. Two minutes of me ranting down the ‘phone at him and he was like, ‘Okay, okay, I’m in!’ I spent three-years writing and finessing the script; we got The Rascals to tell their story right to camera; brought some actors in to recreate various key moments… the idea being that the screen would talk to the audience. There’s all sorts of stuff in it that got airbrushed from history like the fact one of their number one records, ‘People Got To Be Free’, was a civil rights anthem. The Rascals were in the thick of all that.
“We wanted the integrity of a concert,” he continues, “so they get to play 28 songs live; not just the hits, but also the wonderful jazz and folk rock stuff they came up with.”
The Van Zandts are currently working overtime to bring The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream to this neck of the woods.
“Knowing Europe’s general love of Americana, I reckon we could do four or five dates over here. One of them hopefully being Dublin because you guys really get rock ‘n’ roll.”
I bet he says that to all the capital cities! Another ‘60s outfit Steve reckons we’d all be the richer for knowing is Paul Revere & The Raiders.
“One of my frustrations is that they’ll probably never get in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because they dressed up in funny costumes,” he rues. “It was unfortunate because The Raiders recorded ‘Louie Louie’ in the same studio 24 hours after The Kingsmen who had the hit with it. Those guys along with The Wailers, The Sonics, The Ventures and the rest of the ’65 Pacific Northwest bands gave birth to American garage rock.”
The aforementioned are all staples of Little Steven’s Underground Garage, his syndicated radio show, which airs locally every Saturday from 10pm – midnight on 103.2 Dublin City FM with a midnight repeat on Sunday.
“We have fun tracing the lineage from The Rascals and The Raiders through to current bands like King Khan & The Shrines, Radio Days and The Launderettes who draw from the same well.”
Also upcoming in December is Season Two of Lillyhammer, the American Mafioso goes (way) east show that’s the highest rating drama in Norwegian TV history.
“I’m still in shock over that!” Steve laughs. “I’ve been guilty of far too many spoilers in the past, so all I’ll say is that we open with an English subplot. We have a couple of English hooligans come over and add to Frank’s already immense stress levels. I think you’ll like it!”

A full radio show archive can be found at undergroundgarage.com