Interview Rock Chicago Magazine

http://rockchicago.net/?p=854

Interview by Kevin Pollack

Todd Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972,Todd Rundgren’s career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including Straight Up by Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We’re an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf, and Skylarking by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren’s “Time Heals” being the eighth video played on MTV, and “Change Myself” was animated by Rundgrenon commercially available Amiga Computers.
His best-known songs include “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light” which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and “Bang the Drum All Day” featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” has had a major influence on artists in the power pop musical genre.
I spoke with Todd recently about his upcoming musical ventures.
Q: How did you get into music?
Todd: Well, I got into the music business out of high school. But I just got into music, I guess as long as I can remember. When I was 5, maybe. My grandmother used to have a piano in her attic, and I used to bang away at that like I was a piano player. I guess that’s when you know you’re a musician.
Q: Did you come from a musical family?
Todd: Well, my parents didn’t play anything. They like to sing though. On cars trips, they would do a lot of singing, so there was music in the household.
Q: How did the Utopia reunion come to be in 2011?
Todd: One of our members was having health problems, and so we decided to reunite for a weekend in January, and we were kind of surprised at the response at how much fun we had playing the music, so we decided to get together and tour, and it took us until last November to actually pull it off. But once we finally got on the road, we tried to recover most of what we had when we were in our heyday.
Q: In 2011, you performed 2 concerts with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. How did that come to be and why did you choose them?
Todd: Well, the producer who put this show together is a big fan of mine, and we had been talking about it for years actually. In the meantime, he put together concerts with Steve Vai, Terry Bozzio, and some other musicians with the Metropole Orchestra, and there just was a matter of getting in sync with it, I guess, and finding an arranger and a conductor, and when that was done, it was pretty much, all I had to do was just show up I guess.
Q: Many people are noticing your symphony concert on YouTube. How do you feel about that, and how come it was never released on DVD?
Todd: It wasn’t actually filmed with regular video equipment actually. It was pretty much people with their cell phones, you know? It would have been nice to have videotaped it. In this particular instance, it didn’t happen. But, I am going back again this coming November to play one more time with the orchestra, and we’re discussing a possibility to film it. So, eventually it will find its way.
Q: You have 2 upcoming concerts in June with Rockford Symphony Orchestra. Why did you choose Rockford of all places and that orchestra?
Todd: Well, we got some associates, who have been producing a special event show for us the past couple of years. Rundgrenradio.com have been doing our normal promotion for special events, and we really didn’t do one last year, so I wanted to get something on the calendar. So they went around to various orchestras to find out who might have some interest, and low and behold, the Rockford Symphony had the interest, so here we go!
Q: How has music changed your life?
Todd: Well, I wasn’t very good in school, and following wasn’t very well also. When I got out of high school, there weren’t a lot of options open to me. I obviously wasn’t going to go to college. So, the opportunity to get into a band, right after I got out of high school, that got me from falling into poverty for one thing. But then, as times gone on, more than a livelihood, principal mean, it’s the way I express myself. Anytime you have something like that for you, you’re pretty lucky. A lot of people see themselves as their jobs. They see themselves as the job they do, and their self-esteem is connected to how well they do that job. So, I’m lucky to get a lot of affirmation about what I do. Just the kind of work that I do. I certainly feel that I am fortunate, at this point in my life, still making music, because so many people will have a flash, maybe 5 years a career, then they have to go find something else to do. So, it’s the royalty of my fans, I guess, that kept me in the business for them.
Q: Who and what are your influences?
Todd: Well, my musical influences are pretty broad. Obviously, me and a whole lot of people got into this business because of The Beatles. The Beatles have always been something of an influence. My influences go back to, like, Maurice Ravel, Gilbert & Sullivan, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim, The Beach Boys, Bill Evans and Horace Silver. It’s hard to make a short list.
Q: I saw recently you’ll be joining Ringo Starr on his upcoming All-Star tour. What’s it like working with him?
Todd: Well, I haven’t worked with Ringo in about 15 years, since I toured with him. I’ve got to tell you that a musical vacation is great. It’s great being able to play those old Beatles songs. It’s great to play with a bunch of musicians that you may never have worked with before, and it’s great that’s it’s not only one person fronting the whole thing the whole time. I mean, the person that really has that responsibility is Ringo, but you do 2 or 3 songs, and the rest of the time is just playing along with everybody, it’s fun.
Q: What’s your favorite song you’ve ever written?
Todd: I don’t really have those kinds of absolutes. I mean, I don’t even know if you can find a concensus among my fans, because they come up with some really strange songs sometimes, when they say what their favorites are. I tend not to get into my absolutes. I know there songs that I really don’t really care to play that much that I’ve written, that I don’t look forward to playing live that much. Either they’re a lot of work, or I’ve played them so many times. There’s not much left in them. Even though I’d be playing “Band the Drum All Day,” it really wears me out. I’m always glad when that one’s over!
Q: If you can name 3 people, living or dead, that you can collaborate with, who would they be and why?
Todd: Well there’s people I’ve always admired and thought it would be fun to make a record with, like Elvis Costello. He always writes such great songs, plus it would be fun to produce a record for him. Or even to do some singing with him. Well, it’s funny, I did get to collaborate with Laura Nyro back in the 80’s, and that was something I thought I’d never get to do. But I at least got to help her get her record started, and I believe she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I would’ve like to work with her again, but never had the opportunity. I’d like to work with Stephen Sondheim. I’d like to sing in one of his musicals.
Q: What’s next for Todd Rundgren?
Todd: Well, it’s going to be a whole variety of things. Of course, the Rockford Symphony, then I’m doing a couple unpredictable show in Evanston right before Rockford. Then, of course, I go out with Ringo, and in the fall I’ll be out with Ethel, which is a string quartet. Then, at the end of July, we’ll have our Revival Camp at the Full Moon Resort.

Be sure to check out out Todd Rundgren performing with The Rockford Symphony Orchestra on June 1/2 at 8pm. Tickets range from $17-$77 and are available here: http://www.coronadopac.org/events/other/rundgren.asp