He’s Got Connections

There is so much going on in Steven Van Zandt’s career that it would be hard to know what question to ask him first if you ran into him in an airport, a place where he spends a lot of time these days.

Would you ask him about his first solo album in 11 years?

Or what it’s like being back on the road with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band after almost 15 years?

Or maybe how he landed a featured role in “The Sopranos,” the acclaimed HBO series about a dysfunctional mob family?

“No one is more surprised at how all this has worked out than I am,” says Van Zandt, who is filming some “Sopranos” episodes during a break in the E Street Band tour, which was seen by nearly 2 million people this year. “After so many years of not doing anything really, it’s funny to have it all happen at once. But it’s coincidental. None of this was planned to happen simultaneously. That’s the way life is.”

After a decade at Springsteen’s side as lead guitarist, Miami Steve--his nickname in those days--left the E Street Band in 1984 to work full time on his own musical career. His most celebrated accomplishment was “Sun City,” a 1985 anti-apartheid album that broke down some of the barriers between rock and rap by bringing together such artists as Bob Dylan, Bono, Run-DMC and Kurtis Blow.

But Van Zandt’s four socially charged solo albums, recorded under the nickname Little Steven, were marginal sellers in the U.S., and he faded from the pop-rock spotlight--until suddenly reappearing last January with his winning portrayal of New Jersey mobster Silvio Dante in “The Sopranos.”

The reemergence continued later this year with the Springsteen reunion tour and the release to stores this month of the new album “Born Again Savage,” on his own RenegadeNation label.

In an interview, Van Zandt, 49, who lives in New York with his wife, Maureen, spoke about the album, being back on the road with Springsteen and how he got involved in “The Sopranos.”

Question: So what question do people tend to ask first when they spot you these days?

Answer: Until “The Sopranos,” the question 100% was when were you and Bruce going to get back together, which is the same question I had heard for 10 years. But when the show went on the air, it has switched to 7 out of 10 asking about the show.

Q: How did you get involved in the TV show? I didn’t know you had an interest in acting.

A: I didn’t. . . . [“Sopranos” creator] David Chase had followed the music through the years, not only the E Street Band but my solo stuff as well. But what I think put him over the edge in terms of giving me the role was that he happened to catch the Rascals induction that I did at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

I did this little five-minute introduction of them . . . talking about the band and it being from New Jersey and how much it meant to everybody in Jersey. It was kind of a funny bit, lots of attitude and all, and David happened to be watching and he said, “That’s it. I want him on the show.”

Q: What did you think of your character when you first saw a script?

A: The funny thing is Silvio wasn’t in the script. It was unclear at that point what character they had in mind for me. They had me read Tony Soprano’s part, probably because he had so many lines and they wanted to see if I could memorize them.

Q: Did they react right away?

A: Yes, they flew me to L.A. to read for HBO and they liked me, too. But after all that, I had second thoughts. I sat down with David and told him I was a little awkward about taking the part. I didn’t feel comfortable taking an actor’s job.

Q: What do you mean?

A: You always read about how actors are out of work . . . and how they work their whole life taking these classes, and here I am, a guitar player, stepping in and maybe taking someone’s job. David said, “OK, I’ll tell you what. I’ll create a new character for you so you won’t be taking anybody’s job.” And I was OK with that.

Q: Do you like the characters? Do you see them as heroes of any kind?

A: You try not to be judgmental about that. I think we go out of our way, and the writers certainly go out of their way, to make sure there is no romanticization of these characters. What I think makes the show connect with so many people is that the problems they have, generally speaking, are the problems that everybody has. Everybody has two families. Everybody has their family at home and their family at work. Everybody has those kind of complicated human relations. That’s what a lot of the show is about. It’s not just about gangster stuff. Take Silvio, for instance. There are some funny quirks in his character. When it comes to life-threatening situations, he’s a very, very cool professional. But he’ll completely lose his temper at his daughter’s soccer game.

Q: Let’s talk about the tour. Were you surprised when Bruce put the E Street Band together again?

A: No, I felt things were going in that direction inevitably. I felt that maybe there was some unfinished business in a way or, better yet, some new business to do--a new challenge out there.

Q: What challenge?

A: If you look around, you see the significance of music diminishing as far as its cultural impact. In some ways, the rock era that I thought would last forever is over. That doesn’t mean that there won’t still be some great rock music and great rock bands, but the rock era is over. Just look around. We are back in a pop era.

We had this relationship with an audience and it was very important at the time, but then all of a sudden we were gone and I always felt a little bad about that. I felt we should reconnect with the audience and see if we could make the music meaningful again.

Q: Did you have any worries about possibly tarnishing the band’s legacy if the band didn’t reconnect? We’ve seen so many heartless reunions over the last few years.

A: My only concern was whether we could still be relevant. Could it address our lives today? That’s not easy to do, and Bruce really, really rose to the occasion.

I saw the show coming together during rehearsal with the songs that Bruce chose and the way we found new arrangements for them. We consciously didn’t do the hits. Out of 10 or 12 hit singles, we probably only did one or two per night. And I thought it was a very [brave] move to end the show with a new song.

Q: What caused you to bond with Bruce in the beginning?

A: I don’t know. We just had a thing right from the start. I was one of the two guys in my high school of 3,000 with long hair. He was the only one in his high school with long hair. That meant you didn’t really fit in. You were called a freak--especially if you were also in a band. This was before everyone wanted to be in a band. But we found something in the music that we believed in--even though no one else was supportive and there was no way of realistically thinking you were going to make a living at it.

Q: Why was it that you left the E Street Band in the first place?

A: You dream about being the biggest band in the world, and I wasn’t about to leave until we were, but then you are one day and I started to look around and I realized this was all I’ve done my whole life. I didn’t regret that, but I also didn’t know much about myself outside of the band. I just felt like learning, learning about myself and learning about what was going on in the world. I was interested in what was going on in the world, and I wanted to express my ideas.

Q: Your three albums were well received critically, but except for “Sun City,” they didn’t sell well in this country. Then you just stopped making records. What happened?

A: Actually, I did four solo albums. I put out a record called “Revolution” in 1989 just in Europe, where my earlier albums got more attention. I didn’t even release it here because I thought it was too weird. It wasn’t rock at all. It was a cyber-funk record, something I did on a computer. But then I [eventually] realized I missed rock ‘n’ roll and I did some demos of the songs on the new album. I had a two-record deal at the time with BMG, but they didn’t want to put out the record.

So rather than force them to put the record out, I just put the record aside and I started doing some production work. But I saw the record companies drop the ball on the albums, and I just got tired of the record industry. I just walked away.

Q: What did you do?

A: I did a lot of different things. I wrote half of a Broadway show, which is laying around somewhere. I also wrote a couple of chapters of a political book, which is also laying around. I also tried to raise money to start my own [music] company, which I couldn’t do. So, I wasn’t sure what to do. For a while, I was just kinda like walking my dog, man--and then David Chase calls.

Q: One thing that interests me about the new album is how you seem to consciously salute the spirit of such bands as the Who and the Sex Pistols--almost as if saying the issues raised by those bands are still with us. Was that deliberate?

A: Yes, I think it’s very, very important to realize that. In a way, that’s what the E Street Band tour is all about, . . . how these values that we once held are still relevant. Some things are universal and timeless. In the album, I look at it from a religious point of view--the way we need to take greater responsibility for our lives and our world. I think religion is something we are a little lazy about. To me, it’s not something that can be inherited and handed down from parents to children. It’s a very personal thing, something that requires some work and some study on your part.

Q: So what’s next? What about “The Sopranos”?

A: There’s just one more show to shoot for the new season, which begins Jan. 16. We’ve been doing the others simultaneously with the tour. I’d fly in on days off for the filming. And one thing different this season is they recast Silvio’s wife, and Maureen tried out for the part and got it. So, that’s nice.

Q: And what about the E Street Band? Everyone assumes there’ll be more shows in 2000.

A: I think it’s going to happen. I think we can take Bruce’s own words seriously when he says this tour is the rebirth of the band . . . not just a one-time tour.

Q: So you see it as something continuing--even though there may be breaks where you are all free to do your own thing before coming back together?

A: Yes. Looking back, it would have been nice if we had done that all along, . . . if we had never had to bring it to a stop. But there was a break and we found our way back together, and it has been great. . . . Better than I would have expected, the audience reaction and all. I think it’s a little too good for everybody to just walk away again.

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.