Todd Rundgren debuts symphonic shows in Rockford
Todd Rundgren was still a teenager when he composed the single that's permeated his career since the first side of his 1967 debut with the band Nazz. But whatever nostalgic value "Hello, It's Me" once held for him has long since faded, much like his interest in the girl he wrote it about.
"(It) was the very first song I ever wrote when I was, like, 18 and moping about some girl from high school whom I'm not moping about any longer," Rundgren said.
Next weekend, June 1 and 2, the famed singer/songwriter/producer behind Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" and more than 70 other albums will perform his first stateside symphonic shows with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.
In a recent phone interview with the Daily Herald, Rundgren, 63, reflected on the 45-year career that brought him to this point and opened up about his never-ending quest not to repeat himself.
<b>Q. </b>How did you get teamed up with the RSO?
<b>A.</b> It's my first symphonic show of my own material. I have on occasion had the privilege of appearing with an orchestra but not doing my own material. So it's not as if it was a bug I got. It just seemed, coincidentally, that a project I had been discussing with a Dutch friend of mine finally came together last fall, and I appeared with the Metropole Orchestra, which is a state-funded Dutch orchestra. As a result, I had all these orchestral charts of my own material. So a stateside promoter decided they wanted to try to find an orchestra to play those charts and, lo and behold, Rockford Symphony it is.
<b>Q.</b> So, what kind of a show is it?
<b>A.</b> It's a pretty broad smattering of tunes. There's something from an album I put out five or six years ago and there's also a tune from my very first record.
<b>Q.</b> Are there any songs you're sick of playing, or ones you never tire of?
<b>A.</b> There are some that are always fun because of the performance opportunities they afford. It isn't a secret that I wouldn't regret never having to play "Bang the Drum All Day" again or "Hello, It's Me." I admit to having written them, but they're not exactly coming from a place that I feel especially close to any longer. One of them was the very first song I ever wrote when I was, like, 18 years old and moping about some girl from high school whom I'm not moping about any longer. The other was a song I essentially dreamed that was something of a throwaway and became a sports anthem and, now, a cruise-line theme song.
<b>Q.</b> Your work encompasses so many different styles. How have you managed to stay creative over the years?
<b>A.</b> I've slowed down a little bit from my salad days back in the '70s, when I might do an album with my band Utopia, a solo album and three productions in one year. As time goes on, I find myself considering what I'm about to do a little bit more. It isn't just going into the studio to start writing away. I need some sort of overarching approach to what I'm doing, either stylistic or subject matter. It's more and more a product, I guess, of thought. It used to be I could just go into the studio and I'd have ideas and seemingly not enough time to capture them all. Nowadays, especially in order not to repeat myself, I have to consider a lot more deeply what it is I'm about to do. I have likened it on occasion to a pregnancy. There may be a relatively long gestation period, but when I get down to actually doing it, the process goes relatively quickly.
<b>Q.</b> Is there a project in your career that stands out as a favorite?
<b>A.</b> I tend not to dwell on absolutes. I'm always trying to keep my mind focused on what I'm working on now and the projects I have upcoming, and I very rarely think much about the past. I know that for most of the musicians I work with, the best times were when I had my big band back in the late '80s, around the time of "Nearly Human" and "Second Wind." I didn't have to play piano. I barely played guitar. It was an evolution, I guess, for me into becoming more of a plain-old frontman. It was a lot of fun in those days, not just to have the group of people but, of course, we all remember the sounds we created onstage with great fondness.
<b>Q.</b> It seems like you try to operate in the moment.
<b>A.</b> I suppose it depends on your overall outlook on life, how you see the glass. At a certain point when I got to my 50s, I realized, "What are my odds of living to 100?" So now I've got to be even more particular with what I do with my time and not waste it on something I've already done. I'm constantly trying to fashion new challenges and new situations for myself, just to maximize the time I have.
<b>Q.</b> Are there any artists you always wanted to work with but didn't?
<b>A.</b> There were opportunities that came along that I've always kind of rued not being able to take advantage of. I was asked to produce a Talking Heads album back in the late '70s, but I was already committed to another project, so instead they got Brian Eno. At one point, I think I was under consideration to produce a record for The Who, because Pete Townshend and I had some interaction. For whatever reason, that didn't happen either. But I've also had plenty of opportunities to work with musicians that I've admired and enjoyed over the years, so I don't have regrets about it.
<b>Q.</b> Stylistically, your records seem unpredictable. Is that what you're going for?
<b>A.</b> I make the records for myself initially. I am admittedly selfish in that regard and I do it for my own entertainment and edification. Then, ideally, other people will appreciate something about them. It's been that way pretty much forever because when I first left the band the Nazz my goal was to become a record producer and engineer, and to be involved in making records but not necessarily to have a career of my own. So the end result is that I have not labored under the same kind of pressure that a lot of other artists have felt to succeed with their own music. I make the music for my own reasons and have always left it to the record label to try to find success with it.
Todd Rundgren and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 1-2
Where: Coronado Performing Arts Center, 314 N. Main St., Rockford, (815) 968-0595 or
Tickets: $17-$77
Info: The shows are being presented by