No Heavy Breathing Please: Rick Springfield Is Serious

No Heavy Breathing Please: Rick Springfield Is Serious

The Beat Goes On

No Heavy Breathing Please: Rick Springfield Is Serious

PHILADELPHIA—There was a time when the idolmaker world saw Rick Springfield as its next big thing...while Springfield saw himself as Alex, A Clockwork Oranges purveyor of ultra-violence. "A stewardess would come up, to me on the plane and this photographer friend and I would go ˜lovely little groodies on the devotchka, eh? Bit a the old in-out, in-out..." Springfield laughs so hard at the memory he knocks over a bottle of Perrier.

Well it is verging close to midnight, Rick Springfield has just completed a day of in-store appearances in Philadelphia and New York that started at 6 a.m., and now hes locked in a hotel room with a strange female, who, God knows, might jump on him when his back is turned. He could relax, Id have assured him. Although several of my friends were dying for his room number, and even,my mom is an,avid General Hospital viewer, I had my reservations about Rick "Dr. Noah Drake" Springfield. I remembered the push he got as an early 70s successor to David Cassidy. And though the clean pop message of "Jessies Girl" gave him a new musical credibility in my eyes, I wondered if I was going to be dealing with a painfully attractive, languishing spoiled brat.

Instead, the wretch caught me off-guard by admitting that his favorite films were Clockwork and Performance, the latter of which counts for one of the major obsessions in my life. Surely, this man was warped enough to give its some common ground. He tells me about one of his favorite film scenes. "Its from Patton. George C. Scott is saying, in the Roman days, when the victor would come back hed be riding through the streets, everybody would be cheering, and hed have a slave standing behind him whispering that victory was fleeting. And thats what I have in my mind to keep a strong head on where things are really at when they scream."

At the age of 32, Rick Springfield has done the next-to-im. possible—recovered from his first presentation in the United States as a manipulated pretty face. "I was real sick of being considered a cute-dimpled airhead. When I came over from Australia in 1972, Id never seen a teen magazine. They started to interview me and then these fucking weird articles would come out. In-depth questions like, did people used to tease me about my eyelashes when I was in school—I realized they were not really interested in what I had to say musically," he states with dripping sarcasm. To stay sane amidst all the hysteria, Springfield carried around a serious review of his second album which compared him less to a bopper and more to Bowie.

According to Springfield, he never even reached true heights as a teenage idol, which he now knows was a blessing in disguise. He slipped into anonymity following litigation with his first managers, studied acting, including taking a workshop given by Malcolm McDowell, and had moderate success on a few TV movies before he was able to make his musical grand slam with Working Class Dog.

"It was all timing. Determination is the fucking key—if you feel youve got something to offer, you just gotta hang in long enough. I remember, I had a Bob Seger interview hanging in my apartment when I was down in the depths and he said everything I believe in. I needed all the inspiration I could get. But I knew if I stayed in long enough one would take off and it would Dull the other career with it. And music was most important' to me, so I kept writing all time." Within a few weeks of getting his RCA deal, Springfield was signed to a continuing role on the hot-shot soap, General Hospital, around which he juggles public appearances, including the live dates he hopes to undertake this fall.

Springfield is all too aware of the fact that the little girls do understand about him, and for the only time in over an hour loses the steadiness in his voice when he insists that hes insecure about himself and 1 reply that he doesnt exactly resemble Godzillas twin brother. "But I have always found it hard to come on to girls. In fact (he whispers) the only time I got laid during my teenage life was when someone came on to me. And looks, dont make me secure. Admittedly, the more success I get, Im aware of being looked at differently, and now Im not sure how to approach someone because, is it me or is it the image?"

Honestly, its the idea of Rick Springfield emulating nasty Alex, mayhem concealed behind his models face, thats really appealing to me. Or maybe its the trousers.

Toby Goldstein

STRUMMER STILL IN HALLWAY AT NBC I

When we last checked in with the toothy Clash lead singer, he was listening to his box in preparation for his appearance on issues And Answers. Two months later, still waiting to be called in to the show, Joe is here visited by songwriting mate Mick Jones, who brought Joe cigarettes, donuts and more batteries for his box. "Dunno about the reception in here," Joe muttered. "Damn RCA satellite's between me andWBLS." As we left him the publicly confessed property squatter quipped: "Don't worry about me...if Grant Tinker won't allow me on Issues And Answers, NBC will have to put me up here for the rest of my life. Besides, there's lots of girls here. The lady truckers from B.J. are in next week to sign their contracts, so Joe's staying."

Feline feds Bop The Blues

DETROIT—The Rockats consider themselves a modern rockabilly band. Some may argue that theres a contradiction applying the term "modern" to a musical style originated over two decades ago, but Dibbs Preston, the Rockats lead vocalist, tends to disagree.

"Rockabilly is roots music," he explains. "To call it regressive is like calling the blues, jazz or any old form of rock n roll regressive. Its all roots music you can build.on. In the 60s; bands like Paul Butterfield, Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac took the blues and brought that form up to date. Madness and the Specials recently took ska or bluebeat and revised it. Were basically doing the same thing with rockabilly."

■"Besides, we never said that were always going to do. just rockabilly," adds bassist Smut Smiff in a heavy cockney accent. "We have lots of different kinds of musical roots in this band, and we hope to move in whatever direction those roots might take us. Rockabilly was only rockabilly when it had the slap bass, the snare drum and the acoustic guitar, and we dont even have that. We have two guitars, bass, and a drum set. Were even thinking of adding an electronic synthesized drum, so who knows what were going to be doing in a couple of years?"

Despite his claim of diverse roots, Smiff is indisputably a rockabilly fanatic. Ray Campi reportedly taught him the proper way to slap his bass, and he proudly displays the names of his heroes—Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly—in $2,000 worth of tattoos that literally cover both of his arms. In fact, the Rockats are so obsessed with their 50s influences and look that they were planning avisit to the Detroit factory that manufactures the grease they use on their hair immediately following the interview.

Smiff and Preston discovered rockabilly as part of the Teddy boy subculture in their native Britain. They arrived in this country in 1978, and joined Levi & the Rockats, a rockabilly act that was popular on the East Coast during the late 70s. When the band split up due to the proverbial "personal differences," Smiff and Preston temporarily performed as a trio with Jerry Nolan, former drummer of the New York Dolls. That version of the Rockats eventually evolved into the bands current lineup, including Barry Ryan. and Tim Scott on guitars and Lewis King replacing Tommy Darnell, who replaced Nolan on drums.

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"One of the reasons we originally wanted to come to America to form a band is that it was So hard to play in England without getting categorized," Smiff explains. "You couldnt play to punks, hippies or bikers if you were a Ted. Its different now. A rockabilly band can play to anyone, but before you had to play to your own crowd. We eventually got accepted on the punk scene, and thats what the Rockats have been trying to do—crossing over and reaching all kinds of people."

"We not only play to new wave kids, but were accepted by country fans as well," says Preston taking pride in the fact that the band recently played a successful gig on the Louisiana Hayride, the same show that broke Elvis Presley1 in themid-50s.

Ironically enough, Smiff and Preston came to New York from England to form a rockabilly band, while the Stray Cats left New York for England where they now head a full scale rockabilly renaissance. . Smiff takes great pain, though, to let it be known that the Rockats preceded the latter band.

"We were the first young rockabilly band. Robert Gordon was doing it before us, but hes a solo artist and doesnt perform his own material. The Stray Cats are from Long Island, but they couldnt get a gig anywhere in New York because wed already started this whole thing there. They didnt want to get compared to the Rockats, so they went to London. I think theyd love to be big in New York, but theyre big in Europe instead."

The Rockats built a national reputation through two years of non-stop touring before they signed with a record label. It seems only fitting, then, that their debut effort should be a live LP. Live At The Ritz is an unus-' ual live album in that it was mixed, mastered and released 48 hours after the bands performance. Five thousand copies were initially pressed, and these sold out in less than a week. A regular release followed two weeks later.

"The album was actually mixed in the truck after the show," boasts Preston. "This is the first album of its kind in America. Toots & the Maytals did the same thing once in England. Their record came out within 24 hours, but this was the quickest live album ever released in America."

Although the Rockats sound harkens back to a bygone era, they want to make it emphatic; that they are not a nostalgia band.

"People have been getting back to basics since the whole punk thing began," says Smiff, "and rockabilly was the most basic and rebellious of all forms of rock. Theres no such thing as punk anymore. Well, there are some bands that might still be considered punk like the Plasmatics, but I think punk has gone about as far as it can go. And now the people seem to be getting into rockabilly in almost every town we see. The first time we went out, almost no one had their hair don6, and maybe one person had cool clothes or a hep outfit. The second tour, maybe there was ten. But now every town has its own rockabilly band and scene. And we see rockabilly fashions everywhere we go, including girls in ponytails and beehives."

"But its not just a 50js look," adds Preston. "Were trying to make it into a modern look. It includes a little bit of everything, and its more up to date. Its new again. This is not a revival. "

Bill Holdship

5 Years Ago

Beautiful Loser Kiss-Off!

Contrary to rumors, Gene Simmons insists that Kiss did not want Bob Seger off their tour because he was burning them off the stage. Says Gene: "Bob Segers great—we didnt kick him off the tour. Hes a great rocker, has no pretentions to being anything else. He just goes out there and warms the audience up—for us." Then, with a flap of his batwings, Gene was off.

Okay, Rupert, Write A Song About This One

DAWSON CITY, ALASKACreative booze hounds here at the Eldorado Hotel have struck upon the Alaskan equivalent of drinking champagne out of slippers.

Its the Sour-Toe Cocktail, which consists of a dirty beer mug filled with flat champagne and decorated with—instead of an olive or mystery fruit slice— an actual human toe.

This charming institution began in 1973. Among the mining relics and Eskimo crap displayed on a shelf behind the bar was a jar containing a toe pickled in rum. A trapper supposedly blasted it off fifty years ago to prevent infection. Too bad he didnt have a headache.

The drink proved so popular, in fact, that some warped souvenir fan finally swiped the famed piglet. Luckily enough, another toe was quickly purchased from a friend for

$100. Apparently, its quite common for Alaskans to sock away a mummified toe or two, just in case.

What will the Capt. and Toenail say about all this?

Rick Johnson

Rush

Vs. Insects!

DELHI, INDIA—Dangerous, costly and often ineffective pesticides may soon be replaced by rock n roll.

Professor K.N. Sayena here at the University of Delhi just announced his discovery that certain high frequencies—found mainly in rock music—can act as a birth control agent on insects by jamming the "pests mating sounds."

To demonstrate, Saxena attached a tiny speaker to a leaf where two amrasca devasta (leafhoppers to you Nordiques) were frantically getting it on. One blast from the box though, and the crawlies "remained frozen for 15 minifies." Hey, it was probably the live version of "By-Tor And The Snow Dog."

Right now, expense may be a problem. Since insects "hear" only by surface vibrations, youd have to. clip a little speaker to every leaf in the field.

As for the ultimate pest, humans, the courtship interference is unfortunately revers-

ed!

Rick Johnson

Show Your Dodge Swinger That You Care

ST. PAUL, MN—An owners affection for his old clunker is a well-known, if really stupid, fact of life. Now, thanks to Roy Carlson, bereaved motorists can say a touching farewell to their car as it hits the scrap heap.

Carlson, the owner of Andis Towing here in Bigfoot land, has begun staging funerals for that special set of wheels.

"This is really first class," wept one mourner, indicating the wrecking crew holding their hard hats over their hearts in respect to the stiff chassis. Then the crusher operator, clad in dark suit and tie, hums a George Harrison tune as the jalopy disappears into the metal jaws. Clunk, squoosh, amen.

They dont actually bury the corpse, however. According to mastermind Roy, "they dont make caskets that big,"

Rick Johnson

"WHO AM I?" ASKS ROCK STARLET

'Won't you please help me?" whines little lost singer Not Bruce Springsteen, seen here in a corridor of a local "special" hospital. Known to doctors and fans alike as "Ms. NBS," she is suffering from Identlflo Crlsum, the little-known ailment which affects the brain stem and other internal structures and makes people stupid I That's right—dopesI "Who am I?" she pleads, her voice cracking with emotion. "Please tell me I" You got us, sweetie—now move, you're blocking traffic!