FACE TO FACE WITH
RICK SPRINGFIELD

By Gerald Rothberg
November 30, 1981

One of the surprise success stories of 1981 rock & roll has been Rick Springfield's. Son of an Australian army colonel (M.B.E.), Springfield originally came to America's attention with "Speak to the Sky" (Capitol), the 1972 single he cut after leaving Zoot, his band from Down under. For a long time it seemed to be a one-shot.

Parents and grandparents of Circus Magazine readers know Rick from his acting on "The Young and the Restless," "Wonder Woman," and other TV shows. But until "Jessie's Girl" hit #1 this year, such Springfield records as Comic Book Heroes (Columbia) seemed destined to languish in the nation's bargain bins. Now RCA can't press enough copies of Rick's Top 10 LP Working Class Dog. The California-based Springfield is so busy with TV and performance commitments that he hasn't even got time to match up his shoes.

Most recently the dark-haired singer/guitarist/bassist has been hard at work on a network music special (scheduled for early 1982), a second Victor album and his regular TV show, "General Hospital," on which he plays Dr. Noah Drake. Rick's tautly harmonic music draws from the Beach Boys, the Eagles and Jackson Browne, yet possesses an emotional cutting edge missing from most California rock.

Wearing a spiffy tweed jacket, nylon parachute pants and multi-colored running shoes, Rick went one-on-one with Circus Magazine in the room he took at New York's Berkshire Place.

CIRCUS: Do you remember your first professional gig?
RICK: Yeah. It was for a party, for ten pounds [Laughter]. It was in Australia, when they still had pounds.

CIRCUS: Where in Australia? We have Australian readers.
RICK: Melbourne. It was our first professional gig; we [the Jordy Boys] played with a friend of mine. We had been playing the guitar together and copying Beatles records and everything. We got together with another guy and his brother and played old tunes, the ones that were current then. And we played all night, till they told us to stop [Laughter].

CIRCUS: You're a singer, a dramatic actor, a performer; it's a very rare combination. I don't know of anybody else who can do this.
RICK: Well, Frank Sinatra is kind of a role model to a certain extent, because I've loved a lot of the things he's done. And I think he was one of the people who said, "Diversity as much as you can." I enjoy both very much.

CIRCUS: Have you ever performed before a dull audience, or have you ever had kids heckling you? How do you handle something like that?
RICK: I played with Richie Furay at the Santa Monica Civic in 1976, and it was his audience. I was an intruder, and it was tough. It was one of the toughest audiences I've ever played to. When the curtain opens up and you've got the first twenty rows doing this [Middle finger is pointed. Laughter]…What I did was, I found people who were enjoying it and played to them.

CIRCUS: Are you a shy individual?
RICK: Yes, I started out painfully shy. I think I must have thrown myself into this career because it was the only real way to break it down. My first gigs were played with my back to the audience. The rest of the band went to my parents and said, "What's wrong with him?" [Laughter]

CIRCUS: Some people claim the fun has gone out of rock & roll, that everything is money and image and merchandising. What do you think about this?
RICK: I think that's absolutely necessary. I formed a corporation as soon as I had done the album. I had a feeling that things might start happening. I've been ripped off, you know. You've got to take charge of the responsibility and the power that you have, and the money that you can pull. I think money's fun. [Laughter]

CIRCUS: But that happens with it interferes-
RICK: - with the creative-

CIRCUS: -one, with the creative and two, with the fans. Let's go to the fan level first. How would you feel if fans were taking pictures of you at some concert and selling them for a dollar of whatever amount of money - but selling them to other fans? They are basically small entrepreneurs in a sense. Would you feel you were being ripped off by them?
RICK: No, I wouldn't. I can remember doing stuff like that in different degrees. The thing that I don't like is the real heavy bootleg stuff. That really starts to count. Kids doing stuff like you mentioned, is fine.

CIRCUS: Now what about creativity? When do you get involved in the business aspect, do you feel it interferes with creativity, or encourages it?
RICK: I am certainly encouraged by success. For the past six years, seven years I had no positive feedback at all on my music, nothing. Every time I took something around to a record company, I heard no's and no's and no's and no's. Having a successful record is great. It charges me up. When I was getting all the negatives I started really to doubt myself. I mean, you can take negatives only so long, especially in this kind of field. I sat alone saying, "Maybe I'm going in the wrong direction." Success shows me that there are people who like what I'm doing.

CIRCUS: What's your worst fault?
RICK: Being overly harsh on myself. I'm my worst critic.

CIRCUS: What is the most outrageous experience that's happened to you in your life so far?
RICK: Whoa! [Laughter] You mean outside the twelve midgets and the leather sheets and the baby oil? Or do you mean including that? Most outrageous experience…I always get stumped on things like that. I'll think about that, and put it on the back burner.

CIRCUS: You know, kids are doing a lot of drugs today and also going back to drinking - or maybe they never stopped drinking. Do you think kids should do drugs?
RICK: No. I'm real real glad that I didn't grow up in a drug culture. I don't know how I would have handled it. And I didn't. In Australia when I was growing up, Purple Hearts were the big drug.

CIRCUS: Purple Hearts?
RICK: I think they're like a real mind upper. Grass was just starting to get known. I'm real glad I didn't have to contend with that, because I don't know what the hell I would have done. I sure don't blame a kid for doing it, but I would sure as hell try real hard to talk them out of it.
I remember smoking [cigarettes] because of peer pressure. And I smoked for about two weeks. The only reason I stopped smoking was that it hurt my throat to sing when I smoked, so I just said, "Forget it."

CIRCUS: You had a really good reason to stop.
RICK: Otherwise, I probably would be smoking now. I learned a lot from that kind of stuff because I moved around so much, and I had so many new experiences with kids all the time. They can be pretty harsh sometimes.

CIRCUS: What are some of these experiences?
RICK: My dad was in the Army and we moved around all the time. I was the new kid in town every two years. Then I moved to England and I was not only the new kid, I was the foreigner. I got beat up and got some really rough treatment; then I'd make friends with these kids and then have to leave. I learned a lot about peer pressure. I don't think I learned to beat it, but you understand it.

CIRCUS: Do you own LPs?
RICK: Oh yeah, yeah, a lot.

CIRCUS: Do you play LPs or cassettes?
RICK: I buy the album, and then I tape it for my car so that I've got both. But mainly I listen to it in the care, because that's really the only environment that I'm not distracted in.
If I'm home, even if I'm sitting down listening to music, there's always something going on, like either Ron will walk by - my dog - or bark at something, or a car will go by, or the phone will ring. But in the car you're totally free. It's a little like a womb.

CIRCUS: What are your favorite records?
RICK: At the moment I like The Up Escalator by Graham Parker, Cool for Cats - I think that was the first or second Squeeze album. I like Rickie Lee Jone's new LP. I have a collection of Elvis Costello songs that I put together on tape that I listen to.

CIRCUS: How does your family react to your being a rock & roll star?
RICK: At first, with fear. I had a tough time; now they're great. It came to a point where I was fighting continually with my mom when I was about sixteen, seventeen, and I was staying away from school. When I was supposed to be doing my homework, I was playing the guitar. I would also go and see Cliff Richard movies. My family didn't understand it, and then after they got to accept it - which, they had to eventually, because I wasn't going to give up - they were right behind me, and were with me all the way, giving me support, through the really tough times, when nothing was happening.

CIRCUS: In Circus Magazine we generally deal with the music, musical artist, musical phenomenon. We rarely deal with the phenomenon of a teen idol. And here you are a musical phenomenon and a teenage idol. How does it feel?
RICK: It's kind of scary, because I had the problem when I first came over here of being just that - being in all the pre-teen magazines. They latched onto the face without the music, and that wasn't what I came over for, you know. I came over to pursue a music career; I didn't come over to be a model.
There's a danger in that, and I want to make sure that people listen to the music; that's real important to me.

CIRCUS: What qualities do you find appealing in women?
RICK: Understanding; I've got a big problem with that. I like innocence. I know to a certain extent I have that, in that I'm open to a lot of things, that's what I mean by that. I love it when someone can say something without thinking of repercussions, which is pretty hard to do.

CIRCUS: What about the violence in rock & roll? You have the Who tragedy and the Altamont tragedy, although those are extremes. Then you have kids throwing firecrackers, that kind of stuff.
RICK: Yes, I have no time for that. The Who tragedy was bad planning. But I hate the violence that happens all the time with shows. I remember going to dances in Australia and wanting to see bands, but being scared all the time that we were going to get our asses kicked. We'd catch the train home, and I remember getting into fights at the station just because we'd be standing there waiting for the train. These guys would come up and slap us around. I used to hate that. I wanted to go and see the band and have a good time, and not have to worry about somebody dragging me outside to kick the shit out of me.

CIRCUS: Do you have any other memories of your childhood that really stand out in your mind?
RICK: Going to England when I was about nine was a real important step for me. Nine through about twelve really stand out because I not only left a country and started traveling, but I also started to open up and broaden as a person. That was when I started to listen to music - Cliff Richard, just before the Beatles, - the Shadows. That was one of the biggest turning points in terms of what effect it had on my life.

CIRCUS: What do you see as the greatest problem for young people? And what do you think is the greatest problem people have today generally?
RICK: Making a living in this fucked-up company!

CIRCUS: What would you tell a rock & roller who's starting out?
RICK: I would say, don't put a time limited on it, and go for it with all your heart. From my experience and from other experiences I've seen, you've got to go for it and keep going for it.

CIRCUS: Who is Doctor Noah Drake?
RICK: A wealthy surgeon who probably wouldn't have been a surgeon if his parents and his family hadn't been doctors. He's very sure about what he does, very confident of his abilities, little egotistical. A bon vivant type.

CIRCUS: "General Hospital" is popular with people on college campuses, teenagers, post-teens, older people, younger people - everybody.
RICK: Oh, it's great. At my concert performance the other day there was such a cross section of people coming up and saying, "Sign this for my sister, sign this for my brother, sign this for my aunt, sign this for my mother, sign this for my grandmother, sign this for my daughter."

CIRCUS: That has to be thrilling.
RICK: Yes, well, you now, acceptance is one of the key reasons we do it.

CIRCUS: How long do you wish to pursue "General Hospital"? Do you want it to go on indefinitely?
RICK: No, I want to get into films. I'd like to start doing a film next year. We've had some offers, but the priority right now is my next album. I've a year's contract on the show.

CIRCUS: Do you remember your first sexual experience?
RICK: Yes, very clearly. In fact, one of the songs I do on stage - it's not recorded, but it's a kind of a capsuled, autobiographical thing - it was with an older woman. God belss…

CIRCUS: God bless older women, the initiators of the young.
RICK: I was seventeen at the time, which I believe is quite late for Americans.

CIRCUS: Well, you never know if people tell the truth.
RICK: I was sweating it at school, I tell you. I was saying, "God, am I gonna stay a virgin all my life?"

CIRCUS: How did you meet up with this older woman?
RICK: She gave me a ride home one time.

CIRCUS: The rest we leave to our imagination. But our first experiences are hard to forget.
RICK: That's for sure.

CIRCUS: I'm beginning to forget, I'll tell you that much. I only remember because I always ask that question, so I keep reminding myself.
RICK: Well, I think it would be interesting for someone to interview you. I'll volunteer.

CIRCUS: Yeah, I suppose so. If you get as raunchy as I do sometimes, it might be interesting.