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Little Steven: From E-Street to Easy Street

The Evening HeraldLittle Steven got interviewed by the EVENING HERALD, an Irish newspaper published in Dublin. While the motivation for the writeup has been the syndication of Steven’s UNDERGROUND GARAGE radio program on a Dublin station, he does give some reflections about his musical career pre-1999 and promotes his latest campaign.

The success of the show has prompted Steve to lobby for rock’n'roll to be accepted as a bone fide college degree course. To that end he’s fundraising for his High School Foundation project.

“We’ve been endorsed from inside the academic community which hasn’t happened before,” he reveals. “Rock’n'roll is still the last outcast. You can get curriculums on movie making or jazz but rock’n'roll has been late to the game. Bruce Springsteen, Martin Scorsese and Bono are my first three board members so it’s going to be extremely exciting.”

Although the interview doesn’t really focus on Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Steve does give some insight into his – an that’s been probably more than true for Southside as well – personal situation in the 1990s…

“I had walked away from music,” he tells me. “I couldn’t relate any more. Grunge was happening. There was a good band or two there, Pearl Jam, Kurt Cobain. But I’m strictly a rootsy guy. If I don’t hear the roots in contemporary rock’n'roll it’s irrelevant to me. In the early ’90s, I’d produced four albums in a row including a Southside Johnny reunion record. There was no reason to make a great record anymore.

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