Amazingly, it isn't. It's just Todd Rundgren, exercising his considerable musical and technical skills, to single-handedly create an authentic arena rock sound, by himself, at his home studio in Hawaii.
Maybe it shouldn't be so amazing, considering that Rundgren has been ahead of the curve ever since he formed his first band, Nazz, in 1967.
Arena is just the latest example of Rundgren's ability to recognize how technology can be used to enhance music.
About.com Classic Rock:
Some words that popped into my mind as I listened to the album: big, powerful, compelling -- it isn't something that can be listened to casually. What words would you use? What do you want me, or anyone listening to Arena, to take away from it?
Todd Rundgren:
From a message standpoint, I hope another adjective would be 'relevant.' The overarching theme of the record is a kind of a call to duty, specifically to men. We're living in a world where a lot of the leaders are not really men to admire. They are actually men who, normally, you would shun. If you knew somebody who is as big a liar as George Bush is, you would probably avoid them at all costs, realizing that anything they told you is going to be a waste of your time. If you were going to do something especially difficult or challenging, you wouldn't want Dick Cheney along. He's all lip, and when it comes to ever doing anything, he's a total coward.
So, I'm trying to outline or define a problem in terms of an image that men may have gotten of themselves, and what constitutes success as a man. I'm not a traditionalist normally, but we just don't have enough real men to deal with the problems that are confronting us. And men are going to have to realize that they're going to have to be brutally honest, be able to endure painful and strenuous situations, that they're going to have to be the protectors and the finders of the lost, and essentially just have higher standards than we've seen in our leadership.
About.com Classic Rock:
And it's just too bad that you're so shy about expressing what you really feel ...
Todd Rundgren:
Yeah [laughing] I have this problem ... that's why I'm a musician! I have this forum to talk about things that are bugging me!
About.com Classic Rock:
You're one of a small handful of artists who have been consistently ahead of the curve in recognizing and utilizing technological advances in your music. What do you see as the next big thing that will impact music the way, say, digital downloading has?
Todd Rundgren:
The next technological advancement, I would hope, would be people learning how to play. I was watching on high-def TV the other day -- high def is definitely a big advancement -- I think it was a festival over in England, and the cumulative effect that sort of appalled me was that almost none of the people in all of those bands could really play their instruments very well. And a great technological advance would be for [them] to learn how to play.
Everything has gotten so minimalist, in a way, that nobody demonstrates any sort of musical prowess. The whole idea is just one hammering right hand and two or three stiff little fingers on the left hand. Certainly there are advances in music distribution and the way it is created, but music isn't going to go anywhere unless people want to take it seriously and want to move it somewhere.
It would be great if there was a movement that maybe was something like jazz in the '50s and '60s, where the practitioners saw it simultaneously as a vast panorama of possibilities, but also realized that you couldn't exploit those possibilities unless you had some real skill at what you were doing.
About.com Classic Rock:
After hearing the album, I was just stunned when I learned that there was nobody else playing, singing, writing, producing, but you.
Todd Rundgren:
I'm glad that you would think that there are other players on it because that's the object. It's not supposed to sound like some mad evil genius in his basement laboratory. It's supposed to sound like a band on stage in a very large venue. In that sense, I don't think it's important, necessarily, that I am able to reproduce every note, it's more important that I think like the kind of musician that I want playing this music. The drums are programmed, but you can't tell it, so I've achieved my objective. But that's not possible unless I can think like a drummer. I do have the advantage of having sat behind a drum kit and had to go through the effort of actually creating a drum performance, but, in the long run, am I going to get what I want that way? The likelihood is no, because I'm not a good enough player.
About.com Classic Rock:
You have an incredibly long list of albums that you've recorded, solo and with groups, albums you've produced, songs you've written, software you've developed. What's left? What's the one project that you haven't done that you still want to do?
Todd Rundgren:
Out of all the things you've mentioned, no single one has enabled me to be comfortable, you know what I mean? It would be nice to be able to just focus on one thing and be able to make a living at it. It may just be my destiny to have to continue to do a variety of things. Right now, I'm still recovering from making the new album and still in the process of touring and promoting it, so for now I'll just have to be content to keep doing what I'm doing.
In 2006, Rundgren toured with The New Cars, two other members of which (Prairie Prince and Kasim Sulton) currently play in his tour band.
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Interview date: September 24, 2008
Album release date: September 30, 2008
