Little Steven Starts "Wicked Cool Records"

[RonJonSurfer]

Little Steven starts own record label By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK - It's not like Steven Van Zandt doesn't have enough to keep him busy. There's his job as host of his nationally syndicated "Underground Garage" radio program, with more than 1 million listeners in 200 markets. And his position as head of his own channel on Sirius Satellite Radio. And his role as consigliere Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos."

Oh, and he's the guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Yet this week, Van Zandt added another line to his rapidly expanding resume: head of his own record label. In a deal with Best Buy stores, he rolled out the first six records on his rocking new label.

"I'm getting a little bored, you know?" the 56-year-old Van Zandt deadpanned in the Manhattan office that is home to his Wicked Cool Records.

Despite his relentless schedule, Van Zandt said his involvement with the new label was total.

"Right now, it's 100 percent," said Van Zandt. "It's a very personal thing. ... It's my own taste, my own personality, and we're not pretending otherwise. We're not doing any marketing surveys.

"If I dig it, I'm going to try and support it."

Van Zandt sits in a sixth-floor loft, decorated with vintage movie posters ("Barbarella") and pop culture memorabilia (a Ramones lunch box). He's wearing a purple scarf around his head, well-worn jeans, and a shirt undone to mid-chest.

He's quick to laugh, but quite serious about this latest effort to resurrect old-school rock 'n' roll. Since starting his nationally syndicated radio show nearly five years ago, Van Zandt has become the Johnny Appleseed of garage rock, spreading his musical seeds from coast to coast.

It's worked, too.

Van Zandt estimated his program has introduced 150 new bands since then. Two of the newer groups are featured in the first half-dozen releases: "Strange Magic," by the Charms, and "Mastermind," by the Oslo, Norway-based all-female band The Cocktail Slippers. The Chesterfield Kings, another show favorite, are also among the first releasing an album on Wicked Cool.

One of the label's staples is a plan to release four compilation albums per year under the title, "The Coolest Songs in the World." Not surprisingly, the concept is a fixture on Van Zandt's weekly program.

"The label did evolve out of the radio show," Van Zandt explained. "There's a lot of bands these days. A lot of the bands came to us and said they needed a little help."

Van Zandt laughs when asked about comments by Springsteen earlier this year that he's already written half of a new album for the E Street Band.

"He's lying," Van Zandt says of his longtime friend. "He always has two albums in his pocket, OK? Always. If he's got a jacket on, he's got three albums. ... I wouldn't be surprised if we get that phone call soon. I don't know if it will be '07, but we will certainly make a new record."

The perpetually busy Van Zandt is also shooting the final three episodes of "The Sopranos."

"There's surprises," he said of the final season. "Oh, there's surprises. Leave it at that."

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On the Net:

Van Zandt Web site: http://www.littlesteven.com

[Lucky]

That's just wicked cool... Actually it probably is.