Rick Springfield jokes that his concerts are pretty much the same-old, same-old.
His Thursday, Dec. 14, gig at the Rialto Theatre will follow suit.
“It’s the same old garbage, basically,” Springfield said with a laugh.
“Seriously, I have an amazing band. You know the songs, if you know anything about me. We’re doing some new stuff from ‘Automatic.’ It’s very audience-participatory. We will rock fans.”
“Automatic” is Springfield’s latest collection, which hit stores in October. The tracks on “Automatic” stylistically sit between the familiar hooks of 1981’s “Working Class Dog” and 1985’s experimental “Tao.” His 10th studio album, “Tao,” spawned the raucous “Celebrate Youth” and the sentimental “State of the Heart.”
With “Automatic,” Springfield’s goal was to pen 3-minute tunes with “the biggest hooks I could come up with.” There’s nothing calculated about “Automatic,” as Springfield allowed the songs to flow as they come.
“I only write when I write,” he added. “I don’t try to time it for anything. I write, and then when there are enough songs, I put them out. That’s the way I work.
“There’s no overall game plan of what should be released when. It took quite a bit of time, because I was touring at the time.”
In the past 40 years, Springfield has wavered between entertainer and performer. He sold 25 million albums and scored 17 U.S. Top 40 hits, including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Affair of the Heart,” “I’ve Done Everything for You,” “Love Somebody” and “Human Touch.”
The accomplished actor starred opposite Meryl Streep in “Ricki and the Flash,” and played Dr. Irving Pitlor in HBO’s “True Detective.”
He penned the 2010 memoir, “Late, Late at Night,” and his 2014 comedic novel “Magnificent Vibration,” which earned rave reviews.
“Automatic” was written and produced by Springfield and features himself playing all guitars and keyboards. The album was engineered by and dedicated to Springfield’s friend and soundman for over 25 years, Matty Spindel, who died from pancreatic cancer in 2022.
“I experimented a lot more, which I loved,” Springfield added about “Automatic.” “I have my own studio, so I could do it at our leisure. I’m happy with the result. I wanted a bunch of hook-laden, short songs that said something occasionally, and allowed me to experiment sonically. That was my approach.”
“Automatic” is a tight record that leaves no breathing room between the tracks. Springfield said this was intentional.
“I thought it would work: bang, bang, bang,” he said. “I normally don’t like the long spaces between songs. It’s like an uncomfortable silence. I thought I would cut to the chase and slam them all together.”
Lyrically, “Automatic” served as a diary of sorts for Springfield. He called it a “collection of memories from way long ago to recent memories to things I’m thinking about now.”
“I look back, and there’s an awareness of what’s going on now, but I won’t truly understand it for a couple of years later. Like with ‘Tao,’ I didn’t understand it until I got away from it and then looked back.
“Writing is my great joy — so is playing live. Writing is the thing I love the most. I can do that by myself sitting in a room, and I’ll do it until I drop.”
What did he learn from “Tao”? It was simple.
“I was searching spiritually,” Springfield said. “I got this spiritual thing down with the album, I thought. But I was searching, and I’m still really searching spiritually.”
The goal is just to have fun and “see how that turns out,” he said.
“I don’t want to be under pressure or anything like that. I want to do fun gigs and have a blast — climb over the chairs to get to everyone. I love playing live. That’s why we do it. Travel can sometimes be a drag, but it’s worth it. As long as it’s still the case and I’m healthy, I’ll tour. An endpoint? I’m not sure when that is. We’ll have to wait and see.”
Right now, he’s focused on enjoying his time on the road, and slipping in the occasional B-side, a move inspired by a fan event.
“We’re throwing heavier stuff in from ‘Venus in Overdrive’ and ‘Shock/Denial/Anger/Acceptance.’ We had a fan event, and we did a B-side set list. It was fun to play them and not have to play the same songs over and over, although I’m fortunate to have the songs I do.
“It just keeps it fresh for us to throw in some of the songs we haven’t played a thousand times. Rock bands are the thing I love the most. I get a lot of the new stuff: the Broadway show with the 3,000 dancers and the 50 costume changes. But I like a hot and sweaty rock band.”
An Evening with Rick Springfield
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec.14
WHERE: The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $67
INFO: www.rialtotheatre.com
