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Rick Springfield is set to make his Detroit stop on May 23rd when he rolls into town to play the Sound Board located within the Motor City Casino complex.  The tour is in support of his new album, Orchestrating My Life, that was released on April 26, 2019 via August Day Recordings.

The album gives us a new take on some of Springfield’s biggest hits with an ear pleasing twist.  He has an orchestra backing up his electric guitar and signature voice.  You’ll hear those familiar songs like Jessie’s Girl and Love Somebody but you’ll also hear a new track that was dedicated to Springfield’s late Mother, on the beautiful, Irreplaceable.

I was able to catch up with Rick to talk about the album, tour and the Motor City – Detroit.  Here’s what Rick had to say about it all.

Sound Vapors: Can you tell us about the Orchestrating My Life Tour – Will the shows reproduce the arrangements of the versions of the songs on the new album?

Rick Springfield: Yes we send the charts ahead to the next city symphony orchestra. They are all great sight readers and its always amazing to me that they can make it sound so good after one run through. Its a very different show to the regular band show and the symphony aspect creates a whole different vibe to the show. 

SV: What size band are you bringing for these live shows?

RS: My regular 4 piece band. Its a different show for them too since its a quieter event than our pedal-to-the-metal band shows and we all have to adjust our energy accordingly.

SV: Are there any two or three songs you really look forward to during the set?  

RS: Well the two songs about my parents are meaningful to me and I think the audience gets them. ‘My Fathers Chair’ I wrote for my dad when he died in 1981 and ‘Irreplaceable’ I wrote for my mum when she died in 2016. They’re played together and it still affects me after all this time. 

 SV: Detroit seems to have been so supportive of you throughout your career.  Can you tell us your feelings about playing in Detroit and any particular memories you might have?

RS: It was one of the first shows I ever did in the early 80s. I’ve had several band members from Detroit and the whole Detroit music scene when I was a kid was always inspiring to me. 

SV: I loved the arrangements of these song on Orchestrating.  Especially on ‘Kristina’ and ‘Affair of the Heart’.  How long was the recording process of this record? 

RS: I think the arrangements really add to the songs I didn’t want them to be lush string pads. I wanted movement and we definitely got that. The arrangement on ‘World Start Turning’ is pretty great too. The process went pretty quickly because the band and vocal arrangements were already set and we cold nail those pretty fast it was just looking at the orchestral arrangements and seeing how and where they would fit in sonically, that took the most time. It’s a lot of sonic information so the mixing process was very important.

SV: Were there any special emotions for you, revisiting these songs?

RS: ‘My Fathers Chair’ is the only one we didn’t stick to the original arrangement because I wanted it to be just the orchestra. I played piano on the original recording in 1985 and the effect on the vocal was very 80’s so we start from scratch with that one and I think its a more emotional true song now, 30 years after the fact. ‘World Start Turning’ was the first song I wrote about my depression and it brings up a lot of emotions for me when we do it live.

SV: Irreplaceable is such a beautiful song.  It’s a track I feel like every Rick Springfield fan should listen to.  If it’s not too painful, can you talk a little bit about the song?

RS: My mum was an incredible human being who loved her God and walked the walk. She was the most amazing human being I’ve ever met and I wanted to respect her  memory with the song. 

Pretty inspiring stuff from Rick Springfield.  If you’ve never seen him perform live or haven’t been to a show in a while, this is the perfect opportunity to hear the band playing those hit songs and in some cases with a different arrangement than you might be used to.  Sounds like a good time all around!   

MAY 23 , 2019

SOUND BOARD AT MOTORCITY CASINO HOTEL

-Tommy Marz

You can follow Tommy on Twitter and let him know what you think.

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