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Todd Calls For ReturnTo Integrity

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By CURTIS ROSS

cross@tampatrib.com

Published: March 26, 2009

Updated: 03/26/2009 06:46 pm

It took another guitar player's injury to get Todd Rundgren to pick up his six-string again.

Rundgren was touring in 2006 as lead singer with The New Cars, formed by ex-Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes.

"We were out on our maiden tour and three weeks in there was an accident and Elliot Easton broke his collarbone," Rundgren recalls, speaking by telephone from his home in Hawaii.

"What was supposed to be six months of touring went off the calendar, and I was looking down the barrel of a long summer with no gigs," Rundgren says.

Rundgren acted quickly, forming a quartet that focused on his guitar playing in a way he hadn't for some time.

"The response was remarkable," Rundgren says. "I guess enough time had elapsed since I had assumed that role."

The album that Rundgren created following the tour, last year's "Arena," continued in that vein.

"It was an opportunity to rethink and re-approach the way I was making records," Rundgren says. "There was a lot of discipline involved in paring down the instrumentation," forcing him "to squeeze all the coloration I could out of the guitar."

The cover of "Arena," on which Rundgren looks set to bring down a cymbal on someone's head (a visual quote from "300," Rundgren says), matches the aggressive nature of the music. But the intent isn't so obvious.

"The concept of 'Arena' was that we had been through eight years of horrible ... male behavior," Rundgren says. "I had some concern that men weren't willing or able to reclaim their proper mantle as protectors and adventurers and seekers of truth, that it was all just going to be about power and money.

"The album was a call for a re-examination of men, because the men in the highest places have been cowardly liars and perverts," Rundgren says.

Rundgren could have made a career solely on his six-string prowess. But he's proved to be a singularly restless artist. If change is the only constant, then Rundgren is the most constant man in rock.

After first gaining notice with late-1960s quartet The Nazz, his early solo work emphasized effervescent pop and resulted in hit singles such as "We Gotta Get You a Woman" and "Hello, It's Me."

The taste of Top 40 success seemed to send Rundgren veering off on various artistic courses. First came the madcap eclecticism of 1973's "A Wizard, a True Star," the prog-rock fantasies of the band Utopia and, later, experiments with interactive media.

He maintained a separate career as an in-demand producer, helming records for, among others, The New York Dolls (with whom he recently completed a new album), Meat Loaf, Cheap Trick and XTC.

Renovations to the Capitol Theatre are not yet completed, so Todd Rundgren will perform in front of the venue, on Cleveland Street. There will be plenty going on in downtown Clearwater as well, with the city's Fourth Friday celebration taking place with street vendors, NCAA basketball on a big-screen TV and free music from local bands. Todd's not free - you'll still need a ticket for him.

ON TOUR

Todd Rundgren

WITH: Greg Billings

WHEN: 8 p.m. today

WHERE: Capital Theatre, 405 Cleveland St., Clearwater; (727) 791-7400

COST: $49.75

Music reviewer Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.

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