Hodgson still hits the high notes
SOLO SHOW: Supertramp co-founder is happy living and performing in the present
Roger Hodgson has been on his own twice as long as he was in Supertramp, but he’ll always be associated with the songs he wrote for that band: Give a Little Bit, Dreamer, Take the Long Way Home and Breakfast in America. Hodgson gave a little bit of his time, you might say, to chat about his life, career and current tour.
“I’ve always adored Canada,” he says. “I’ve thought about moving here many times. I’ve heard that one in 20 Canadians had Breakfast in America and Crime of the Century, which I think is amazing.”
Both albums reached Diamond status.
Hodgson formed Supertramp with Rick Davies in 1969. They had their first hits in the early ’70s and by 1979 they were world famous.
Davies and Hodgson ultimately drifted apart with Hodgson leaving the band in 1983, and taking 15 years off to raise his kids.
Q: Do you get nostalgic at all? A: I really don’t. I never think about Supertramp even though it was 14 years of my life. It was a wonderful adventure. I grew up, I learned a lot about myself and about life through it, but right now, it’s a whole new era and I’m having more fun and having a much deeper connection with the audience. People tell me I’m singing so much better now than I did with Supertramp, and I can hear it, believe me.
It’s something that I love to do. And luckily, I have these lovely songs that I’ve written to sing that I love playing. They’re all different, yet they’re all pieces of me that I can totally relate to, and thank God everyone in the audience still relates to, so I’m a very fortunate guy.
Is there a double-edged sword being associated with Supertramp?
Obviously, I didn’t expect to leave Supertramp, because to me, I created Supertramp and it was really so much part of my brainchild and my passion.
I totally appreciated people’s love for it. It was a wonderful part of my life and yet I live very much in the present. And what’s happening now is much more to me than the whole Supertramp experience.
Are you still writing songs? If I have time, I write a song. Mostly it happens on the road. I do have a backlog of 60 unrecorded songs, so often in sound check, I’ll throw one at the band and we’ll go through it. If it clicks, we’ll throw it in the show.
Is it hard introducing new songs to fans when they know want they want to hear?
I’m an artist who wants to give people the best experience they can have.
I’m not an artist who says: ‘Okay, you’ve got to listen to my new songs and my new album now, and if you’re lucky I’ll throw in a few hits at the end.’ I don’t believe that. I really want to give people their money’s worth and give them what they want to hear.
Touring takes you to to Germany, the U.K., Switzerland, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Canada. You’re not 20 anymore, so how do you do it?
After a leg of a tour, I’m ready to sleep for a week. It really does take its toll but to tell the truth, what makes it worth it, really, is seeing the looks on people’s faces and seeing what they write about on my Facebook and website.