Little Steven Has Big Plans

While you didn't see him in the season premiere of 'The Sopranos,' Little Steven Van Zandt (a.k.a. Silvio Dante) has been plenty busy. The E Street Band guitarist hosts his own 'Little Steven's Underground Garage' Sirius radio show, he's turning music mogul with his own Wicked Cool Records, and he's also waiting for a call from another Boss.

"We gotta make a record, which could happen soon," he tells Spinner of Bruce Springsteen and Co. "I don't have any reason to say this other than my own instinct, but I just get a vibe it's going to be sooner than later it. Once that's done, we're very fast. [Springsteen] literally could call me today, we could have a new album out and be on the road within three months. We tend to get better as we get older -- maybe not better looking, but better with the craft."

Meanwhile, Van Zandt is focused on expanding Wicked Cool Records, which launched officially in December of last year. "It's going to be pretty much the same thing we play in the radio show and have in the radio format," Van Zandt tells Spinner of the type of bands that Wicked Cool -- which scored a distribution deal with RED -- will be releasing. "We're going to keep an identity by staying with garage rock which is essentially traditional rock 'n' roll."

Among the early signees are the Chesterfield Kings, the Charms and the Cocktail Slippers. "When you see something on Wicked Cool, you're going to know it's rock 'n' roll, number one," he says. "Not indie rock, not heavy metal, not pop, not hip-hop. Number two, it's going to be very high quality 'cause we're not going to put out records with a bunch of filler. It's going to be old school in the sense of 10, 12 really good songs."