Bruce Springsteen asks a lot of his E Street Band members, but it turns out they’re very well compensated for their hard work.
At a London screening of his new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band on Oct. 18, The Boss opened up about one of the secrets to his success with his band: cold, hard cash.
“I pay them a tremendous amount of money. That greases the wheels pretty good,” the 75-year-old rocker said, according to Business Insider. “And then, I’m a pretty nice boss. The truth is, you need to cast your band well.”
He added, “If you get the art right, the music right, and the band right, you go out and play every night like it’s your last night on Earth. That was the serial philosophy of the band, and we’re sticking to it.”
But according to E Street Band guitarist Stevie Van Zandt, money isn’t the reason why they got into the music business in the first place.
“It was never a commercial enterprise,” Van Zandt said. “This has been an artistic adventure from the beginning.”
He added, “So anyone joining knew that was what they were getting into. Now, luckily, we found some commercial calling ground along the way, which was great.”
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band debuts Friday on Hulu and Disney+.
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