It's 'Breakfast in America' again for Roger Hodgson

You are cordially invited for breakfast at Pechanga … “Breakfast in America,” featuring original Supertramp singer/songwriter Roger Hodgson.
Hodgson, as many know, was one of the primary members of Supertramp, which featured he and Rick Davies, reaching a zenith with the 1979 album, “Breakfast in America.” And that album, like the others, featured songs that have become radio staples over the years.
Now, Hodgson will perform songs from that album and numerous other songs on Friday and Saturday at The Pechanga Showroom as he kicks off the Breakfast in America World Tour.
“I sensed that the audience was there,” he said of his decision to perform all his songs from “Breakfast in America.” “Supertramp stuff and that album in particular is still being played to death.”
It was the band’s most successful album, but it wasn’t all that long after that Hodgson left the band.
“I have always tried to follow my heart and my instincts in life,” he said. “I quit the music business at the peak of Supertramp’s success in 1983 to stay at home and be with my children growing up. That is what my heart was telling me was more important than to continue touring with Supertramp. Whenever I follow my heart life has always worked out better than I hoped.”
When he did decide to return to performing a few years ago, he had a few obstacles to handle.
“I guess the biggest challenge was name recognition because people know Supertramp and the band was great for me, but people don’t know me,” he said. “We were a faceless band, but I feel good that fans come to me and feel like they are back in time.”
As for this tour, it is a way for him to reconnect with people.
“It was a way to connect the dots,” he said. “It was the biggest album I recorded with Supertramp, and I wrote and sang most of the hits. There’s something about the spirit of the album that people are ready again.”
To Hodgson, the album has a message that works well even decades later.
“It was a sunny album full of wonderful songs,” he said. “I think in these times that are hard for a lot of people, for them to experience it again is a good experience.”
Indeed, the album featured such songs as “The Logical Song,” “Breakfast in America,” “Take the Long Way Home” and Davies’ “Goodbye Stranger.”
Granted, don’t expect every song on the album to be on the set list.
“It would be wrong to do Rick’s songs,” he said. “As it is, I always felt I was a solo artist. Really the band has been a huge part of my life and I recorded the song with the band and it was wonderful. They’ve always been a part of me. But again, it would feel wrong and I would never consider doing his songs.”
When it came to making the album, there was definitely an influence of his surroundings in California.
“Making an album is like making a full-course meal,” he said. “It’s a forty minute journey. As we went to do the record I was trying to find in my arsenal songs to fit the ones he was written.”
And the sunny skies of California played a definite role.
“It was influenced by living in California for a few years and being happy, so the album has a more sunny feel,” he said. “It’s very uplifting. We were high on life and we wanted to do an album that was enjoyable.”
One of his most popular songs, “The Logical Song,” was based on post-school reflections.
“In ‘The Logical Song,’ I'm looking for the answers I didn't get in school,” he said. “They taught me how to be sensible and intellectual and responsible and all these things. But, at the end of the day I was left with ‘Please tell me who I am.’ That to me was the most important question and has been for most of my life.”
The title track had been around for a long time.
“I’d written it when I was 19, and it wouldn’t fit the albums we were doing, but it seemed like the right time to fit this collection,” he said. “We were doing things like “Crime of the Century,’ which was very introverted and much more intense, a totally different journey. ‘Breakfast in America’ just wouldn’t have fit on the earlier records.”
And the results were phenomenal.
“It has wound up selling about 20 million copies or something like that,” he said. “It was also on the charts for a long time and all over radio. We did a whole tour behind it and we had arrived.”
It was a labor of love for Hodgson, who writes from the heart.
“I know throughout my artistic life I’ve tried to follow my heart and instincts,” he said. “I’ve never succeeded when I’ve tried to be someone I’m not. It’s an artist at work, an artist in his element. There’s no separation in these songs and what is in my heart. They came from a very pure place.”
And the response was a kind of validation.
“I get feedback from people all the time about what a song expressed to them,” he said. “I feel it’s helped me not feel so alone. I was able to express a lot of challenges, my deep yearning for true love to know God, real deep subjects. In a sense, I didn’t do it for the public, but I did it for my own process, my own relief. And they have reached other people.”
When it comes to following up the album, things would not be easy.
“It was at a time when things got more difficult and less unified in the band,” he said. “It was the seeds of everyone going their own separate ways. The biggest thing for me is I started a family and had two small children. My life took a dramatic turn.”
Often after a massively successful record, the follow-up doesn’t quite reach the same success, for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it is the pressure to create a follow-up, but Hodgson didn’t feel that was the case.
“I don’t remember feeling the pressure,” he said. “I was very confident we had the songs to make a great album whether or not it was as big. I had the songs, and Rick was writing great songs. I don’t think ‘Famous Last Words’ disappointed all of us.”
That’s not to say there weren’t issues at the time.
“The disunity got in the way,” he said. “A lot of the songs that were planning on going on that album didn’t make it. We put out the songs that were easier to complete. That’s why we called it ‘Famous Last Words.’”
Regardless, the label was very supportive.
“We were very fortunate to be with A&M because they were very accommodating,” he said. “No one came in to try to change directions. It allowed us to develop the band and the records, and back then that was ideally the purpose of record companies. We were fortunate to be with them.”
Now, Hodgson is feeling at the peak of his musical life, which he directly links to walking away from the business for awhile.
“For me as an artist, it’s incredible to feel I’m in the prime of my life at this age and look out at audiences and see families and whole generations,” he said. It’s wonderful to be able to share something with them. That’s what I’m hearing. Young people discover me and the audience is having more and more young people. I guess these songs have stood the test of time.”