Hank Azaria Impresses As The Boss With His Own ‘EZ Street’ Charity Tribute Band

In what surely is a win-win-win for everyone involved, film and TV actor, writer and producer Hank Azaria — maybe best known as the voice of many beloved characters from “The Simpsons” — has combined a love for mimicry, music and live performance, raising money for charity and treading new ground personally as a multi-format performing artist.

“It’s true labor of love,” says Azaria before a showcase set at the International Entertainment Buyers Association (IEBA) annual conference in Nashville, where at The Pinnacle at Nashville Yards he fronted his EZ Band and brought an energetic and faithful set of Springsteen classics like “Glory Days,” “Born To Run” and “Dancing In The Dark.”

“It is for charity. I’ve been raising money for different charities for years and this is the most fun way I have found to do it. I really stumbled into it,” he adds.  

A diehard Springsteen fan who would scour record stores in Queens for live E Street Band bootlegs, Azaria said the idea came as a way to throw a 60th birthday party for himself.

“I wanted to cheer myself up about turning 60 and distract myself from the mixed feelings that can go along with that milestone,” he says. “I got this insane idea to throw a reverse surprise party where I would tell my friends, who are mostly Springsteen fans, that I got a tribute band coming, but not tell them I was working for months to front it. And that went well enough that we just didn’t want to stop.”

With upcoming dates at notable venues like Bergen Performing Arts Center in New Jersey, Sony Hall in New York, Wheeler Opera House in Colorado and more, Azaria — not shy to break into character as either Bruce, Moe Szyslak or even the Comic Book Store Guy — chatted with Pollstar about his “new hill to climb” to make it in the music business. He also explained the delicate balance between parody and tribute and the relief of being approved by the Boss himself. Azaria is represented by UTA.

Pollstar: You’ve had quite a few dates sprinkled in throughout the year but you’re not quite on tour. 

Hank Azaria:  I have a 16-year-old son, so I don’t really want to go off and away for like four months. I guess if I could take my wife with me maybe I would. So we more like play twice a month-ish and go in and out of town. I really, really love it. I was telling my friends I was lucky enough to skip some steps in show business. Like I never did a regional tour of a play or musical, never went on the road much except to shoot on location. So this is really fun to play in different markets and meeting people that way.

As someone who has done performance art and acting for a long time, the skill set to perform live was probably already there. 

I’ve had to sing a lot in my career. A ton. I’m technically trained as a singer because every actor kind of has to be. I’ve been on Broadway singing but I was always the comedy guy. People don’t care if Chief Wiggum sounds nice or not, as long as he gets the tune semi-right and it’s funny. So then I really enjoyed, in the same way that people in late life find a hobby, like painting or sculpting, I sort of found singing, whether it’s Bruce or not, and I’ve enjoyed my keys being raised, and the better singer I am, the more it sounds like Bruce (laughs), so I’ve been really enjoying that, too.

I feel like maybe if we get really good, we can maybe hit the top of this world. I’ll say I’m a very, very gifted mimic. I can do a lot of voices. I had to really learn to act because, if you want to get deep for a moment, mimicking is trying to be other people. I want to act, I want to kind of be anybody but myself, like Bruce or like Al Pacino or whoever. Then I discovered [that] to be a good actor, you kind of have to learn to be yourself in front of people, which I did not like, but learned to do. But I’m so good at mimicking in voices that I always felt like I could never be as good a singer as I’m a mimic. So why bother? It’s almost perfectionism. But then I’m like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Now if you work at something, maybe I’ll never be as great a singer as I am a mimic or cartoon voice guy, but I can be real good and I can have a great time.

So, why Bruce, apart from the obvious?

I’m from that era of rock ‘n’ roll, dad rock, classic rock, whatever you want to call it. It’s what I was raised in. I truly love him. Bruce was the top of that world. Most of us kids from the tri-state area worship Bruce, and the music meant a lot to me at every level. And, turning 60, nostalgia takes on different heightened feeling and rediscovering Bruce’s music and just listening to it is a big part of that. You can’t help but sing along to it. Then I was like, I can kind of sound like Bruce (laughs), and then I decided to take that act on the road a bit.

How about the actual performance aspect? Bruce is known for those marathon, high-energy sets, and you’re in the spotlight under the microscope a bit.

It’s a workout, and it’s challenging, but in such a good way. I get so much joy from it on so many levels. Singing, I’ve looked into research, and this singing is very good for your vagus nerve. Apparently, it’s a healthy thing to do. And I love this music so much, sometimes I get such a kick out of being able to sound like Bruce. Sometimes I just hear myself and I cheer myself up just because I love his voice so much. And I’m raising money for good causes. I love the band. The kids in the band are like my family at this point.

Any stage jitters as a frontman?

Every new thing is kind of like jumping out of the airplane. First time I tried standup, first time I got on stage, first time I walked on a Broadway stage. By the time my party rolled around,  I had over-rehearsed so much that I had totally blown my voice out, and I needed a cortisone shot to even sound OK. I was so nervous by noon the day of my party that I threw up; I’ve never done that before as a performer. 

I kind of passed out. It was horrible. At about noon the day of my party, I would’ve given anything not to do it, I was just so terrified. Then, I have enough muscle memory as a performer, but once you’re out there, you just kind of just do it. You know? I have done stuff as an actor, when they call “action” you just do it. You jump over the thing or grab the thing, things you would never do in real life. It’s like Pavlov’s dog, you just do it.

How about the crowds? What’s the response like? Where would you like to ultimately take this?

I love this. I will keep doing it certainly for the foreseeable future, definitely through this year and the next. In this world we try to increase the venue, increase ticket sales, sell out to 1,000, sell out to 1,500, sell out to 2,000. Play theaters, play festivals. This show is fun in a bar and I love it in a club. I tell a lot of stories as Bruce and do a lot of voices. It’s almost like a one-man show with a tribute band aspect, so it plays nicely in theaters. Plus, Bruce fans tend to be of a certain age and folks like to sit nicely and watch the show, although there is always this tension and dynamic in our show between the folks who want to stand and folks who want to stay seated.

How about private gigs, festivals, an EZ Street Band cruise?

Dude. As long as they pay us, the money goes to the kids, I am down. I guess I shouldn’t say that. I’ve not played all that many privates, but I’ve played enough to know that they’re very different vibes. We played our own “Simpsons” party in L.A., which was probably the worst audience we ever had (laughs).  Even though it was my show and I knew everyone there! 

Actually, my own birthday party was one of the worst audiences. Ahh, the people were just drunk, they didn’t know what was going on. But I’m even loving that, learning to sing and play through whatever weird stuff is going on.

Can you tell us more about the charity component and who benefits?

All of our net proceeds go to [charity], after we pay the band and after we pay the venue and after all the overhead. We’ve had a lot of startup costs so It’s been a little challenging to get out of the red, but we made over a quarter million bucks last year. I have a foundation called the Four Through Nine Foundation. And the majority goes to Dream School, which I’m on the board of back in New York. They’re wonderful charter schools up in the South Bronx and Harlem. A lot goes to recovery and wellness. I’m a sober guy, so there’s various causes that I give to. One of my favorites was we donated a lot to my alma mater, Tufts University, to have a substance free house. We found the best way to have a social life if you want to avoid all the drinking on a college campus was to live together. 

Any idea what Bruce thinks of all of this?

He has seen our deal here and he sent me a video, actually, so seeing that was great. I was very worried at first that he would first of all just be annoyed by it or second of all, think it might be parody, so we were very careful when we put it out and made sure everyone knew it’s a loving tribute for charity that is meant to be what it is, which is a celebration of his music.

Any hopes of him playing with the band? 

I tend to turn into a quivering mass of Jell-O when I’m around him. On the one hand, I’m terrified of that. On the other hand, yes. The idea of, in any way, him jumping up with us for any song. … Just him sending me a 32-second video saying “That sounded great, keep going” had me crying quietly to myself for three days.