E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg shed light on the group's decade-long split with Bruce Springsteen over 25 years ago. Weinberg, who's been answering fans questions via his online show, Mighty Max's Monday Memories, recalled getting the news that “The Boss” was moving on.
Weinberg recalled that Springsteen going in another direction was unexpected: “We all got a phone call from Bruce in September of 1989. It was never articulated that we were breaking up, just that we were, sort of, like, chicks (laughs) being tossed out of the nest to fly on our own. And, it was the worst of times and it was the best of times. In the worst of times, it was very disorienting, obviously, but on am artistic level; I could certainly understand it — Bruce wanted to stretch. On a personal level, it was like the bottom dropped out.”
Max Weinberg, who eventually landed the high profile gig as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien, recalled that during the band's time away from Springsteen — they all stayed connected: “The interesting thing is, we stayed friendly. Bruce made a huge effort when we weren't playing together to stay in touch with everybody. I used to go out every few weeks to L.A., I stayed at his house, and he was very concerned that everybody got their footing. But, it worked out. And we came back better and stronger in 1999 than we had before that — and we were all glad to see Steve Van Zandt come back into the band.”
