Rick Springfield on new album, film, and what he learned from that nasty DUI

Musician Rick Springfield arrives at the premiere of "The Joneses" in Los Angeles, California, April 8, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Redmond (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT HEADSHOT)

Rick Springfield is back with a new album, ‘Songs for the End of the World,’ and a documentary called ‘Affair of the Heart.’ The rocker who first shot to fame as Dr. Noah Drake on ‘General Hospital’ and with the pop classic ‘Jessie’s Girl’ spoke to FOX411 about everything from his new projects to his bouts of depression and that, ahem, nasty DUI.

FOX411: So tell us about the new album.

Rick Springfield: It’s a rocking record. It’s about relationships and relationships within the world we’re living in now. Personal relationships with people that I know with the added pressure of the world going down the toilet. Relationships and the stress of the world going down, it puts a lot of stress on people, you know financially. I just think we’re getting close to crossing a line here where we won’t be able to come back. But it’s not a dour album at all, it’s really upbeat and it’s a positive one in the end.

FOX411: And there’s a documentary about you coming out.

RS: It’s been in film festivals and it’s been really well received. It’s about my relationship with my fans and their relationship with their families based on seeing me and me being part of their lives for 30-plus years and the stuff that happens to them. It’s pretty revealing. I was shocked at the stuff that some of them went through and that I was a part of without my knowledge.

There was a woman who was raped and there was an album I did called "Shock "which was a very angry album, I was very pissed off at that point and it helped her get through all her anger about the rape. It’s stuff I never really realized was going on.

FOX411: Are you amazed at your fans devotion?

RS: I am. I’m very pleased that they are still interested and I keep putting new stuff out and I’m out there because of them.

FOX411: How about the acting?

RS: I’m pursuing that and hopefully we’ll have some stuff in the coming year. I love acting. It’s been so much more fun now that I’m older and have some life experience to draw from.

FOX411: When you first became famous were you surprised by the teenybopper label?

RS: Yeah I really didn’t know what to do with it. I just kept writing and singing and performing. Young female voices are the loudest voices of all with the fans. It was good in some ways and other times it was tough to deal with. I always thought of myself just as a musician so I didn’t really think of that whole pinup thing. I didn’t really understand it.

FOX411: But you must have realized you were pretty cute.

RS: No actually as an adolescent I felt really ugly. I felt like I had something to give once I started playing, that saved me from my darkness.

FOX411: You wrote very honestly in your memoir about suffering from depression.

RS: It’s ongoing. It’s an ongoing battle. We just have to deal with it. I do the stuff I need to do. I meditate. Meditation helps me. I have to pay constant attention to it. It’s also where the songs come from. That’s the yin yang of it.

FOX411: Isn’t that such a paradox?

RS: Yeah because you get introspective and you look at yourself and that’s where ideas come from. I know a lot of guys like that.

FOX411: You had a DUI earlier this year. Were you mortified?

RS: Actually I was pissed off because I was down the street from my house. I’ll never drink and drive ever again. Everyone’s done it. The drag for me is my family because my wife gets embarrassed. If I wasn’t in the public eye no one would give a s**t about it so that’s why they’re (the press) doing it and I understand it. But to my family it’s their Dad, their husband and it’s really hard on them and that’s what upsets me the most.

FOX411: A block away from home?

RS: Yeah, I was two minutes from home and I got stopped 20 seconds from my house. It worked out ok, I got my license back and I started riding my bike to work out and now I ride my bike a couple of miles to my work out place and then home again and I do that even thought I’ve got my license back.

FOX411: See from bad things come good things.

RS: I’ve always believed that. With bad things come the seed of something wonderful but you have to look for it, it doesn’t automatically just show up.