If you were looking for ‘80s rocker/soap star Rick Springfield in the new season of HBO’s True Detective and couldn’t find him, you’re not alone. Even Springfield’s closest friends didn’t recognize him. “I had a lot of friends email me and say, ‘You creeped me out,’ ‘I didn’t know it was you,’” the “Jessie’s Girl” singer tells Yahoo TV in a new video interview, posted above.

Related: Get Caught Up With Our ‘True Detective’ Recaps

To play the role of tight-faced psychiatrist Dr. Irving Pitlor, Springfield underwent quite a physical transformation. The producers had him shave his beard and cut his hair, he says, and then “spray-painted it bowling-ball black, to look like a terrible dye job.” Plus, they yanked his face back with tape and elastic bands to simulate a face lift, and topped it off with “this horrible orange bad-tan makeup.”

Though it took a lot of work to become Dr. Pitlor, Springfield says, “It helped me get into character.” Great, now that all that’s settled, can Springfield explain for us what the heck is happening on True Detective this season? Because we’ll take whatever help we can get at this point.

The Season 2 finale of True Detective airs Sunday, Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. on HBO.