**Due to some technical issues, this interview, which was conducted in July, is just now seeing the light of day. Unfortunately, there was about two or three minutes of the interview which has been lost due to these digital glitches. However, the clarity of the content has not been compromised, and this is still one of the most enjoyable interviews I have done to date...and easily the longest! So, if you have a few minutes, read along as Paul talks about Rough Cutt, Shortino, JK Northrup, his thoughts on his stint with Quiet Riot (as well as the new version of that band), and his current gig with King Kobra....
G2G: Paul, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. Your wife informed me you had quite a wild night with the guys from Hell Yeah! last night, so I appreciate the effort! (Laughing)
Paul: Yeah, yeah...we're supposed to hook up with them again this afternoon before they go back out on the road.
G2G: You're hooked up with some legendary partiers, there, Paul...
Paul: Oh yeah, man. Especially Vinnie Paul, man. He's a great guy, though...
G2G: So when you're not running with the wild boys, you've been hard at work on the new King Kobra record, correct?
Paul: Yes, yes, we've cut all the bass tracks and drum tracks and now we're in the process of going back through and cleaning up stuff. I've started to track vocals with the bass and drums to kind of make sure everything's pretty tight, and then I'll send that off to David, then he goes through it, and then he figures out what he wants to keep and what he doesn't want to keep. It's just a process that we go through that works for us. On the last one, Carmine wanted to cut the drums on tape and that worked so on this one we cut the drums on tape, and then Johnny came in from St. Louis to cut the bass, and James lives in Phoenix, and I live here in Vegas, so we all have to find time to do our parts to put this thing together. And, of course, Carmine's back and forth from here to L.A., so...it can be crazy. But, we did the last record this way, and it seemed to work and so we're going through this one the same way and, to be honest, probably the video, too. Everybody did their parts in different states for the last record, but this time everybody's coming to Las Vegas except David. He has a studio in Phoenix that he works out of, so... Oh, and the last record was mixed in Germany by Michael Voss, and he's probably going to do this new record, also. And then the last video was done by a guy named Mario in Spain, so, uh, its kind of interesting how stuff's done these days...you can just send files all over the world and let people do their jobs.
G2G: Yeah, that's what I was getting ready to say. It's amazing to me how technology has made the idea of a band almost a nationwide, if not worldwide, concept if you really think about it.
Paul: Oh, absolutely, you know, it's amazing that just because of zeroes and ones you can send files out, import them into a session and if things don't sound exactly right you can fix it...it's just amazing. I remember the old days when if they wanted to edit anything it was a chunk of tape on the floor.
G2G: No more razor blades and tape...
Paul: Nope. In fact, I remember the second Rough Cutt album Jack Douglas was known for his editing abilities. When he worked on the last John Lennon album...did you know he actually worked on the last Lennon album before he was shot? Yeah, they dropped him off at the Dakota just after being together in the studio, and Chapman shot him (Lennon) right after they dropped him off.
G2G: Wow...
Paul: Yeah... (laughing) I don't even remember where I was going with that... (laughter). Oh, yeah...Rough Cutt...
G2G: (laughing) Well, since you brought up Rough Cutt, let's go back a bit and take a couple minutes to look at that band. Why do you think Rough Cutt never really broke out like it seemed you guys were poised to do?
Paul: Uh, well, one of the reasons was that we had a window...in any kind of business it's always timing...and the timing was right but we spent a year looking for a producer even though we had been signed for a long time before a lot of the other 80's bands like Ratt and even Quiet Riot. We were signed before them, I know, because they were playing around as DuBrow at the time, and then Kevin used to come see us back when he was in DuBrow, and then he put back together Quiet Riot here in the States after they had spent some time in a different version of the band in Japan. But they got their record out before we did, so I think it had a lot to do with timing, you know. Uh, Wendy (Dio) got us out touring and doing things...we went to Europe before we were even signed to a label, so it kind of took a while to pick a producer because we were out on the road, which we wanted to do. Teddy Templeman signed the act, he was the executive producer at Warner Brothers at the time, and he did all the Van Halen and he was working at that particular time on records with, I think it was Lindsay Buckingham and I think Eric Clapton, so obviously that took priority over Rough Cutt... (chuckles) We waited and waited and waited and waited and waited...and we ended up with Tom Allen, and I think he just took the job because he didn't have anything else to do. You know, we had a great A&R guy in Tom Worley, and just as the record was finishing up being produced with Tom Allen, Worley left and went to Capitol Records, so we lost our A&R man at the same time. So, I think the year looking for a producer screwed the band on timing and then after we did track the album, um, and I do believe that Allen was doing it because he had to fill in some time and space, I really don't feel like he was into the band. And then, with the second album, um, that was with Neil Kernon, and that was in Long Island...err, no it was in The Village in New York...anyway we played a show there and he came to the show and we hung out with him the next day. He had did the Dokken album, um, (Under) Lock And Key, or whatever, that went platinum, and anyway, he was also an engineer and he was going to engineer our Rough Cutt album and produce it. He was also quite a songwriter, so I really wanted Neil to do it, and I thought he would have done a really good job with the band. You know there were so many people in the band who wrote, that uh, well, sometimes it was a collaboration of different ideas and sometimes the lyrics didn't really fit with a song but everybody wanted their part in there, which is where I think a good songwriter like Neil would have been beneficial to the band. Neil kept saying, "you know, you've got a singer with a kind of raspy voice, you should go toward a Bryan Adams kind of direction". We had so many people with different directions, you know. We had Chris who was into Priest and Alice Cooper, and Amir, he was into a lot of different kinds of music, and so, uh, it was kind of hard. And then with me, growing up kind of an R&B guy, you know, it was music like old Temptations and Stevie Wonder and the R&B stuff from back in the day, but I was also big into Paul Rodgers and Cream, and a lot of that was due to a bit of an age difference between me and the other guys in Rough Cutt, so it, uh...well, what my influences were weren't necessarily what theirs were or what they were into...you know, I was into Zeppelin and Humble Pie, Free, a lot of stuff out of the early 70's and even late 60's. Anyway, I think if we would have went with Neil on the second record and the timing would have been better, things might have worked out. You know, he had success with Dokken and then he went on 
and did Queensryche, and you know they won a Grammy for "Silent Ludicity" so...um, I ran into him and he played me some of the Queensryche stuff that was going to come out at about the same time as our second album and I was just blown away, so it was like, "man...what if...", you know. But...things happen... You know, the PMRC thing didn't help, either, you know with Tipper Gore demonizing heavy metal and especially the album covers, and, well, ours had a heart with a knife coming out of it, so...(laughs)...that probably didn't help... I don't know what that was so horrible...maybe it was the piece of blood dripping onto the mechanical spider...
G2G: Scary stuff! (laughing)
Paul: What's ironic was, it's kind of funny, but that album cover was really designed for kids. But, I remember we were touring with Ronnie (Dio) on the Sacred Heart tour, and we were doing radio spots and record store promotions for people to come in and see the band and get stuff signed, but we would get to the record store and the album wouldn't even be out or at the station it wouldn't even be opened. It was a really weird time and I think it had a lot to do with the label not really being behind us, and then we ended up with this big (PMRC) sticker on our record, so... You know, if you're not getting any radio play, for whatever reason, really hurts. Our album wasn't getting out there, so the sticker hurt us, but bands like Ratt, or WASP, in particular, they already had their material out there, so putting a sticker on their records actually promoted their sales, you know. People were like, "hey, that must be cool stuff", whereas with us it was like, you know, "who are they"? But with those other guys, people already knew who they were, but for us, it just stopped people from even opening up the record... So be it.
G2G: Now, despite the lack of support here, I've heard you actually had a really strong European following. Is that correct?
Paul: Yeah, um, where it was more of a cult following here in the U.S., we were much bigger in Europe for whatever reason...no PMRC, maybe....
G2G: Now, do you consider the band that you later formed, The Cutt, to be an extension of Rough Cutt, or were you just going with what people felt comfortable with in associating your name with a project?
Paul: Well, no, I just, uh....you know the name, Rough Cutt, I came up with it, so when I did a solo album, I just kind of figured I'd call the band "The Cutt". I don't know that I thought the whole project would end up with that label, but it is what it is... It was kind of a cliche to people, so I thought I could get away with it. Actually, I should have just taken the name (Rough Cutt) and ran with it since the band was basically dead at that time anyway. Those guys just really didn't want...you know, we've tried a number of times, but the rest of the band, there's just too many guys with too many ideas. You know, I had us a record deal to get Rough Cutt back together after we did this last King Kobra album. You know, the Kobra record was done in December of that year, and my manager had checked with Frontiers Records and we got offered more for a new Rough Cutt album than we did the new King Kobra album, but then everybody started arguing over money, where we were going to track it, who was going to engineer it, you know all that stuff. I told them how we had just done the Kobra record, you know, writing songs and sending them to each other to work on and analyze, chop up and give it a facelift, you know, see if people like the direction the song is going and so forth, you know, the lyrics and the melodies, like we had done with Carmine and Johnny and Dave for Kobra. But they argued so much about the money and everything that by the time...look, if we had signed in the December when the contract was offered and worked out the rest after signing, we would have gotten more money, but then 2012 arrived, and we were still arguing about money and the whole deal had changed by that time, and now we needed to schedule so many dates to tour to support the record, and with Rough Cutt not having been out for 20-some, almost 30 years as a group, we just didn't have an easy time getting dates and stuff, so... Eventually, nobody but me wanted to do it. They kept going over the money thing until I was like, "you know what, forget about it." You know? I thought it was a good idea and a good way to make another record and do some touring. It wasn't about making a fortune off the record because the money was good, but it wasn't going to make anyone rich or anything, but still it was a decent budget for a record that we all could have been doing in our own studios. It just ended up never going anywhere because of money... I just really miss playing with the guys and I think we could have made a really good record, but in the end, there wasn't enough money for the guys to be happy, so we just let it go.
G2G: Were all of the originals going to be on board?
Paul: What, the material?
G2G: The band...
Paul: Yeah, it would have been all the originals, yeah. Well, we talked to Craig Goldy, but he's under contract with Wendy Dio, and he wasn't going to be permitted to participate for whatever reason. The only guitar players that we would ask to bring in other than the originals would have been Jake (E. Lee) or Craig (Goldy), because they were the only two other guys who were really in Rough Cutt. And then I said, why don't we just make it a four-piece, you know, but nobody could make up their minds about the budget or where to record it...it just got so...so...just like it was when we were together. Everyone was so non-committal, nobody wanted to do anything right....it was just very frustrating just never, ever being able to do what was best for the project, you know. We had the same kind of problems when we were together originally. I got outvoted on producers, you know, but everything was done by a democratic vote, so I went along with it. But with this new project, that simply wasn't going to work because nobody could agree to anything, you know...it was like four or five people voting four or five different ways. That's just the way the whole thing went.
G2G: When Rough Cutt disbanded originally, you went on to front Quiet Riot for that one, self-titled album. Can you tell us what that experience was like?
Paul: Well, that was like getting out of a band of very close brothers...despite our issues, Rough Cutt was a brotherhood...and going into, pretty much a situation that was so political that we didn't even have a collective management situation. When I got into the band, if you can call it that, I had my own manager, they had their own manager. I went in and tracked a few songs to see if the band wanted me as a singer because things could have been very difficult because me and Kevin (DuBrow) were very good friends. And, uh, the band kept me very much under the radar with Spencer (Proffer) for a while, because they only had one record to do and they didn't want to re-sign with Pasha (Proffer's label). The band wanted to cut that link with the label and go straight to CBS because, what was happening was they signed that deal with Pasha Records and Spencer, you know who's the one who told them "you need to do 'Cum On Feel The Noize', it'll make you huge," which it did...and so they were signed to a deal with Pasha which is his label, and he owned them lock, stock, and barrel...everything, you know. So, they had one record to finish before they could just kind of move onto CBS who was their distributor, but they weren't sure if he would let them do the record without Kevin, so they kind of kept me hidden for a while, until they were sure they could make the record, because they wanted out. See, basically CBS, the distributor for Pasha, gave all the advance money for Quiet Riot's records to Spencer and then Spencer divvied it out to the band however he wanted to, and so he ended up with all of their publishing. Anyway, so, when I went in and tracked vocals I was walking into the most political situation I have ever been in as far as a musical situation, because the band and their manager didn't want to give me and my manager anything but they wanted my manager to do all of these things for them, like finding a place to rehearse and things like that. You know, the Dio's had a place to rehearse and we could go in there without having to spend any money so we set that up to help the band out. Then I officially got in the band and Chuck Wright, who was the bass player at the time, left and then Rudy (Sarzo) came back to the band at the same time, basically, but he was negotiating with us at the same time that Whitesnake wanted him, so he ended up going with them and we ended up finding Sean McNabb to work with us. We worked for about a year tracking songs, in fact "Stay With Me Tonight" was a song that didn't make it onto the last Rough Cutt record that we did so I brought it to the attention of Quiet Riot. They thought it would be a cool song to do, so we changed the groove and feel of it and then recorded that. Then, after a year of litigation, lots of money and attorney fees, we were able to finish recording the album. But, the whole thing, right up to the end, was just very political. You know I really actually liked working with Spencer, I thought he brought out a lot of good things in me, but there was just a lot of hostility from years of them (Quiet Riot) working with Spencer and, you know, them going from touring in a Winnebago and whatever, then getting a number one hit and just being bigger than life with "Cum On Feel The Noize", and making all that money. You know, they did, they made a lot of money but they were also all very bitter knowing what everybody gave up that could have been theirs, and probably should have been theirs, but that was their choice; they should have changed that after they went crazy with their big hit, as far as their publishing and everything went. So, basically, when I jumped in the band we spent a year fighting over publishing. You know, I didn't want to give up my writing and publishing rights and so we made a deal to split everything equally. Where I made a mistake is I should have kept my rights as a writer, you know, especially with the stuff I brought in from the outside, and then split the publishing because, well, as a musician that's your retirement.
G2G: Right, I've heard other songwriters say that...
Paul: Yeah, it really is. But, I made the mistake being a bit naive, you know, I made the mistake of giving up my writing credit as well, so, you live and learn, I guess.
G2G: Did you play out quite a bit with Quiet Riot?
Paul: Well, yeah, we did. We toured South America, we toured Guam and Japan, in fact we released a video, or at least Frankie (Banali) did, I don't know, I've never seen it and I've never made anything from it, maybe Carlos (Cavasa) has, I don't know. I met with Frankie and I agreed for him to release it, but I don't think there was any money to be made on the thing anyway, so.... They just released it digitally, so, I'm maybe starting to see some of the uh, the backlash of that whole effort or whatever. But, you know, I wish Quiet Riot the best, but I don't see it being Quiet Riot out there now, you know. Carlos is in Ratt now, and I'm with Kobra... I believe that the only real version of Quiet Riot that could even exist now would be Frankie, me, Carlos, and Sean, because that is the only other line-up of Quiet Riot, other than the Randy Rhodes stuff years and years ago, that ever did anything outside of what the band did with Kevin, at least that was recorded, you know what I mean? Everybody else, I mean, don't get me wrong, Chuck Wright did a lot of bass stuff for Quiet Riot and he's been in and out of the band for years, so, I don't have an issue with that I guess. And I believe Alex (Grossi) was in the band with Kevin and Frankie, but there was also a time when Bobby Rondinelli was in there playing drums, and...there were just so many different people in that band that any number of people could go out and say they were Quiet Riot, but only the four of us ever really recorded anything as Quiet Riot, you know. But the lineup that is with Frankie right now are all people who have been affiliate with the band at one time or another, except the new singer, but that lineup has never recorded anything as Quiet Riot, so... Anyway, I wish them all the best, you know, it's a business and it's a very small circle of people and I don't like to say anything negative about anybody because it's not worth it, you know. You just have to continue to move on. I don't have any animosity towards anybody and I only wish anybody the best, so if this is the way Frankie wants to go out and do Quiet Riot, so be it. But as for my time with the band, it was just a very interesting, very politically charged time and quite a journey, but unfortunately, like in Rough Cutt, it all came down to money and that's why they call it the music business because the business takes over the music sometimes. If they could keep the business out of it, and just let people enjoy the creativity part of it, and not try to have so many people get their fingers into the pie of the whole thing...you know, the pie is always big enough to split up until people start taking more than they deserve. That's what happened to Quiet Riot, really. Spencer ended up taking more of the writing and publishing credits than any member of the band, and we wrote the material and stuff, so... And I'm not saying he didn't do anything, because he was there on it, you know, but producers get paid a lot of money to help guide you through a song process and make it better, and you know...so, it's amazing that people get greedy and hungry for a bigger piece of the pie, or whatever. I was just recently doing a new publishing deal and I had to go through all of the percentages of everything that I have ever written and/or co-wrote with people, and it was, uh, it was very sad, actually, to see a lot of the work that I had done myself that a lot of other people got credit for and I was getting less of a percentage even though I wrote everything. You know, seeing music sales and these other people, you know like Spencer who sold out all of his rights to another publishing company, so they are going to have money for all of his catalog and they, like Spencer, didn't even write any of it. It's very bizarre how it all works and pretty sad, really. I just don't have the money or the resources or the time to go and settle stuff in court that really isn't right, you know, and I would have a hard time proving a lot of it anyway, even though (licensing companies) BMI and ASCAP have the percentages from back in those days, and those percentages don't match up to what I am getting, so in order for me to change those percentages in writing credits for me to get what is actually mine, I would have to have a piece of paper, in writing, that we had all drawn up back then on who got what percentages. But it is what it is. I thought we wrote some really good stuff in Quiet Riot, but I kind of blame myself for not doing a second album with the band because of all the politics in that band. I left the band before that next record and formed the band Badd Boyz with Sean McNabb who came along with me, along with Mitch Perry and James Kottack.
G2G: Well, since you brought Badd Boyz up, what can you share with us about that band because, really, it is relatively unknown, correct?
Paul: Yeah, which is too bad, really. Um, we ended up needing a drummer to replace James because he couldn't commit, and then we actually ended up getting a recording contract, so, uh, we ended up getting a gentleman named Rich Carlson who was a very good drummer out of Colorado. Um (chuckles), it's been a pretty jumpy ride through those Quiet Riot and Badd Boyz years...you know, I mean you just live and learn. Sometimes it's just kind of a sad reality when you see things come out the way you do and you wish you would have had a way to change things then. The Badd Boyz record, I thought had some good stuff on it but it came out at a bad time, musically, for what we were doing. So, uh, again, I wish nothing but the best to everybody I have ever worked with, you know all the Rough Cutt guys and the Quiet Riot guys and my Badd Boyz guys...I just want them all to continue to have happy, creative, and peaceful lives, you know. I'm not bitter about any of it, it's just a little sad sometimes is all.
G2G: You know, one of my favorite projects that you ever did was the stuff you did as Shortino/Northrup...and JK told me to tell you "hi" by the way... But those two records, and particularly that first one, were just some killer bluesy rock records that not enough people have heard. How did that pairing come up and what can you tell me about your time working with Mr. Northrup?
Paul: Jeff Northrup is probably the most underrated, talented, guitar player I have ever met. He is a phenomenal songwriter, guitar player, any other thing he does he's great at, too. I couldn't say anything but great things about Jeff and would do anything for Jeff. That Back On Track record is one of the best things that I have ever recorded and that is so much because of Jeff, man.
G2G: I know, I love it...
Paul: I do, too. In fact the song "Pieces", I had walking pneumonia when I sang that song...
G2G: Really?
Paul: Yeah. I was only supposed to sing on a couple of songs, originally, and we had such a great chemistry and connection that he didn't want anybody else to sing anything, and I was just really honored to do that record with Jeff. And, the other one, too, Afterlife, I think is also a great record, but it doesn't even come close to Back On Track, I don't think, largely because of all the great drummers and guest musicians that were on that record. That includes Bobby Kimball (lead singer of Toto), who came in and sang "Forgotten Child" with me. I called Bobby and had him come in and sing with me, as a favor, and he called me and said, "Hey, man, I don't know about those guys! I thought I was going to just go in and sing a couple of lines but they gave me the once over man! They worked me, man!" (laughing) He did a phenomenal job though, and what a great record. We actually went on tour with Jeff, James, myself, and Sean McNabb doing some shows across the country not too long after that record was released.
G2G: I just think it's a great record. I know that it's been re-released once and I really wish that it would get properly released again by one of these retro labels that put everything out because I think it's one of those records that I just feel everyone should hear, you know.
Paul: It really is. You know it had some great songs and just some really great playing, especially from Jeff. What a talent. And there were some great drummers on there, also. You know, I did stuff on there with Carmine before I ever even dreamed of doing Kobra, you know. We were always kind of friends, but we've since become very close friends, and it kind of started on that record, you know.
G2G: Paul, I realize I am jumping a bit out of the timeline of events here, but I have to ask you about the Hear N' Aid all-star project because you are the first person I have had the chance to interview that was in on that event. That had to be a heck of a thrill, I would think!
Paul: It was, like, the most in-awe situation that I have ever found myself in. There were just so many people that I, as an artist, looked up to and I never thought that I would ever meet some of the people that were involved in this project. You know, I'm a fan as well, and here I am thrown into this group of superstars and I'm in a sort of shock, you know. I mean, you have Ted Nugent and Carmine before I actually got to know him...you know, legends in this genre of music that we were in. And being tossed into this group of people that I was just in awe of was an incredible experience, and to be put into the group of people who were used as lead singers on the project was just a, uh, an unbelievable experience. People put their egos in their back pockets and everybody was just down to earth and it was just an amazing event, a truly amazing event. I remember doing the lead vocals at Captain and Tenille's studio in, I think it's Northridge, and then going to all the guitar solo stuff and the drum tracking for the basic tracks, and the backing choir stuff, which was all done at A&M Studios. It was really quite an incredible, honoring experience to be involved in as far as I was concerned.
G2G: It's interesting to me that you brought up egos because everybody always says that Yngwie Malmsteen has the biggest ego out there. What was he like to work with or do you have any memories of Yngwie?
Paul: I really didn't interact with him very much, you know what I mean, because there were days and days and days of tracking, and you know some days I didn't even see him do his parts. They had so many people coming in and doing their parts, and it was just...it would have been impossible to really meet and spend time with everyone and I was in such a state of "I can't believe I'm here" that I probably didn't soak it all in as much as I wish I could have. I was there when the two guitar players from Iron Maiden were there, um, I was there when Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) did his part, and I was there when the Spinal Tap guys were there (laughs), and they were, of course, bagging on all the "Yngwie J. Malmsteen" stuff with his middle initial...
G2G: Oh yeah, classic stuff...(laughing)...
Paul: Absolutely. Great stuff and great times....
G2G: Now, was that how you got hooked up to do the Spinal Tap movie? A lot of people possibly don't realize that you were Duke Fame in that classic movie...
Paul: Well, what had happened is that Rough Cutt had a gig, actually Jake was in the band at that time, and we had this gig at the Troubador, and we had put a couple of different ads out in papers and I believe it was BAM! magazine at the time, and anyway, uh, they all ran an ad of the band playing the Troubador and the lady who did the casting for the movie or whatever saw a photo and then came down to see the band. She saw us and then asked Dave, Jake, and myself to show up to meet with her about this movie they were doing. Well, I just happened to show up first and I was dressed in that outfit, you know the white leather and the boots, that was my outfit...
G2G: Really?
Paul: Oh, yeah, man! (laughing) So, uh, she saw me in this outfit and everyone there went, "He's Duke Fame! We don't even have to take him to wardrobe!" (laughing) So, yeah, I got the part, I showed up early, got my S.A.G. (Screen Actor's Guild) card out of it... Funny thing happened when we were waiting around to film my part. We were sitting around waiting, me and Wendy (Dio), and this girl that was in the shoot with me was actually Jackson Browne's ex-girlfriend, who he had dumped for Darryl Hannah before she did "Splash". So, I was listening to her and Wendy talk about rock stars, and you know, Rough Cutt wasn't even signed yet, so I'm no rock star, you know, I'm just playing one. Anyway, these two are going on about Jackson Browne and Ronnie and all these rock stars and boyfriends and husbands, and I see the Spinal Tap guys walk by and I take Wendy aside and tell her, "man, these guys are having a bad hair day or something!", not realizing they were wearing wigs, you know. So then we take a break for lunch and I'm sitting next to Rob Reiner, trying to push Rough Cutt songs to him to be in the movie and the guys across from us are Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest, and the drummer, Rick...I can't remember his last name...might have been Parnell, Rick Parnell, who was a really good drummer, by the way...and anyway, I look at these guys who are out of make-up and costume, and I tell them "you look like these guys I saw earlier who were having a really bad hair day"...and I felt like a complete idiot when I found out they were the guys! But I didn't get fired and I went and did my part with Howard Hessman, you know, and got my S.A.G. card, which has been a blessing, and that has pretty much been the whole experience, you know. The whole thing was ad-libbed, so there wasn't any script, you know, there was just this outline of a movie and everyone was just kind of told, you know they told Fran Drescher, for example, here's your part, here's what's happening, go for it. So, that stuff, all of Howard's stuff, that was all just made up and it was crazy! So, we are out on the road as Rough Cutt, you know, and we couldn't get a line-check or sound-check with Krokus, who we were out with, but then their manager stopped by our dressing room one night and said, "hey, aren't you Duke Fame from Spinal Tap?" I told him yeah and he was like, "well, the guys in Krokus want to meet you". So I went and signed autographs and stuff and took some pictures and the next thing you know we had Heineken and a sound-check, and they checked out the Budweiser we had been drinking, and suddenly they were treating us like stars because Duke Fame was in the band. It's crazy...
G2G: Duke Fame got you some real fame, then...
Paul: Absolutely! It's gotten me a lot of places, really. I was picking Ronnie and Wendy Dio up at the airport, and you know they had their own limousine company, so I just showed up with the limo driver to help with the luggage, you know. So, as I'm helping with the luggage, the guys from REO (Speedwagon) come over to me and ask me if I'm Duke Fame! When they saw me getting into the limo they asked me if I was heading over to the Enormodome as they were getting into a shuttle bus to head off somewhere else. It's just crazy what that film has done...
G2G: And it got you to Glitter2Gutter! (laughing)
Paul: Exactly (laughs)
G2G: Well, you have to have been one of the busiest singers of the last 30 years or so, at least as far as hard rock goes. On top of all the bands we talked about, you also jumped on board and helped out Great White for a couple of shows there, didn't you?
Paul: Yeah, yeah, I did because Terry (Ilous of XYZ and now Great White) wasn't able to be there and Jani Lane, my good friend who's dead and gone, couldn't make the gig because he couldn't leave the country. Jani had been singing for Great White while Jack (Russell) was out with some health problems, you know, but he couldn't go overseas. And, you know, we're all friends and everything, so Terry calls me up and asks me if I could maybe do a couple of shows. He told me, "I can't go back over and do it, I just got done doing shows with XYZ over there, so would you be interested in doing it?", and I said sure, you know, I would do anything for friends.
G2G: In your opinion, how bad is that situation now, with the two Great Whites? We just had Jack Russell call us not too long ago and give us his insight, and I actually got to talk to Jack when he played here in town a couple weeks ago. He told me that there is just no chance that things will likely work out...in fact, he said it would "take an act of God" to get him and Mark Kendall back on stage together. How sad is that for you, not only as a friend but as a fan?
Paul: It's very sad, you know. I mean, if you think about it, there's two LA Guns out there, now two Great Whites...I mean that would almost be like Carlos (Cavaza) starting up his own version of Quiet Riot, without any of us or anyone else in the band...
G2G: Yeah, I feel the same. It's getting ridiculous... There were also two Faster Pussycats for a while, there are virtually two Dokken's now, what with Don going with a new band and the rest of the guys doing their thing together, the two LA Guns and two Great Whites, like you mentioned...it's confusing to fans and it's really sad that with so many bands getting back together now, the ones that had managed to stick it out and continue on are the ones that are breaking up now and going their separate ways.
Paul: Well, there's another one, too. I'm good friends with John Payne and John was with Asia for six or seven records, but the original Asia is all back together now, so now you have Asia with Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman and all those guys, and you have John Payne's version of Asia who, really, has the bulk of that band's material if you think about it, but none of the big hits. So, all the records that John had done, none of them were huge because radio in the 90's had no interest in playing the music of 80's bands that were still going, like an Asia. So...it's like you said, it's confusing to fans...
G2G: Talking about bands that kind of came out of nowhere to get back together again, King Kobra was, for all intents and purposes, dead and buried. How did that resurrection come about and how did you jump on board?
Paul: Well, how that whole thing happened was KEEL was doing another record, and I was helping out; I actually did Ron's (Keel) vocals in my studio, so they had gotten back together. So, it just happens that Carmine had stopped by Pat Reagan's studio where he was mixing some of KEEL's new stuff with Brian Jay. So, Pat mentioned to Carmine that Frontiers Records was signing all of these 80's acts and that Carmine might want to talk to them about getting King Kobra together for another record. And, uh, Carmine said, "well, yeah, except that I'm not going to use Mark Free because"...well, he's Marcie Free now, you know, anyway, Carmine was like, "Mark never really wanted to do heavy rock anyway, so I don't think he would want to come back now." So, Pat and actually I think it was Brian Jay who said, "hey, you should check Paul Shortino out, I think he'd be perfect for you guys." So, Carmine came up to here to do a gig, and he brought David, the guitar player from Kobra with him, and we all did this thing together with me doing a King Kobra song with them. Well, David had brought down some tracks with him and over the weekend we wrote three songs together. We were all like, wow, this is really cool, this is really working, and we decided maybe we should pursue this. In fact, we ended up writing almost the whole record before we even signed the contract to do the deal. We took some old material that they had and mixed it with some new stuff, of course with a new singer in me, and we brought in some new ideas on melodies and stuff, and we came up with a really good record, and now we're doing another one which is great. I really hope we get to tour behind this new record, and I think Frontiers is going to put us out with some other bands. It would be really cool to get to go out with Whitesnake because we could call it the "Venom Tour" with the snakes and stuff (chuckles).
G2G: (Laughs) Snake-haters might not like that so much...
Paul: Yeah, probably not...
G2G: You know, a lot of people compare your vocal style to Coverdale's. How do you take that?
Paul: I take that as a great compliment because he's one of my favorite singers, man.
G2G: Have you ever had the opportunity to work with him or spend any time with him over the years? Your paths ever cross?
Paul: I met David Coverdale at a Dio concert one time before Whitesnake got huge. I was blown away. The first time I had ever got to see David perform was with Deep Purple at CalJam 1, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer were headlining. It was so trippy for me because then all these years down the road I got to meet him backstage, warming up for a show opening for my friends in Dio. This was around their Slide It In album and they were touring with Dio, of course. I also ended up getting to meet Glenn Hughes, who of course played with Coverdale, at the Dio's house. It was just amazing to me how I was able to meet people who I was in awe of for all these years... My favorite singers who I kind of tried to emulate was Lou Gramm, Coverdale, Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant...those are like, as far as rock singers go, those are my favorites. And like I mentioned earlier, I grew up a big fan of Motown and the soul sound and R&B sound of the 60's and 70's like the Temptations, the Four Tops...Stevie Wonder...(at this point, Paul breaks into song, singing, "I know you want me...."), you know, soulful stuff like that... You know, Glenn Hughes is also a big fan of Stevie Wonder, also...you can really hear it in some of his inflections when he's singing... He's just one of the most incredible vocalists that I have ever heard...
G2G: I agree...totally agree. Now, Paul, you've always been noted for the raspier, blusier slant that you bring to your music, which really seems to lend itself to another current project of yours with the Vargas Blues Band, who Carmine also plays with, correct?
Paul: Yes, yes. Actually, we just did a remake of "If You Think I'm Sexy" which Carmine co-wrote with Rod Stewart...
G2G: I'm going to have to hear that...
Paul: Yeah, man. We redid it, and Pat Travers is on the track, and so is Tony Franklin...um, it's got some rap on it...it's a heavy version of the song. It's like (Paul breaks into a VERY bluesed up version of the song at this point). (Chuckles) As you can tell, it's a little different! (laughs) And then the chorus is like (again, very blues-soaked here) "if you want my body AND you think I'm sexy, come on honey let me know..." And then, and this was my idea, we do some different stuff with the backing vocals and a kind of rap, kind of like a Jimi Hendrix kind of thing, you know a "wah wah" thing then this rap thing (Paul raps the lines from the song)... There's just a little bit of everything in this one track... We ended up doing a video for this thing which comes out in October or November, so we'll see if we can get back over to Europe and do some touring.
G2G: Is that just called the Vargas Blues Band, then?
Paul: No, this one is called V.A.S., which is Vargas, Appice, and Shortino... He (Vargas) has a lot of other stuff out, too, so this one is V.A.S. And then the bass player was...man, I forgot his name... (shouts to his wife "Carmen...who was the bass player with us in Vargas?") That's right! Louie! Luis Mayol is the bass player on there...great guy. Can't believe I forgot his name... He's in the video, too. By the way, Javier (Vargas) is just amazing. He's played with Prince, Queen, um, so many people. He's extremely famous in Spain and he's played with, like, literally everybody who has come through Spain it seems. Great guitar player and great human being. This record that's coming out also has Glenn Hughes on the album, and an unbelievable list of musicians and performers that is coming out...
G2G: I'm going to have to check it out.
Paul: Yeah, it's really cool. The only thing is, the whole album is blues except for the first song, "...Sexy", but, of course we did that one pretty bluesy too (breaks into the "...Sexy" chorus again before starting to laugh...) Can you believe they did a video for that? I think it's an awesome video and I just got it not too long ago, so, uh, I'll send you over a copy to look at.
G2G: Now when can we expect the new King Kobra record to be out? I'm assuming it's going to be on Frontiers again, right?
Paul: Yeah, that should be out the first of next year, I believe.
G2G: Well, Paul, you gave me so much more than I was even hoping for and it has been a true pleasure and experience for me to get the chance to spend some time with you on the phone...
Paul: I hope we get the chance to talk again man, especially when that new Kobra record is out. You, uh, you've got my number so feel free to give me a holler any time, my friend.
G2G: I'll try to let you sleep in next time!
Paul: Here...(laughing)...yeah, that would be great! Thanks so much and God bless, my friend!
That, folks, was an almost 80 minute interview that Paul was so gracious to grant us! Be sure to keep up with all things Paul Shortino at his website, where else, www.paulshortino.com
Back to TALKIN' TRASH WITH...
Back Home
G2G: Paul, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with me. Your wife informed me you had quite a wild night with the guys from Hell Yeah! last night, so I appreciate the effort! (Laughing)
Paul: Yeah, yeah...we're supposed to hook up with them again this afternoon before they go back out on the road.
G2G: You're hooked up with some legendary partiers, there, Paul...
Paul: Oh yeah, man. Especially Vinnie Paul, man. He's a great guy, though...
G2G: So when you're not running with the wild boys, you've been hard at work on the new King Kobra record, correct?
Paul: Yes, yes, we've cut all the bass tracks and drum tracks and now we're in the process of going back through and cleaning up stuff. I've started to track vocals with the bass and drums to kind of make sure everything's pretty tight, and then I'll send that off to David, then he goes through it, and then he figures out what he wants to keep and what he doesn't want to keep. It's just a process that we go through that works for us. On the last one, Carmine wanted to cut the drums on tape and that worked so on this one we cut the drums on tape, and then Johnny came in from St. Louis to cut the bass, and James lives in Phoenix, and I live here in Vegas, so we all have to find time to do our parts to put this thing together. And, of course, Carmine's back and forth from here to L.A., so...it can be crazy. But, we did the last record this way, and it seemed to work and so we're going through this one the same way and, to be honest, probably the video, too. Everybody did their parts in different states for the last record, but this time everybody's coming to Las Vegas except David. He has a studio in Phoenix that he works out of, so... Oh, and the last record was mixed in Germany by Michael Voss, and he's probably going to do this new record, also. And then the last video was done by a guy named Mario in Spain, so, uh, its kind of interesting how stuff's done these days...you can just send files all over the world and let people do their jobs.G2G: Yeah, that's what I was getting ready to say. It's amazing to me how technology has made the idea of a band almost a nationwide, if not worldwide, concept if you really think about it.
Paul: Oh, absolutely, you know, it's amazing that just because of zeroes and ones you can send files out, import them into a session and if things don't sound exactly right you can fix it...it's just amazing. I remember the old days when if they wanted to edit anything it was a chunk of tape on the floor.
G2G: No more razor blades and tape...
Paul: Nope. In fact, I remember the second Rough Cutt album Jack Douglas was known for his editing abilities. When he worked on the last John Lennon album...did you know he actually worked on the last Lennon album before he was shot? Yeah, they dropped him off at the Dakota just after being together in the studio, and Chapman shot him (Lennon) right after they dropped him off.
G2G: Wow...
Paul: Yeah... (laughing) I don't even remember where I was going with that... (laughter). Oh, yeah...Rough Cutt...
G2G: (laughing) Well, since you brought up Rough Cutt, let's go back a bit and take a couple minutes to look at that band. Why do you think Rough Cutt never really broke out like it seemed you guys were poised to do?
and did Queensryche, and you know they won a Grammy for "Silent Ludicity" so...um, I ran into him and he played me some of the Queensryche stuff that was going to come out at about the same time as our second album and I was just blown away, so it was like, "man...what if...", you know. But...things happen... You know, the PMRC thing didn't help, either, you know with Tipper Gore demonizing heavy metal and especially the album covers, and, well, ours had a heart with a knife coming out of it, so...(laughs)...that probably didn't help... I don't know what that was so horrible...maybe it was the piece of blood dripping onto the mechanical spider...G2G: Scary stuff! (laughing)
Paul: What's ironic was, it's kind of funny, but that album cover was really designed for kids. But, I remember we were touring with Ronnie (Dio) on the Sacred Heart tour, and we were doing radio spots and record store promotions for people to come in and see the band and get stuff signed, but we would get to the record store and the album wouldn't even be out or at the station it wouldn't even be opened. It was a really weird time and I think it had a lot to do with the label not really being behind us, and then we ended up with this big (PMRC) sticker on our record, so... You know, if you're not getting any radio play, for whatever reason, really hurts. Our album wasn't getting out there, so the sticker hurt us, but bands like Ratt, or WASP, in particular, they already had their material out there, so putting a sticker on their records actually promoted their sales, you know. People were like, "hey, that must be cool stuff", whereas with us it was like, you know, "who are they"? But with those other guys, people already knew who they were, but for us, it just stopped people from even opening up the record... So be it.
G2G: Now, despite the lack of support here, I've heard you actually had a really strong European following. Is that correct?
Paul: Yeah, um, where it was more of a cult following here in the U.S., we were much bigger in Europe for whatever reason...no PMRC, maybe....
G2G: Now, do you consider the band that you later formed, The Cutt, to be an extension of Rough Cutt, or were you just going with what people felt comfortable with in associating your name with a project?
Paul: Well, no, I just, uh....you know the name, Rough Cutt, I came up with it, so when I did a solo album, I just kind of figured I'd call the band "The Cutt". I don't know that I thought the whole project would end up with that label, but it is what it is... It was kind of a cliche to people, so I thought I could get away with it. Actually, I should have just taken the name (Rough Cutt) and ran with it since the band was basically dead at that time anyway. Those guys just really didn't want...you know, we've tried a number of times, but the rest of the band, there's just too many guys with too many ideas. You know, I had us a record deal to get Rough Cutt back together after we did this last King Kobra album. You know, the Kobra record was done in December of that year, and my manager had checked with Frontiers Records and we got offered more for a new Rough Cutt album than we did the new King Kobra album, but then everybody started arguing over money, where we were going to track it, who was going to engineer it, you know all that stuff. I told them how we had just done the Kobra record, you know, writing songs and sending them to each other to work on and analyze, chop up and give it a facelift, you know, see if people like the direction the song is going and so forth, you know, the lyrics and the melodies, like we had done with Carmine and Johnny and Dave for Kobra. But they argued so much about the money and everything that by the time...look, if we had signed in the December when the contract was offered and worked out the rest after signing, we would have gotten more money, but then 2012 arrived, and we were still arguing about money and the whole deal had changed by that time, and now we needed to schedule so many dates to tour to support the record, and with Rough Cutt not having been out for 20-some, almost 30 years as a group, we just didn't have an easy time getting dates and stuff, so... Eventually, nobody but me wanted to do it. They kept going over the money thing until I was like, "you know what, forget about it." You know? I thought it was a good idea and a good way to make another record and do some touring. It wasn't about making a fortune off the record because the money was good, but it wasn't going to make anyone rich or anything, but still it was a decent budget for a record that we all could have been doing in our own studios. It just ended up never going anywhere because of money... I just really miss playing with the guys and I think we could have made a really good record, but in the end, there wasn't enough money for the guys to be happy, so we just let it go.
G2G: Were all of the originals going to be on board?
Paul: What, the material?
G2G: The band...
Paul: Yeah, it would have been all the originals, yeah. Well, we talked to Craig Goldy, but he's under contract with Wendy Dio, and he wasn't going to be permitted to participate for whatever reason. The only guitar players that we would ask to bring in other than the originals would have been Jake (E. Lee) or Craig (Goldy), because they were the only two other guys who were really in Rough Cutt. And then I said, why don't we just make it a four-piece, you know, but nobody could make up their minds about the budget or where to record it...it just got so...so...just like it was when we were together. Everyone was so non-committal, nobody wanted to do anything right....it was just very frustrating just never, ever being able to do what was best for the project, you know. We had the same kind of problems when we were together originally. I got outvoted on producers, you know, but everything was done by a democratic vote, so I went along with it. But with this new project, that simply wasn't going to work because nobody could agree to anything, you know...it was like four or five people voting four or five different ways. That's just the way the whole thing went.
G2G: When Rough Cutt disbanded originally, you went on to front Quiet Riot for that one, self-titled album. Can you tell us what that experience was like?
G2G: Right, I've heard other songwriters say that...
Paul: Yeah, it really is. But, I made the mistake being a bit naive, you know, I made the mistake of giving up my writing credit as well, so, you live and learn, I guess.
G2G: Did you play out quite a bit with Quiet Riot?
Paul: Well, yeah, we did. We toured South America, we toured Guam and Japan, in fact we released a video, or at least Frankie (Banali) did, I don't know, I've never seen it and I've never made anything from it, maybe Carlos (Cavasa) has, I don't know. I met with Frankie and I agreed for him to release it, but I don't think there was any money to be made on the thing anyway, so.... They just released it digitally, so, I'm maybe starting to see some of the uh, the backlash of that whole effort or whatever. But, you know, I wish Quiet Riot the best, but I don't see it being Quiet Riot out there now, you know. Carlos is in Ratt now, and I'm with Kobra... I believe that the only real version of Quiet Riot that could even exist now would be Frankie, me, Carlos, and Sean, because that is the only other line-up of Quiet Riot, other than the Randy Rhodes stuff years and years ago, that ever did anything outside of what the band did with Kevin, at least that was recorded, you know what I mean? Everybody else, I mean, don't get me wrong, Chuck Wright did a lot of bass stuff for Quiet Riot and he's been in and out of the band for years, so, I don't have an issue with that I guess. And I believe Alex (Grossi) was in the band with Kevin and Frankie, but there was also a time when Bobby Rondinelli was in there playing drums, and...there were just so many different people in that band that any number of people could go out and say they were Quiet Riot, but only the four of us ever really recorded anything as Quiet Riot, you know. But the lineup that is with Frankie right now are all people who have been affiliate with the band at one time or another, except the new singer, but that lineup has never recorded anything as Quiet Riot, so... Anyway, I wish them all the best, you know, it's a business and it's a very small circle of people and I don't like to say anything negative about anybody because it's not worth it, you know. You just have to continue to move on. I don't have any animosity towards anybody and I only wish anybody the best, so if this is the way Frankie wants to go out and do Quiet Riot, so be it. But as for my time with the band, it was just a very interesting, very politically charged time and quite a journey, but unfortunately, like in Rough Cutt, it all came down to money and that's why they call it the music business because the business takes over the music sometimes. If they could keep the business out of it, and just let people enjoy the creativity part of it, and not try to have so many people get their fingers into the pie of the whole thing...you know, the pie is always big enough to split up until people start taking more than they deserve. That's what happened to Quiet Riot, really. Spencer ended up taking more of the writing and publishing credits than any member of the band, and we wrote the material and stuff, so... And I'm not saying he didn't do anything, because he was there on it, you know, but producers get paid a lot of money to help guide you through a song process and make it better, and you know...so, it's amazing that people get greedy and hungry for a bigger piece of the pie, or whatever. I was just recently doing a new publishing deal and I had to go through all of the percentages of everything that I have ever written and/or co-wrote with people, and it was, uh, it was very sad, actually, to see a lot of the work that I had done myself that a lot of other people got credit for and I was getting less of a percentage even though I wrote everything. You know, seeing music sales and these other people, you know like Spencer who sold out all of his rights to another publishing company, so they are going to have money for all of his catalog and they, like Spencer, didn't even write any of it. It's very bizarre how it all works and pretty sad, really. I just don't have the money or the resources or the time to go and settle stuff in court that really isn't right, you know, and I would have a hard time proving a lot of it anyway, even though (licensing companies) BMI and ASCAP have the percentages from back in those days, and those percentages don't match up to what I am getting, so in order for me to change those percentages in writing credits for me to get what is actually mine, I would have to have a piece of paper, in writing, that we had all drawn up back then on who got what percentages. But it is what it is. I thought we wrote some really good stuff in Quiet Riot, but I kind of blame myself for not doing a second album with the band because of all the politics in that band. I left the band before that next record and formed the band Badd Boyz with Sean McNabb who came along with me, along with Mitch Perry and James Kottack.
G2G: Well, since you brought Badd Boyz up, what can you share with us about that band because, really, it is relatively unknown, correct?
G2G: You know, one of my favorite projects that you ever did was the stuff you did as Shortino/Northrup...and JK told me to tell you "hi" by the way... But those two records, and particularly that first one, were just some killer bluesy rock records that not enough people have heard. How did that pairing come up and what can you tell me about your time working with Mr. Northrup?
Paul: Jeff Northrup is probably the most underrated, talented, guitar player I have ever met. He is a phenomenal songwriter, guitar player, any other thing he does he's great at, too. I couldn't say anything but great things about Jeff and would do anything for Jeff. That Back On Track record is one of the best things that I have ever recorded and that is so much because of Jeff, man.
G2G: I know, I love it...
Paul: I do, too. In fact the song "Pieces", I had walking pneumonia when I sang that song...
G2G: Really?
Paul: Yeah. I was only supposed to sing on a couple of songs, originally, and we had such a great chemistry and connection that he didn't want anybody else to sing anything, and I was just really honored to do that record with Jeff. And, the other one, too, Afterlife, I think is also a great record, but it doesn't even come close to Back On Track, I don't think, largely because of all the great drummers and guest musicians that were on that record. That includes Bobby Kimball (lead singer of Toto), who came in and sang "Forgotten Child" with me. I called Bobby and had him come in and sing with me, as a favor, and he called me and said, "Hey, man, I don't know about those guys! I thought I was going to just go in and sing a couple of lines but they gave me the once over man! They worked me, man!" (laughing) He did a phenomenal job though, and what a great record. We actually went on tour with Jeff, James, myself, and Sean McNabb doing some shows across the country not too long after that record was released.G2G: I just think it's a great record. I know that it's been re-released once and I really wish that it would get properly released again by one of these retro labels that put everything out because I think it's one of those records that I just feel everyone should hear, you know.
Paul: It really is. You know it had some great songs and just some really great playing, especially from Jeff. What a talent. And there were some great drummers on there, also. You know, I did stuff on there with Carmine before I ever even dreamed of doing Kobra, you know. We were always kind of friends, but we've since become very close friends, and it kind of started on that record, you know.
G2G: Paul, I realize I am jumping a bit out of the timeline of events here, but I have to ask you about the Hear N' Aid all-star project because you are the first person I have had the chance to interview that was in on that event. That had to be a heck of a thrill, I would think!
G2G: It's interesting to me that you brought up egos because everybody always says that Yngwie Malmsteen has the biggest ego out there. What was he like to work with or do you have any memories of Yngwie?
Paul: I really didn't interact with him very much, you know what I mean, because there were days and days and days of tracking, and you know some days I didn't even see him do his parts. They had so many people coming in and doing their parts, and it was just...it would have been impossible to really meet and spend time with everyone and I was in such a state of "I can't believe I'm here" that I probably didn't soak it all in as much as I wish I could have. I was there when the two guitar players from Iron Maiden were there, um, I was there when Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) did his part, and I was there when the Spinal Tap guys were there (laughs), and they were, of course, bagging on all the "Yngwie J. Malmsteen" stuff with his middle initial...
G2G: Oh yeah, classic stuff...(laughing)...
Paul: Absolutely. Great stuff and great times....
G2G: Now, was that how you got hooked up to do the Spinal Tap movie? A lot of people possibly don't realize that you were Duke Fame in that classic movie...
Paul: Well, what had happened is that Rough Cutt had a gig, actually Jake was in the band at that time, and we had this gig at the Troubador, and we had put a couple of different ads out in papers and I believe it was BAM! magazine at the time, and anyway, uh, they all ran an ad of the band playing the Troubador and the lady who did the casting for the movie or whatever saw a photo and then came down to see the band. She saw us and then asked Dave, Jake, and myself to show up to meet with her about this movie they were doing. Well, I just happened to show up first and I was dressed in that outfit, you know the white leather and the boots, that was my outfit...
G2G: Really?
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| Shortino in Duke Fame mode |
Paul: Oh, yeah, man! (laughing) So, uh, she saw me in this outfit and everyone there went, "He's Duke Fame! We don't even have to take him to wardrobe!" (laughing) So, yeah, I got the part, I showed up early, got my S.A.G. (Screen Actor's Guild) card out of it... Funny thing happened when we were waiting around to film my part. We were sitting around waiting, me and Wendy (Dio), and this girl that was in the shoot with me was actually Jackson Browne's ex-girlfriend, who he had dumped for Darryl Hannah before she did "Splash". So, I was listening to her and Wendy talk about rock stars, and you know, Rough Cutt wasn't even signed yet, so I'm no rock star, you know, I'm just playing one. Anyway, these two are going on about Jackson Browne and Ronnie and all these rock stars and boyfriends and husbands, and I see the Spinal Tap guys walk by and I take Wendy aside and tell her, "man, these guys are having a bad hair day or something!", not realizing they were wearing wigs, you know. So then we take a break for lunch and I'm sitting next to Rob Reiner, trying to push Rough Cutt songs to him to be in the movie and the guys across from us are Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, and Christopher Guest, and the drummer, Rick...I can't remember his last name...might have been Parnell, Rick Parnell, who was a really good drummer, by the way...and anyway, I look at these guys who are out of make-up and costume, and I tell them "you look like these guys I saw earlier who were having a really bad hair day"...and I felt like a complete idiot when I found out they were the guys! But I didn't get fired and I went and did my part with Howard Hessman, you know, and got my S.A.G. card, which has been a blessing, and that has pretty much been the whole experience, you know. The whole thing was ad-libbed, so there wasn't any script, you know, there was just this outline of a movie and everyone was just kind of told, you know they told Fran Drescher, for example, here's your part, here's what's happening, go for it. So, that stuff, all of Howard's stuff, that was all just made up and it was crazy! So, we are out on the road as Rough Cutt, you know, and we couldn't get a line-check or sound-check with Krokus, who we were out with, but then their manager stopped by our dressing room one night and said, "hey, aren't you Duke Fame from Spinal Tap?" I told him yeah and he was like, "well, the guys in Krokus want to meet you". So I went and signed autographs and stuff and took some pictures and the next thing you know we had Heineken and a sound-check, and they checked out the Budweiser we had been drinking, and suddenly they were treating us like stars because Duke Fame was in the band. It's crazy...G2G: Duke Fame got you some real fame, then...
Paul: Absolutely! It's gotten me a lot of places, really. I was picking Ronnie and Wendy Dio up at the airport, and you know they had their own limousine company, so I just showed up with the limo driver to help with the luggage, you know. So, as I'm helping with the luggage, the guys from REO (Speedwagon) come over to me and ask me if I'm Duke Fame! When they saw me getting into the limo they asked me if I was heading over to the Enormodome as they were getting into a shuttle bus to head off somewhere else. It's just crazy what that film has done...
G2G: And it got you to Glitter2Gutter! (laughing)
Paul: Exactly (laughs)
G2G: Well, you have to have been one of the busiest singers of the last 30 years or so, at least as far as hard rock goes. On top of all the bands we talked about, you also jumped on board and helped out Great White for a couple of shows there, didn't you?
Paul: Yeah, yeah, I did because Terry (Ilous of XYZ and now Great White) wasn't able to be there and Jani Lane, my good friend who's dead and gone, couldn't make the gig because he couldn't leave the country. Jani had been singing for Great White while Jack (Russell) was out with some health problems, you know, but he couldn't go overseas. And, you know, we're all friends and everything, so Terry calls me up and asks me if I could maybe do a couple of shows. He told me, "I can't go back over and do it, I just got done doing shows with XYZ over there, so would you be interested in doing it?", and I said sure, you know, I would do anything for friends.
G2G: In your opinion, how bad is that situation now, with the two Great Whites? We just had Jack Russell call us not too long ago and give us his insight, and I actually got to talk to Jack when he played here in town a couple weeks ago. He told me that there is just no chance that things will likely work out...in fact, he said it would "take an act of God" to get him and Mark Kendall back on stage together. How sad is that for you, not only as a friend but as a fan?
Paul: It's very sad, you know. I mean, if you think about it, there's two LA Guns out there, now two Great Whites...I mean that would almost be like Carlos (Cavaza) starting up his own version of Quiet Riot, without any of us or anyone else in the band...
G2G: Yeah, I feel the same. It's getting ridiculous... There were also two Faster Pussycats for a while, there are virtually two Dokken's now, what with Don going with a new band and the rest of the guys doing their thing together, the two LA Guns and two Great Whites, like you mentioned...it's confusing to fans and it's really sad that with so many bands getting back together now, the ones that had managed to stick it out and continue on are the ones that are breaking up now and going their separate ways.
Paul: Well, there's another one, too. I'm good friends with John Payne and John was with Asia for six or seven records, but the original Asia is all back together now, so now you have Asia with Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman and all those guys, and you have John Payne's version of Asia who, really, has the bulk of that band's material if you think about it, but none of the big hits. So, all the records that John had done, none of them were huge because radio in the 90's had no interest in playing the music of 80's bands that were still going, like an Asia. So...it's like you said, it's confusing to fans...
G2G: Talking about bands that kind of came out of nowhere to get back together again, King Kobra was, for all intents and purposes, dead and buried. How did that resurrection come about and how did you jump on board?
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| The new King Kobra |
G2G: (Laughs) Snake-haters might not like that so much...
Paul: Yeah, probably not...
G2G: You know, a lot of people compare your vocal style to Coverdale's. How do you take that?
Paul: I take that as a great compliment because he's one of my favorite singers, man.
G2G: Have you ever had the opportunity to work with him or spend any time with him over the years? Your paths ever cross?
Paul: I met David Coverdale at a Dio concert one time before Whitesnake got huge. I was blown away. The first time I had ever got to see David perform was with Deep Purple at CalJam 1, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer were headlining. It was so trippy for me because then all these years down the road I got to meet him backstage, warming up for a show opening for my friends in Dio. This was around their Slide It In album and they were touring with Dio, of course. I also ended up getting to meet Glenn Hughes, who of course played with Coverdale, at the Dio's house. It was just amazing to me how I was able to meet people who I was in awe of for all these years... My favorite singers who I kind of tried to emulate was Lou Gramm, Coverdale, Paul Rodgers, Robert Plant...those are like, as far as rock singers go, those are my favorites. And like I mentioned earlier, I grew up a big fan of Motown and the soul sound and R&B sound of the 60's and 70's like the Temptations, the Four Tops...Stevie Wonder...(at this point, Paul breaks into song, singing, "I know you want me...."), you know, soulful stuff like that... You know, Glenn Hughes is also a big fan of Stevie Wonder, also...you can really hear it in some of his inflections when he's singing... He's just one of the most incredible vocalists that I have ever heard...
G2G: I agree...totally agree. Now, Paul, you've always been noted for the raspier, blusier slant that you bring to your music, which really seems to lend itself to another current project of yours with the Vargas Blues Band, who Carmine also plays with, correct?
Paul: Yes, yes. Actually, we just did a remake of "If You Think I'm Sexy" which Carmine co-wrote with Rod Stewart...
G2G: I'm going to have to hear that...
Paul: Yeah, man. We redid it, and Pat Travers is on the track, and so is Tony Franklin...um, it's got some rap on it...it's a heavy version of the song. It's like (Paul breaks into a VERY bluesed up version of the song at this point). (Chuckles) As you can tell, it's a little different! (laughs) And then the chorus is like (again, very blues-soaked here) "if you want my body AND you think I'm sexy, come on honey let me know..." And then, and this was my idea, we do some different stuff with the backing vocals and a kind of rap, kind of like a Jimi Hendrix kind of thing, you know a "wah wah" thing then this rap thing (Paul raps the lines from the song)... There's just a little bit of everything in this one track... We ended up doing a video for this thing which comes out in October or November, so we'll see if we can get back over to Europe and do some touring.
G2G: Is that just called the Vargas Blues Band, then?
G2G: I'm going to have to check it out.
Paul: Yeah, it's really cool. The only thing is, the whole album is blues except for the first song, "...Sexy", but, of course we did that one pretty bluesy too (breaks into the "...Sexy" chorus again before starting to laugh...) Can you believe they did a video for that? I think it's an awesome video and I just got it not too long ago, so, uh, I'll send you over a copy to look at.
G2G: Now when can we expect the new King Kobra record to be out? I'm assuming it's going to be on Frontiers again, right?
Paul: Yeah, that should be out the first of next year, I believe.
G2G: Well, Paul, you gave me so much more than I was even hoping for and it has been a true pleasure and experience for me to get the chance to spend some time with you on the phone...
Paul: I hope we get the chance to talk again man, especially when that new Kobra record is out. You, uh, you've got my number so feel free to give me a holler any time, my friend.
G2G: I'll try to let you sleep in next time!
Paul: Here...(laughing)...yeah, that would be great! Thanks so much and God bless, my friend!
That, folks, was an almost 80 minute interview that Paul was so gracious to grant us! Be sure to keep up with all things Paul Shortino at his website, where else, www.paulshortino.com
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