2002

Finally, here it is! The long-awaited interview with David Paich whom we met during the first European leg of TOTO's 25th anniversary world tour.
 
Your new tour has started, a new album has just been released. What expectations do you have for the next months, and what do you expect from the US release?
What's happened so far has really surpassed my expectations. We're pleasantly surprised. We have loyal fans out there, we have a large fanbase, also because of our website. We know they stick with us. And they go with us. So we're allowed to take some risks every once in a while and challenge ourselves. We don't always have to come up with the smash single or the smash album. We just wanna make good music for our fans. So far the rest of the world is going good so we hope that inspires the United States to promote the album cause that's what makes the difference, when people promote us it sells, when they don't it doesn't. We're having fun playing a live show here. We put 4 or 5 songs of the new album in there, usually we play like 1 or 2 of the new album. But these are standards, classic songs. But a lot of people don't know the stuff. When we finished the album we played it for some people and they listened to "Bodhisattva" and some of these songs and they never heard of them so they were like "Wow, that's a different kind of song." This isn't a cover album to everybody. It's really not. In "Through the Looking Glass" we're taking a look back to our beginnings, kind of full circle. These are the people that we've met and worked with and influenced us.

Do you have plans for US tourdates in 2003?
We're talking about doing some things this summer. Everything's a surprise right now. We finish Europe in February and nothing's really booked yet, there's some talk about touring this summer and doing some stuff.

It depends on the success of this tour and the album?
Yes, and it takes time and who you play with in combination. Maybe opening for a bigger act. You know Pink is huge in the United States but she opened for Lenny Kravitz. Which was a good bill, they both benefited from each other. So that's what we need to try to do. Instead of trying to headline in the United States trying to get on a bill with somebody.

If you look back on these 25 years, how would you compare the band from 1977 to 2002. Besides of the fact that you are older now, that you guys have families...
Well, the personnel changes are significant; a lot of bands change personnel, look at Genesis with Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel. It's a different band, when you change a band it's always a different band. It was already a different band when we did Isolation. You change one person, you change the lead singer, you change any component of the original chemistry, and you really got a brand new band. Like Led Zeppelin when the drummer was gone, how can you fill that place? It's hard to do. Same thing with Jeff Porcaro and David Hungate; that was the original band and that was the significant sound. So Mike came in, with whom we played a lot. What we should have done on the Isolation album was have Bobby sing it. I think it would have been a better album with Bobby singing it; I think we wouldn't have done such a left turn.

There were rumors that Bobby actually sang the record...
He sang about a third of the record. And then there was a change.

There are always fans asking if you had plans to re-release Isolation with Bobby singing it...
We may go back in there and put his voice on the album but he hasn't sung all the songs. But we may do that because I would love to hear how this album would sound with him. It would be a totally different album, it would be closer to a TOTO thing. We should have changed the name of the band on Isolation because it's so much different. But we take risks; that's what TOTO want to do. Maybe we could release an EP with Bobby's tracks.

Is there a special reason why you very rarely have Isolation songs in the setlist for the tours?
First of all it's a different singer and secondly that album didn't sell a whole lot. And the fact that we had't heard it in a long time, we just listened to it the other day and I think it's one of our best albums. But we thought the fans didn't like it.

Oh no, Isolation is one of the favorite albums among the fans...
Really? Knowing that now, we'll stick more from Isolation in the set. We stuck Lion in there this time, but we didn't have time for more. In the future, we will put more Isolation stuff in there.

A lot of fans wish that you would do as much lead vocals on the TOTO albums as you did in the early days of TOTO. Is there a special reason why this has changed, do you consider yourself nowadays more as a keyboarder than a singer in the band?
I guess it's just myself when I cast people. I always like to hear other people sing. I have a certain kind of voice within a certain range for certain songs like "Africa", like "Spanish Steps of Rome" and stuff like that. To me I always wanted the majority of the albums to be like with Bobby and Luke. Balanced out. You know I may start singing more but I have to find the right songs for me to do. To me Luke and Bobby are the real singers and every once in a while if I come up with one or two things I'm satisfied. I may put out a solo album of my stuff that's more like "Spanish Steps of Rome." Strictly my stuff right there. You never know. I thought about it.

That would be a great idea because a lot of fans request that you sing more...
That's good to know. That inspires me and motivates me!

This was actually the next question, do you have any specific plans for a solo record?
I always said I consider TOTO my solo records. It's pretty much what Mutt Lange does with Def Leppard and all the groups he works with. That's his solo records. He's just not singing on them, he writes them and plays all the parts. The songs I write the band always thought they don't really fit in, like "Stranger in town" and "Africa". "Africa" could have been the beginning of a solo project because it was so different and I thought I'd save it for a solo record because it really doesn't sound like TOTO. World Music wasn't around then. "Spanish Steps of Rome," when I first sang that down low, people were looking at me like I was crazy. I'm a big fan of Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits. I like his lyrics, I like that kind of singing. When I started singing down low I was inspired to write that song, I wrote the lyrics in one night. Very different approach for me but I really like it. I was in Rome, I wrote the lyrics in one night, and I put the music to it and it just came out like that. And it's one of my favorite songs that I've ever done. When the guys listened to that they said "Why don't you sing up higher, why do you sing so low?" I had a lot of different influences, I was in Neil Diamond's band. I like Neil Diamond, Leonard Cohen, Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan.

A lof of fans especially like "Spanish Steps of Rome," so your songs are very popular, the more obscure stuff that is not so typical...
I like to do something that really has a meaning. We're trying to work hard on that to always put out music that has meaning.

So you're trying to put these songs into TOTO as your special input.
Yeah, I think that's one way of looking at it.

In the late 70´s and early 80´s the majority of the songs have been written by you, later, the other band members became more and more songwriters as well....Did this happen on purpose or did it just happen?
No, we always planned that from the beginning. Beatles and Fleetwood Mac were my kind of blueprints for that. Just to have two or three singers and everybody writes in all combinations. I don't care who it is. I get tired if I hear one person and they write all that stuff. So I encouraged people to write. Bobby wrote, Steve Porcaro wrote a little bit, and I encouraged all of them to write so you didn't always just get my perspective of the sound. Cause what we hear with TOTO is a combination of writers and it makes things more interesting.

Did the song writing process change over the years?
It's always been multiple ways. There are really no set rules. Sometimes I'm in the shower and I hear a piece of a song and Luke finishes it. Or Jeff Porcaro finished the lyrics. Or sometimes, like with "Jake to the Bone," we're all in a room and we write that together as band song. Sometimes I have a whole finished song and I bring it in or Lukather has a whole finished song. Or sometimes two or three of the guys work on a song like "Dave's Gone Skiing," I wasn't there and I came back, so there's really no rule when it comes to combinations.

Last year you have produced the last Boz Scaggs album "Dig." How was working with Boz Scaggs on this record again?
That was great, one of the best experiences that I've ever had. After all this time, we wanted actually do it again. It's hard because corporate people think we make a product like McDonalds Hamburgers or Kellogg's Cornflakes. They wanted us to put another "Silk Degrees" album out. And you can't really do that. Boz went into a different direction and I formed TOTO. After all the time evolved we wanted to get back together and it was really fun working with him because we had no rules whatsoever. With Boz Scaggs and Danny Kortchmar we played all instruments, I played bass on the whole album, except for "Just Go" which Nathan East played bass on. I played most of the keyboards, Kortchmar did most of the drum things. We're not into the musician's kind of thing like you have to have real musicians on it. The fact that we're playing the stuff makes it real musicians. So it was very fun. Boz outdid himself with the lyrics. He really spent a lot of time on the lyrics. We did it on Pro-Tools and worked with Steve MacMillan and John Jessel on this record and Elliot Scheiner. I just can't say enough how fun it was. I learned a lot working on the album working with Danny Kortchmar. It was just three people working on this album, myself, Boz and Danny Kortchmar, making the whole album. We became a small band of ourselves creating the whole album. So we're very proud of that. I really love the album.

But it was not like going back to the Seventies but creating something new...
Well we started out like that, I grabbed some of Boz' stuff, you gotta hear the original versions of this stuff, it doesn't sound anything like this, like "Desire" sounded totally different. I was thinking, if I would do "Silk Degrees" right now, what would I do? And so "Desire" is a case of that. All the songs we hear have an urban sound. We kind of updated a lot of the tracks. That's what I added to Boz Scaggs's "Silk Degrees". He was very Texas pop/blues, and I came in and we added the urban thing to it.

So it was kind of modernizing all that...
Yeah, taking out the old school and make it like "what would the record sound now." We tried to keep it current, keep it musical but street.

So would you like to work more as a producer for other people in the future or was it just a single project for a friend?
Yeah, it was kind of a special thing for him, but if I found the right project, the right person, I'd like doing it. Producing albums is hard because you have to have a love of labour. Unless you have a situation like Glenn Ballard. When Glenn Ballard was with Dave Matthews, they wrote the album in 6 weeks because they were both writers and they're very fast, and they sat another month or two and recorded the entire album. If you can find someone like that, a real other artist that you're working with... Sometimes when you produce the producer becomes the artists a nd has to do everything. The artist hardly does anything. The artist comes in and sings on it. That's about it. But producing is fun when I get to deal with someone else like Danny Kortchmar.

Do you have any real plans to do it again or are you just waiting for the right project to come?
Whatever happens. Boz and I were talking about doing some more stuff. I'm mainly getting ready to doing some film scoring.

Like Steve Porcaro?
Yeah, like Steve Porcaro but more on a level like Randy Newman, writing songs. I may start by writing songs for some movies and then use that as a gateway to scoring for movies. I've been doing projects without putting my name on them. When Steve and I get hired it's something that's called "ghost" for someone. We do the work and some else gets the credit. I just did "XXX" with Steve, we did the last 20 minutes of the movie, we wrote the music, all the music you hear there is me and Steve. It says Randy Edelman but we did most of the music.

So did you ever consider after "Dune" doing another project like this again with the whole band scoring a movie?
Yeah, but that was mainly me with Dune, when we did it, I ended up doing most of the work. But we were hired as "TOTO" to do the thing. But I would consider doing something like that again if it's the right project.

So it was a good experience...
It was good, very unusual working with David Lynch, cause he is different, I don't think it could get any tougher than that.

But it's very interesting listening to that music and a lot of fans request songs like "Desert Theme" or "Take my hand" and they would like to hear that in concert...
You might hear a little bit of Dune in the show. That's what we were trying to do on this tour, add those little quirky things.

You have some new equipment on tour this year.
Yeah, I'm very happy. You get attached to a keyboard rig and I was doing fine and I was using a lot of the same piano stuff for the last ten years. But technology has changed a whole lot in the last ten years. With synthesizers I was afraid to jump to the next level but Korg has set new standards with the Triton. I did 90% of Boz Scagg's record with the Triton. And Yamaha came up with a thing called Motif 8, which is the new self-contained synthesizer. And that's all I'm using. I have the Motif 8 and the Triton. It has all the Hammond, string sounds, and everything you can think of can be played with these two synthesizers. That's really very cool. The sounds are great and the touch is great.

There was a lot of talk about the so called "box-set" some years ago. What´s the "status" of this project, is this "on hold," do you have this still in mind?
That's a documentary work in progress. The first of the box set that didn't go into the box set was TOTO XX. That's what you have to do when you do a TOTO box set, we have to go back to our archives and we have thousands of tapes. And you have to pull them out and bake them. For each one you have to listen to them and transfer them and listen to the parts. So we're going through all of our tapes, and listening to find what little parts and jams we did, what we could put on a feature record. And also I don't only want to make an audio thing, I wanna make it special, I want to have a DVD in there, a combination of documentary and records in there. We haven't shot a lot of live footage and we did that intentionally to keep us off TV so people have to come to our concerts to see us. It takes a lot of time doing it the way we want to do it because we want to do it, we don't want to turn it over to somebody. So the fans have to be very patient with us.

Do you have detailed plans for a new album with original material after this tour?
It's the next obvious move! There're no plans, however with Toto, everything is a surprise. We may do part 2 of this record here and then hang on to it and then write an original album, we don't know until we get in there.
 
Many Thanks to Dave
© www.toto99.com 2002



Interview : David Paich

Avril 2000

Hey David, I've been trying to get through but we've had some power problems today.
Where are you calling from?

Hobart, Tasmania.
Oh right.

How about you? LA right?
Yes, you're down under and I'm up above here. I'm in LA and it's a gorgeous day here.

Fantastic. Here it's blowing a gale here! How are things with the band then?
Things are really good. The band's been touring and we've been playing around the United States doing Vegas and there's a lot of casinos we've been playing in different places. We're going to be playing in Caribbean and we're going down to Costa Rica and Mexico City here in April. The band is doing really well.
We're taking a little bit of time off here and getting ready to promote our new album, which is 'Mindfields'. We've gone on a few shows like Donny and Marie Osmond and Rosie O Donnell and things like that you know. So we're just kind of entering a new phase here gearing up here to promote this newrecord.

The way the release dates for the record are kind of speared across the world, this album is going to be around for a fair while isn't it.
Yeah it's funny how they stagger dates, we end up promoting first in the States and then it comes back here to the States. It always seems to get released here later. But that's the business you know.

It looked at one stage like the album might not even get released in the States. Was that a possibility?
Yeah that was because we were at the end of our 20-year contract here so we were under some negotiations to see if we were going to re-sign with them (Sony). I don't think we are going to re-sign with Sony. I think we are going to start our own Record Company - Total Records. Sell our records on the Internet. So these negotiations have delayed our release here. We finally got released on Sony Legacy here and I guess we are just at the beginning stage of promoting.

So you seriously think you might have your own Record Label?
Very possible. Especially in the way that the world is changing now. With old groups, the older rock n roll groups like ours that don't really get on MTV or radio, it's a real alternative now with the Internet set up where you can sell records, you can be on Internet radio and you can even do live performances.

Well it's funny you should say that because I'm interviewing you for my web site and a mate of mine has a Toto Web site where he has set up his own Toto live radio.
Yeah exactly. It's a great alternative medium you know.

Do you enjoy the net yourself?
I do very much. I was a little slow getting on board here but once I got into it I found myself able to correspond with a lot of people easier than I can contact people on the telephone. I'm much more in communication with people. I find its part of my life right now. I've used a computer for quite along time as a word processor to store lyrics since around 1980 when they first came out, the IBM's.
So they've been part of my life for a long time. Now I have an 11-year-old daughter I end up searching the web to help her to do her homework projects, booking up historical figures and biographies and stuff.

What sites do you enjoy looking at?
What sites? When it comes down to business, I'm looking up stocks on the stock market; I guess it comes down to whatever I'd normally pick up a phone for, instead of looking in the yellow pages. I don't spend hours and hours on it.

Do you check out the Toto sites out there?
Yeah, I have done that. It's very cool.

There's a stack of them isn't there?
Yeah there's a bunch of them, it's cool. You know we have great people that have done our web site. We have very devoted people that are really loyal and do a great job graphically.

What does it make you feel like seeing all these people dedicating sites to you?
It's amazing. I'm flattered. It's great for my daughter who sees Daddy on the web site. It's a great promotional thing. It kinda validates the work that you have done.

Tell us a bit more about 'Mindfields'. I was talking to Steve (Lukather) just before it came out and he was really jazzed about it coming out. Have you been happy with the response?
I think the response could be better. So far we've done pretty well with it in Europe. We've done over 500,000 units. I think this is one of the best Toto albums we have done with Bobby Kimball back in the group.
I can listen to this record and say to myself this is one of the best we've done. To me it's like the follow up to Toto 4 that everybody has been waiting for. That's how I would describe it. I think it's got a little bit of everything on it.
I think it sounds great and the performances are fantastic. I think it's a great album even though I do try to be objective about it. Even if I wasn't in the band I think I could put the album on and like it a lot. There's a lot of good playing and a lot of good material on there.

From the 13 tracks on the album, there is quite a diversity amongst them.
Yeah we're playing a little bit of 'tipping our hats' to The Who and The Stones on there being the end of the millennium. We were paying tribute to them and maybe showing the younger bands how you are really supposed to imitate them. (Laughs)

Absolutely. How did the recording with Bobby Kimball go?
It's been really very good. Bobby is singing better than ever and it's been so much fun to do live work. We toured so little in the early 80's because it was so hard without the technology to duplicate a lot of the stuff with a band like Toto. Now with samplers, gear and synthesizers we can go out and make it sound like the record.
That's what has taken so long. Toto in the last 8 years has toured more than we did in the last 18 years. Technology has made it possible for us to sound like our records do on the road.

Well, I have got your 'Livefields' album here and there's one big fat sound on that too!
Yeah, well that's us playing live.

No over dubs on there?
No overdubs on there. There's a little bit of editing on some of the solo spots, which went a little bit longer but no over dubs. We didn't go re-patching any of that stuff. I think we are one of the kick arse rock 'n roll bands still around that play good. I mean I love bands like AC/DC, The Rolling Stones that get out there and rock.

So it's been good with Bobby then?
Excellent, just like old times. It's almost like he never left the band. It's funny we'd been apart for 15 years and we got up in my rehearsal place here in my house and we started rehearsing and it felt like the first time we got together 20 years ago. We felt like 18 year olds running around playing rock n roll.

Will he be involved in future plans do you think?
I definitely think so. I think this is the unit that's going to stay like this for awhile. I think we are going to make more sporadic albums. I think we are going to take our time. Maybe put out some box sets. Take a little more time than 'here's 4 months to make the record.' Music changes so much I think we also need to reinvent ourselves in the new millennium. So we can be part of the changing sounds of music.

So you think there might be a new sound next time?
Yeah I definitely think so. I think we'll add to what our sound is. I want it to sound fresh. I want to keep our old fans but add new ones.

I'd like to hear that.
I know there are a couple of bands or artists doing there own web sites and record label thing and in there plans they are releasing unreleased tunes that have been sitting around on masters. Has Toto got a fair supply?
Yeah we have a nice supply of that. We intend to do the same kind of thing. There might be some different versions of songs on the album that's out or a couple of extra cuts that didn't go on the record.

I think it's a good way to fill in the gap between studio releases isn't it?
It is and I think fans are interested. Like what didn't they put on that album.

I bet you have an absolute vault full of live recordings.
We have hundreds of tapes that we've recorded. As an example Toto XX was all the songs that were left off the records in the old days of vinyl. You only put so much on vinyl.
We over cut a lot. I mean there's probably 5 or 6 songs we left off each album.

Are you still playing a lot of session stuff?
Well there are not too many sessions in LA. Most of it happens in Nashville. All the people from Los Angeles, all the Nashville sounds that you hear, are a lot of guys from LA that moved there.
Our ex-bass player David moved there. A lot of people are down there now. Dann Huff, he's taken over Nashville. Mutt Lange is there and he's the biggest thing there. I do a couple of sessions now and then. I work with Don Henley once in a while. I work with Michael Jackson every once in a while. A lot of my time is spent playing the stuff myself in my own studio. I like to do the one man band thing where I play the bass, drums, guitar and keyboards.

Is there a favourite session that you have had? Is there one that stands out as the best?
Well the ones I did with Steely Dan when I played on 'Black Friday' on the 'Katy Lied' album stand out. They were some great sessions..

Any others?
I think when I played on 'We are the World'. That was pretty fantastic. Working with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson on a duet 'The Girl Is Mine'. That was a very magical night. Even though I wished it could have been a better piece of material, it was still great working with those two people.

Yes that would have been amazing. What was it like being crammed in a room with all those egos on that song?
Well I was star struck I had to pinch myself I thought I was dreaming. I wanted to get my autograph book out. I mean you have Paul McCartney there with FBI guys. In between all the takes there is me, Lukather, Jeff Porcaro and we're jamming like on Stevie Wonder songs with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson!
Singing these Stevie Wonder songs. Linda is about two inches away snapping all these photographs of me and everybody else in the room. It was one of the most exciting and memorable moments of my life.

Tell me there's a track on the Japanese 'Mindfields' that I've got here called 'The Spanish Steps of Rome'. Great song.
Thank you very much, I'm very proud of that song. It's one of the better songs that I've written. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

That's one of the few times you've been on the lead vocal isn't it?
Yeah. I did 'Africa' and stuff but for some reason my band they always seem to be editing me off these records for some reason. Yeah but I ended up sneaking on this record here. I'm glad that you noticed that cut there you know. It truly represents the whole Toto when you can hear all three of us singing. To me it's like even though John Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison sang Ringo Starr always had one song on there. That's what made The Beatles you know.

Did you say your song made the American cut of the album?
Yeah it did. I realized that I wanted it on here. I wanted to be part of the sound.

Did you drop a track for that?
No we just added it on there.

There's 14 tracks for the U.S then?
Yeah.

What about a full solo album?
Well people keeps asking me that and I always tell them the same thing. Toto albums are my solo albums. If I were to do a solo album there would be things like 'Spanish Steps' on there. I'd be getting into my Mark Knopfler imitation. I have these alias identities I wanna write under.

On a separate subject - I was absolutely amazed at the video clip for 'Melanie'.
Oh yeah.

How much did that cost?
Believe it or not it was very cheap. Columbia/CBS paid for that Sony ran to under $200,000. It's really like a $500,000 video but they made it for under $200,000. We were really happy with that. I mean people do make today 2 - 3 million-dollar videos. We are going to release 'Melanie' here in the States.

MTV is a dead dog as far as helping anyone but is VH1 helping anyone?
Well VH1, I guess they all do, have this stigma about people over 30. They don't play too many artists over the age of 30. I mean Santana just had their thing but it's hard to break through. It's kind of a silly thing. It's like they are prejudiced and anti over 30 or 40 years old. Even though there the token Eric Clapton thing every once in a while. Anyway that's my excuse.(Laughs)
I've got my fingers crossed so there's always hope. Maybe with that kind of video it could be interesting.

I thought it was a fantastic clip.
I called my buddy before the call and asked him if there was anything he'd like me to ask you cause he's a big fan and he said he'd heard you were called the Uncle Fester of rock n roll. Uncle Fester of rock 'n roll. Yes. You know who Uncle Fester is?

Sure, absolutely.
He's from the Addams Family. Lukather has many names for me. It's usually Bob Dylan's grandmother or Uncle Fester. It's boring now cause he calls me by my real name. It's almost scary you know. These are all private and inside jokes that are funny.he would appreciate that.

Steve's a bit of a clown isn't he?
Steve is a 6 year old inside of a 40 year olds body. 6 year old mind. He refuses to grow up.

That must be good for the band though.
It certainly is.

How do you keep up with him on stage?
It's very difficult, You basically don't try to out do him on stage. Let him have the mic and I just stay on his good side. I don't want to get on his bad side cause he's very good at putting you away on stage. He's got a great sense of humour, I love him.

Do you all play off each other when you're son stage?
Definitely. It's just like a big fraternity, a big boy's club. We all grew up together and we all know each other so there are no egos. Each person has his own little specialty. Everybody makes space for everybody. It's just like a big gang.

A well-oiled machine these days?
Yeah .

How's Simon doing on drums?
Simon's wonderful. He's very fussy about his breakfast though if you go to hotels. He always has the manager down in the lobby complaining. His drums are so big we call them the HMS Philips. It's like the Titanic you know. He's a monster. He's a world class drummer. They don't get too much better.

How far did you have to look to find a replacement?
Well I really wasn't looking for a replacement. It was like you couldn't replace John Bonham in Led Zeppelin. So I thought here's how I am going to get out of it. There were two side to it. If I had to have a replacement I didn't want to get another session guy who tried to sound like Jeff.
I wanted to get someone who was a killer drummer who could be himself. There was only one guy - Simon Phillips - and I was hoping that he would be so busy that he would turn it down. So we could disappear with dignity and say we can't go on anymore. Simon stopped what he was doing and said I'd love to do it. He played all the tracks perfectly and it was undeniable. It was like we have to go on.

So you really thought about calling it a day?
Yeah. It's hard to replace Jeff Poracoro. To replace an irreplaceable member. But Phillips has played on Pete Townsend's solo albums and played with Jagger on the road. He was like the Porcaro of London.

Well it's good to see you guys still going.
Oh thanks man, Thanks for the support down there. We'd love to come back down and play. We had a blast in Sydney and Melbourne last time.

I have another buddy that saw you in '94. He said you played a club and it was a 3 hour gig.
We were rockin'.

What are the chances of you getting back down here?
Hopefully sometime next year.

I talked to Steve about this and he said 'Fuck man, get Sony to pay for it'.
Unless we go to Japan and come over after we leave Japan it's almost financially impossible for us to come down there. When we go back to Japan maybe we'll sneak down there. I want to mention one other thing I'm doing separately from Toto Dec 5th I play in Bombay with Shankar we're opening for Peter Gabriel under the gate of 'India' there. It's like a big thing for charity. Mike and Steve Porcaro are going to fly down for a couple of gigs. I'm really excited about this. When you get into meaningful concerts that give something back to the planet and people it's great.

That'll be some gig. I hope you do get back here sometime
Thank you call again!

You can count on it! Thanks Dave.

www.melodicrock.com




2000

Comme une moitié du clavier brain-trust dans Toto,David Paich(avec Steve Porcaro) torturé un a assassiné de coups(chansons à succès) chouettes de diagramme et des récompenses(sentences) pendant la bande(orchestre) 20-plus l'année dirigée. David a écrit ou a co-écrit beaucoup des simples(célibataires) de la bande(orchestre), donc ce n'est aucune surprise que son studio domestique est une réflexion de son succès. Regardez juste cet espace magnifique
le studio précédent domestique de David, avant que la Nature de Mère n'ait intervenu, ait été appelée le Manoir. " Il a été détruit dans le [Northridge, CA] le tremblement de terre, "il se lamente," donc je vivais dans des maisons différentes pour environ quatre ans, cherchant la place juste qui pourrait la maison un nouveau studio. Mon ami, un agent immobilier, m'a montré cette place qui avait exactement de quoi j'ai eu besoin : un garage à trois voitures et un garage à deux voitures redressent à côté de cela. Nous l'avons pris, l'a étripé, a couvert l'extérieur et soundproofed cela. Nous avons tourné la partie de l'espace dans une pièce d'enregistrement et avons ajouté un poste de commande et une autre cabine. Letouf Franc était le constructeur; John Jessel, ma technologie de studio, a conçu la disposition. "David a employé l'espace restant pour construire un salon privé et un bureau de publication
le nouveau studio est équipé de Digidesign Pro des Outils et TASCAM DA-88 des enregistreurs, mais avant lequel David employait des machines Studer analogues à 24 traces exclusivement. De l'intégration d'enregistreurs digitaux, il explique, "en arrière quand j'étais au Manoir, j'ai commencé à entendre de TASCAM DA-88s, donc je suis finalement sorti et ai obtenu quatre d'entre ceux-là. Je suis tombé amoureux en eux et ils restent l'agrafe(produit de base) de mon studio. Le DA-88s est parfait pour ce que je fais, s'il fait des démonstrations ou travaille comme un forçat et fait des chants. Nous les avons employés tout à fait un peu sur le nouvel album Toto [Mindfields]."
les enregistreurs n'étaient pas les seuls outils David mis à niveau quand il s'est déplacé. " Je regardais autour de soi pour une nouvelle console de mélangeage et Steve Porcaro m'a dit d'obtenir quelque Yamaha 02Rs. J'ai dit, ' Vous avez gotta rigolent. ' Mais il dit, ' Non. Obtenez deux ou trois d'entre eux et liez-les ensemble. ' J'ai entendu dire par la vigne que George Massenburg, Michel Omartian et Hans Zimmer employaient 02Rs et ils juraient par eux. Donc je suis arrivé ces trois 02Rs et je n'ai jamais été plus heureux. Il est comme l'ayant du petit bébé SSLs. "Pour obtenir le mieux des mondes analogues et digitaux, David prend" une liasse de vieux égaliseurs d'API et Neve preamps et je les ai mis sur la fin de devant, si quand j'enregistre, audio va par mes égaliseurs d'API, Neve preamps et Fairchild et des limiteurs de Sommet dans le DA-88s ou Pro des Outils. "
Dans le département de clavier, un vieux succès-mais-bon Yamaha KX88 le contrôleur de MIDI sert comme le centerpiece du derrick de David, avec un Yamaha PSR-730 placé sur le sommet. "J'ai voulu un jouet Casio pour à la maison de plage," explique-t-il, "et j'ai vu ce PSR-730, un peu songwriting le clavier. Les sons sur cela sont incroyables, donc je l'ai mis dans le studio. J'ai aussi Roland JV-1080 et-2080, un Kurzweil K2500, huit échantillonneurs de Roland S-760, un couple de modules Korg, Roland JP-8000 et un Yamaha PF200 pour des sons de piano de concert. Mon nouveau clavier préféré est l'Yamaha S80; je l'aime." David emploie un Mac G3 pour diriger Pro des Outils et la Vision Opcode. "Chacun parle de la commutation de séquenceurs et comment le [l'avenir incertain d'Opcode] va à la casserole de, mais en attendant je fais ici la musique."
Toto des supporters(ventilateurs) a été agréablement étonné quand l'original mène le chanteur policier Kimball(chanteur Bobby Kimball) a rejoint la bande(orchestre) après plus de par décennie de séparation. L'album de réunion Mindfields - quelque chose a été enregistré au studio de David - a été nommé au Meilleur Album Construit en cette année des récompenses(sentences) de Grammy. Mindfields a été d'abord sorti au Japon et l'Europe et est maintenant pompé dans le marché américain
Quant à l'avenir à long terme de David, l'écriture est sur le grand écran. " Quand vous êtes dans une bande(orchestre), il sent comme vous sont sur un rollercoaster que la sorte de vous prend du courant dominant. C'est de route, l'album, la route, l'album.... Que j'ai eu l'habitude de faire est plus de ce que David Foster fait, qui est écrivent des chansons et produisent des artistes, donc j'essaye d'obtenir mon sens pour que de nouveau. J'écris aussi plus pour la TV et des films maintenant. Mon but est pour finalement entrer dans des films marquants des points et faire beaucoup le même comme que Michel Kamen et James Horner fait, qui doit entretenir le film d'un point de vue orchestral, mais aussi thematically avec une chanson viable [pop]. C'est où je me vois allant - étant capable d'écrire et enregistrer le Sommet 10 record et marquer toujours le film. "

Greg Rule




1995

"Histoire de sons ..." Interview avec David Paich. Aout 1995 pour la sortie de l'album HIStory.

David Paich a eu la gentillesse de nous parler de sa participation à « HIStory », et ce en plein milieu d'une tournée européenne de Toto. Sympa ! Billet d'entrée dans le monde secret de MJ (note de calim: le texte est recopié tel quel !) avec l'un de ses plus proches collaborateurs.

David, quelle est la difference entre programmeur et « designer » de son ?
Je pense que le terme programmeur désigne plutôt quelqu'un qui crée les sons sur un synthé, tandis que le « designer » est celui qui va s'occuper des drum loops. Moi, je suis plutôt un joueur qu'un programmeur, bien que j'aide à la programmation ; Steve, lui, s'occupe des deux. J'ai un beau-frère russe qui a eu maille (contestation, dispute) à partir avec le KGB et sur « Stranger in Moscow », Steve et moi avons eu cette idée de lui faire raconter une partie de l'histoire, avant de rentrer en séance. Nous l'avons enregistré dans mon studio et Steve a incorporé cette conversation dans le morceau définitif. A mon sens, cela fait partie du « sound designing » où l'on crée plutôt une ambiance, pas nécessairement musicale.

Quel genre de producteur est Michael Jackson ? Très directif ?
Michael vous donne beaucoup de liberté, tout en étant très présent. Il produit de la façon dont j'aime être produit ; Il vous fait savoir lorsque vous êtes dans la bonne direction, il utilise une analogie avec Michel Ange : crée sans limite. Je me souviens lorsque je travaillais avec lui sur « Heal the world » dans « Dangerous », je lui ai demandé: « Est-ce que je peux utiliser un choeur, des cordes, un grand orchestre ? - Bien sûr, tu peux ! » m'a-t-il répondu. Michael fait appel à des gens particuliers en fonction des morceaux. On sait quoi faire avec lui et il ne vous dit jamais quand ça ne va pas, seulement quand ça va ! C'est une énorme force positive lorsqu'on produit. Bruce Swedien est également présent avec lui ; ils forment une véritable équipe. La plupart du temps, nous étions quatre dans la cabine: Michael, Bruce, Steve et moi et lorsque nous pensons que nous tenons le bon bout, Michael est la clé de tout cela.

Quel est le rôle de David Foster dans tout cela ?
Je ne suis pas tout à fait sûr, car avec Michael, on n'est jamais sûr de rien, à moins d'être présent du début à la fin, mais je pense qu'il a agit comme une extension de Michael pour les claviers, la direction d'orchestre et les arrangements ; David possède de multiples facettes. Lui et moi fonctionnons de la même façon lorsque nous produisons: nous devenons des extensions pour les chanteurs et les compositeurs comme Michael qui ne jouent pas beaucoup, mais entendent très précisément.

As-tu directement programmé sur Macintosh ou sur les synthés eux-mêmes ?
Lorsque nous jouons, c'est toujours à travers le Macintosh, car nous y stockons toutes nos « performances », ce qui nous permet d'éditer très confortablement ou de changer les sons. Puis Steve Porcaro programme sur le Mac &endash; il s'en sert comme d'un instrument à part entière &endash; et y charge les notes et les arrangements. Il y a beaucoup de jeu live sur le disque et le Mac nous sert de fil conducteur.

Michael est-il branché Mac ?
Il s'en sert assez bien. Cela dit, lui et moi sommes des amateurs en comparaison de Steve, mais il m'est arrivé d'entrer en studio et de voir des messages sur le Mac tapés par Michael. Je ne vais pas te dire qu'il est une « bête » ou le contraire, mais il nous surprend tous des temps en temps !

Peux-tu nous décrire la création d'un morceau comme « Stranger in Moscow » ?
Chaque fois que Michael m'envoie des bandes, il me semble que tout est terminé! Alors, lorsque je rentre en studio je lui dis: « je ne sais pas quoi y ajouter ! » Et il me répond: « vas-y, joue ce que tu veux ! Si tu ne le sens pas, ne le fais pas ! ». Il y a beaucoup de liberté. Mais j'ai toujours cette impression d'arriver au moment final. Je ne vais pa te dire tout ce qui se passe avec lui, car je sais qu'il aime garder les choses sous contrôle.

Tu utilisais beaucoup l'Oberheim Xpander. As-tu trouvé une machine qui le remplace avantageusement ?
Depuis, j'ai ajouté beaucoup de nouveaux produits à ma panoplie : les Korg WS, 01/W, et toujours le M1, en particulier pour les sons de basse comme sur « Stranger in Moscow », le Yamaha SY99... Sur cette même chanson, on entend des sons de sax soprano qui sont une combinaison de layers de differents synthés &endash; Roland, Korg et Yamaha. Sur « Earth Song » que David Foster a coproduit, je joue aussi du vrai clavecin, doublé avec le son imité du Yamaha Clavinova.

Est-ce que tes séances se sont déroulées sur une longue periode ?
Ca m'a pris une semaine à raison de six heures par jour en octobre 94. J'ai cru que je ne participerai pas à cet album et ça me chiffonait ! Puis, peu de temps avant que je ne parte en tournée avec Toto, Bruce Swedien m' appelé pour le demander de venir.

Quand tu arrives en séance, amènes-tu tes propres sons ?
Dans 90% des cas, oui, ainsi que mes propres instruments. Quand Steve et moi avons fait nos séances à New York, nous avons seulement amené nos sons sur disquettes ou sur disque dur.

Tu étais là pour le mixage ?
Non, je crois que personne n'y assiste en-dehors de Bruce Swedien et de Michael.

Est-ce que tu as trouvé beaucoup de différences dans la façon de procéder entre les albums avec Quincy et ceux sans Quincy ?
Pour moi pas vraiment. Et je n'ai pas passé d'avantage de temps sur « HIStory » que sur les précédents disques. Lorsqu'on m'appelle, une bonne partie de la musique est déjà là. Je dis souvent en riant que je fais tout ce que Greg Phillinganes ne fait pas ! Greg fait tout pour tout le monde ! J'adore quand il part en tournée, car alors les gens m'apellent ! J'ai toujours plein de boulot quand il quitte Los Angeles ! Nous sommes de vieux potes et nous en rigolons souvent ! Ensemble, nous venons de faire des séances avec Chick Corea et de l'autre une groupe formé de Steve Vai, Simon Phillips, John Pena, Greg et moi.Pack travaille dessus depuis plus de deux ans : il y aura Phil Collins, Aretha Franklin et plein d'autres artistes ; c'est une re-création de « West side story » qui va sortir sur Columbia ou Epic.

Y a-t-il des gens avec qui tu aimerais encore jouer ?
Oui, les Rolling Stones ! J'adore. J'aimerais bien aussi jouer avec les Black Crowes ou Sting que j'apprécie beaucoup. Sting et les Stones, oui ! Je me sens plus pianiste ou clavier de rock que jazz. Quand tu as etendu Chick, Phillinganes ou Ronnie Foster, ce n'est pas la peine !

Auteur original : Olivier Cauvin pour "Keyboards", aout 1995