One of my very favourite singers in Rock over the years is been Paul Shortino and the fact that he’s such a lovely guy too means it’s always a pleasure catching up. 2021 has been a horrible year for many of us but the pandemic has also spawned a lot of great music and there’s certainly a lot going on for Paul these days, and as you read on I have this sneaking suspicion that the very best may just be around the corner… I spoke with Paul just before the computer crashed and I thought I’d lost the interview forever – thanks to the techs that saved the hard drive, so here it is finally a month late…
Paul: There we go!
Mark: Great to see you Paul. Thank you for taking the time to catch up. There’s so much to talk about. Last time I saw you was a few years back now at ‘Raiding the Rock Vault’ it’s a shame that’s not back yet.
Paul: Yes, I don’t know when it’s going to be back up and running with everything still being locked down here Harry is still in London so I don’t know if that show is coming back to Los Vegas I know in the past there was talk of it touring Europe, but Europe is pretty locked down so it’s hard to know. I don’t know where travel bans are and what countries have them I stay out of all that you know! (laughs)
Mark: It’s too hard to keep up Paul.
Paul: I’ve been locked in the studio lately it’s been like 12 – 15 hours a day working on some new material that I’ve been doing with Tracy G who did some stuff with Dio and we’ve been working on a Gary Moore meets early Led Zeppelin, Bluesy kind of record. We did a remake of ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ by Dusty Springfield!
Mark: Classic! Now that I have to hear!
Paul: Yeah, we started it off with the guitar, you know (Paul sings the guitar line).
Mark: I love all that kind of stuff I grew up with my parents playing those 60’s songs and Motown and all of that great soulful music before I started listening to Rock. For me The Blues and Motown all naturally flowed into Rock and I can just imagine your voice singing that Dusty song!
Paul: Oh it’s a great version! Me and Tracy wanted to do it like ‘Still Got the Blues’ by Gary Moore where he takes the song out, so Tracy starts the song then I do a couple of verses. I actually saw Tom Jones and Elvis do it on YouTube but the best version is definitely Dusty Springfield. But it was a really cool idea to do that one, and we’ve been working on the project for a couple of years now so it’s good to see that it’s finally almost finished and we’re going to release it.
Mark: I know that’s one of a few Projects you have on the go, but I know there’s more.
Paul: I’m also doing some stuff with Carmine doing another King Kobra record that will be released on Cleopatra called ‘Music is a Piece of Art’ – this friend of mine Chris Comet is working on the artwork
Mark: You sound like a very busy man!
Paul: I have been you know. I’ve had to keep busy during all of this other stuff going on considering that you couldn’t go out and perform and then when you finally could there were too many regulations. We did an event about a month and a half ago to raise money for the dogs from Korea, the meat market dogs. We raised $25,000 and actually saved around a hundred dogs. And we have one of them, her name’s Priscilla – a Labrador, but it’s such an amazing thing that they do with these dogs – they raise them just to eat them, it’s amazing that some cultures can do crazy thing like that. To me dogs are like a reminder of what God is to us, they’re always there with unconditional love and patience, they’re kind and forgiving. I think maybe the almighty I think gave us dogs to remind us he’s always there for you, you know. So it kind of keeps my shoes in place, and we’ve got a lot of dogs as you know (laughs) so God’s around here a lot! Spell it backwards and it’s ‘Dog’.
Mark: I know that one’s close to you and Carmen’s hearts.
Paul: We also released a Rough Cutt record too you know Mark, that’s an interesting story.
Mark: It is an interesting story Paul and let’s get that one out of the way before we talk about some of your other projects. There are of course many bands out there with many versions but you can’t have a Rough Cutt without you three guys surely?
Paul: Well what happened was it just didn’t work out when we tried to do a Rough Riot thing with Dave (Alford) and Chris (Hager) and we had all made a pact together that if we couldn’t make it work then we weren’t going to do what all the other bands were gonna do. There’s just been so many versions of bands that made it all the way to Van Halen – there’s Van Halen and ‘Van Hagar’, and to me ‘Van Hagar’ was awesome and so was ‘Van Halen’ with David and the rest of the guys were great singers – Gary Cherone was awesome in Extreme- an incredible frontman, but that wasn’t one of my favourite Van Halen records even though there as some good stuff n there. Then you have Ratt and L.A. Guns and I’m so glad that some of them are back together, it’s nice to see some of the original guys you know.
Mark: But it’s hard isn’t it Paul, I know fans have rose tinted glasses but people change over time, people‘s personalities clash and it makes the whole situation harder than it looks from the outside.
Paul: And people want to work.
Mark: Absolutely.
Paul: There’s always the economics. And some guys are willing to go that extra mile to start over, because that’s what you’re doing. Especially with a band like Rough Cutt which has done very little in the last 40 years or maybe 36 or whatever! So, you know, we’ve gotten back together but to actually put out a product it takes time, so to get booked even with the original members was like basically having to start over even though we had a brand. You’ve got to get new fans and actually a better way to do it if you can is to try to get on the Festivals, because then you get exposed to a lot more people than the handful of fans that remember you. Because (laughs) the older you get the older your fans get and people aren’t going to do what they used to do – like go out and party, g to a bar, or stand outside when they go to a Festival. So the cruises are good for a lot of bands and their fans but unfortunately the Cruises have so much entertainment on you don’t often get to see everything on there.
Mark: I know it’s crazy I went on one the year when I last caught up with you in Las Vegas. Even though the cruise suits, let say, the older rock fan, it’s still a rather full few days at sea! Plenty of long nights trying to catch everything!
Paul: And here in Las Vegas you’ve got all of these shows and it’s hard for any of them to sell out because there’s so many of them especially in a town like this that is so large on entertainment that people plan ahead of time to go see something, you know. And still the show might not be sold out because there are arenas to fill like the Park, MGM Grand and T-Mobile. I think Guns ‘n Roses are playing the Raiders stadium which I think they can probably sell out with all the original guys. There’s only a few bands out there that can still do that stuff. Kiss maybe.
Mark: There are so few, Kiss are meant to be here in November, but we’re not sure if that will happen. We’ve been closed to international acts since I saw Kip Winger in March 2020 and he got out 2 days before we locked down and we’ve had our borders closed ever since.
Paul: Wow.
Mark: So much time without music has been awful.
Paul: Well music’s healing. You know. Last night I was watching something that was really interesting – The Dallas Buyers Club and I was really tripping on it because AIDS had come out and they were experimenting with AZT. There was a doctor in Mexico who had lost his license and he had all these patents and he was helping them to rebuild their immune system with just the right things to rebuild your immune system. Because basically that’s what AIDS was doing – tearing down the immune system. And people couldn’t believe that he was alive – they said he has 30 days to live. And it’s the same thing with this virus out there – there are things out there that build the immune system and I’m sure there are doctors out there that are still experimenting. It’s kind of like we are going through the same thing – we’ve got this epidemic going on with Covid and it’s like they’re putting vaccines out there and they’re very much experimental. It just kind of crossed my mind while I was watching that I’d lived through that and I’m living through this which is an interesting time. So hopefully we’ll get to look back and thing ‘Wow’ we made it.
Mark: Interesting is a very kind way to describe it. Lie the old Chinese curse about living in interesting times.
Paul: Well I do respect everyone’s feelings about this because there are so many different views about what is going on that it’s so confusing for everyone.
Mark: And also so many different experiences – everyone experiences it differently. Here in Western Australia we have next to no Covid and we’ve locked down the whole State. Elsewhere Covid is out there are it’s a very different experience. I have friends who have had firsthand experience of it and have been fine, also people I know who have died of it. Friends who have been vaccinated and friends who are scared to be. I respect everyone’s right to feel how they feel.
Paul: We’re all living in the twilight zone. I remember when I was a kid and some of the Sci-Fi stuff I read I’m now living it. I watched the one where the computer was the size of a house and it was Wally Cox in love with Agnes the computer, now I’m talking to you on my phone which is a computer. Technology has come so far and I think that all of this stuff that they’re doing it seems to me is trying to reset a new order across the world. It’s a controlling thing. It’s sad for so many people, it is.
Mark: Technology was meant to bring us together and I think it’s now slowly trying to push us apart.
Paul: That’s a great analogy of it, it has. It should make t easier to bring us closer together but it seems like the opposite is happening. We were at an Aerosmith concert, OK, and Steven and Joe come out at the end of the ramp and they sit on some chairs. And Steven’s playing the harp and Joe is playing a Dobro and doing some slide. And instead of everybody watching them, they’re watching them through their phones.
Mark: I hate that about modern day concerts.
Paul: So when they finish doing what they were doing Steven made a point and said “Hey I would have thrown you this harp that I was playing but you were too busy watching me on your phone. And even though that might seem like a simple thing, technology is actually easing us further apart. And in so many different ways it works like that, but it can be a good thing it depends on how we use it. Like today we couldn’t do this years ago, you can see me, I can see you and it’s great.
Mark: You’re right connecting from the other side of the world, it’s the middle of winter her but I imagine it’s quite lovely over there in Vegas.
Paul: (laughs) It’s quite hot here we’re in triple digits.
Mark: (laughs)
Paul: we’re in hell and you’re in a cold room! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) So lets’ get into the music after our ponderings. You’ve really got me excited now about the Blues album, if I can call it that for now. How far off is that record do you think? How many songs do you have for it? And what else is almost ready to go?
Paul: Oh, we’re at eight. We’ve got two more to finish. And the King Kobra record that I’m working on with Carmine we’ve got seven, there’s some really cool songs with the title track. And the Rough Cutt’s out. We had recorded that back in 2017 – they were real Rough Cutt songs we had worked on – Matt (Thorne), Amir (Derakh), myself, even Chris (Hager) is on some of the stuff. And Dave (Alford) is on a few of the tracks because a few were tracks on a record that was released only in Canada years ago. So there’s like ‘House of Pain’; ‘Peyote’ and ‘Prowler’ that were older tracks. And then there’s other stuff – I released an album on April 24th of 2020 when the pandemic hit called ‘Make a Wish’ and we did a remake of ‘Send in the Clown’ with Vinnie Paul – it was a cool thing – we actually did it for Carrot Top and then he played on it – we cut it like twelve years ago! So we redid it with Vinnie’s drums, and Marco Mendoza played on it and Nozomu Wakai was on guitar.
Mark: Some great guests on that album, and I think your first solo album in about ten years? It must have been great to see those songs have a release?
Paul: You know what was really cool about that? I went to Japan, my wife booked me this question and answer thing and the only other person that did it was Paul Di’Anno (Iron Maiden’s ex-vocalist). And I performed the SEGA ‘Eggman’ song but they had put together a whole Japanese band and they were doing things from ’Back on Track’ that I did with Jeff Northrup, Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot and King Kobra. So I got to perform at the Nagoya Performing Arts Theatre and people got to ask questions, then we performed and then they asked me to come back and we did a tour with the same guys playing Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo. Then the guitar player and his record label asked if we could put together a record to release in Japan and then worldwide. So Nozomu came over here and we started that record. But I got to play some of those Rough Cutt songs when I was over in Japan touring in 2017 like ‘Don’t Say a Word’ and a few of the other songs that appear on the album so we had recorded that stuff and decided that seeing as the guys were going out (The Dave Alford and Chris Hager Rough Cutt), which we found out through social media that they had formed a new Rough Cutt. They’d also knocked us all off the social media so we couldn’t get on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram because Chris was running it all for Rough Cutt. So I had, when we decided to get back together, to do the Monsters of Rock Cruise and some other stuff I asked a lot of my own fans from my own fan base to come to the Rough Cutt page and then I just turned it over to Chris. I found out they’d formed a new Rough Cutt when I got a call from Matt And Amir they said “Hey you know what there’s a label who want to release these songs?” and seeing as they (Chris and Dave) had already released a video of one of the songs we had recorded, which is different to the original version we thought why not. But you know, I wish them all the best, you know I don’t wish anybody and bad, but usually most bands you relate to the singer and I’m kina irritated in that I came up with the name. I’m the founding father of the band Rough Cutt. I took it from a TV Guide! It was a Burt Reynolds movie called “Rough Cut” and I thought that would be a really cool name for a band because you go into the record company and you hand them some rough cuts, or rough tracks! Or some demos!
Mark: As an outsider it’s always incredible when you read about things like that when they happen. You just wonder why it has to be if you like, as I see it, a little underhanded, let’s say. Why can’t people just talk?
Paul: Well yeah. And I mean they could go out as Alford and Hager’s Rough Cutt at least it’s not deceiving the fans. You know I think what they did… you know to be quite honest I’ve done so many other things since the Rough Cutt days that it was a matter of principal to release the record. And they’re on it, and they’re getting credit on it. It’s not like they’re not part of that record because they are, and they’re part of that legacy. I’ve done a few interviews because those guys have been out doing a lot of stuff and I think Matt has done some, and Amir maybe, and so I just want to set the story straight. I wish them all the best I just want them to be straight about who they are. Frankly I think the owners of ‘Rough Cutt’ after it lapsed (the trademark) need to… Well Initially Niji management owned Rough Cutt – Wendy Dio is Niji Management and Ronnie, so they owned Rough Cutt so when that expired and it didn’t get renewed a record company picked it up. So there’s a record company out there called Rough Cutt, but all they did was form an LLC. They don’t own the brand or anything, I don’t think any of us do at this point and I think if we go into it legally the majority usually ends up ruling the matter and I’ve got a stack of interviews on paper that state that I came up with the name. But really legally it doesn’t really matter when you go through the process legally and get the brand. So right now I’m going through some of that and I think Amir has ‘Rough Cutt Clothing’ and has the first ticket, he’s got so much stuff on Rough Cutt from the very beginning, but I don’t want to go there I want to move forward. That’s what life is all about, going forward not moving backwards right?
Mark: Too right!
Paul: So I wish them all the best and I just wanted to clear the air and tell you the truth of it. That’s all. And as far as ‘Rock Vault’ goes I do hope it gets back out there because it was a great show with a great cast and a revolving door of great entertainment. So I do hope for Harry’s and everyone else’s sake it gets back on its feet. Like all of the entertainment and bars and restaurants around the world I do hope that things get back to a somewhat of a normal state of affairs as soon as possible.
Mark: Well let’s hope so. The good news I guess for fans of Paul Shortino is that it sounds like you’ve got a whole lot of new music for us coming up. I must admit I’ve only heard the Rough Cutt album a couple of times now, but I’m loving that but the Blues album sounds like a real winner to me, I can really imagine that taking off!
Paul: Well I’ll send you some tracks, but you have to hold on to them for yourself until it’s released OK?
Mark: Absolutely.
Paul: I’ll send you this track called ‘Sunset Blue’ it’s everything from Gary Moore to Led Zeppelin, it’s about a seven minute song! You would think that we had recorded it in the same room, but we didn’t. Tracey sent me some stuff and I chopped it up and sent back some ideas and he blew my mind and sent me back something wonderful. And that’s the great side of technology today – as far as working with people across the globe – they can email you an idea and you can tear it apart and add to it. Three of the songs that sparked on the King Kobra record Carmine just sent drums!
Mark: And that was it?
Paul: Yes. In fact the song ‘Music is a Piece of Art’ goes “In your ear straight to your heart” and that’s the lead up to the chorus line. And that was Carmine playing drums and Rowan adding some ideas, and then they sent it to me, but it might only have been a minute long and the song ended up six minutes long. So I took all of these sections – like a drum fill Carmine played leading up to an idea and cut them all up and it’s amazing how it evolved with technology. So Carmine sent it to Rowan he sent it to me then we can to get it onto a ‘click (track)’ some kind of a grid so we could play with it. And then all of a sudden another person came in with another idea, which gave another perspective to the song. So we came up with another part which really lifted the song to another level. Robbie just had this great idea! It’s really amazing how you can write songs these days, piecing these things together.
Mark: I can’t wait for it all to get out in the wild!
Paul: I’ll send you some of the mixes, they’re not mastered yet just mixed. But they sound really good! What I’m digging is that it’s finally… I like doing stuff that I like to listen to, I like doing Etta James stuff, stuff that pretty much isn’t Rock-based but my voice gives a Rock edge to it. So ’Sunset Blue’ starts out with a Rhodes Piano and guitar work and then it comes in with the band almost like ‘Since I’ve Been loving you’ it’s kind of like a ‘Still Got The Blues’ meets Zeppelin…
Mark: You’re killing me Paul!
Paul: (laughs) It’s quite an epic of a track. It really is. He sent me back ideas where I had to come up with more ideas! So it goes through this whole journey and his guitar work is so tasty and melodic!
Mark: It sound like something that I would love to hear live. And there’s more I think?
Paul: I just did something for Ronnie’s birthday too. With Rowan and Joey Melotti, Joey believe it or not is Barry Manilow’s music director. We went to his studio and did an acoustic version of ‘Catch the Rainbow’
Mark: Wow.
Paul: And we did a video long with it, and we tracked it live. So it’s raw but wow! And they’re gonna air it with a bunch of other things, a lot of people have been recording and doing things and they’re going to stream this. They have Glenn Hughes, Rob Halford, all kinds of people contributing from different places (The stream took place on July 10th). We just had a friend come in with a video camera and tripod and we went into Joey’s control booth in his studio – he bought a house a couple of doors down from his home and turned it into a beautiful environment to record. It was really cool, it came out really neat and it’s a pretty version of it.
Mark: I love that the tributes to Ronnie are ongoing. One of the greatest singers we’ll ever have, I just feel privileged to have seen him on stage and I know how much he means to you.
Paul: God bless him. He died way too soon.
Mark: Way too soon.
Paul: And we just lost Johnny Solinger he was in Rock Vault and in Skid Row longer than Sebastian, thirteen years I think.
Mark: We’re losing so many recently, I guess time creeps upon us all, we’re all getting older.
Paul: Get old yeah. He wasn’t that old though.
Mark: You’re looking very well though and seem to be keeping very busy.
Paul: I have a whole lot of stuff, I’ve been so busy. I did a new version of ‘Dreaming Again’ (The Rough Cutt song from their 1985 debut) too – Latin style! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) Nice!
Paul: That actually is going to be released. I’ve been speaking to Wendy Dio trying to get the ‘Make a Wish’ record released over here. And Nozomu sent me a version of ‘We Are Stars’ (Hear ‘n’ Aid) so we are going to add that to the record. They’re rereleasing it in Japan so that people can go and buy it for a more reasonable price on a web page in English. However I’m trying to get it released here in The States on a Major Label and Wendy has been helping me with that, but I’ve also been reaching out to a bunch of labels. It’s been a year now since it was released and some great players and great material on it but I don’t know what’s going to happen with it. But the label that we did Rough Cutt with really wants to do the record that I’m doing with Tracey and we’re looking for a name. We’re kind of thinking ‘Blue Dahlia’ –it was an old Alan Ladd movie, then there was another later called the Black Dahlia, because this kind of leans towards a Heavy Blues Rock so I always liked that name for a band. But we’ll see! There’s really a whole band behind it as Tracy got a bunch of guys to play keys and bass and drums, so it is really a whole band. I’m just looking forward to finishing it.
Mark: So am I! (laughs)
Paul: (laughs)
Mark: Everyone has been having it hard at the moment due to covid which has really hit the industry. What’s the best way fans can show you their support at the moment?
Paul: They can go to my website paulshortino.com and they can also go to my Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. There’s a Paul Shortino fan page. But I have stuff that people can get on Orchard and other places, some of my old solo stuff.
Mark: I know I’ve build up quite a collection over time and it’s always great to chat. Thank you so much for your time, you and Carmen are always so generous.
Paul: Well it’s been a pleasure my brother and I’ll send you those songs when we get off the call. And then I’ll send you the record! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) Take care!
Paul: You too my friend, stay safe and I know that everybody is wishing for everything to get back soon to whatever dysfunctional lives we all have! (laughs) We’re all from different places and different families and different upbringings and different view-points but we all share is beautiful planet and I just hope that things get back to the normal dysfunction that we all had before! I’m just wishing everybody some peace, love and happiness out there!
Mark: Thank you so much. It’s the music that brings us all together. Take care my friend.
Paul: You to my friend. God Bless!
