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Mike - Nashville, USA
Hi Paul, Good job on the drums for Slow Boat and EP. Cause I know it had been a while, no? Ah, and I have to ask (though I think I know the answer), are you vocal performances ¨as is¨, I mean, have you ever edited or used pitch correction, etc.?
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Paul: Hi Mike! Thanks! And yeah, I hadn't played drums in 27 years (1986) when we recorded Slow Boat (2013). I did a bit of preparation, of course. But that was about it. I figured, why not? They're all labors of love and I was really motivated and so happy to finally be recording my songs. Javi did the next two projects and did a great job and Van on the fourth and Javi and I did two songs each for EP (had to prepare for that one too).
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As a general rule (that we stuck pretty close to) we wanted a single vocal performance for each song, to make it as live and as natural as possible. So, pretty much all of the vocals were recorded that way, and for There and Back all of them were, since I was at the mic with the chicos throughout the whole thing. So, there wasn't much editing. Regarding any touch ups, we only had to use pitch correction for one note on one song on Fault Lines, and two notes for one song on There and Back (which we did when we got back to Buenos Aires).
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Raymond - Buzios, Brazil
Hey Paul, Been listening! Good stuff! I noticed you write endings for your songs. Nice! But I'm sure that's no accident.
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Paul: Hi Raymond! Haha! Nah, that's no accident. I think it's lazy not to. In fact, only two of the songs have a fade out (You Never Know from Slow Boat to China, and Every Single Day from Fault Lines), because sometimes it works. Anyway, thanks for noticing Raymond, and for the kind words!
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Dan - Texas, USA
Hey Paul! Long time no hear from. All ok? Anything new to post? Still no mask? Inquiring minds want to know.
Paul: Hey Dan! Thanks for reaching out and staying in touch. All is ok here. Yes, I'm finally starting to post some old stuff as you and a number of other people have been suggesting for some time now. We're calling it From The Vault. Not a very original title. But it'll do for now. And yeah, still no mask. But better than ever! All the best to you and Lisa for the New Year!
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Jeff - Long Island, USA
Hi Paul, I asked you a while back about the bass line to Bang! Bang! Now I want to ask about the bass part to Walking The Line. Is that yours? It's a different song from all of your other stuff. Cool tune though. Anyway, how did you come to record that one?
Paul: Hey Jeff! Actually, Charly was just practicing at the end of a session when we were wrapping things up and Javi hopped on the drums and started to play along. And I was still at the vocal mic (all of the basic tracks to that album were performed live by the three of us). So I just asked Seb to push play and we were off. I wanted to give Charly writing credit but he told me he would never have thought to put anything on top of what he was doing (it was just a walking bass line exercise, hence the song title).
Though Seb's fluent in English, Charly and Javi don't speak much English at all. So they couldn't tell that I pretty much Scooby-doo'd a lyric over the top, a lyric that I defy anyone to make sense out of. But it seemed to work.
Anyway, when we came back the next session I said to the guys that I have to write a lyric that makes more sense and they all said it was fine as is. So, we put it on the record. We're proud of that song. It was literally recorded on the spot, in the moment. It's the only truly improvised recording I've ever done. Lyrically that's obvious. But musically, I'm proud of what we did.
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Steven - Connecticut, USA
Hey Paul, Love the song On Her Own. And the video too. Really nice. Good work! Couldn't quite make out the lyrics though. What's going on there?
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Paul: Hi Steven, Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I've always liked the look of that video. Frederico did a really good job with that one and we were happy to hear that he uses it to promote his company. I did want to do a bit more editing on that one. Ironically, I wanted to edit one second from my favorite part of the video. The part where Javi and I are listening to Anna record her harmonies to the original that we recorded together. Just at the end you can see me give an "Ah!" look. Because she hit a wrong note and we had to stop. It was the only hitch in an otherwise excellent performance. I had a couple of problems myself when we first started. But Anna, Javi and Seb were really supportive and encouraging. It was a nice moment. Very proud of the work we did together during that time.
And she was a really good sport about it. Because we didn't plan or rehearse harmonies. I just thought it'd be nice to harmonize her parts and give it a fuller and even somewhat darker sound to balance out what's basically a pretty song. Everyone was up for it and off we went.
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Regarding the lyrics. The song is about a gold-plated phoney (fool's gold, of course).
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Sol - Sao Paulo, Brasil
Hi Paul, I love the song Everything. Can I ask what that's about? Also, did you write it while living in NYC or in Buenos Aires? What's Save The Robot?
Hi Sol. Glad you like the song. I wrote it here in 2012. It was the first song we recorded for Slow Boat To China in the beginning of 2013. For the most part, I just write songs and figure them out later. I don't get caught up in their meaning until after the fact. But Everything was pretty straight forward. The verses are about relationships gone wrong as told to me by people I've known over the years, and the choruses are about me starting to sing and write again after a break between 2005 to 2010. Oh, and Save The Robots was an after hours place that I went to pretty regularly, mostly from 1987 to 89.
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Marco - NY, USA
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Hey Paul, I love the explanation you gave for the snare drum sound, especially for the EP. You should share that on your page, no? Just a thought.
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Haha! Hey Marc. Thanks for the suggestion. Sure. In fact, I'll even extend it a bit, or a lot, cause, why not?
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Because I like the songs within each record to have a different key, tempo and rhythm, and the snare in each record to have a different snare drum sound, for the EP recording I wanted a kind of tired, exhausted snare drum sound. So we used a pretty beat up snare drum head. It was still in fairly good shape for The Devil You Know and Something Tells Me I'm Right, which is a song that Javi liked and suggested for this project. But, I really wanted that beat up sound for California and I Want It Back. Because California is a bit of social commentary about a once great place now in free fall. And I see that as the model for the rest of the USA (that both will go down; or are going down, which explains the end of the video). And I Want It Back is about the narrator of the song putting a poker face on heartbreak only to have the mask fall off during the bridge. The theme of that song is fun irony.
Anyway, the idea is to violate expectations.
There are different ways you can do it. For example, if you're supposed to go on the ride cymbal, don't. That's what we did at the end of Lucky In Love from Slow Boat to China. So, California has that anti-climactic flam at the beginning of the bridge and the "Oh hum" fill at the end of the bridge. The whole attitude of the drum track for that song is "Yeah. Whatever."
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While I Want It Back has what I jokingly called The Wagner Flam as the opening. Like the deliberately pompous horn arrangement Wagner wrote for Wotan's entrance to signify the emptiness of his victory. In the same spirit I used a hard rock flam on a totally beat up snare drum head to mark the entrance of someone trying to convince the world he's ok when he's obviously falling apart. That's why the lyrics are so repetitive, like the song Heartbreak, it's a defense, a way of holding oneself together.
But, whereas the song Heartbreak was more serious, I Want It Back was a goof and a lot of fun to record. When Javi and I listened to the drum track for the first time he laughed out loud at the drum fill at the end of the bridge and that was exactly the reaction I wanted. In fact, him laughing at that drum fill is one of the nicest memories from that recording. That and the fact that Mick got the whole fun irony of the song from the get go. All of the tracks he sent fit perfectly. Thanks again Marco
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Omar and Agustina - Cordoba, Argentina
Hi Paul and Nati, we really loved your latest video. Congratulations. Very touching. Do you mind giving some background? Seems like there's a lot going on in that one?
Hi Omar and Augustina! Thanks so much. Sure. Well, as you know, Nati and I work on the videos together. We love it. It's just great. We'd do more if we had the time. But, we do what we can and love working together.
There and Back as an idea, not just a song, or album, etc. is so important to me personally that it's something I've thought of writing about and sharing here with our friends on this page. So, to keep it relatively short for now. I just pretty much followed the lyrics to line up the audio with the visual. Speaking of which, I could write an essay on the video itself and why I chose the images I did. But, well, maybe some other time. Thanks again Omar and Augustina!
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Jeff B - Long Island, NY USA
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Hi Paul, Now would be a good time to release your greatest hits! Haha! Just for fun, if you did put together something like that, what songs would you put on it? I could think of a few I'd suggest. But, I'd rather hear what your choices would be.
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Oh, and weren't you and Javi talking about doing some remastering of all of the projects?
Paul: Haha! Actually Jeff, as you know, Nati and I were joking about that last year. Well, half-jokingly. In fact, I thought of calling it Paul Rothwell The Greatest. Stealing the idea from Leo Kottke who had a Best of album with that title.
But seriously, or just for fun, if I had to (and maybe I will one of these days, why not?), this is what I'd put on it.
The Devil You Know
California
Backsliding
Something There Beside Me
Little Gypsy
Out On The Trail
America's Calling
One Day Soon
Hollywood Says Hello
Drowning In Tears
And, as far as the remastering, or even rerecording. For all of our many personal and cultural differences, Javi and I are on the same page with a lot of things regarding the recordings. For example, we both were of two minds with the whole idea or redoing things, or remastering, etc.
One, that we should go through each song and make it the best we can, changing what we think is necessary.
Two, we did the best we could at that moment and each project is an honest record of what we could do and who we were at that moment.
Of course, like with anything, if there was more time and money we would have chosen the first. But we went with the second. Though I think we still both lean toward the first, there's a powerful lesson about acceptance in the second one. A lesson that brought completely different people closer together and made the whole thing that much more meaningful and a lot easier to live with. Every day that goes by I'm more and more grateful for the work Javi and I did together. Or, as Robin Williams said to Jeff Bridges in The Fisher King, Men with Men. Haha! Thanks Jeff.
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Dave - Virginia, USA
Hey Paul, Any plans to do another recording in NYC with Mick Rossi, et al?
Paul: Hi Dave! The plan was to go to NYC once a year for three years, starting in 2018. But, by the time 2018 rolled around I was so burned out from work that I had to decide to either travel and record, or take time off and record what I could from here. So I decided to take some time off and that was when we did the EP with Mick and Johnny Valentino. We returned to the studio at the beginning of 2020 and, well, you know the rest. Thanks Dave!
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Geronimo - Mar del Plata, Argentina
Hi Paul, Do you think you’ll ever get around to recording those demos you played for us during the recording of Fault Lines? You had a lot of good ones. What is your songs written to recorded ratio anyway?
Paul: Good question. A third, maybe a quarter. Either way, that’s been a challenge to accept, that I’ll probably never get to record the finished songs that I really like. And yes, I remember that time. What a great night.
Some of those songs are my favorites. In fact, I was going to bring two of them to NYC for our next visit. Anyway, maybe those songs will get themselves recorded one day. But, since, expectations are resentments waiting to happen, acceptance (not resignation) is the best way to go. If things change I´ll let you know. And thanks!
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Claudia - Buzios, Brasil
Hi Paul! I really liked your video and song America’s Calling. Beautiful and very personal.
What a shame you didn’t stay here longer. You seemed so happy and Buzios loves you! Oh, and Raymond says Hi!
Paul: Thanks Claudia. Yes, it was great meeting Raymond. I can’t believe how long ago that was. And, yes, I gave the idea of moving there a lot of thought, as you guys know. But, things worked themselves out in the end.
And thanks for the kind words about the song and video!
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Juan Carlos - Rosario, Argentina
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I like the whole lo-fi, DIY approach on your recordings. Is that why you don’t give yourself production credits? Maybe you should. I know how hard you worked on those projects. Speaking of which, do you think you’ll ever get back into the studio again?
Paul: Ah! Now there’s a question. The best response reminds me of that saying in recovery, Let Go, Let God! Seems appropriate, whether or not one’s a believer, and seems to work too. Anyway, who knows if the recording thing will happen again? I’d like to think so. But….
And, yes, I never saw the sense in giving myself production credit. Still, there’s definitely a lot of work involved when recording an album of songs, even if it’s just a labor of love, which is what they are in my case.
But, as far as the work that goes into it. Because I still think in terms of albums, I want each project to be different from the others and to have each song within each album to have a different rhythm, tempo and key.
That and a different snare drum sound for each record. Of course, there are other things involved. But, you get the idea. Obviously, you always have to think of what resources you have and time is money and all the rest.
If we had a big budget, costs about $100,000 to make a record in a studio like Vibromonk, then maybe I’d give production credits to Mick or Dean or whoever else might produce it. Because it definitely wouldn’t be me, or just me. Simply because, unless you’re swimming in it, it’s crazy to produce your own songs, especially if you’re making a record. Crazy! It was even crazy of me to do it with these humble little labors of love. And I did go crazy, at least for a time. But, well, that’s another story.
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Alejandro - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Paul, I really like the There and Backstory, the summary of those three interviews you did here after your trip to NYC. Of course, I was there for one of those interviews and I heard the other two. So, I have a question. Have you ever thought of editing it to include more of those interviews?
Paul: Of course. But never got around to it. I will now :) Thanks Ale!
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Dan - Texas, USA
Hey Paul! Was looking forward to hearing your latest (Paul Rothwell Songs). But I guess with everything going on this year it got delayed. Speaking of which, how are things down there. Can’t see you wearing a mask.
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Paul: Hey Dan! Great to hear from you. Yeah, we started recording February 5th and had to stop March 15th. We just had two days a week, three to four hour sessions. But it was enough to run through the ten songs, some of which we’ll share on our page.
Things are fine here, thanks for asking. To be honest, Nati and I have had a great year and haven’t really been affected at all by any of it. And, yeah, I’ll never wear a mask.
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Florencia - Cordoba, Argentina
Hi Paul, Love your EP, especially The Devil You Know. Is that about anything in particular?
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Paul: Hi Flo! Thanks so much. The song is about sacred cows and scapegoats in everything from the family, to society, to hostile elites and host populations of entire countries, and how the only real solution is for the scapegoat to go No Contact.
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Diego and Silvia - La Plata, Argentina
Hi Paul, Congratulations on the website. Looks good. Same with the other one. Did you do them yourself?
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Hi Diego and Silvia! Tanto tiempo. Thanks for the kind words about the websites. No, I didn't do them myself. I'm still learning how to send emails. My wife Nati got us up and running. I gave her the information and she put it all together. Awesome in every way.
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Malena - Mendoza, Argentina
Hey Paul, If you had to chose one song from all of your projects as a personal favorite, which would it be?
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Paul: Hi Melena. Thanks for your question. If I had to choose one it’d have to be Hollywood Says Hello.
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Rich - Boston, USA
Hi Paul, How did you come to record with Mick Rossi?
Paul: Hi Rich. I first met Mick at a place called The Last Resort in Atlantic City in the early 80's. I used to go pretty regularly with my friend Bob Shomo (The Ant Farm, Johnny Valentino, Tim Lekan). The band there was great. I can't remember all of the regulars. But it did include the late, great George Mesterhazy, drummer Mark Graham and, of course, Mick.
10+ years later, while living in NYC I contacted Mick and he was kind enough to agree to play on one of the songs for a demo I was putting together at the time. Got back in touch many years later and asked him if he'd like to be a part of a recording project I was putting together. Glad he said "Yes."
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Jeff - Long Island, USA
Paul! How’s it going? Love Bang Bang! Did you write the bass line?
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Paul: Jeff! Great to hear from you. Regarding the bass part, I came up with the intro and a 12 bar section that starts with the lyric “With eyes in the back of your head…” and ends with “...here I am there you are.” and Charlie was free to play what he wanted for the verse and bridge. I actually came up with the bass line to that 12 bar part in NYC in 1994. That's what I started with. It was on a little cassette thing I used to walk around with all the time in those days.
Anyway, while working on Songs From The Silver Mountain it came back to me (the tape was destroyed but the idea stuck in my head) and I finished the song, music and lyrics, and we recorded it the next day in August of 2014, twenty years later. By the way, Javi and Charly (who play together a lot) sound great on that track and on the whole record.
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Patricia and Fran - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Hey Paul, long time no see. Just wondering why you don't have any photos of you playing live.
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Paul: Hey you two! Thanks for your interest. I really appreciate it. Yeah, about the photos, I didn't play out so often that I would have accumlated a lot of phtotos. There were a couple of shows where friends took photos, but as soon as the show was over I forgot all about it. Same thing in NYC where I played out a lot more than I ever did here. I played pretty regularly at McGovern's Tavern and other places in the second half of the 90's, and there's like one photo of me. I did put some up on facebook (for the short time we used that page), for live gigs, radio interviews, etc. Anyway, I'm sure I can dig up a few and put them in the photo section here. Thanks again for asking.