GA: Well, and it’s funny. I’ve told people about it and they said “You got ‘em all in the same room at the same time?” And it’s funny these days because I’ve done solos on the West Coast with an artist on the East Coast that I’ve never met, I’ve just talked to them on the phone, they send the track via e-mail and mp3, and I’d go in the studio and play the solo, and we burn a disc and mail it back to them, and that’s how you do it today…. No, I got everybody in the studio this time and it was great. It was a major thing to get everybody’s schedule to line up but it came out great. We’re really happy with it.
Smitty: Yes indeed. With the invention of ProTools and mp3’s and all that, it sorta takes a little bit away sometimes. I mean, it’s a most convenient way of doing things but, boy, when you can get everybody in the same room, that’s a beautiful thing.
GA: Oh yeah, it’s kinda old school. Good school, you know what I mean? And that’s the whole thing. ProTools is a great thing, but then again, we use ProTools.
Smitty: Oh yeah.
GA: And that’s how we make the records, then we bring in human beings to make it live because it’s great as a writing tool.
Smitty: Yes.
GA: That’s how we make songs and you can really do a nice mockup, but I’ve always thought if you’re gonna leave the drum machine in, well, let’s just make it a little loop and bring out a real drummer where you can make it feel human because there was a point where it was really getting out of hand. There were no people on these tracks (both laughing), just machines, and synth bass. So my first record was all drum machines just because of the sheer budget, we just didn’t have it. One song had Leon Chancellor on drums and it was the only song that had real drums on it and that was “Mahdi, The Expected One” off of Hidden Agenda.
Smitty: Great track.
GA: So it’s like we’ve come a long way.
Smitty: Yes indeed. All right, so tell me, man, who was cutting up in the studio? Who was cutting up the most?
GA: Oh, you mean joking around?
Smitty: Yeah.
GA: Well, you know, that probably would be me.
Smitty: (Laughs.) Oh, I know this cast of characters that you had in that studio and I know someone was cutting up a little bit and having some fun in there, you know?
GA: Out of the sax players, I think a lot of them don’t do a lot of sessions where they come in and be a section and play in a section. Everybody’s a soloist on their own right, you know?
Smitty: Yeah.
GA: And so that kind of a thing, not that there was tension in the air, but I think everybody had their game face on when they did the saxophones. I’ve played with all of those saxophonists and so they meant business. And you know, it came out great.
Smitty: Very cool.
GA: We went all around the saxes, I think, oh, maybe five or six times. We had a super long fade and I just let everybody blow, you know, play two bars, four bars, whatever, and then we just kinda picked the best ones. They were all great, but we just picked, we went through, and Eric does the last one before I come back in with the chorus on the fade, and Eric’s was so good. It was kind of an even thing, you know? The four solos, then Eric’s fifth was like “Oh, this is too good. We gotta leave this in here.” It kinda threw the symmetry off, but it didn’t really matter ‘cause that last one you hear before the chorus starts is Eric. And he and I have played together for years, and of course Richard Elliot was in Tower of Power. Boney…this is actually the first time I’ve played with him. I’ve known him for years.
Smitty: Yes, they are all very strong players.
GA: And it was kinda funny. About, oh, I would say eight years ago maybe, I got called to do a casual at a kinda snooty social club here in Los Angeles out in Santa Monica at the beach, and it was a tux gig playing standards, and I parked the car next to this young woman who was getting out of her car and was at her trunk and had black on, I’ve got my tux on, and she opens the trunk of her car and pulls out a saxophone. “Oh, are you on the gig tonight?” She says “Yeah.” I said “Hi, I’m Greg.” She says “Hi, I’m Mindi.” And I’d never met her. She was pretty easy on the eyes.
Smitty: Oh yeah!
GA: And she knew who I was, I had never met her, but she knew of my past with Tower, so she was really very nice and a great player. I mean, she’s really a fine musician.
Smitty: Yes, she is, and a great person too.
GA: Once in a while I’ll say “Oh, remember that night?” She says “Oh yeah.” It was funny because it was such a cornball gig. Oh my God.
Smitty: (Laughs).
