GA: It was like something for an old fogies dance, a Christmas party or something like that.
Smitty: (Laughs) Well, the beautiful thing about that is all of you as horn players can play in any environment and just turn it up, you know?
GA: Sure.
Smitty: And that’s what’s great about this record. You could feel the strength and great musicianship of everybody, you can feel the professionalism, and that’s what makes this great. This is a wonderful record, man. You really selected some great horn players. I mean, you could pick any one of these and they can stand out on their own on any given day. On their worst day they’re fantastic.
GA: Yeah, yeah, true.
Smitty: “Bongo Baby.” That’s a nice song, but I said “I wonder why he selected this track?” It’s a great track. Is there a story there?
GA: Well, it’s one of the songs that I produced and co-wrote with Carmen Grillo, who is a guitar player who used to play in Tower of Power. And he’s also the engineer on the record and we recorded the record at his studio. And he wrote this and we didn’t have a title and a friend of mine came up with the title, another songwriter that I write with, and when that kinda came up, “Bongo Baby,” we were kinda “Well, okay, now let’s see where we can go with this.” And then we had the girls say “Bongo Baby” in the front and it kinda reminded me of an old Herb Alpert Tijuana Brass-type thing, and when I wrote the melody I said “Well, this is kinda going to a funny place, but why not?”
I’ve got a great percussionist in my band, Johnny Sandoval, and he’s a great bongo player and it was “Let’s do a little tongue-in-cheek parody of an old Herb Alpert-type style song” and we put the trumpet on and we doubled it just like Herb used to do. And it kinda took on a life of its own and it’s one of those tracks that…. I’ve done a few interviews now about the new record and everybody asks about it. They love it. They love that track. And it’s kind of like on my second CD, Midnight Morning, the tenth track was a complete afterthought and it’s called “Roadhouse.”
We needed ten songs and we didn’t have ten songs and we had this kind of in the can. So we didn’t feel that it fit with the whole thread of what we were doing on Midnight Morning, but we had to have ten songs, you have to have at least ten songs, so we kinda tacked it on the end. Well, it was the biggest song off the record. It was the first single. And it went Top Ten….so go figure. I mean, it’s kind of a head scratcher. So “Bongo Baby” is kinda like in that kind of a thing. It was our tenth song and it wasn’t out of desperation, but it just turned out to be the tenth song. We needed one more song and it was there, it was presenting itself, and I was digging on writing with other people too like I said before, and so that’s how it was born and that’s how it turned out. It’s a fun song and “live” it kills.
Smitty: I can just imagine.
GA: And we get a little Latina to get up there on stage and have her say “Bongo Baby” before we start the song. It’s always a crowd pleaser. The shorter the skirt, the better.
Smitty: I’m there, absolutely, my friend. As I was listening to the record, when I got to “Bongo Baby,” it just solidified the diversity of this record. There’s a different twist and a different turn with each track.
GA: One of my favorites on the record is the last song, which is “When the Party’s Over.” I wrote it with Nick Milo. It’s a real romantic ballad with a big orchestra, and we did something like that on the last record, on Firefly, called “Just Like Breathing,” and it proved to be such a, once again, a crowd pleaser because it’s such a departure from anything smooth. I mean, it’s very smooth, but it’s not in the smooth format.
Smitty: Right.
GA: It’s like an old smoky nightclub at 2 a.m. in Hollywood and stuff like that.
Smitty: Yeah, man.
GA: So we thought we’d take it a step further this time and really orchestrate the whole thing and it kinda was a nice thing to kinda settle down on as you exit.
Smitty: Yeah, it’s a mellow tune.
GA: Yeah, it’s just real pretty, real romantic and, idle, evokes a lotta thoughts like “When the Party’s Over.” It can go so many different ways.
Smitty: Yes indeed. Well, I must say, man, I’m really digging the record and I’m just blown away with everything you’ve done with it and with the players that you pulled together for this one, and it’s just a great project you’ve done. You’ve done it again, my friend.
GA: Oh, thanks, Smitty. Well, we’re looking for big things to come from it. It’s on my label this time as opposed to being on a major label. It’s on Ripa Records, which is a label that I started with a partner of mine in Seattle, Washington.
Smitty: Very cool.
GA: And so we’re being distributed through the Internet, CD Baby and we’re looking for a major distribution deal. We’ve got some irons in the fire. So it’s kinda like taking a little control of one’s destiny.
