OS: Hmm, I wouldn’t say that we built around that song necessarily. It was interesting because the record was done sort of in sections. The way I work, which it may be good, may be not, is that I will tend to start ideas, get them to a point, and then I’ll just leave them alone for a while and I’ll carry on and I’ll go and do something else or maybe start another idea. So what ends up happening is that I’ve got a whole bunch of ideas that aren’t finished and occasionally that can lead to a lot of unfinished ideas never reaching the light of day. Then I listen back to them and I think, okay, well, I’ll start something new now because I did that six months ago and I don’t wanna finish it now. But that’s kind of what happened with “Easy Does It” is that I started it and I hadn’t written the melody, I’d just written some of the back track.
I really liked it, but at the time it sort of got put aside and I didn’t concentrate on it. Then I was doing other tracks on the album, and I went back to it and Matt, the guitarist was around, and we just started writing this melody over of the top of it and it just clicked…. then he started doing a little pick, a guitar part on it, and it started to get not only really smooth but a little bit funky and it was starting to move a bit, and this was before the bass went on. This was just with a really static keyboard bass on it, but it started to move a little bit and I was thinking, okay, I’m starting to feel this a bit more, this could make the album. So we finalized the melody and then I went back after and added a key change at the end, and then I got Julian in to do several tracks, and funnily enough I wasn’t gonna add bass to the single, to “Easy Does It,” but we had some time left at the end of the session and he said “Is there anything else you wanna do?” I was listening to “Easy Does It” and he listened to it and he said “What about that one? That could use some bass.” I said “You think so?” He said “Yeah, let’s have a go at it,” so that basically is the story, really, and he put some bass down on it, and straight away the whole thing just came to life.
Smitty: Well, it’s a great track that really stands out. And I love “London to L.A. Express.”
OS: Okay, yeah.
Smitty: You guys had the little background vocal thing working there too.
OS: Yeah, yeah, I sang that myself with….I think I sang that with Bruce Parker. He’s the guy that’s on the main vocal track.
Smitty: It’s really interesting and really cool; the whole composition is really nice.
OS: It is. It’s kind of different. Again, that sort of stands out, I think, for me. You’d probably agree. It just slightly has a bit more of a West Coast laid back spin to it.
Smitty: Yeah, yeah, I love it.
OS: Kind of a little bit old school in there and then it reminds me a little bit of Norman Brown. I actually had Norman Brown in mind when we were doing it because of the style of the guitar and everything.
Smitty: Yeah, and my first thought was George Benson and then it sort of gravitated to Norman Brown.
OS: Yes.
Smitty: So it’s got that really nice guitar feel to it, you’re right. And I actually think that it could be a radio single.
OS: Yeah, it’s funny you should say that because that was Trippin Records’ second choice. (Both laughing) You’re good.
Smitty: How ‘bout that? Oh, but all of these are great tracks. You’ve got some great writing skills, man.
OS: Thank you, thank you very much.
Smitty: Yeah, and the title track is really cool, “So Many Ways,” and Yvonne (John-Lewis)…
OS: That’s right, Yvonne, yeah.
Smitty: You tell Yvonne she can sing to me any day. (Both laughing)
OS: Oh yeah, I will. She’ll love that.
Smitty: Oh wow, she’s got a great voice.
OS: She’s really great. You’d really like her. She’s the absolute quintessential professional singer. She’s one of the most talented gifted singers in this country I’ve ever met.
Smitty: She just sings with so much feeling and emotion. It’s really great.
OS: Definitely.
Smitty: You’ve got one of my old pals on here on “Deuces Wild,” you’ve got Jaared.
OS: Hey, yeah, Jaared.
Smitty: Jaared’s an old friend. Been knowing Jaared for many years and it’s great to see him out there.
OS: You know what? I’d written “Deuces Wild” and it kind of came to my attention that it was gonna be a full-on sax track. In the beginning I thought, I’ll try and merge some keyboard and some sax, and kind of ala Gregg Karukas maybe just a nice touch of sax in there. But then as I was writing I just thought, wow, this is hot, this is just gonna be great with some big double sax and a chorus with the sax just taking it. A couple of people said “It doesn’t really fit on the album. Why isn’t there a keyboard on there? It’s not really you.” And I just said….”I’ve written a song, it’s my production, so it’s a nice change. I think people like to hear a little bit of variety in there.” And at the time Jaared was over with Peter White doing some gigs over here and I had met Jaared once before, not really on musical terms, just seeing a gig and say hello. So we were off to see them that night and it just occurred to me and Simon, we just said “How ‘bout we ask Jaared to get on that track?” And at first I thought, nah, he’s really not gonna do that, and then we asked him and he was like “I would love to!” And he was just wonderful, absolutely played like I’d never heard someone play in a recording studio. Boy, it was just….it was ridiculous.
Smitty: Yeah, he’s a great player.
OS: He is.
Smitty: You know, Trippin’s got some great keyboard players too. You guys have a taste for keyboard players. I must tell Les that. He’s got a taste for keyboard players.
OS: He has, doesn’t he?
Smitty: Yeah, there’s yourself, Gregg Karukas, Paul Hardcastle…
OS: Yep.
Smitty: There could easily be this great, monster blowout, a keyboard blowout thing working.
OS: There could be, yeah. Gregg Karukas, is obviously great. What Gregg is doing is where I would like to ultimately be because he’s just unbelievable. I listen to his records and everything is so perfect.
