Smitty:  Right.

RS:  Different sounds.

Smitty:  Yeah, and a great example of that is “The Hypnotic.”  Oh, man, what a track.  For people that haven’t heard this, they’re missing something.  I’ll just sum it up that way.  They are missing something when they don’t hear this record because there is some fantastic music here that I think the whole world should hear because this is a magnificent album, it really is.

RS:  I agree, Smitty, but I think that sometimes when you don’t fit into a box, I think we’re in the middle of a change musically, obviously, and we’re in the middle of a change business-wise as far as the record companies are concerned.  No disrespect, but I’m not the type of artist—because I don’t make records because I have to; I make records because I want to.  I like to play with different artists in my life and play bass because for me, variety is the spice of my life.  Musically too.  I don’t wanna play one style all the time, I don’t wanna play with the same person all the time. 

Even in my own band, I don’t wanna play the same music all the time, but I think that stylistically and marketing-wise, if you’re not doing pop or something, they want you to do the same thing, they want an entire record of the same thing all the time, so it makes it easier for possibly them to sell or market your stuff, but for me as a consumer, that doesn’t necessarily make that a record that I want to buy.  Chances are I’m probably bored with it a little bit earlier than the other, but they seem to have a slot easier to put it into or a bin, and I always find that in several groups that I’m in that this is a problem, even with what we do live.  Most of the groups that I’ve played with, even live, our show is not one style.  We don’t play one style of music consistently where everything is in this genre.

Smitty:  And isn’t it amazing that the fans love it?

RS:  Smitty, well, that’s the greatest thing about it and it really is a great time right now where I think the number one rule you just have to have, you have to be real and, come on, be able to play, be able to throw down.  Now, if you can play and throw down, you’ve pretty much got carte blanche, and if you’ve got some records too, it’s like Donky Kong, come on.

Smitty:  (Laughs.)

RS:  People just wanna hear good music and they want you to be real and they wanna see that you have confidence in yourself and that you love what you do, and they’re on board after that.  I don’t think you have to play the same, you know, have a record of the same type of style or the same type of sound, and it’s, eh, that’s boring. I know what music’s supposed to be about, but I’m not judging everybody else.  That’s why I do what I do because it makes me happy.

Smitty:  Yeah, absolutely.  Well, I wanna go back to something because I wanna ask you about your experience of touring with Prince and Chaka Khan.

RS:  Right, and all my idols.  That was a trip meeting Larry Graham. Oh my Gosh.  When I was a lot younger and I was living in Canada before I came up, I used to date this guy and he had all the old Graham Central Station records that I had never heard before, so I had them on tape back then and, man, I used to like learn “Pow” and all that stuff and play it over and over and over until the tape would just get jumbled up in the machine and broken and I had to take it out with a pen and try to put it back together so that I could play it again, because I couldn’t find half of those records.  And then when I got the opportunity to meet this guy and play with him, I was like wow!

Smitty:  (Laughs.)

RS:  But those were the moments when I really had to get all this fandom out of you because there’s no time for that.  You know, Prince don’t play that. If you can’t hang, you will be hung.

Smitty:  (Laughs.)  I like that.

RS:  It’s true.  Much respect, much respect.  He’s the consummate performer, just amazing and just diehard standards.  It’s like comparatively—mind you, I’ve never been in the service before, but it’s probably like the Special Forces, you know, where it’s just that elite team.

Smitty:  Yeah.  Well, I think having toured with him and having that kind of respect to tour with Prince and Larry Graham and these cats that have it locked into such a great standard to where the musicianship has gotta be up there, that speaks volumes of your musicianship, you know?  When you really think about it, and this is why I say that you are among that elite group of musicians that know how to bring it and I love you for it.

RS:  Ha-ha, thank you so much.  I look back on it and I’m like geez, he could’ve picked a million different people to do that, but he picked this little girl from Canada out of the snow pile.

Smitty:  (Laughs.)

RS:  And brought me to snowier Minneapolis, where I had to like learn 300 songs in only two weeks.

Smitty:  Mm-hmm.

RS:  And play it right too.

Smitty:  Yeah, man, and the same thing with Chaka.  I mean, you don’t just crawl in there in that band and wing it, you know?

RS:  No, no, man, and I got to play on her record, which was really, really great.  Again, I did a fretless tune for her.  I think it was called “I Remember U” if I remember correctly, but I mean, just amazing.  Chaka Khan to me when I first met her, we toured together for probably about a year and a half, which was just a gas.  We had like a triple threat with Prince and the New Power Generation.  Either Chaka Khan would open or Larry Graham would open.

Smitty:  Oh!

RS:  Can you imagine that?

Smitty:  That’s just slammin’ it!

RS:  Can you imagine that?  (Laughs.) Yeah, so I mean, that was just amazing.

Smitty:  Well, like I said at the beginning of our discussion, I said you’ve had an amazing career and I’m just so happy to introduce you to those that do not know and to reintroduce you to those who do know because you have done some amazing things, and when it comes to music and great people, I get excited to just let everybody know about it.  It’s just like, you know, it’s just your favorite thing that you wanna tell people about.  So I just applaud you for what you’ve done and I’m just incredibly excited about your fantastic career and this great record, RS2.  I mean, it’s just an incredible record that I think, if people haven’t picked it up, they really need to go get it, because they’re missing something from their music library.

RS:  I think so, and you know what, Smitty?  If they miss it, I’m not mad.  I’ve got a great band this year.  Starting out in 2008 we have a great show.  I have some really strong musicians and a fun show.  We are gonna take it around Europe.  We’ve got dates in Europe already, we’re gonna start hitting the U.S.  We’re gonna bring it to ‘em.  We’re doing songs off of Intellipop and mostly RS2, so we’re ready to bring it.

Smitty:  Oh, cool. I’ll be there.

RS:  And I’m having so much fun.  It is such a musical challenge for me.  It is musically and physically the hardest show I have ever played in my life. It’s great because I get to play a little bit of everything.  I’m really stretching between actually piccolo bass and regular bass. So it is quite cool.  And I have another bass player in the band, you know?

Smitty:  Nice, nice!

RS:  And when I’m doing piccolo, it’s more like, you know, it’s kinda like a tenor bass, between guitar and bass, so it’s more of a lead instrument.

Smitty:  Sounds like a very hot show!

RS:  Oh, man, am I ever blessed.  I’m so blessed.

Smitty:  Yes you are. And you are going to put the tour dates on your Web site and your My Space, of course?

RS:  Oh, yes.  We’re gonna put the dates on there definitely.  I have some dates in the fall, but I also have some dates with another artist, so we’re at the point of trying to decide what is the best place, but definitely—and this is all European stuff—but we’ll probably be doing Europe in the summer also.  We’re right now just in the process of getting some U.S. dates to start the year off and, of course, we’re in a little thought process because it is the holidays right now, so you know how it is.

Smitty:  Yeah, yeah, I do.

RS:  Everybody’s—and including us—we’re like “Well, we’ll get back with you in January and let you know.”

Smitty:  (Laughs.)

RS:  Because we’re like it is just holiday and eggnog time right now.

Smitty:  (Laughs.)  So give me your Web site so everybody will know where you are and where you’re located on the Web.

RS:  Definitely.  I have two that have always worked for me and it’s, of course, www.rhondasmith.comm and you can also catch me on www.myspace.com/rhondasmith.

Smitty:  Yes, and you gotta go look at those great pictures on My Space.  (Both laugh.)

RS:  I got more, Smitty.

Smitty:  Oh my goodness, yes.  Well, I wanna get out to some of that great live music, so I can’t wait to go on your My Space page and check out your tour schedule and catch up to ya and have some fun and get to hear some great music and hear some of that new stuff you’re playing.  Wow.  So, now, tell me.  We left out one person that I just cannot forget to talk about here and that’s our great friend, Ms. Candy Dulfer.

RS:  Yeah.