Smitty: Well, there’s something there that you’ve discovered, so that’s a nice discovery.
CS: I suppose I should fire everybody else now. (Both laughing.)
Smitty: Oh no, keep those guys with you, man. Don’t fire them because they’re great. And speaking of that, I can’t say enough about Dino Soldo.
CS: Yeah.
Smitty: You know, I’ve listen him for many years and you can pick him out in any project.
CS: Yeah, he’s got a personality, doesn’t he?
Smitty: Yes he does. Well, that’s great. So let’s talk a little about this first single, “I Can’t Help Myself.” Why that selection? Was that something that was special and dear to your heart?
CS: Well, it’s never my choice with any single, but I understand why….I understand more and more why singles are picked. But no, I’ll be honest with you. When I first started recording this album, I started recording some of the more “out,” sort of “arty” experimental stuff, which did end up on the record, the latter part of it, you know?
Smitty: Yeah.
CS: And I sent it over to Trippin’ n Rhythm and said “Chris, this is all very well, but give us something we can market.” You know, record companies are very sort of beholden to radio airplay and things like that. And I….one has to understand the game if you’re gonna be in it. And I then decided to go to Paul Brown, who of course you know, who’s a great producer. And I said to him “Paul, I need a hit single.” (Both laughing.) I won’t leave this room until we get one. And so he dug deep into his treasure chest and we came up with something and I wrote the melody and I sent that one track back to Trippin’ n Rhythm and they loved it, and they said “This is fantastic,” so from an absolute resounding “No” to a resounding “Yes” to it. But that’s what it takes sometimes, you know, you have to align yourself with people who understand marketing and that stuff. And it’s a game that we have to play if we wanna be in it, so I ended up loving the song too. It’s not like it’s not me. It’s very much me.
Smitty: Yeah, it’s a great track.
CS: But it’s also probably the most commercial track on the album, so that ended up being the single, you know?
Smitty: Yeah, well, that’s what diversity’s all about. You get some commercial tracks, you do some things that you feel very close and dear to that you’ve always wanted to do or there’s just a song in your head that you really wanted to put to music, and so you do all those things, and that’s what a great project is all about. It’s not about, you know, like you just mentioned earlier, sounding like the last record.
CS: Yeah.
Smitty: But it’s all about what you’re feeling in the moment and what you’re, you know, how you want to express yourself through your music, so….
CS: Yeah, and it’s also….it’s taking care of everybody on board, you know, and radio’s a different animal, the public are a different animal, the artists themselves are a different animal, and it’s about everybody being happy. I mean, at the end of the day I’m not making records for me; I’m making records for everybody else.
Smitty: Yeah.
CS: You know, I have to be happy because I’m the one who’s gotta go out and play the darn thing. (Both laughing.) But it’s not for me. I can play all day for me, you know?
Smitty: Yeah, and that’s a beautiful thing, so everybody’s happy, it’s a great record, it’s coming out and you can look back even years later and say “Hey, we really kicked it with that one.”
CS: Yeah.
Smitty: Absolutely.
CS: Well, we’ll see.
Smitty: Yeah, and “Mumbo Jumbo,” man. What a great track. Wow.
CS: Oh, you like that too?
Smitty: Yeah. And Jeff Robinson, man, he’s quite a vocal. Wow.
CS: Oh yeah, he is. He’s actually got a couple of albums of his own out. I don’t know whether you’ve heard them, but he’s quite an unsung hero, and he’s quite a talent.
Smitty: Yeah. And then your one-word song, “As.”
CS: Yeah.
Smitty: Come on, tell me about that one.
CS: Well, that’s, you know, that’s a Stevie Wonder track.
Smitty: Yeah. How did you mix Dino in there with it?
CS: Well, I’ll tell you that Dino wasn’t supposed to be on the album. I mean, just because we, you know, he’s been on every single on of my albums, and I didn’t want to make an album with any saxophone on it. I just didn’t wanna go there for this record. But Rodney and I had a definite vision of it being much more of a rhythm section record.
Smitty: Yeah.
CS: And then Dino called me up one time. Just before I was about to hand in the record, he said “Chris, I really want to be on this record.” He said “Just come and let me play something. Let me play a shake or something just so I can be on the record.” I said “Fine, absolutely. Bring your harmonica, bring your toys, let’s see what we can do.” And the first thing that I thought of was “Well, we’ve got this Stevie Wonder track and there’s a gap in the middle where there’s like eight bars of nothing going on. Maybe this would be something Dino could play his harmonica on.” So we just put the track up and I said “Play.” And he played all the way through it, and what you hear is the first thing that he played all the way down.
Smitty: The first take?
CS: Yeah.
Smitty: Man, he is an incredible musician.
