Interview with Toto's David Paich 2012
David:
Hello
David:
Yes, this Alun?
AW:
Yes how you doing sir?
David:
How you doing Alun? I’m great man.
AW:
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. We finally caught up!
David:
My pleasure, yeah it’s great to hook up here. Sorry, it’s been so crazy and
I’ve been busy here doing this …, getting ready for “music cares” This is honoring
Paul McCartney this year. So I’m helping put together the show for him and It’s
a quite an extravaganza, you know?
AW:
I’m sure, I’m sure. It’s going to be a lot of fun though for you, right?
David: Yeah, should be. So anyway “What’s going on?”
AW:
Well, I’ve been running this blog site for just over two years now and I’ve
previously written for other sites. I just wanted to go out on my own and see
how it went and …
David: Absolutely …
AW:
Well you know, it’s been pretty good so far.
It’s not outstandingly, you know, not over the top or whatever, but it’s
had about 110,000 hits in the last two years. So it’s….
David:
Hey that’s great, that’s a good start.
I’ve
spoken Howard Leese a couple of weeks ago. This is Stuart ….
David:
Yeah
AW:
This is Stuart (Smith) and his contacts thing, you know?
David:
Right, absolutely, exactly, well you know were slowly getting up to speed here
and everything but once we have exchanged our contact information it goes a lot
faster. You know, Stu knows me so we’re like siblings. Sibling rivalry out here,
so we kind a slosh around out here a little bit, but once we get contacts you
know? I have my busy periods. He has his periods, but he’s doing a great new album
here with “Heaven and Earth.”
AW:
Right, Right, Yeah.
David:
He’s got some neat stuff happening you know? So me and Stu have been friends
for a while. We played together and played at some police fundraisers and have crossed
paths here and done some different shows together … So he said “Dave I got a
friend, Alun … You should …, would you mind doing an interview with him? I said
no, not at all, ‘cos I rarely do them and Stu …, any friend of Stu’s is welcome
here. You know? So ...
AW:
Well, thank you.
David:
And I would be glad to chat with you for a few minutes here.
AW:
Yeah, I greatly appreciate it David and I also greatly appreciate you’re extremely
busy. An extremely busy man, but thank you so much for your time and I’ve
always been a big fan of Toto.
David:
Thanks so much.
AW:
Or 'To - To' as we say in England as probably Stuart says, Right?
David:
That’s right. Now where are you? You’re in England right now, right?
AW:
No, no, no …
David:
Where are you?
AW: I’m in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
David:
In Michigan? OK.
AW:
Yeah.
David:
Is that near Detroit?
AW:
Exactly, yeah.
David:
I got ya, OK.
AW:
I’m about an hour away from downtown Detroit.
David:
I got ya.
AW:
Yeah, I moved over here in 2000 working in the automotive industry. The ol’
Rock Reviewing thing’s on the side. I’ve played in bands for years but you know
it’s … This became a side line and now it’s taken over.
David:
Sure. What made you move to Detroit?
AW:
I’ve worked in the automotive industry, you know, in my day job for years and
years and years. But …
David:
Well that’s the place to be then. You know?
AW: Yeah, Yeah so from that standpoint it was
a good move AND I got to see most of the bands that never came to play England.
David:
Right
AW:
Back in the 80’s, and all those bands I loved. Although I did see you guys. So
…
David:
Oh you did? OK …
Alun:
Yeah.
David:
I hope we played OK, you know?
AW:
Laughing.
David: I have a lot of friends that I play with now, that are from Detroit, that were ex Stevie Wonder players. You know?
AW:
Sure
David:
One of them is Ray Parker Jr., who wrote “Ghost Busters …”
AW:
Right.
David: One is Michael Bearden. One is Greg Phillinganes. And these are all guys who came out of Stevie Wonders band. So…
AW: Right
David:
I’m a big fan of the Detroit stand and Stevie Wonder, specifically Stevie
Wonder and that whole thing that came out of Eight mile and that whole area
right there.
AW:
Yeah.
David:
The Detroit sound has been associated with the Motown sound pretty much …
AW:
Absolutely. Yeah, I mean it’s, it’s such a happening place. I mean for me to
move from Portsmouth, England which is on the south coast there.
David: Right.
AW: To Detroit is like …. It’s as if …
David:
Like a culture shock ...?
AW: Right … (Both laughing)
Well it is in many respects ...
David:
Needless to say that’s like a culture shock, you know …?
AW: Yeah, but no, I meant for me, it was almost like moving from Portsmouth to London in England.
AW: You know? It’s that …
David:
Now Portsmouth that’s like a …, that’s like a harbour town, right?
AW:
Right, It’s a big naval dockyard.
David:
That’s right, right …
AW:
But many bands used to come through Portsmouth and I caught a lot shows there
in Portsmouth and if I didn’t see them in Portsmouth, then I see them in Southampton
or I’d go the other way, along to Brighton. I mean, they’re all coastal towns
(Cities), you know?
David:
Right, right, right.
AW:
And then of course when guys like Toto would come over, they would play like
one day in London or ...
David: Right that’s about our speed … We do one day at Hammersmith.
AW:
Right, right.
David:
And that’s really about our speed.
You know hopefully were gonna get back there this summer. We’ve just been
doing, you know going out about six weeks a year. I’m playing now with our
band. We are trying to re-brand ourselves.
AW:
Sure.
David:
In the United States we switched management over to … We were looking for a new
manager and so I called my friend Gene Simmons from Kiss and said “Gene will
you manage us?” He laughed and said “no,” but he says that he recommended Doc
McGhee who is with us right now so we are trying to re-brand ourselves. Here in
the States, needless to say, we haven’t over saturated our market here. But you
know with the way the TV is and everything like that, we do have a following
here … We thought we’d give it a go here for the next two or three years, ‘cos
our thirty-fifth anniversary is coming up in about a year and a half here, so we
felt we’d just get back into it and see what the market is like here, you know?
AW:
Right. No, no, no … It’s great and I mean you’re kind of jumping ahead to some
of my questions which is great, but...
David:
I’m sorry, we’ll just start at the beginning here …
David:
I’ll let you start.
AW:
(Still laughing).
David:
The interview …, the interview has officially started as of 3….2…1….now. Ok?!
AW:
(Laughs) No, no problem at all David. I mean I’m happy to bounce around here
anyway. You know and…
David:
Yeah, great.
Alun:
… And that’s the way it goes. And I know it can jump around anyway, but OK, no,
no problem at all, no.
I
think it’s great that you guys will get to play the UK again. I know a lot of
friends over there that love the band and I saw you on the ‘Seventh One’ tour
back at Hammersmith in ‘88.
David:
Right, right. Well you know, we also did a full UK tour in ’96, actually
opening for Tina Turner, playing a whole bunch of big outdoor shows.
For
me, the highlight was the last two nights were at Wembley Stadium, which was
just a huge deal to us.
AW:
Wow! So how did that come about happening? I can’t believe I missed that? What
was wrong with me?!
David: Well, we got that gig, that tour, thanks to
your fellow countryman Simon Phillips, as we were at a Prince gig and there
happened to be someone there Simon knew, that basically got us the nod to get
hooked up with Tina’s tour. It was great!
AW: Wow, no kidding. Well, I still have fond memories of that great night in London in ’88 and it was a great album, I loved it.
AW: Wow, no kidding. Well, I still have fond memories of that great night in London in ’88 and it was a great album, I loved it.
David:
Well thanks, thanks very much.
Yeah I’m fond of that album; it’s one of our decent albums. You know I kinda like the first Toto album, the fourth one, and the seventh one and they are pretty much, premier albums there you know? So …
Yeah I’m fond of that album; it’s one of our decent albums. You know I kinda like the first Toto album, the fourth one, and the seventh one and they are pretty much, premier albums there you know? So …
David:
Right
AW:
Yeah…
David:
But again Mike mentally is fantastic and if you talk to him his spirits are up
and he’s … He’s great and he’s like the old Mike Porcaro except that he’s
disabled, he’s in a wheelchair and can’t move … You know?
Just a heart breaking drag, you know what I mean?
Seriously,
that getting together with friends and family is just so precious, it really
is.
But
it’s a sad situation and I pray that he’ll be with us long enough for them to find
a cure.
AW:
Yeah, absolutely I mean, that’s something else, it really is.
David:
It reminds me of like when The Faces had you know Ronnie Lane it’s that same
kinda thing, you know, where you can’t do anything about it but it’s like
before and Mike doesn’t like to be … Doesn’t want to be a poster boy for us.
David:
All that kind of stuff, but all Mike is trying to do is raise awareness on it.
It’s
sad when it’s such a key musician and a kind of a brother that we grew up with,
when that happens, you know?
It
just makes you more aware of how, well it just shows and proves how mortal we all
are.
You know what I mean?
David:
That he says hello to everybody out there, anybody that’s a Toto fan, Mike gives
his love, you know?
AW:
Oh that’s great, that’s great … Oh yeah I’ll certainly share that.
Never complains … I just wish the world was full of people like her.
You
know Mike and Cherrie are a real true love story, they really are.
AW:
Right … Oh man
David:
Never a peep out of her …
I
kind of wondered if that was part of the reason why …, you kinda dropped out of
the scene with Toto a little bit there.
You
know, it wasn’t quite the same band anymore for so many years.
David:
Why I dropped out of the scene?
She had a very bad illness … She had to have a double lung transplant which was successful.
AW:
Right
AW:
Oh boy…
David:
And she had it …It was very, very hard for her and so I was on her support team.
I really wanted to stay home and kind of help with her family and everything
for about four years there and then she had that operation.
She was doing magnificently. She dropped weight and went out and got a job. It was just like, I couldn’t believe it … It was like a miracle. She was like….
She was doing magnificently. She dropped weight and went out and got a job. It was just like, I couldn’t believe it … It was like a miracle. She was like….
AW:
Yeah.
David:
She was like …, all of a sudden became 30 again.
AW:
Oh man, yeah …
David: ..., because her immune system was down ...
AW: Was down, right?
AW: Was down, right?
David:
So the Christmas before last, that’s when she made her transition.
So
that’s basically what I was doing and so with her …, little by little and I was
getting older. I was trying to hang up my road boots here so ...
AW:
Yeah.
David:
I was recruiting Greg Phillinganes and
Mike would’ve been in the band, but when Mike came down with ALS, it was just like,
well it started to get like too many people were being recruited in here … That
was a shocker and we had to get Lee (Leland) Sklar, ‘cos there aren’t very many
people that we will bring in, and to keep Toto going here.
David:
We almost stopped when … We were gonna stop when Jeff passed.
AW:
Right.
David:
… And because we had all these buildings booked, it would have been very
difficult to cancel.
David:
We thought we would do it to help support the album that he had written with us
and everything and the whole tour.
So
we kept that going, but with the advent of Mike, then you start bringing in
Simon Phillips who’s a great …, another Englishman who we have …
We are working on a dictionary right now that’s English to American. You know?
We are working on a dictionary right now that’s English to American. You know?
AW:
(Laughing)
David:
‘Cos he says things like Al-u-min-ium and Cal-i-opy still, just to bother us
you know what I mean? (Laughing)
AW:
(Laughing) Oh that’s funny.
David:
I say, I’ll meet you down the toad … Down the frog … You know, all that kind of
stuff!?
AW:
Frog and toad?! Road ... (Laughs)
David:
You’re gonna be in a lot of barney, you know? All that kind of stuff …, anyway
…
AW:
Barney Rubble. Trouble … Yeah.
David:
Yeah right … So Simon Phillips and I are going to make this English / American
translation book, you know?
David:
Back to our recruits here, Lee Sklar … There’s only a couple people that we’ve
known for years, that we would have even thought of ever continuing on, one is
Lee Sklar …
AW:
Right.
David:
… And he’s a great player and came to kind of our aid.
AW:
Yep
David:
He said, listen if you ever need someone I’m here and the other one is Nathan
East, who we all grew up with too, you know?
AW:
Right.
David:
So there’s not very many depth in each field there. We only have one or two
people that can come in and be honorary Toto members here. You know, so we’re …
They just went out and did the best they can and a little bit and then I
started getting antsy to play again.
AW:
(Laughing)
David:
And then our manager said, ‘Well why don’t we … - You know were trying to do
all this … - do a benefit in town for Mike?
David:
So the band decided instead of just doing the odd benefit show, we could go
ahead and do a proper tour, that way we could help Mike out a whole lot more
financially. It was a much more beneficial idea.
It
goes without saying that Mike Porcaro was a key musician in Toto, no question.
AW:
No kidding.
I’m
really excited about this new band.
Toto Press Shot 2012
AW:
Right, well that’s great, I mean everything ….
David:
I wish you could hear the new band.
AW:
Oh me too man ..!
David:
Really great!
AW:
Believe me!
David:
Hopefully we’ll be playing the States here in a couple key cities here in the
next year and a half and you’ll be able to hear this band. This is a very good representation; it allows us
to do music we weren’t able to do, because of having Joseph (Williams) in the
band now.
AW:
Right.
David:
Joseph can sing everything plus we cover material from albums that we didn’t do
before you know?
AW:
Right and you …
AW:
And you know, (sighs) I do … I have periods in my life … Well no I don’t have
periods of Toto that I really … (Laughs) Well I do …!
There’s
a lot of periods that I really loved too like, I like the “Isolation” period, but
I mean I love the early stuff too like ...
David: I like that too, you know? I mean … Every …, there’s …
Each album we did, we put our heart into …!
AW:
Right
David:
… And felt that that was just as valid a Toto, as any Toto around, you know?
David:
Because we were so used to working with other artists …
AW:
Right, sure.
David:
I thought Fergie … (Fergie Frederiksen) I thought that was a great job that he
did on that album. When we tried to make that work, you know, because we were
going through every … Steve Perry and Journey were the big people at the time,
but …
AW:
Exactly
David:
He was one of the singers … Jeff Porcaro we weren’t into spending too much time
auditioning singers as you can tell.
If
we could find someone and if they could cut the mustard, we’d go, ‘You’re
hired!’ (AW: I’m laughing)
There
you go, you know what I mean? We figured, hey we can handle the rest.
AW:
Right
David:
That’s pretty much how that happened, but I like very much, a lot of material
off that album and it was a fun tour, touring those days you know?
AW:
Can you remember that night?
David:
Ermmm …
AW:
Do you know why? There was a massive storm and the weather was treacherous…
David:
I might not have been with them at that time. I think Jeff Babko who’s on the Jimmy
Kimmel show right now, came to my rescue because my sister first got sick right
there.
AW:
Ohh??
AW:
(laughing)
AW:
With The Tubes. It was 2002 or 2003 with Toto because um, my wife got the
tickets and she couldn’t make it. The Tubes pulled out...!
David:
Right, yeah I was there with them doing that, because I remember, because the
reason I remember is because James Ingram my friend Steve Trudell ...
AW:
Right.
David:
Who was working at Pine Knob there he took me to see Pink.
I think Pink and Lenny Kravitz played the couple days after we played ...
I think Pink and Lenny Kravitz played the couple days after we played ...
David:
… And I went to see them with … Me and James Ingram went to see Pink.
AW:
There you go.
David:
I pretty much remember that, yeah.
AW:
I couldn’t believe it, because it was like, the Tubes pulled out, there was a
massive storm warning and everything and …
David:
Yeah.
AW:
And there was hardly anyone there, but you guys…
David:
Yeah, yeah.
David: Oh right, that’s right.
AW:
It was a good night and basically, I mean, you had the stage to yourselves.
David: There weren’t too many people there.
David:
It was still light out or something like that.
David:
And then it started getting stormy or whatever.
David:
Good memory! You have a better … Your memory is better than mine. I’ve seen so
many shows. It’s like all …,
‘Oh
which show was that? You know? (Laughs)
David:
I like Detroit. Detroit and Pine Knob, I have a place in my heart for Detroit
and Pine Knob, like I said, because we started there with Boz Scaggs and Seals
and Crofts. I even think I worked there with Sonny and Cher when I got out of
high school.
That
was the inception of our Toto band when me and Jeff and David Hungate performed,
that’s when we all first got together, the three of us, was out of high school
and were touring with them when they were very big. You know?
AW:
Yeah, yeah.
David:
So that was back in the late, middle 70’s. You know what I mean?
David:
But I’m getting old. Someone’s hit the old switch. (Both laughing)
AW:
Well I hit the big five O myself this year. So there you go!
AW:
I’m not there yet ...!!! (Laughing)
David:
It’s all up hill now you know? (Laughs) No you’re not there yet, we are still
in our fifties, me and you, so that’s a good thing you know? I’m personally, I’m
preparing myself for the …, all that other stuff that comes you know?
AW:
Right
AW:
Absolutely!
David:
If you can still do it.
Anyway,
where were we?
AW:
Ok, yeah, so I mean we were talking about the live stuff and everything and
talking about, obviously you getting the band back together again to do these
shows for Mike and of course it got to something bigger and … I mean I know that
I think over the years it’s not something you guys really were hidden away from,
from speaking about, but it’s, it’s been a little disappointing for you over
here in the States. Hasn’t it … And Europe’s been a bit more open arms for you
when you’re touring.
David:
Yeah it has and you know its two fold partly because, we, we were getting the
offers across …
The
kind of show that we wanted to do when you’re not a, a dancing band or an
entertaining band …
David:
We were more like Genesis.
David:
And like that kind of band, so we wanted to put a show together with lights …
David:
And staging and stuff and that required money and we were getting great offers
from Japan and Europe.
David:
They were throwing money at us!
AW:
Right.
David:
Where in the States …
AW:
It wasn’t happening, right?
David: It was so big over there and you always
have to start, kinda from scratch at the bottom again here. We didn’t want to.
We’d
already toured so many …, with so many other bands here. We thought we’d build
up our whole repertoire outside the United States and then come in and take it
by storm here …
AW:
Right.
David:
But it didn’t happen quite that way, because our build up after Toto ‘Four’
when you start changing personnel all of a sudden, the record business starts
changing. Our record company…
AW:
Sure
So
we just stayed out, kind of …, in the United States here, playing.
We
played casinos every once in a while and did some stuff, but a …
AW:
Right.
David:
It’s been a kind of an uphill struggle in the United States here.
AW:
Yeah
Editor's Note: Totally undeserved if you ask me too!
Editor's Note: Totally undeserved if you ask me too!
David:
That’s like us, we’ve always wanted to come back here which is why I think
that’s why we’re giving it some second thought in trying to hit it this year.
We’re probably gonna end up playing the next jazz festival down in New Orleans
next year.
AW:
OK.
There’s
a rock festival in Denver, so we’re just starting to look at these other
possibilities that we didn’t entertain before …
AW:
Uh huh, right.
David:
…. For one reason or another because I wasn’t touring and we’re going through
some catharsis in our band here you know?
David:
Different modes, you know, so …
AW: Yeah.
David: Hopefully we’ll get back in here and
with … If we can make, like I said some roads ….
I have some friends in Hall and Oats…
I have some friends in Hall and Oats…
AW: Yeah
David:
… And stuff, if you can make a couple of guest appearances on TV and get some
kind of …
AW:
Some promo work, right?
David: Branding power! Get a little more
branding power right here you can get ubiquity, get right back up again, you
know?
Get on “Dancing with the stars” and do an Elton or 'American Idol.'
Make a
guest appearance on there.
Official weblinks:
http://www.myspace.com/davidpaichhttp://www.toto99.com/band/david/david.shtml
http://www.facebook.com/#!/dpaich
http://www.myspace.com/davidpaichhttp://www.toto99.com/band/david/david.shtml
http://www.facebook.com/#!/dpaich
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