One of my very favorite bands to come out of the eighties rock explosion was the California band, Rough Cutt. The first time I heard their cover version of the Erma Franklin classic, “Piece of My Heart,” I was hooked by the bluesy, soulful vocals of frontman Paul Shortino. I recently had the chance to catch up with Paul and find out what he’s been up to. He is currently the lead vocalist for King Kobra who have a new album out and tour planned. Paul is also involved in the long running Vegas show “Raiding the Rock Vault” and has a Rough Cutt reunion in the future. Despite his busy schedule, Paul was kind enough to take the time to chat with us. Let’s see what he had to say!
KE: Hello Paul! Welcome, how are you today?
PS: I’m doing great. Thanks for asking. How are you?
KE: Very well, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.
PS: Oh, it’s my pleasure.
KE: King Kobra has a new record out and I know you came on board for the 2011 King Kobra record as well as this one. How did you become involved with the band?
PS: Well, what happened was I had done some stuff with Carmine in the past and we’ve known each other for years. I was doing engineering and co-producing the vocals for the Keel record, the last Keel record for Ron Keel. He was tracking his vocals here. They were mixing in L.A. and Pat Regan was doing the producing who’s done KISS and a lot of other people. Carmine happened to stop in there and Pat said you should put out a King Kobra record on Frontiers because they’re signing a lot of eighties bands. So Carmine put together a deal but Mark Free basically wasn’t interested so they needed to find a singer and my name came up because I was doing some stuff with Ron. Carmine, myself, and David, we all got together here in Las Vegas and jammed together and wrote “This Is How We Roll” and “We Rock this House” and “Tear Down the Walls” from the first album on a weekend. And a lot of the material that we had on that record was some old stuff that we had revamped, old demo stuff that was revamped because they wanted a real eighties record. This record is more and I think has a lot more late seventies kind of vibe to it, a Zeppelin, Foghat kind of vibe.
KE: I really liked the feel of the new record.
PS: I think it’s some of the best stuff we’ve all done and it’s really just a good record. The lyrics, the songs are really good.
KE: Now, were you involved in the writing process for this record as well?
PS: Oh, yes, absolutely.
KE: The record has a little bit of everything as far as classic rock, the hard hitting songs and the bluesy grinds so vocally you pretty much do it all, don’t you?
PS: I am so happy with where this record went. The songs take me back and it’s one of my favorite songs. What’s the first song on there?
KE: “Hell on Wheels?”
PS: Yeah, yeah. Some of the ballad stuff is just really, really good and I love “Have a Good Time.” “Have a Good Time” is about Las Vegas. It’s about a club here by Danny Koker who has his own show on the History Channel called Counting Cars and he owns a club here called Vamp’d. Basically, that’s what the song’s about. Everytime I go there, I have a good time so David sent me over some music. Carmine had an idea for saying something about having a good time in a song he was working on and sent to us all. Because we were all working on things and sending each other ideas. I heard this idea that Dave had and next thing you know, we wrote that song. And then I thought, wow, me and my wife started talking. My wife Carmen and I started going over to Vinnie Paul’s and I thought it really would be cool to have Vegas stars in it. It’s the only rock club in Vegas, it’s the most awesome club and they always treat you like you’re at home. They are so hospitable. So we wrote the song about the club and the next thing I know we shot the video there. And we’ve got Zakk Wylde in the video, Vinnie Paul, Ace Frehley, Danny Koker from Counting Cars, Carrot Top, a guy named Gordie Brown who is an incredible impersonator here in Vegas, and Ron Keel, and Frank Dimino from Angel is on there. We’ve got in the video Michael Grimm, who was on America’s Got Talent. It’s all about having a good time. We should have called the record have a good time instead of King Kobra II.
KE: Oh, I agree. That’s exactly what the record is, a good time!
PS: It is, it takes you so many places and that’s what we should have called the record. It was my idea to do the video and it was my idea to write about the club but I was just thinking how I know the owners of the club really well and it would be a really good place to shoot the video. It all worked out hand in hand. Interesting enough it was mixed in Germany by a guy named Michael Voss who works with Michael Schenker. I did a record with him called “Chasing My Dreams” and he’s an incredible guitar player but other than that he’s also an incredible engineer and producer. So the video was then edited in Spain. It was shot here by a production company, friends of ours. I can’t remember the girl who was running it. CRS, can’t remember shit sometimes, you know? (Laughter) Actually, Mario Russo was the guy who edited the video and it came out incredible. It’s already got over 12,000 hits between Frontiers site and the King Kobra site on, I guess, Facebook and it’s on YouTube or something. It was a blast to do. I think the record, you know, should have been called that. “Deep River” is an intense song. I love that. It’s a little bit of a Zeppelin flavor to it, a little bit of “Kashmir” but totally different when you start thinking about it. It has that Zeppelin feel to it. Just really the record covers a whole bunch of stuff, it’s like a little roller coaster.
KE: Will you be able to get out and tour for this record?
PS: I think our first gig is gonna be with Rough Cutt. I think they are trying to get King Kobra on the Monsters of Rock cruise.
KE: So that’s the reunion of Rough Cutt?
PS: Yes, with Amir next year. But my main concern right now is this record. And Carmine does want to do some touring . Right now, I’m under contract for the show here in Las Vegas I’m doing but I’m able to leave the show and come back which is great. I did that recently, I went to Spain and came back with this artist Javier Vargas. We did a remake, Carmine’s playing on the record as well. The label loves the record so much and it’s getting such good reviews that they want to put us out there and give us some tour support. So we’ll see what happens. It’s pretty much under Carmine.
KE: Now, tell us a little bit about this Vegas show that you’re doing, “Raiding the Rock Vault.”
PS: I’m doing this show called “Raiding the Rock Vault” which is the history of classic rock with Howard Leese on guitar and Tracii Guns on guitar and John Payne, who was a replacement in Asia. The idea came together with people like Simon Napier-Bell who’s executive producer and David Kershenbaum who’s done Tracy Chapman and Bryan Adams. All of the lighting and laser stuff was done by Paul Dexter and we’ve got Robin McCauley on vocals from MSG and Survivor, Andrew Freeman on vocals, myself on vocals, and Jay Schellen on drums, Michael T. Ross on keyboards. And it’s at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino and we’re there in the Elvis showroom and it’s quite an extravaganza of a show. The earth’s been hit by an asteroid and then a thousand years later they find the rock vault. We do songs from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, and tie in the history that was going on. It’s quite a show and between that and doing this record and it all coming out at about the same time it’s been fantastic. In life right now, everything’s just incredible and I can’t be grateful enough and all the blessings that I’m getting right now and just sitting here talking with you Kris.
KE: You have guests coming into the show from time to time as well, right?
PS: Yes, we just had Mickey Thomas. He just left the day before yesterday. We had him for five days and man what an incredible talent he is. And also our first guest was Bobby Kimball from Toto and then we had Joe Lynn Turner. And in the future here we’re having Jon Anderson from Yes, so we’ll be doing some Yes songs in the show.
KE: Nice. Now, is there a record for the show as well?
PS: Yes, there is. We’re doing “Raiding the Rock Vault, Volume 1” and I did “Honky Tonk Woman” on there and there are songs on there that aren’t in the show. But the next volume will have guests that are in the show, some of the rock stars that are guests. We might be bringing in guest guitarists. Howard Leese is out right now with Bad Company. He’s the musical director of the show. It’s quite an incredible show. Paul Dexter did all the DIO stuff with “Sacred Heart.” It’s quite an ensemble and quite a production. I think there are 20 billboards between here and L.A. and at least 24 here in town. They’re really spending a lot of money promoting it. I think the show is going to help the record. And I think the record and the King Kobra stuff and anything else I’m doing outside of “Raiding the Rock Vault” is going to help the show as well.
KE: With all this going on, do you have time for anything else?
PS: I’m actually doing some stuff for other artists. I do a song here and there for a fee. The show is the same every night. At the most, it’s a three hour gig, two hour show and then a meet and greet and we go out and meet people after the show as well sometimes. They’re actually making the bar outside the show, the “Rock Vault” bar. They’re putting up memorabilia, pictures of us and stuff so that really is my focus more for everything but I am so pleased with the King Kobra record that I really want to do so much. I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s the year of the snake as well in Chinese astrology so this is my year and I’m in a band called King Kobra so maybe all this is going to rub off some way or another in a positive direction.
KE: I’m sure it will. The record is fantastic and the show sounds unbelievable. Maybe I’ll make it back out to Vegas sometime and be able to see it.
PS: Anytime Kris, you’re more than welcome to come to Vegas and give me a shout. I’d love to have you as my guest.
KE: Thank you, that is so nice of you.
PS: Oh, you’re welcome. I’m hoping we will be here in Vegas for a long time with the show. It’s such a journey through some of the greatest songs ever.
KE: Best of luck with the Rough Cutt reunion as well.
PS: Thanks! It’s gonna be fun. I’m looking forward to it.
KE: I always thought Rough Cutt was a band that should have just blasted to the top so I’m glad to see you getting back as a band.
PS: Thank you so much. It was just timing you know. We waited too long. I think if Ronnie (Ronnie James Dio) would have produced that first album, we would have released it a year earlier. I think the band would have been a lot more successful because of the timing issue. Music and everything is timing. His “Holy Diver” was coming out and I just found out recently from Angelo, who did the first three DIO albums and was also the sound engineer on the road, that Ronnie and he were a little disappointed that they didn’t get to produce the first Rough Cutt record. I didn’t know that but I think it had a lot to do with Wendy not wanting Ronnie to influence me to sound like him in a sense. But I think it would have been the best thing for Rough Cutt.
KE: I’m sure the fans will be excited for the reunion as well.
PS: Yes, we’re also thinking of doing “Heaven and Hell” as a tribute to Ronnie because he kind of put the band together back in the day. He was kind of our mentor.
KE: Well, we will definitely look forward to that and the King Kobra album and perhaps a tour as well. Thank you again, Paul, for taking the time out to catch us up on things today.
PS: Thank you Kris!
We would like to thank Dustin Hardman from Frontiers Records US for setting up the interview with Paul. For more information on Paul including the new King Kobra CD, please go to: Paul Shortino.
For more information on Raiding the Rock Vault please go to: Raiding the Rock Vault.
