Gary James' Interview With
Paul Shortino



He's fronted bands like Rough Cutt, Quiet Riot and King Cobra. His band Rough Cutt opened for Dokken and Dio at the L.A. Forum. His road work took him and his group all over the world. The gentleman we are talking about is Paul Shortino. Paul spoke with us about his life in Rock, and the groups he's been associated with.

Q - Paul, we've both seen and heard all of the changes that have occurred in Rock 'n' Roll music over the years. There's been the British Invasion, Disco, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Glam Rock. Do you believe that we've seen it all and heard it all?

A - I think what we've lived through is the Golden Years. Actually, the generation just a little older than us is right there. I'm doing a King Kobra record with Carmine (Appice) again and I'm fortunate enough to be the producer of it. Carmine was in that generation just before us. Basically what we were listening to music-wise is what we grew up wanting to hear actually. We got to hear Led Zeppelin, really the real Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake And Palmer, Allman Brothers, Deep Purple. There's still some of 'em around. Aerosmith. None of the '80s bands, very few, maybe Def Leppard and Poison, can fill an arena. The '70s bands, KISS, all of those guys, can still fill arenas. But you know what? I don't know where our music is going from here. It's pretty phony.

Q - I see a lot of imitation around.

A - Yeah.

Q - What I don't see is any creativity in today's music.

A - There isn't. That's why I've been pushing forward, just doing things with different people to expand my creativity. I feel bad for some of these bands, even some of the '80s bands. They're not putting out any new shit. They're playing the same stuff. And if they are putting out anything new it's nothing that's different. I try to evolve myself a little bit and stretch it out. My mom was a singer. So, I listened to stuff like Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra. My mom was into Teresa Brewer. Music was really organic. It's not organic anymore.

Q - Sad, but true. Now, you're developing and producing new artists for Music Works Entertainment and their new record label, Rock Quarry Records. What's that all about? What kind of artists are you developing and producing?

A - Well, we started to. We started with a band called Level, and they were really a very talented band. Put in a lot of time and hours. Sometimes you speculate. We also put in cash and they were going to do quite well. We had some radio air play with 'em. This going back quite a few years, probably seventeen years maybe. And we also produced a girl, Alicia. She did a remake of "Hot Child In The City" by Nick Gilder. And we did a video. Put a lot of time and money into that as well. She ended up wanting to have children, move on and not do music. After that, another three piece band called Black Tora. Really, really good.

Q - What happened with or to Level?

A - The singer actually was an actor. He was on one of the soap operas. Young kid. Really talented. Their music was very '90s. Very clever songs. Very talented. Band broke up. So he put all that time and effort into it and all of a sudden it wasn't there. We had them under contract. The talent really was the actor, the kid. But he didn't want to continue. You can only go so far with someone that doesn't want to go any further. So, I just decided to stop producing bands. (laughs)

Q - I don't blame you.

A - And go back to just playing and producing myself. Just doing projects. I've been very fortunate to have a studio along with my Music Works partner, J.T. (Garrett) and I've been able, with this lock down, to be creative and do some records. I've put out three records during this time period. The first one was April 24th, 2020. We did a remake of "Send In The Clowns" with Carrot Top. That's on YouTube. The album was called "Make A Wish". The record came out and COVID hit and it kind of went to the wayside. People can check the video out. Then I got a call from Tracy G. who was in World War III and also did a record with Ronnie James Dio, and asked me if I would be willing to do a project. I said, "Sure!" He sent me some tracks and next thing I knew we spent a year making a record, almost a year anyways. Some really good stuff. There's a tribute to Stevie Ray on there. It's really early Led Zeppelin meets Gary Moore, before Gary Moore kind of passed away into his Blues ere. We did a remake of "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", kind of like Gary Moore did "Still Got The Blues". And that record is really cool. We called it "Blue Dahlia". While I was doing that we released a "Rough Cutt Three" album, which hadn't been done in thirty-five years. And that did quite well. We just recently released a "Bad Boyz" release with three bonus tracks on it that were never released on DDR Music. They're also releasing an album I did called "Sacred Place". Lately I've been writing this King Kobra thing with Carmine. I've kept myself busy. (laughs)

Q - I can see that. This material you're writing, is it in the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre?

A - Well, the re-release of the Bad Boyz is pretty much Heavy Rock. Some really good stuff on there. There's a song on there, "Save Our Land" which is just me on acoustic. There's some really good musicians on there. I'm releasing a lot of stuff that I've recorded over the years, some stuff that was never released in the States. The label, DVR Music Group is worldwide. So, what do I got to lose, other than just get the stuff out there? The new King Kobra is titled "Music Is A Piece Of Art". There's a song on the album titled that. This record is leaning more towards '70s. Even the "Blue Dahlia" was leaning more towards '70s. I would say Hard Rock, early Zeppelin. The new King Kobra has got a taste of '70s Allman Brothers with the two guitars doing some stuff in harmony. They're gonna release it on vinyl as well, which is kind of neat.

Q - I was told the marketplace for Heavy Metal is in Europe. That's where the audience is. That's where the labels are. There's no market in the U.S. for Heavy Metal. Did you find that to be true?

A - Well, I've got bands in the United States, Europe and Japan. I would say that there's an underground market for Hard Rock. Why is Aerosmith still touring? They're Hard Rock. Heavy Metal on the other hand is more Black Sabbath, more Judas Priest. Led Zeppelin was probably one of the first Heavy Metal bands. Dave Mason released "Alone And Together" the same year the first Led Zeppelin record came out, along with Black Sabbath. Three different types of music. We're old enough to go back to listening to Jimi Hendrix doing "Purple Haze" on AM radio, followed up by "Strangers In The Night" by Sinatra. (laughs) AM radio was so diversified and DJs were able to play what they wanted, not what corporate America wants, sponsorship, program directors. You have the same thing going on with TV. They play the same stuff over and over on HBO and Cinemax. Same crappy movies. Some of 'em are good. Same with radio. Same crappy songs. Some of 'em are good. My dad said to me once, "When you listen to most stuff out there you're hearing the best of the worst." Sometimes when you think about it, some of the songs that the record companies picked as hits for the bands were probably the worst song on the album, or maybe not the best. Led Zeppelin would never let anybody from Atlantic (Records) enter the studio until the record was done so they couldn't even come in and peak or hear anything they were doing until the record was done. So, they didn't know what was going to be their next release. The band really had control. At one time, radio and DJs took risks on songs that broke the waves and actually broke through what was popular and made something else new popular. We don't have that anymore. Everything is pretty much artificial.

Q - When your parents divorced, you moved with your mother from Ohio to California. I'm guessing your father remained in Ohio. Had you remained in Ohio, your life would have been different, wouldn't you say?

A - Well, probably. I didn't want to leave. My dad eventually came to California. I still have family members in Ohio. However, I was into music at the time and basically I think when we moved it was "California Dreamin'" and "Monday Monday", "If You're Going To San Francisco", all those songs were playing on the radio at that time when we left. I went to California. My mom's parents lived there. They had lived there since the '50s. So, that's why we went to California. She wanted to be with her family. My dad and mom tried to work it out, but it didn't work out. Eventually I got to know my dad and we had a great relationship. I was playing in bars when I was 16 and my mom was bartending or the waitress. I went to Roosevelt Junior High (School) in Glendale, California and got into a band. I was playing guitar at the time. I thought I really knew what I was doing. I met a guy in P.E. (Physical Education) class that was playing guitar like Joe Pass. He was playing the chords and the melody at the same time. He was playing Eric Clapton, Cream stuff, and I was playing "House Of The Rising Sun". So, I decided to play bass and we started a band. We got a drummer that was 27 years old and ended up playing in a bar where my mom was a waitress there. I got introduced to the music scene in a whole different light at a young age, what was going on in bars. What a great time period.

Q - Your first record was "Follow Me" on Bell Records.

A - You've done some research! (laughs)

Q - Paul, This Is Your Life!

A - (laughs)

Q - The record came out as Paul And Jo Jo. What kind of music was that?

A - I'll tell you what happened. Actually it was going to be Paul And Coco. Coco was Micky Dolenz's sister. They loved this song, "Follow Me". On the flip side of that was a song called "What Would You Do Without Music?". "Follow Me" was 22 With A Bullet on Billboard. I thought this was it for me. Seventeen years old. The producers, Snuff Garrett, who produced Liza Minnelli, Sonny And Cher. All those people. Lobo, who was on that label. Vicki Lawrence. In fact, it was Vicki Lawrence's song "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" that knocked my record off the charts. And that label shelved my record. So, it was a big disappointment. Just recently a man who got me signed and found the song "Follow Me", wrote the song on the flip side, recently passed away and gave me the Master. I was doing an interview with a guy on the East Coast. He said, "If you trade me some of your music I'll send you the 45." I gave so many 45s out. He had a promo with the song on both sides. I said, "Absolutely." So, he sent me the record. I was doing another interview and I didn't have a record player at the time and I'm doing and interview with this gentleman and I believe it was in Arizona, and he said, "I have an MP3 of the song. Would you like it?" I said, "I'd love it." So, he sent it to me. I sent him some new material. It was an exciting time for me. Coco Dolenz and her management at the time couldn't square out, couldn't get everything they wanted sorted out in their contractual agreement, at the last minute they just brought in this girl. She had her own deal. I never found out what happened to her. I was excited. Here we go into this big studio. So many musicians had done sessions with Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra. I'm going, "Wow!", 'cause there was a whole orchestra and arrangement to this song. Years went by after that. I was just playing in bars. My mom got re-married.

Q - Since David Cassidy was on Bell Records, did you ever run into him during that time period?

A - No, but I eventually did. I bought a house in North Hollywood and David Cassidy was married to a very famous songwriter. I can't remember her name right now. But as we were checking out the house, David was there. So I got to meet him in his later days actually, not when I was 17. I got to meet him probably when I was in my late 20s.

Q - When Rough Cutt was playing these L.A. clubs in the 1980s did you ever encounter the "Pay To Play" situation.

A - No, we didn't. Thank God. It wasn't until later that that started happening. We were very fortunate that if you had a bit of a following you got so much of what the door was. So, if you charged $10 for a ticket you might have got five bucks. Or, you might not have got paid at all. Where you were playing was more for exposure than anything. At that time I was in a cover band when I put Rough Cutt together. Playing six nights a week. I helped my parents build my own recording studio. I was recording any chance I could get. It was by weird chance that my son's god-father, whose father was the guy who directed Route 66, was directing Charlie's Angels. So, him and another guy wanted to manage me before Rough Cutt got together. And through Rough Cutt I met the Dios (Ronnie James Dio and his wife/manager Wendy). I got to meet all of the Charlie's Angels, including Farrah (Fawcett), through the producer 'cause I played at his wedding. They signed me and Ronnie, took us in the studio to do some recording. The rest is history! Ted Templeman signed the band and Ronnie did a lot of demos with us. In fact, I call them demos, but he just did some recording with us. They were initially made to shop us a deal. I used to sign everything 'cause I trusted everybody. Ronnie and Wendy got me out of a contract with the guy who was doing the Charlie's Angels thing and his brother was doing Happy Days. The Dios moved me in and I actually got to watch him put the whole "Holy Diver" album together. Ronnie would play me rough mixes of the record. I'd see the artwork. Then we got signed and went on the road with Krokus and Accept first, and then finally got on tour with Ronnie after being signed to Warner Bros.

Q - Did the group ever get to headlining status?

A - No. Well, we did some festivals. We only got to headline maybe in small clubs. No arenas. What happened was we waited around so long for a producer 'cause Ted Templeman was producing Eric Clapton and Lindsey Buckingham at the time. So, we waited a year even though we were signed before Ratt and all those guys. Timing is everything with everything in life. So, the window for that type of music was shut because of Tipper Gore and her putting stickers on albums. We were on a major tour. Ronnie was selling out arenas, the Sacred Heart tour. His production was huge with the dragon and the lasers. We did a show at the Philadelphia Spectrum and they let the people in an hour before they were supposed to let them in. Usually when you get a 17,000 seater, you got about 7,000 people in there when you're opening. It still looks empty. People are still coming in. Maybe a little more, 8,000 or 9,000 sometimes. It depends. If people don't know who you are they want to be able to go out and buy your record. Well, being signed to such a large label, some of our reps didn't even know who we were in certain cities and states. And then in certain cities and states we had Warner Bros. reps who knew of our band, Rough Cutt, and loved the band and working with the band. We'd do in-stores, radio, interviews. We'd do radio interviews. Go into radio the day of the show. Kind of, "Hey, we're Rough Cutt. We're playing tonight with Dio. Come and see the band." Our record would be sitting there with that sticker on it and they would play the record. The record inside the cover was different than the cover. We came up with the idea for the album cover. We didn't have any artist. We didn't have any concept. Everything happened so fast when we finally got signed if we wanted to make this window and do the tour we had to just get our shit together. We hadn't prepared. We spent so much time after we signed a record deal with Warner Bros., almost a year waiting for a producer. So, we went out on the biggest tour ever. But, Rough Cutt did some big, big festivals where there were a half a million people in Japan. Sting was headlining. Dio was on the bill. Foreigner. It was quite a festival.

Official Website: PaulShortino.com

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