Fellow SOFTie BlackAcidDevil spoke with TOTO's Mike Porcaro and below is his transcript.
Interview: Mike Porcaro (Toto)
The date is 13th of April ’06. We are waiting to call Mike Porcaro via world conference call to Los Angeles…. AND THEN our buddy Mr Ross Knudson (of LAMC Productions) says it’s off because he couldn’t get the manager.
I was bloody disappointed.
Here’s my chance to talk to a great bassist and it was killed.
Fast forward.
It’s Good Friday, 3pm and we got a call saying that the interview’s on – tomorrow at 10am (15th April).
The things we go through to get an interview for you Softies!
10AM 15th April: The time has come.
After experiencing a bit of technical difficulty with the speaker phone, we finally got to talk to Mike Porcaro! At first I was a bit worried, but after a while, I realized that he’s a very nice person even though he is a veteran star. The conversation was casual and there were no stiff formalities. This guy was down-to-earth and there’s no hint of a snobby star in him. Questions were answered with great enthusiasm and detail.
When asked which was his favourite song from Toto’s latest album his answer was,
“Bottom Of Your Soul” (track 3), which is a “tragic” sounding song. Great song – I love tragic.
He was very excited about working with Chicago and Jethro Tull and would love to work with any musician that would want to collaborate with him musically.
Talking about the latest album, he was relieved that they can now compose songs they like and not be forced to do pop songs – or what he likes to call, “radio” songs. He was pleased with being able to play a few heavier tracks and looks forward to producing more of them in future.
He expressed his gratitude for being able to be part of a great band like Toto and is eager to work on more songs and albums. He also mentioned about winning the 6 Grammy Awards back in ’82 and felt that it was one of his greatest achievements.
Thinking back fondly of his late brother, Jeff Porcaro (former drummer of Toto), he explained how his whole family are into music and played percussions (drums), so it’s “a family thing”.
Touching briefly on the subject of the war in Iraq, he felt that there should be an end to it and their men should be brought back home.
With a positive attitude, he hopes that a decade from now, Toto will still be healthy and churning out music.
Mike Porcaro was pleased to read all the great reviews and also very fired up to perform here for the fans and appreciates all the support Toto has been getting.
Although his first love is the drums, you should check out this guy’s great bass playing.
Mike is very polite and pleasant to talk to. It almost seemed like he didn’t want the interview to end – but with the countdown of the 15 minutes we were given was nearing, we had to wrap things up.
I’m sure they will put up a good show featuring old catalogues and also their latest.
[ watch out for TOTO's concert his 16 May in Singapore ]
Interview: Mike Porcaro (Toto)
The date is 13th of April ’06. We are waiting to call Mike Porcaro via world conference call to Los Angeles…. AND THEN our buddy Mr Ross Knudson (of LAMC Productions) says it’s off because he couldn’t get the manager.
I was bloody disappointed.
Here’s my chance to talk to a great bassist and it was killed.
Fast forward.
It’s Good Friday, 3pm and we got a call saying that the interview’s on – tomorrow at 10am (15th April).
The things we go through to get an interview for you Softies!
10AM 15th April: The time has come.
After experiencing a bit of technical difficulty with the speaker phone, we finally got to talk to Mike Porcaro! At first I was a bit worried, but after a while, I realized that he’s a very nice person even though he is a veteran star. The conversation was casual and there were no stiff formalities. This guy was down-to-earth and there’s no hint of a snobby star in him. Questions were answered with great enthusiasm and detail.
When asked which was his favourite song from Toto’s latest album his answer was,
“Bottom Of Your Soul” (track 3), which is a “tragic” sounding song. Great song – I love tragic.
He was very excited about working with Chicago and Jethro Tull and would love to work with any musician that would want to collaborate with him musically.
Talking about the latest album, he was relieved that they can now compose songs they like and not be forced to do pop songs – or what he likes to call, “radio” songs. He was pleased with being able to play a few heavier tracks and looks forward to producing more of them in future.
He expressed his gratitude for being able to be part of a great band like Toto and is eager to work on more songs and albums. He also mentioned about winning the 6 Grammy Awards back in ’82 and felt that it was one of his greatest achievements.
Thinking back fondly of his late brother, Jeff Porcaro (former drummer of Toto), he explained how his whole family are into music and played percussions (drums), so it’s “a family thing”.
Touching briefly on the subject of the war in Iraq, he felt that there should be an end to it and their men should be brought back home.
With a positive attitude, he hopes that a decade from now, Toto will still be healthy and churning out music.
Mike Porcaro was pleased to read all the great reviews and also very fired up to perform here for the fans and appreciates all the support Toto has been getting.
Although his first love is the drums, you should check out this guy’s great bass playing.
Mike is very polite and pleasant to talk to. It almost seemed like he didn’t want the interview to end – but with the countdown of the 15 minutes we were given was nearing, we had to wrap things up.
I’m sure they will put up a good show featuring old catalogues and also their latest.
[ watch out for TOTO's concert his 16 May in Singapore ]
