COMPLETING SONGS IS AN ART FORM IN ITSELF
A CONVERSATION WITH STEVE PORCARO
Steve Porcaro has been producing some of the best and best-loved music since he was one of the founding members of Toto in 1978. Toto took off immediately, with their debut album, Toto, hitting the top ten around the world, which featured their first hit singles “Hold The Line” and “Georgy Porgy”. At the same time, Porcaro was a much sought after session player as well as a writer for other artists, including “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson. He has been busy with Toto, soundtracks, and a solo career.
Porcaro’s first solo album, 2016’s Someday/Somehow earned him rave reviews and a new fanbase that enjoyed his form of pop-jazz. Nearly ten years later, he is about to release his second solo album, The Very Day. But, as I said, he has been busy in those nine years.
Given the title of his first solo album, Someday/Somehow, an assumption was made about the title of his second album, The Very Day. During our recent conversation, Steve Porcaro set the record straight. “Not at all. I had no idea what I was going to call it, and I was actually playing ‘Water From The Sky’ [from the new album], the lyric keeps referring to “the very day”, and my girlfriend’s son happened to be in the room when I was working on it and he just said “you know, The Very Day? That should be the name of the album.” And I said, “Sold!”. I had no idea, it stuck, and I liked it. I like album titles when it is a line or somehow related to a lyric.”
The Very Day came about as an opportunity for Porcaro to collaborate with friends and artists, and there are some big names contributing including Jude Cole and Michael McDonald. It was also a chance to finish some works in progress. “It is just me, always collaborating. It is mostly a way for me to finish my songs. That’s the main point of doing this album. But, as you see, when I have someone else to sing with, I am thrilled. But this album is more about me as a writer than about me as an artist, especially at this point. Much to the record company’s chagrin. I am not about to tour or put a band together. They are like, won’t you at least do a release party?’ I am like, ‘nope! I am retired from that’. I just want to do what is fun for me in life at this point, which is to be in my studio where I am right now, finishing songs.”
THE VERY DAY ALBUM REVIEW
There is great satisfaction in completing songs for Porcaro. A lot of the songs on the new album were started years ago, and now he is exploring the material and in doing so has come up with a brilliant album. “Completing songs is an art form in itself. Especially when you are in Toto, there were so many other songwriters in the band. I was asked to join that band originally in a supporting role, which I loved doing. It was fun for me, as far as synthesizers go and having this great keyboard player, David Paich, being in a band with him. He let me loose and do whatever the hell I wanted to do. I get to do that now on my own stuff.”
Toto came up at a time when there was pressure on bands to produce their next hit, and in Toto’s case, it was even more so, given their level of success. As a solo artist, that pressure is gone.
“Year after year, you remember the days it was expected of bands to do an album, go out on the road. And you know that is where the sophomore jinx comes from. Every band’s first album is the best stuff they have done their entire life. Emerson, Lake and Palmer… “Lucky Man”, my favourite song, was a song Greg Lake wrote when he was 15 years old or something. Then you go on the road, maybe your marriage doesn’t work out and life takes place at the same time and there is a record company pointing at you, ‘do it again, you got three months’. That grind…that’s why for me, for what I do, I take a long time writing songs. It takes me a while, and I enjoy it. I enjoy the craft. And I love taking my time and going through things, experimenting. That’s the part I love. A lot of the other guys have grown out of that…they are such great musicians, they just want to come and play and get it done and get back to their lives.”
And as previously noted, Porcaro has been busy. “It was always very difficult for me to go on the road, be in a band and work on my own stuff separately or do film work, which I did for a while. My film work would not be nine to five then I can work on my solo stuff. I worked day and night making the deadlines for the film. Now, I get to do just the fun stuff, and I am having a ball.”
At this stage in his career, Porcaro is enjoying his independence. “My first solo album came out nine years ago and it was completely independent. I didn’t have any record company, I just wanted to go through the process of being totally independent. Doing the artwork, getting copies, and putting it on a website. I was back playing with Toto in those days, and they were great. They put it in the merch booth with the Toto t-shirt. I did that and got it out of my system. For this album, I just wanted to completely focus on doing this and nothing else. And I love it. I want to do an album a year. Now I want to have a life and be able to do what I love.”
PHOTO CREDIT: HEATHER PORCARO
Thankfully, Porcaro has kept older material he has been working on, and some of the older unfinished segments of songs are used on this album. “There are a couple of things on this album, there is a B-section on one song, and a chorus of another that are at least 35, if not 40 years old. I am a pack rat when it comes to my music. I have hung on to them. Cassettes, the motif cassettes, all the various sequencers, tape formats, things have just stayed. I am going to finish that one day. I have to share this because I think so much of it. I am finally able to do that. Even if it means bringing in other people. I don’t have this thing about it being all me. But I started focusing on this and nothing else. I started putting things together. There are some brands, spanking new stuff. I reached out to co-writers, collaborators. There are a couple things I wrote all by myself. Some films scored things that were thrown out that I loved, so I kept it.”
And once Porcaro got started, he had so much fun that he did not stop at one album. “I actually did enough material to do a double album. So, my next album is already halfway done as far as I am concerned. And I mean mixed. Not just started writing but finished. I was finishing a double album, when I decided to just choose 10 songs or so, focus on them and not give everybody too much to swallow.”
Jude Cole and Michael McDonald both appear on the album, and for Porcaro, it is just working with old friends. “They are just long-time friends. Michael McDonald is a long-time family friend who has done me a big favour, when he sings on something as mine, especially when I just released it as a single. The Doobie Brothers just put out an album in June and they don’t want too much Michael McDonald stuff being out there. So, he is just a guest. They are just friends who are doing favours for me. Jude had gotten away from music, he got into management. Jude was always going to be a huge star, and he is incredibly talented. When we work together, we come up with cool stuff. I asked him if he would sing this and write lyrics and he agreed.”
Porcaro created an incredible album with The Very Day, and it is incredible to think that a lot of the material on the album started off as experiments that he has kept for decades. However, he made it work, and he put a lot of work into crafting these incredible songs. His ultimate goal for the album however is “I just wanted to share it with people, so they could hear it.”
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Main Photo Credit: Scarlett McDonald
