Interviewer: Of course, We have to ask, Why did you come to Argentina?

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Paul: The short answer is, I was in search of a quiet place to read a good book, and write some songs. 
 

Interviewer: You work as a Consultant, no? 

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Paul: Yes. I wanted to find a way to combine my two passions, Knowledge and Music. So, I started a one-man consultancy PRC International to help companies in Argentina that are beginning to enter the global market. 

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Interviewer: Nice. What do you do exactly?

The consultancy offers educational tools, what one educator  refers to as "the survival skills",  such as Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving, Effective Communication, Leadership Development, etc. I also served as a Language Provider, teaching English, exam preparation, and writing and editing company websites.  It was dream come true.

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The idea was to create my own work, be my own boss, and use the money from the consultancy to pay for studio time and musicians to make another dream come true, record my own songs. 

Interviewer: Sounds great. And you recorded three albums before There and Back, no? 

Paul: Yeah, I formed a partnership with Javier Fraccione of Kamestudio in Buenos Aires, La Plata. We recorded three albums of my songs. A lot of learning going on during those recordings, and for the most part a labor of love. But what an incredible experience.

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Interviewer: I've seen you perform three times and recognized a number of the songs on those records, but not from There and Back.

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Paul: The songs for There and Back are all new. I wrote 15 songs and chose the nine we did. Ah, but, Fire On The Mountain was a song you've heard. I'd been doing that live for years and in different versions. 

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Interviewer: Ah, that's right. The song in Spanish.

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Paul: Actually, it's an old Grateful Dead song. They're a band from way back when. Though I like them, I was never a big fan. But I've always loved that song. And I like the idea of "an original cover." Meaning, if you're going to do someone else's song do everything you can to put your mark on it. So I did a Dead song in Spanish to a Regatone beat. And I put on a horn line of my own that I thought fit. 

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Interviewer: Well, so tell us some more about There and Back, how it was put together, etc.

Paul: I contacted Mick Rossi (Paul Simon, Sting, Phillip Glass), and asked if Mick would be interested in recording with me. Mick said yes, and another dream was about to come true, as I've always been a big fan of Mick's and always wanted to record with him, or to record with him again I should say. Because we did do one sesseion for a song of mine in NYC in the 90's.
 

Then I contacted another great musician, Van Romaine (Steve Morse, Enrique Iglesias) who also attended William Paterson College,. as if was called back then. Van also said he'd like to be a part of it. 

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Mick added three other NYC greats, Erik Della Penna on Guitar and Michael Bates on Bass and Dean Sharenow behind the board, and we were off. 

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 Neo Old School 

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The studio was booked for two days with the idea being to record as much as we could with the time that we had. With one exception the songs were recorded in one take with me singing live with the band. 

Interviewer: Did you produce the album?

Paul: No, not really. The idea was to record live in the studio. If you have the musicians, studio, and songs, the record will produce itself. There was very little post-recording editing. Of course we had very little money. But even if we'd had more we still wanted something that plays completely against how music is recorded now. 

 

Neo Old School, I guess you could call it.

It was a very special two days. But there was a lot going on beforehand putting it together with Mick Rossi, and even after, keeping in touch and seeing about possibly recording again. Hope so. Anyway, everyone was great. They all got behind me and the songs and I'm so glad we did it and that Javi was there with me. 
He and I have worked really hard together for the last few years recording my songs.  

   There and Back: More Than Some Songs 
 

Interviewer: This was more than a recording though. There was a cultural angle, no?

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Paul: Yes, but just by the nature of the situation. It's not every day a singer-songwriter from NYC who lives in Buenos Aires comes up from Buenos Aires with his Argentine partner to record his songs with a group of world class musicians and engineer in a first class studio in NYC. Or, maybe it does happen every day. What do I know? 

No, seriously. As we got closer to leaving for New York we just thought it'd be nice to throw some light on that situation by putting the whole thing to ourselves in question form: 

 

What's the point of complaining about walls if you're not willing to build bridges?

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I'm not a political person, never have been. And neither is Javi. The main reason in my case is because things aren't primarily political, they're primarily cultural. So, it made perfect sense to put the focus there.

 

It's just a small project. So we look at it in two ways. Big things have small beginnings.

Or, even if it stays small it will always have been a great experience for us. And we hope to do it again. 
 

Interviewer: Let us know if you do. You're always welcome back and thanks for that part about building bridges. 

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Paul: Thank you. 

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 Watch here the There And Back Promotional Video

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