Rob Palladino releases debut album ‘Spirit Trail’
Following
on the heels of his 2017 E.P. ‘Half the Time’ (which he sees as “a really solid
start”), ‘Spirit Trail’ is a big change in terms of writing and production.
“‘Half
the Time’ was light in terms of my writing style. It was my first attempt at
writing songs and it showed. ‘It’s You’ is a nice, bouncy sing-along but it
sounds naïve to me now, and that’s as it should be.
“Robert
Campbell, who produced it, did an absolutely brilliant job with what I was
giving him; and as experienced as I was in terms of studio work (I was a
drummer for 30-odd years), I had no idea what I was doing in terms of
production, mixing, all the technical stuff. He carried the whole project
basically.
“As I
say, though, it’s very light stylistically, and I felt a change in my writing
style coming on little-by-little. The newer songs were taking on a hard rock,
almost metal, feel. ‘King Death,’ ‘Stage Fright’ were appearing and I wasn’t
sure Robert was too into where I was going.
“He’s
a much more blues/folk-based guy which wasn’t the direction I was headed. I
made the decision that it was possibly time to look elsewhere for a producer
who wanted to throw the kitchen sink in, but I had no idea where to look. Then
I met Rob Jones…”
Rob considers
Jones to be a true maverick and “someone that can anticipate your next move and
act on it before you even know what it is.”
“Rob
is very talented. He’s an exceptional musician, producer, arranger and writer
in his own right. He champions unknown and unsigned musicians that need a light
shone on them which he does with relish and huge enthusiasm. He’s a rare find
in these days of cynical money grabbers. He genuinely loves what he does, plus
he’s a total headcase, which appealed to me straight away!”
Meeting
through an appearance on Jones’s local radio show, the two got on almost immediately,
and started discussing the possibility of recording an album.
“I
sent him some demos of ‘King Death,’ and ‘Belief.’ He liked them, and we decided
to start the process that eventually became this album.
“We’re
both huge Queen fans, and fans of hard rock in general, so the idea of going
mental in the studio appealed to us. It iswithout doubt an “everything but the
kitchen sink album,” except we ended up throwing the kitchen sink in as well!
It was a joy to make and a very positive time.
“It
was a case of whatever idea either one of us had, we tried. If it worked it
stayed on, no matter how over-the-top it was. I didn’t want this to be an
acoustic album. The market is soaked with those type of albums, and I find them
drab to be honest, so we took it totally the other way. I think it worked and
it’s everything I wanted it to be.”
There
are many examples of how the sessions developed into a “more is more” project,
as Rob puts it.
The
aforementioned ‘King Death’ is a breathless, uncompromising metal
tour-de-force. “Lyrically, it’s an open letter to humanity from the Grim
Reaper. He’s giving us examples of how he’ll always be there, he is forever, as
he puts it. Meeting him is an inevitability; it just depends on how it
happens.”
The
single ‘Belief’ is quite different. “It’s a song of pure hate wrapped up in
this fun pop/punk style. Lyrically, it’s about no-one, but it’s about everyone.
It’s universal and personal all at once. We’ve all been angry like that, but looking
at the lyrics now, it is pretty psychotic!”
It’s
the title track, however, that is getting more attention than any other song on
the album.
‘Spirit
Trail’ is Palladino’s ten-and-a-half-minute prog epic. “Bands like Rush,
Kansas, and Queen all wrote as they felt. There was never any pandering. It was
always about the music, which is just as it should be. I guess it’s a sort of tribute
to those bands and that type of music, although I never once planned it that
way.
“The
song itself, from idea to finished article, took about three years to write. I
just liked the title to begin with; I saw it somewhere, and I thought it
sounded mysterious and interesting, so I used it.
“It
went through about a million different incarnations. I would get lyrical ideas,
go so far with them and then drop them. Musically, it went from instrumental to
pop song back to instrumental; the lyrics just eluded me, they just refused to
come. It’s been a long, drawn out process.”
It was
while watching a beloved relative in their hospital bed, a few days before they
passed, that set the lyrical idea in motion.
“It
was a very sombre scene, as these moments always are. For some reason, I saw
something else in that moment. It was a ‘what if?’ that came to mind, really.
“Despite
the fact the person seemed so ‘far away,’ as it were, the thought occurred to
me that what if something else was going on inside their mind.
“Are
they thinking coherently to themselves, and not able to voice those thoughts,
or are they just as we see them? I went for the former simply because it gave
me more scope to develop the idea lyrically. It went on from there and it just
flowed. It took me about a week or so to complete after that. It’s just how it
works I guess; inspiration comes from experiences.”
It was
during the recording of the album that the song took on a deeper meaning than
perhaps even Rob had originally thought it would.
“As we
were recording the album a couple of friends of mine lost close members of
their families. There were moments during its recording when this song seemed
to touch them on a personal level.
“It really
struck me how deep this song could go and what kind of weight it could have. It
seemed to give their relatives a voice somehow and, in turn, their reaction to
it touched me. I never expected it and it moved me tremendously.”
Musically,
it’s pure progressive rock indulgence. “I asked my friend, Simon Cook, to
provide tenor vocals for it. His performance literally sends shivers down my
spine. It’s beyond beautiful.He gave it every emotion he had. It’s astonishing.
“We
used all kinds of studio trickery too; tubular bells, bird song, all sorts of
weird and wonderful effects. It’s a touching and heartfelt piece to be sure,
but it also makes me laugh at how musically OTT it is. It’s just nuts!”
With
cover art provided by Rob’s friend from Austin, TX, Andrea Pramuk, which he
calls “a truly beautiful, dark, emotive, haunting but hopeful image,” ‘Spirit
Trail’ is a representation of a songwriter that has achieved something truly
special.
“This
album wears many masks, but it’s honest and, despite the huge production, very
raw. I’ve laid myself bare musically and lyrically and I’m very proud of it.
It’s taken a lot of time, emotion, self-doubt, love, hate, fallingand getting
up again, to finish it, but here it is. Even though I’ve had many talented
people helping with it, I consider it absolutely my own work.
“Even
if I never make another album, or record anything else, I’ve created a legacy
through these songs. I’ve time-stamped a period of my life that I’ll never see again,
and I feel liberated because of that. It’s all been worth it. Every single
minute.”
‘Spirit Trail’ is now available for download on all
platforms with a special edition CD release also available.
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