PAUL SHORTINO on ROUGH CUTT, QUIET RIOT, Duke Fame in SPINAL TAP & Much More 

Rough Cutt 1 has one of the greatest productions EVERRRR. It's a perfect album. Maybe a little dark, but the just the vocals alone should have catapulted them into megastardom. Kinda sad that I never got to see Paul Shortino live. Cheers from Germany.

Thanks for putting this together. Hearing these stories coming straight from the artist is just amazing. This answers questions I have had for decades. As a huge 80s fan, this is so exciting to take in.

The 1st Rough Cutt was bought by a bunch of Lawton, Oklahoma high schoolers! I got and still have my Rough Cutt T shirt from the Norman Oklahoma Dio show. I didn't buy a Dio shirt. Vivian's hair caught on fire that night. Bad Reputation should have been the lead single for Wants You. Such a great voice.

Rough Cutt Rocks!!!!!!! That debut is a masterpiece!

Rough Cutt what a great band will always be in my music rotation..

Rough Cutt was totally underrated but totally amazing band! Still have my cassettes

I've always liked Quiet Riot record with Shortino. It's excellent and so underrated album!!!

Amazing interview! Paul is the best!! Thank You, Much Appreciation!!! Paul Shortino & JK Northrup Back on Track is Truly an awesome record go buy it,, you'll be Super Happy!! ;D

This was awesome. The “Wants you “ album is so good. Timeless, Paul has such a unique voice too

The Quiet Riot record grew on me over time

Loved the Janis Joplin cover he did on video in the 80s when he was in Rough Cutt.....totally glammed out to the max.....killer

I have really been loving some of these shows / interviews! I'm a life long Rough Cutt fan, I got into them when I was a little kid in the 80's. While I never did get a chance to see them play live, I did see Paul perform in Las Vegas two years ago at Raiding the Rock Vault (which was also my first time in vegas). And man, does he still have it! While several of the performers were amazing, Paul was the highlight of the show! Also I gotta tell you, when he mentioned a new album with Amir (Rough Cutt III), I flew to that website and ordered it right away! : ) Can't wait for it to arrive! Thank you for what you do Jason, I am really looking forward to upcoming shows!

Rough cutt was so great. Also the Quiet Riot record he did, even though back then it was a bit strange with someone else than Dubrow

Paul is a encyclopedia of metal. So awsome to hear how all this whent down. Great job again Jason 🤘

This guy has to be the nicest guy ever in rock music. What a cool dude

Just rec'd the CD today and just finished listening to it all. AWESOME! Freakin' AMAZING. Every song is perfect... A solid CD A to Z. Paul and the band has gotten BETTER over time... BUY this CD and support RC. It ROCKS!!! BigLove Paul!!!! Thx Jason!!!

I caught Rough Cutt in Detroit 3x in the mid 80's. Unreal Great band. Paul's vocals were Always Above and Beyond. Take Her, Let 'em Talk and Dreaming Again Still Haunt my playlists many ,many years later.

Love Paul’s voice and it still sounds great. Seen him in the 80’s with Accept in San Diego when he fell into the crowd, and a couple of years ago with all the original members. Great shows, go out and support the bands when they get to get back out on the road.

paul is from my hometown...lima,ohio 45801.i used to hang out with his brother years ago.we called paul but he wasnt home.

Another great interview. I bought the first Rough Cutt album way back in the 80's.I still have the original album in storage. Amazing music and his voice was killer. Keep the great content coming!

I saw Rough Cutt open for DIO in Syracuse. Later on they came back and played the LOST HORIZON in Syracuse. A few years later, I was living in Hollywood. Our band had started working with his brother Vinny (also a singer). I got to eat dinner with Paul and Sean Mcnabb from Quiet Riot. I asked Paul if he remembered the Lost Horizon and He said..."is that the one with the pole in the center of the stage? I said yup. and he said " man I was fu**ing that thing all night" lol. Paul invited me to come to down to Pasha Studios and check out the album they were making, called QR. I was 19 and was amazed to be there. I also got to hang with Amir, who was now in a band called Jailhouse....Great Music and Great Guys!

Great interview!!! Paul Shortino is one the best and most unique singers. Love both of the Rough Cutt album's but especially "Wants You". Every song is great on that album. There should have been multiple hits.

Great interview! Paul is the most underrated vocalist from the 80’s. Steve Marriott meets Paul Rogers.

Killer vocalist. I loved Rough Cutt. I had a cassette with Rough Cutt on one side and Yngwie on the other. I listened to that for maybe a year. There was something about that kind of production. That kind of Dio production. It has sort of a 3D sound. There's a lot of depth to it. Thank you for sharing, Jason! Thanks Paul!

So great that you do these interviews from my heroes from the 80s.

Thanks Jason and Paul, that was a cool interview. One question I would have like to have heard that wasn't asked is for Paul's recollections of the LA music scene in the early to mid 70's. Seeing people like Eddie and Randy, and others playing shows long before they were famous. And which bands should have been big but didn't make it, etc.

GREAT stories Paul!!! That's hilarious Paul "It was pretty much was a sausage fest out front.... rock n' roll at it's finest". LOL. hilarious!

Paul is my second cousin. ❤️

I bought RC I cassette in a cut-out bin in the late 80's and was blown away! Later I special ordered it as an import CD. Still listen to it to this day! One of my favorite hard rock albums ever!!

Amazing interview, thanks!

Congrats on 5k Jason 💥🎉!! You’re on your way 👍👍

The album with QR is the best thing they ever done. But my absolute favorite of all of Paul's albums is 1997's Stand Or Fall with The Rhythm Junkies. Paul's one of the greatest blues rock singers ever. I would love him to do more stuff in the genre, stuff in the style of Walter Trout, Jony Lang, SRV and the likes.

Yes absolutely! Paul's voice & performance was "The Best" on that whole song. He's from the Buckeye state as I am too.. I 1st thought he was Steve Perry 😆, I was only like 12 & remember thinking " Why is S Perry on a Heavy Metal Record" 🤣, I discovered RC soon after (my bad Paul)

This popped up in my feed glad it did subscribed! Paul crushes it here in Vegas!

Awesome interview. This was fun to see.

I bought the first Rough Cutt record because I thought the cover was cool.....I had never heard of them.....I was blown away...I wore that record out....I later saw Rough Cutt open for Dio on the Sacred Heart Tour....Vivian hadn’t left yet....The night of and during the show,I came down with Strep throat....I was sick as a dog during the show,but it was still awesome....except for the damn Dio explosions....those flash pots were so loud,it felt like my head was turning inside out....To this day Rough Cutt and Paul are one of my favorite bands...

Funny to hear him mention the Perry McCarthy era of Rough Cutt - I had a 3 song demo from that time - the songs were called Dynamite, Sex In Motion and one other song - the record labels all passed on it and shortly thereafter Rough Cutt metamorphed into Jailhouse and Perry goes on to sing for Steve Stevens. I'd love to hear that demo again. I lost my copy years ago. **At the 1 hour 15 minute mark he refers to Krokus as "huge stars" - hahahahha Krokus never were "huge stars" heck they don't even have platinum certified albums. Their time as a "headliner" act was very short lived.

Thank you Paul for your mention of a fuller scope of the health concern. Not all of us abide by establishment narrativez and edicts

Would love to just hang with Paul.

Very good singer, probably deserved to have more success in that era, Rough Cutt could have been bigger

Shortino's vocal style really helped set Rough Cutt apart from their Sunset Strip peers. I wish Warner Brothers had made them a bigger priority in promoting them but frankly, that 1st album doesn't have any real radio hit which is probably why the two singles were covers from that album, although the label could have and should have tried releasing "Take Her" as a single. The 2nd album had at least three "hit singles" that never were. Out of curiosity in the early days of the internet I did buy a Paul Shortino solo album. The music on it was more of a bluesy rock thing and I didn't really connect with it but hearing his voice again was pretty cool. I don't know what is wrong with Paul's memory but the Rough Cutt album was in stores when they were doing those tours he talked about (Dio, Accept / Krokus) I bought that 1st RC album at a Peaches record store around February or March of 1985. It came out around the same time period as Keel's "The Right To Rock" and Malice's "In The Beginning" - these three bands kinda represented the 3rd wave of Sunset Strip bands going national. 1st wave i consider to be Quiet Riot, Motley Crue and Ratt, 2nd wave I consider to be Armored Saint, Black N Blue and WASP.

You can't often say remakes are better than the originals, I think his vocals on 'piece of my heart' really does it though

First album is badass! His voice is so good. He does have a very identifiable voice I'm shocked he's not a household name. Even now his voice is awesome! I really love the new single "Bed Of Black Roses" We need a full length album Paul!!!!

Got 2 c Rough Cutt open for Dio . Pretty good live act. These interviews are really good.

Paul is an epic champion. Always sounds great, every record.

Great interview. Paul had a kickass voice. Hey Jason you have over 5k subscribers!

That gig in Bakersfield, CA. That Paul references, I attended. Paul Shorting is a hell of a vocalist. The second time that I saw Rough Cutt was at It Irvine Meadows, CA. long about 1986-7. Ronnie James Dio Children Of The Night Benefit. World class musicians to be sure.

One of the best voices on the planet!

Paul just added me to Linked In. 🎵

Shortino had a Rod Stewart, David Coverdale Heavy Metal type of voice. Reminds me a tad of Jeff Scott Soto too. He must have a very good discography ! Love “ Midnight Woman “ by him with KK.

I bought them both and saw Rough Cutt at the Hard Roxx on Fort Sill, Blvd. Lawton Oklahoma while I was stationed there in the late 80s.

Paul has a incredible voice and really delivers live. The problem with Rough Cutt was that They really lacked that big time single Off their debut. And I.hate to say show me a hard rock band that sold alot of records and headlined arenas and I will show you A guitar player(s) that is upoer echelon. Motley ..Mick RATT Warren KISS Ace Van Halen Eddie Priest. Tipton Downing Ozzy Jake Randy Zakk Amir can play but he never had any memorable leads or solos. And plus its hard too take a band named Rough Cutt seriously. Kinda like Tuff. Oh clever they finagled the spellings Motley got away with it cause it looked More darker and more street level Paul is a total class act.

awesome;great show

Excellent

Paul's line, and Geoff Tate's, best vocal lines in Stars.

You forgot to ask Paul how he became involved with Sonic the Hedgeghog.

Great interview.

Wants You! Is a really good record. It should have done much better. The Quiet Riot record was decent but it had little to do with Quiet Riot.

at the 55:00 mark; the 'Joel' Paul is talking about is - Joel Ellis from Cats in Boots/Heavy Bones

It would be great if their could be a deluxe re-release of Hear 'N' Aid. Somewhere, presumably there exist recordings of each vocalist singing the whole song.

any memories about hear n aid, jpan tour with Dio, rock palace concert tv with Rough Cutt ?.

Rough Cutt self title was a killer album. Where I grew up in a very rural area - the band/album was well known. But even being a fan, I knew they weren't at the level of the big bands at the time. You had the top bands, 2nd 3rd level bands, and the levels got lower. There were 100's of rock metal bands coming out throughout each of those years. And they were a great band but not a stadium headlining kind of band.

Hey Jason! Great content. You need a better mic for your voice, it's very hard and trebly. Compared to Paul who has a great and pleasing sound on his mic. Maybe ask him how gets such a good sound ;-)

Paul mentioned Claud Schnell at 9:20 who later went to be keyboard player for Dio?

ddrmusicgroup.com/products/rough-cutt-iii ROUGH CUTT III out now 👆🏼

👊

Shortino looks like what Eric Carr might have looked like today...oh yeah and Harvey Keitel.

make the album covers small and the people big

Hi

Great interview Jason I am great friends with joel Eillis who Paul was talking about he played with cat n boots,heavy bones I can send his number he would do interview

Shortino with Tracy G, can't wait to check that out!

As is the case with many bands... I'd prefer the group was together... but, if both factions each do good work (which seems to be the case so far) it is not necessarily a bad thing. I did think Rough Riot was a waste of time and a bad move... I'd much rather hear Rough Cutt in any form than a Rough Riot... and the Chris Hagar version's of Black Rose is fantastic. I will say finding out now a Shortino version of the band is eminently releasing a Rough Cutt III was a very pleasant surprise... I immediately ordered it. I'll support both bands and go see both bands if they come around. I have not had the luxury of seeing any version of Rough Cutt and they are one of my big bucket list bands. I will add... I would much rather Shortino focus on Rough Cutt than King Kobra or whatever else.

ask him about E.G.G.M.A.N.

Capitalism: Brings out the worst in people. Communism: Hold my beer.

I stopped watching when he started with his dopey commentary about the pandemic.

Plandemic? C’mon Paul… you’re gonna lose your Internet privileges.