Interview with Rough Cutt and King Kobra frontman Paul Shortino (Part 2 of 2)

INTERVIEW WITH ROUGH CUTT AND KING KOBRA FRONTMAN PAUL SHORTINO (PART 2 OF 2)
Date: June 10, 2021
Interviewer: Olivier
Photos: Christopher Lee Helton (second photo), Joe Schaeffer Photography (fourth, sixth and eighth photos)

AT THE END OF PART 1 OF SLEAZE ROXX’S INTERVIEW WITH PAUL SHORTINO, OUR TELEPHONE CALL GOT CUT OFF. IT ENDED UP TAKING HALF AN HOUR OR SO BEFORE PAUL AND I RECONNECTED, AND IN THE MEANTIME, PARIAH BURKE, HOST OF ‘THE HARD, HEAVY AND HAIR SHOW’ RADIO SHOW AND PODCAST CONTACTED ME TO ALERT THAT HIS INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS HAGER (GUITAR) AND DAVE ALFORD (DRUMS) OF THE OTHER ROUGH CUTT BAND WAS READY TO BE PUBLISHED ON SLEAZE ROXX.  

Sleaze Roxx: So I just received another interview with Chris [Hager] and Dave [Alford] from another Sleaze Roxx writer [Pariah Burke, host of ‘The Hard, Heavy & Hair Show’ radio show and podcast] that I didn’t know was coming my way.

Paul Shortino: Oh!

Sleaze Roxx: Oh [laughs].

Paul Shortino: [Bursts into laughter]

Sleaze Roxx: So Sleaze Roxx has both sides now!

Paul Shortino: Well, that’s good. That’s good. I don’t even know what their side is. I know that they’re probably going to — I really don’t know. I really don’t care because I really think that they have been very deceptive about this and they could have been really honest about it because we’ve all would have given them our blessing. That’s what’s really crazy about this whole thing and the reason that they did it the way that they did it is the reason why we released this CD. I don’t know if there would have been another CD of me, Matt [Thorne] and Amir [Derakh]. However, it just sparked a little bit of I guess — they were a little bit miffed about it, you know, that they would go…. And they were a little hurt I would believe. I think that we were all a little hurt because we thought that we were closer friends than that and I think that maybe, you know, Chris and Dave are telling me in a conference call that, ‘Hey, these guys are ruining our careers and we can’t book enough gigs’ and bla, bla, bla, bla. I said, ‘Well, you know, the other guys feel the same way about you guys. I didn’t know that you guys didn’t want to play with Carlos [Cavazo] and Sean [McNabb] because they were messing with your careers.’ I said, ‘Well, I hate to break it to you but they don’t want to play with you guys.’ That’s how that ended and that might have — that probably hurt. That probably hurt their egos or feelings ’cause that’s really all it is. Feelings are just part egos.

Anyways, I think that I started talking about that there are other bands out there. You always recognize… This is what I feel. I feel that I’m pretty much the voice of Rough Cutt and just like Steve Perry is the voice of Journey. They got another guy [Arnel Pineda]  that is emulating him but he’s the voice of Journey. Lou Gramm is the voice of Foreigner even though Kelly Hansen [Ex-Hurricane] can sound like him and is a great singer. He’s great at doing that. There’s not another Freddie Mercury [for Queen] but Adam Lambert is the closest thing to it.

Sleaze Roxx: Yeah.

Paul Shortino: There’s not another Paul Rodgers but you know that that’s Bad Company or you know that’s The Firm when he opens his mouth. I actually think there’s only a few bands out there that get away with it. Van Halen! You know, when you hear the drum sound and the guitar, before you even hear the singer, it’s Van Halen.

Sleaze Roxx: Right.

Paul Shortino: There’s not that many bands that come across that way without the singer. Ozzy [Osbourne] is always going to be Black Sabbath even though Ronnie [James Dio] did an amazing — just like Ronnie is my favorite part of Black Sabbath but I do like [laughs] certain things about Black Sabbath with Ozzy. But I think some of the best stuff, because I am a Ronnie fan of course as well as an Ozzy fan but, they’re two different types of singers and it took the music to different places. When I did the Quiet Riot album [‘QR’ released in 1988], it was in a different direction. Just like Sammy Hagar when he joined Van Halen, he took the band to a little bit of another direction because of the voice. I like both versions of Van Halen and I probably like both versions of Rough Cutt. You know, you have the L.A. Guns — I still think that you recognize the band by the voice and I think a lot of fans still recognize Rough Cutt as part of Paul Shortino. That I’m a big signature of that band, not to mention that — it’s interesting — I really like the way Amir [Derakh] writes ’cause we write really good together. There’s something about the way that we write together — “Black Widow” is a song. It’s just out there. It’s a different thing. Same with “House of Pain” and also the song “Secrets” [from the new Rough Cutt album ‘III’]. I think there’s just some magic that happens with certain people, and I think that Dave and Chris have found their band but I think they they should name it with their names to it because that’s what it is.

Rough Cutt performing “Black Widow” at Monsters of Rock Cruise in 2018:

Sleaze Roxx: Paul, I agree with you that the voice of a band is very important for people to identify to the band. You weren’t very clear on it but I said that eventually there’s going to be a trademark war between the two Rough Cutt bands and you weren’t exactly sure who would win from what you told me. You told me that it’s a complicated story, right?

Paul Shortino: Well, what’s what it is right now is I think that I lost you on the phone at that point. At one point, Wendy Dio owned the brand name and the trademark. That expired just like Quiet Riot expired and nobody in that band knew except for Frankie [Banali] and that’s why he owns the brand. And God rests his soul. He’s not with us anymore. But his wife does — Reginald. Basically, the same thing happened with Rough Cutt. It expired. We didn’t even know. We should have been owning the brand but the management at that time had power of appointment so she had power over everything. That’s what managers do. They have the power to sign a deal for you if you’re not there and you’re on the road, to book a gig. So I guess that you can limit that power of appointment when you put it together.

However, I believe that I spoke to her [Wendy Dio] about this recently because I told her what Dave and Chris had done, and she said, ‘Well, I went in and researched that brand and trademark.’ And I said, ‘Oh? You did?’ And she said, ‘Yeah.’ And, there are different levels of using a trademark. You can use it just to sell merchandise. You can own it to sell performances, music, records… She told me that there is a — that own the brand right now is a Rough Cutt record company that picked it up when it expired so right now, what is going on is that Dave and Chris own an LLC to Rough Cutt. So they can have a bank account and do gigs under Rough Cutt like we had with Rough Riot — an LLC. It takes a while to do a search and get the brand and Wendy, like I said, had already done it. When we did it the first time, there was a band out of Detroit [Michigan, USA]. Our record had just been released and there was band called Rough Cutt that was a Top 40 band. They spelt it ‘Roughcut’ and they came and sued Warner Brothers. They went and did a search, and nothing came up. Right when the record came out, boom! Things came out of the woodwork. So I don’t think that they owned anything to be honest with you. Like I said, from what I got from Wendy — and she doesn’t want to know anything. She doesn’t want anything to do with them because they’ve already called her.

Sleaze Roxx: Right.

Paul Shortino: She doesn’t want anything to do with them. So I don’t really know where that’s going to go. I do know — since you brought up L.A. Guns, you brought up Queensrÿche, even Ratt — I do know that it comes down to if you end up doing this legally, it might go in front of a Court and I think it’s usually the majority of the members that usually get the rights. I’m not sure. To be quite honest with you, I am not really concerned with that as much as I am just concerned with them just putting out what it is. It’s their Rough Cutt. It’s not Rough Cutt. To me, it’s not Rough Cutt. It’s their Rough Cutt. If I would have went out as my Rough Cutt, I would have went out as Paul Shortino’s Rough Cutt. I would have never went out as Rough Cutt because to me, it isn’t Rough Cutt. And the record that we released still has their names on the songs that they wrote.

We didn’t do anything shady. We’ve been straight up, honest about everything and very clear about everything and that’s really why I’m doing any of these interviews is just to set the story straight. To set what really went on and I know that they just want to get back to playing and it’s easier to take a brand name that’s already been tested and go out because there are people that are familiar with it than going out on your own name or a new band name. It was tough enough as Rough Riot but we had enough members in that band but still people didn’t know who Rough Riot was. So starting a new band, having to play all the — well, there’s probably not that many places to play anymore with the [laughs]… They closed all the bars and everything through this pandemic. You know, things are going to take a while to get back to — if they ever get back to a normal way of life. But I just think that people need to know what’s going on. I’ve got my hands full running with another record with King Kobra and I’ve been working with Tracy G, who did some stuff with Dio. That record is a little bit more like in the direction of…

Sleaze Roxx: Led Zeppelin?

Paul Shortino: … Gary Moore. Its Gary Moore meets Led Zeppelin. It’s some really cool stuff.

Sleaze Roxx: When is that album going to come out Paul?

Paul Shortino: That album? A while you know. We’re waiting for the right deal for this because we need the right label that will get behind it ’cause there’s some pretty epic stuff in there. There’s some really great stuff! I’ll send you a track. We did a remake of [Paul Shortino singing] “You don’t have to say you love me just because…”

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs]

Paul Shortino: But we did it like a Gary Moore [album] ‘Still Got The Blues.’ Starts out with the guitar [Paul Shortino is humming the guitar parts]. And then it goes [Paul Shortino making the sound of another guitar part and singing] “I needed you.” It’s pretty bad ass. It’s a great remake. But there’s some really great songs on this Rough Cutt stuff. Who knows? We’re getting some people wanting to know if we want to go out and do some things with Carlos [Cavazo] and Carlos is like, ‘Hey, I’ll go out and rock.’ So who knows? We’re not planning on going out and touring or anything. Maybe if we’re asked to do something like a festival or something, then we’ll bring in, you know, maybe a Vinny Appice.

Sleaze Roxx: Speaking of drummers, who ended up — when Dave [Alford] is not playing on the album — who ended up playing on the tracks [for the new Rough Cutt album ‘III’]?

Paul Shortino: It’s a studio guy named Matt. So Matt [Thorne] just brought in a studio guy and they guy laid it out. We have a guy names Chris Reeve who’s played in ‘Rock Vault’ and who’s an amazing drummer. He’s been playing with Avril Lavigne. He’s actually played with quite a few people. He’s been a guest with ‘Rock Vault.’ He’s an amazing machine. He can play anything. Between a lot of the people that have played in ‘Rock Vault’, who knows? Maybe someone like Blas Elias or somebody like that might want to go out and do some dates with us. We’ll cross that bridge when it happens. I don’t see us doing — you know, Amir [Derakh] is in the middle of doing his own record right now. I’m in the middle of doing this King Kobra record and this Rough Cutt record came out man. Matt [Thorne] called me and said they wanted to put this out ’cause I really believe what was going to happen — they were going to release a lot of songs that we had done and were going to pre-record them. So Matt and Amir felt that ‘You know what? We should put this stuff out because we worked on it. We did this stuff together.’ And they’re probably going to go ahead and put some of these next songs out on their record that’s not even finished. They’re not even finished.

Sleaze Roxx: So Paul, the songs that you have on the Rough Cutt ‘III’ album, I know that three date back to ‘Rough Cutt Live’ [released in 1996] and how old, how long have those songs been around that are on the current album?

Paul Shortino: Well, I was touring in Japan… Ummm. Let me see the last time that I was over there. I went over there three times and it was amazing how the band they had could play everything. I was doing stuff from my Northrup-Shortino CD to Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt. [Paul Shortino asks his wife when was the last time that he was in Japan]. I think it was 2018. I was over there in 2017 and went back in ’18 and then 2019. I believe that some of those songs like “Don’t Say A Word” — I think “Electric” — those were the most recent. When I came back and finished my solo record, we were engaging, sending files to each other. And so I think “Bleed” was written currently but i had played quite a few songs like “Don’t Say A Word.” I can actually on my e-mail here and say exactly the dates. Let me go in and look at the list of songs. “Bleed” was probably — I’m not even sure who wrote the music to that — but I wrote the lyrics and the melody to that thing. [Paul Shortino begins singing] “Play till your fingers bleed” — that whole song. I mean, that was something that was written probably a year and a half ago with “Electric.” The rest of them — “Don’t Say A Word”, “Dive”, “Secrets” — I just recently — Matt sent me Amir’s idea weeks before, or a month before the record was released. Maybe less. Everything else was… “Bed of Black Roses” — that was recorded over a year and half ago. All of these songs, some were written two years ago. Some were written further back than that. Some were written, I would say, a year and four months — “Electric” and everything else before September…

Sleaze Roxx: 2019?

Paul Shortino: … when they cut us out of all social media. That to me was, that to me was really deceptive. Here I went ahead and had my fans go and join the Rough Cutt fan club and then me, Amir and Matt get locked out.

Rough Cutt‘s “Dive” single (from III album):

Sleaze Roxx: Did you three know that Chris and Dave were going to go out as Rough Cutt prior to them announcing it?

Paul Shortino: No. Not at all. [Paul Shortino’s wife talking about dates with Paul]. It was 2017 when some of these songs were written.

Sleaze Roxx: I have a couple more questions for you Paul before I let you go. The first one is King Kobra. What is the status on the new record and who are the band members now?

Paul Shortino: Well, It’s Carmine’s [Appice’s] band and the deal is signed with Cleopatra. And we’re going to have vinyl. The title of the album is ‘Music Is A Piece of Art.’ The album cover is awesome!

Sleaze Roxx: Cool!

Paul Shortino: There’s a song on there — the title track “Music Is A Piece of Art” — and it’s a great song. I wrote the lyrics to this and music has always been there when no one else was. It’s been my best friend. It’s things like that everybody can relate to, you know. “Music is a piece of art, in your ears, straight to your heart.” It’s not going t be your typical ’80s kind of album. It’s got a little bit of the ’70s vibe to it.

Sleaze Roxx: Who’s playing on the album besides you and Carmine [Appice]?

Paul Shortino: [Bassist] Johnny Rod and [guitarist] Robbie Lochner.

Sleaze Roxx: Oh wow!

Paul Shortino: Because [guitarist] Mick [Sweda] is tied up with the BulletBoys. And I don’t think that [guitarist] David Henzerling is doing it. I think it’s [guitarist] Rowan Robertson. Yes.

Sleaze Roxx: Cool! And how did Rowan get involved in this one?

Paul Shortino: Well, it was Carmine’s choice on who he picked. He was releasing some other stuff and it looks like Frontiers wanted another King Kobra record. I’ve been busy working with Tracy [G] and I finished up the Rough Cutt stuff. I didn’t want to do another ’80s kind of rock ‘n roll record you know? I’m not — that’s not my passion. I was a blues R&B singer when I got into Rough Cutt. I was never a heavy metal singer. My guys were more like Paul Rodgers, Steve Perry who kind of I believe his idol might have been Sam Cooke if you listen to some of the way he sings [Paul Shortino starts singing].

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs]

Paul Shortino: You know what I mean? It’s Steve Perry all over the place. I think that was someone that maybe he looked up to. I am just assuming that.

Sleaze Roxx: Paul, do you know when the King Kobra record is going to be released?

Paul Shortino: No. I don’t know that. I know that we’ve probably got five songs that we’ve written and so we’re continuing writing. It’s going to be a good record. Some of the songs are really good. I miss David [Henzerling] but David didn’t want to do it, I guess for his own reasons. I think that he’s travelling the world. It isn’t my band. It’s Carmine’s. I got a friend of mine — Chris Comet — who did the Rough Riot artwork and also he’s doing the King Kobra record. It’s really frigging awesome! And I’ll probably have him — I’ll ask him — to do the album cover, if he would do the album cover for Tracy and my record. I don’t know what we’re going to call it. I’m constantly working and trying to do stuff. I’ve been doing all kinds of music. We’re getting ready to do Ronnie’s [James Dio’s] birthday. [We’re] trying to put together an all-star rock I guess roster of guys to form for Ronnie’s birthday. They’re doing a global event [The Stand Up And Shout For Ronnie James Dio’s Birthday virtual fundraiser] where people all around the world will be performing and that will all be happening on July 10th, his birthday.

Sleaze Roxx: That should be really fun.

Paul Shortino: Yeah, yeah. I’m looking forward to it. It seems to be a little difficult getting people because of their schedules now that everything is opening up sort of.

Sleaze Roxx: I have one last question for you. It’s something that I have always wondered because after Kevin DuBrow, I’ve always thought of you as the singer for Quiet Riot given that you sang on one of their albums in the ’80s [‘QR’ in 1988] but when Frankie Banali reformed Quiet Riot in 2010, and since then, he’s had a slew of singers for the band. How come you never got back into Quiet Riot? I think that would have really added that missing element, to have Paul Shortino, former Quiet Riot singer back in the band and it would have added a really high level of legitimacy for the Quiet Riot brand.

Paul Shortino: Yeah. I don’t understand why that ever happened. I think what had happened — and God rest his soul — I just think that when Kevin was in the band, it was Kevin’s band and he was in control of what was going on. When I joined the band, Frankie was pretty much in control of the situation. I went out actually when Kevin was still alive. I went out and did a few shows for them because Kevin was unable to do the gigs. It was with Rudy [Sarzo], myself and Carlos [Cavazo]. I think Frankie, probably the best bet would have been for him to get Carlos, Rudy and myself, and go out as Quiet Riot. But really, if you think about it, Quiet Riot was Kevin DuBrow. It always was and Frankie continuing on without Carlos, without Rudy, it just turned into a cover band. I think that’s what Rough Cutt — Dave and Chris’ band — it’s just going to be a cover band of Rough Cutt.

Sleaze Roxx: Were you ever asked to be part of Quiet Riot from the time that Frankie reformed it in 2010 onwards?

Paul Shortino: No. I think what happened was, is that when we split up, I actually would throw this on my shoulders, there was a lot of stuff going on internally with Quiet Riot. When I joined the band, they only had to really one more record with Pasha Records. Their plan was to move on directly to Sony, CBS Sony, who was the distributor. They wanted to get out of Pasha’s contract. So I joined the band ’cause Quiet Riot were touring Japan right ahead of us in Rough Cutt. We’d got dropped from Warner Brothers. The dispute with the Quiet Riot guys happened and next thing I know, I come home from Japan and Quiet Riot’s looking for a singer. Our band Rough Cutt just got let go from warner Brothers so I thought, ‘Well, you know, they called me out. We all got to be good friends doing the Hear ‘N Aid thing. I’ll go check it out. I’ll audition.’ I auditioned and they wanted me in the band. They kind of hid me from Spencer [Proffer]. They didn’t want to have to go into litigation and you know, with a new singer, maybe extend their contract. They didn’t want him to hear my voice. They just wanted to record their last album with Spencer and move on to Sony.

Sleaze Roxx: Right.

Paul Shortino: And it didn’t happen. A year went by and we cut three tracks. One of them was “Stay With Me Tonight” which was a song that did not make it onto the Rough Cutt [number] two album [‘Wants You!’ released in 1986]. So I presented it to Quiet Riot and Frankie changed the groove to where it was [Paul Shortino humming the new arrangement]. It never was like that before. So anyways, the deal was when I joined the band, we all split up the writing equally no matter who wrote it or we split up the publishing and keep the writing. Well, I misunderstood and I gave everything equally so we just split up everything equally anyways. So, I thought for sure that everything was going to be cool so for a year, we go through litigation and we renegotiate with Spencer [Proffer]. So I think what happened was, is that after the record was released, Frankie’s mother got sick. My mother got a heart attack. I moved in with my mother to take her. Frankie went out with W.A.S.P. and we were supposed to be out actually touring the record.

Quiet Riot‘s “Stay With Me Tonight” video:

Sleaze Roxx: Yeah.

Paul Shortino: We had small agora theatres, agora ballrooms and small theatres and stuff. So we had a tour but when you’re touring, it cost you money so under the circumstances, Frankie went ahead and took the W.A.S.P. gig because the money was better than us touring. I believe that’s what happened so we sat at home and I got, you know, a little irritated and I shouldn’t have even made this mistake because that first record [‘QR’ in 1988] was just scratching the surface where we could have went with that band. And I decided that it we’re not going to tour, I’m going to leave the band so I formed a band called Bad Boys. I went in and Spencer [Proffer] from Pasha Records was behind me and it was with Mitch Perry, Sean McNabb, James Kottak was in it for a while and then we ended up with a drummer named Rich Carlson. I think that because I left, that stuck with Frankie forever.

Sleaze Roxx: Right.

Paul Shortino: I think that we could have done another record. Our advance for the other record was double or triple we got for the one. And I actually — it was Stan Diamond and a year of litigation, I thought between their attorney and our attorney, and a year of litigation, we got back Quiet Riot’s publishing, stuff like that. Spencer was looking at me saying, ‘I’ll do any deal. They’re stuck with their deal.’ Whatever their deal was, and they only had a year left, they were stuck with it. It was a band. I felt that a) these are my bandmates. ‘I don’t care what you’re offering me Spencer.’ He is going, ‘I’ll give you whatever you want. Their deal is with me whether they like it or not.’ So I said, ‘No. I am going to stick with them.’ So we renegotiated their deal and my deal with Pasha Records. So I think that when I quit the band a second time because here I felt that we had a chance to tour and Frankie — I do understand the circumstances — his mother was really ill and he had medical bills to pay. My Mom wasn’t very well either but not like Frankie’s Mom. I believe that he had to do what he had to do and I believe that it was my ego that forced me into doing what I did. I figured, ‘Well, everybody is going to hear my voice in Quiet Riot. I’ll release my own album.’ I got the record company totally behind me.

It was probably one of the biggest mistakes that I ever made and I think also, that was something that Frankie could not forgive. I feel that. I could be wrong because he’s not here to say any different. But I kind of feel in my heart, you know, my ego overrode the big picture. I am humble enough to say that I believe it had a lot to do with self and ego, and it might have that on his end as well. I know that him and Carlos [Cavazo] had a falling out a long time ago and Frankie released a record that we were on without us knowing it. There are a lot of things that Carlos holds begrudging. I don’t think it’s begrudging. I just think that he’s maybe hurt and feels that Frankie, with all those singers, all those different players, has lowered the brand of the status of Quiet Riot. I was like, ‘You know, now that Frankie is gone, maybe we should go out as…’ He said, ‘No. The brand has already been devalued to a point.’ I can’t speak for him. I just know that’s how he feels. I think that he’s more hurt than anything else because that’s part of his legacy. Just like Rough Cutt is part of my legacy, and Amir’s legacy, Matt’s legacy, and Dave and Chris. However, Amir, from what he experienced with the Orgy thing, he feels that they are going to do the same thing to Rough Cutt. Pretty much, eventually, there never was an Amir Derakh in Rough Cutt. There never was a Matt Thorne in Rough Cutt. There never was a Paul Shortino.

Sleaze Roxx: I think that it’s hard to believe that it would come to that. 

Paul Shortino: [Laughs]

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] I’m going to tell you that.

Paul Shortino: Well, bless you and thank you [laughs] for that. To me, you know what, I only wish good on them, on everyone. That is where my life is these days and whatever you put out is what you get back. I am all about love, peace and happiness, and the more love you give to others, the more love you get back. The more love that you put into your music, the more love that you can share with others. I think that they just need to be a little bit more — I don’t even know what they are saying in their interviews — and I only hope it’s… I don’t want to bash anybody. That’s not where I’m at. I don’t want to bash Dave and Chris. I think what they did wasn’t right. It wasn’t straight on the table. If they would have just — and I heard it from Matt and Amir — if they would have just come out and say, ‘Hey listen. We’re going to go out as Alford and Hager’s Rough Cutt. Those guys would have just — I wish them the best. But they went, they went into Wikipedia. You know, they just changed things. They changed the way the band was formed and it’s kind of sad because you know what happens, then people start getting defensive. People start getting… That’s when things get ugly and I’m pretty much, ‘I don’t have time for the ugliness [laughs].’

Sleaze Roxx: I have one very last question for you because of that. Obviously, no one is getting any younger and a lot of venues have been closed down due to the pandemic so everyone is losing time as well, but do you ever see the possibility of you, Matt, Amir, and Chris and Dave, playing together as Rough Cutt ever again?

Paul Shortino: Never.

Sleaze Roxx: Alright. Fair enough [laughs]. 

Paul Shortino: Yeah, never. Never. I think just because of what they’ve done. I don’t think the other guys would ever feel that way. I can go out and play all those songs with anybody and sound like Rough Cutt [laughs].

Sleaze Roxx: [Laughs] Fair enough.

Paul Shortino: It don’t matter who’s playing. I can go out with an orchestra, some great players and they can read it just like it is. I can sound just like Rough Cutt with an orchestra or whatever. For me, nah! I would go out with Amir and Matt, and play one because they haven’t been deceiving. You know what, it’s all about truth and I am all about that. Also, I am studying to become a minister. I am a minister and I am into that. I am into God and to spirituality. Like I said, I wish them the best. I really do and I think that they got a good singer. The guy’s a good singer. I just don’t think that they should be using the name Rough Cutt. I think that they can use it but I think that they should define it. Its their Rough Cutt and that’s cool. Just like if we go out, me, Amir, Matt and Carlos — we’re all ready to rock if the gig was right. So yeah, we would go out as Rough Cutt. We would go out like it is on the album. Matt Thorne, Paul Shortino and Amir Derakh, special guest: Carlos Cavazo.

Sleaze Roxx: And I think that’s probably the best way to do it at this point. Thank you very much for doing the interview!

Paul Shortino: Thank you very much. [DDR Music Group principal] Lance is just such a professional dude. I am glad that he jumped on to do this. I just think that was the right thing to do and its the right thing to do to set the record straight. I really don’t care anymore about other than that. People should know what really went down. And I do wish them great, great success. Whatever they do. Whatever they do in life. And that goes for anybody. You and everyone on the planet, I just wish them great success and I do hope and I do what to quote… Put this quote in there. I do pray and hope for all the people out there that have lost a lot to get back on their feet and that each and everyone of us need to reach out to people who are in need of help. Governments aren’t going to help them like human beings help each other. That’s what we are here for on the planet — to help others help others help others, and pay it forward. And that’s what I would like to say [laughs].

Sleaze Roxx: You’re a good man Paul. Thank you so much for doing the interview.

Paul Shortino: God bless you so much and your family.

Sleaze Roxx: You too. Bye bye.

Paul Shortino: Bye.

Rough Cutt‘s “Bed of Black Roses” single (from III album):

Thank you to DDR Music Group principal Lance V. for facilitating the interview. You can purchase ‘III’ on CD via The DDR Music Group’s website and digitally via the record label’s Bandcamp page.