 David was in Denmark with the regrouped Los Lobotomys on a weeklong tour of gigs and clinics. We had a chat with him before the show in Amager Bio, Copenhagen.
- Would you call this a real band now?
Well, yes and no. Los Lobotomys was always kind of a bigger group, a hang that we did and different people who were available would do it. So it's not just a specific set number of guys as it depends on who's available at the time. It's a bigger family than just these six people.
- The same would go for David Garfield & the Cats and Karizma?
Yes, but at the same time, the Los Lobotomys thing itself started out as a jam band for friends. It's more of a jam band than a rehearsed performing band, so this group more than the others is an open family where people come and go, depending on the situation.
© 2005 - Carsten Weide
- You got Chad, Lenny and Brandon back in the band, give us a few words about these cats.
Well, Lenny was the guy that came up with the name Los Lobotomys and he was a founding member and really has the original feel of the band in his heart. Chad had filled in for Jeff a few times back in the days, and he's been off to Australia for a long time. Now he's back in L.A., so he actually came into the band in January and it's fantastic having him. Of course Brandon is an original member as well. He was in the very first version of the band and it's great to have him back also. And we haven't had saxophone in the band since 1993, so it was really good to have a sax come back into the band.
- How would you compare the mid 90s Los Lobotomys to this band, Los Lobotomys 2005?
Well, in the mid 90s the band was primarily taken over by Luke to really promote his Candyman album, which started out as a Steve Lukather record. Musically this is more the original feel of the band and there are more jazz and latin elements and more well-rounded. With a four-piece with guitar and vocals, the band had more of a rock sound. This band has got more jazz and latin elements - as well as rock.
- Many fans are somewhat confused over what happened with the Official Bootleg. Could you elaborate on that?
Oh boy, what an interesting situation. There was a big mixup between the old Los Lobotomys band, that we had evolved into from Candyman, and there was a big mixup between us over some of the business. Unfortunately the friendship kind of eroded, it took a toll on that. We've all been friends for a long time. But basically, some of the business dealings connected with the original Candyman tour got a little blurred and basically there was a lack of communication between the members. We really started going more our own ways. I did 'Tribute to Jeff' and the guys did Toto and there was less and less contact between Luke and myself, we really saw each other very little and talked very little. And then some different things happened business wise but we had always intended to release this cd, which was live at Midtfyns Festival. We always wanted to release that record, at least for the last three or four years.
- Including Steve Lukather and Simon Phillips?
Well, I was under the impression that everybody wanted to release it, you know. I was never clear that they had any objections to releasing the music. It was about the music, it wasn't about the business. It was about the performances and we thought they were good and that it was good material to release. We were really not clear that they were against releasing it, but when we finally were able to put it out in Japan, we found that there was a tremendous problem between the band members and a difference of opinion.
Then nobody wanted to talk and then basically, Luke and Simon decided to go their own way, which John and I were quite ok with because we'd been wanting to get back with Lenny and Brandon and some of the original guys. So it was a parting of the ways. The confusion about the record is simply that I backed off on making the record available out of courtesy to Luke and Simon. I didn't want them to be unhappy so I tried to do the right thing and pulled the record. Originally we thought it was great and that the fans wanted to hear it..
- Do you think it'll ever come out?
It could. It's there. The performances are there, they're mastered and edited and we added two tracks from The Baked Potato, where we recorded a set that we did. It's all there but I don't want to actively distribute it if Simon and Luke are adamantly against it. I don't want to do that. We sometimes don't understand the inner workings with those guys and with Toto and their dynamics. We know they're doing a new Toto record right now and everything will go as it goes, but we're happy to have Los Lobotomys back and free, you know.
- You went on a Karizma anniversary tour to Japan this year. Will there be another leg of that tour?
That's a good question. I'm thinking probably not because unfortunately none of the members had any time for the rest of the year to actually get together. So it was just that one week. Larry Klimas has been doing a lot of touring with Chicago and Neil Diamond, and Jimmy Johnson has been very busy with James Taylor. And so the schedules haven't matched up.
- You've been working on Karizma's 30th anniversary cd, how's that project going?
Yes, I've started it and it's going to be amazing. It's probably going to take a little while to finish it. It's a studio record and is going to hopefully feature a lot of the guys that has been playing in Karizma over the years as well as a couple of the new guys that have played with us this year. Like James Harrah on guitar, Oscar Seaton on drums. Those guys did a great job filling in for Vinnie Colaiuta and Mike Landau over in Japan. They're going to play on some stuff as well as Mike and Vinnie and possibly Neil Stubenhaus, Jimmy Johnson, Lenny Castro, Larry Klimas..
- How about the guys from 'David Garfield's Karizma' in 2004, like Will Lee, Alex Ligertwood and Steve Ferrone?
Well, honestly, that was a misbilling and was never gonna be a Karizma tour. That was supposed to be David Garfield & the Cats and that's really what it was. The guys that brought us over had some misunderstandings about the booking, and as a matter of fact they thought Vinnie was coming over, but he was never gonna come. But you know whoever I work with, whether it's Karizma, Los Lobotomys or the Cats, there are always some similarities. It's just different configurations. David Garfield & the Cats always has vocals..
- Are you currently working on other projects?
© 2005 - Carsten Weide
Well, 'Seasons of Change' is finally going to come out and it's already mastered. It's acoustic latin jazz with Abraham Laboriel, Louis Conte and myself, recorded in 1992. And then there this other record just coming out in Germany, called 'The State of Things'. It's all different cuts from past records put together from Creatchy, so it's basically a Creatchy compilation. It's nothing new but more a packaging of my material to be promoted in the German and Eastern European market, which is very important. They're trying to get my name out there and promote furthing touring and carreer development. People have been asking me about it, but it's not new material. Just a mixture of a lot of stuff that people maybe haven't heard of, but has been released already.
- Are there some new DVD projects on the way?
Well, not really. We've got some things on DVD that we're thinking about putting out, but I don't know how big that market is. We've had mixed reactions as far as the possibility of putting out the Karizma DVD, live in 2000, in Leverkusen. We've been thinking about that. We were also thinking about putting out the Tribute to Carlos concert that we did. But we're not sure about that and how the video market is right now..
- How do you feel about all the bootlegs out there, and are you familiar with them?
You know, I'm flattered that people value what I do, quite honestly. I'd appreciate if people would not sell unauthorized recordings of my gigs to make money for themselves. I'd appreciate that. But quite honestly, I'm flattered that people like it well enough to copy it and trade it. I don't have a big problem with that, I really don't. I'm familiar with a couple of the bootlegs. I know some guy got hold of the videos from M.I. and released them on DVD. I have those videos and was thinking about releasing them. It's definitely unauthorized, but if people are interested in it, I'm flattered. Ultimately we want people to like what we do and if they like what you do, it's the biggest compliment there is..
- What kind of music do you listen to right now?
In my cd player at home I have the new Jamiroquai. I just got it and I love it. I also bought something called Muse and I think I got the wrong one. I bought it and I thought I was buying something else. I got the new Lizz Wright cd. She's on Verve Records and she's amazing. She's like a cross between Oleta Adams and Billie Holiday.
- Any jazz artists?
Yes, I listen to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bud Powell, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver... By the way, this is some news, Will Lee and I are doing a record company of all Horace Silver music. It's a new project and we've just started working on it. We don't know when it's going to be done, but it's going to be really good, and we're hoping to have some really interesting people on the project.
- We'll look forward to it.
And I'll keep you posted.
Thanks to David Garfield and Sune Schack.
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