Steve answered questions about the new album “The Very Day”!
Steve, whose album “The Very Day” is currently being released worldwide, answered questions about the album for his Japanese fans, which reflected his current state of mind. Please be sure to read it.
— First off, Congratulations on the release of your new album “The Very Day”!
Steve: Thank you, I’m very excited about it and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it and what’s going to come next. I think everyone will start to understand why I don’t tour anymore. Being in the studio, finishing these songs is what I enjoy the most in life as far as music goes. Plus, I can be with my family and loved ones..
（ありがとう、本当にわくわくしている。皆が聴いてくれるのが待ちきれないし、これから何が起きるのかも楽しみだよ。僕が思うに、僕がもうツアーをしない理由を皆が理解し始めてくれているんじゃないかな。音楽に関してはスタジオにいて、これらの曲を完成させることこそが僕が人生で最も楽しんでいることなんだ。それに、家族や大切な人たちと一緒にいられるし..。）
— Your first album, “Someday/Somehow”, featured a very delicate and refined sound. “The Very Day” has evolved further, more beautifully and dynamically presenting your musicality to us, much to the delight of your fans. What was at the forefront of your mind when creating this album? Was there a particular theme?
Steve: I’d like to think I’m always growing. Always looking for new technology to exploit. The more I do this, the easier it gets for me to finally finished these ideas so I can share them with everyone. I can’t wait to finish the next batch.
（僕は僕自身が常に成長していると思いたい。いつも活用できる新しいテクノロジーを探し求めているんだ。そうすればするほど、アイデアを完成させて皆と共有するのが容易になるからね。次の分を仕上げるのが待ちきれないよ。）
— Thank you for the incredibly sweet vocals on ‘Marilyn’, the album’s first song. I think it’s a truly wonderful opening. This time, you’ve captivatingly sung five songs with different atmospheres — from love songs to progressive and acid jazz. What are your own thoughts on that?
Steve: I know people are used to me, mostly doing midtempo ballads, and I’m very glad that this last batch of songs had more up-tempo things and songs that are different than my usual wheelhouse. I do have a lot of midtempo ballads piling up and I hope to finish some new up-tempo stuff as well.
（皆は僕が主にミッドテンポのバラードを歌うことに慣れていると思うけれど、今回の最新作にはもっとアップテンポな曲や普段の僕の得意分野とは異なる曲が含まれていてとても嬉しいんだ。確かにミッドテンポのバラードはたくさん出来ているので、新しいアップテンポの曲もいくつか完成させたいと思っている。）
— The recording lineup for ‘Change’ is quite impressive. How were the musicians selected for this track? Also, are there any episodes from the recording sessions?
Steve: Well, starting with the lead vocals, I was fortunate to get my old friend Michael McDonald to help me out. He really put a lot into it and I’m so grateful to him. The song was coming out so strong, I really stuck to my modus operandi on this project where if someone could do it better than me or easier than me I would just pick up the phone and call them. That’s why there’s live horns instead of synthesizers on the brass parts, and also that’s why I called Jerry Hey who is always my favorite horn arranger. We go way back. He’s always been the go-to in town.
Shannon (Forrest) is on every song but one and Lenny (Castro) is on everything. I was lucky to get my old high school bandmate Michael Landau to play on it as well as a cool David Paich Hammond part.
（さて、リード・ヴォーカルから始めると、幸運にも旧友のマイケル・マクドナルドに協力してもらえたんだ。彼は本当に力を注いでくれて、心から彼に感謝している。曲がすごく力強く仕上がってきたから、このプロジェクトでは自分のやり方にこだわったんだ。誰かが自分より上手くやれる、あるいは自分より簡単にできるなら、迷わず電話をかけて頼むってね。だからブラス・パートにはシンセサイザーではなく生のホーンを起用したし、お気に入りのホーン・アレンジャー、ジェリー・ヘイにも声をかけたんだ。彼とは長い付き合いでね。彼は常にこの街で頼りになる存在なんだ。
シャノン（・フォレスト）は1曲を除いて全曲参加、レニー（・カストロ）は全曲演奏してる。高校時代のバンド仲間のマイケル・ランドウにも参加してもらえたのはラッキーだったね。それにデヴィッド・ペイチのクールなハモンド・オルガン・パートも加わっているよ。）
— Among the reviews We’ve read, ‘Water From The Sky’ receives a lot of attention for its progressive and grand development, and the title of “The Very Day” comes from this song, right? Is this song a special favorite of yours?
Steve: I was really worried that people would think ‘Water From The Sky’ was a bit indulgent. It was a very conscious thing when I realized one day I can truly do whatever I want to do at this point in my life and to not be worried about what people are going to think. I finished the album before I had a record company and paid for everything myself so I didn’t have to get permission from anyone to be indulgent and do songs like ‘Water From The Sky’ and ‘Does It Really Matter?’ which both really show my progressive rock leanings. Yes, “The Very Day” is from the lyric of ‘Water From The Sky’.
（「Water From The Sky」はちょっと自己満足的すぎると思われないか凄く心配だった。でも非常に意識的なことだけど、ある日自分の人生のこの時点で、本当にやりたいことは何でもできると気づいた時、周りの人がどう思うかなんて気にしなくていいんだって、そう思ったんだ。レコード会社を所有する前にアルバムを完成させて、費用は全部自分で支払ったから、誰かに許可をもらうなんてことをせずに僕のプログレッシヴ・ロックへの傾倒がよく表れた「Water From The Sky」や「Does It Really Matter?」みたいな曲を作れた。そう、『The Very Day』は「Water From The Sky」の歌詞から取ったんだよ。）
— You’re famous for your synthesizer brass sound called ‘TOTO Brass’, but on “The Very Day”, You’ve had a real horn section throughout. Did your mindset change?
Steve: It absolutely changed. Every step of the way I would ask myself is this the best most expedient way to get this done I realized often when I was trying to do horn parts with synthesizers that I was just always trying to get them to sound like real horns. This time around I just got to the point and hired real horn players. It was so much more fun and easier. From now on I only want to do what I feel that only I can do. I do feel I have a unique voice and I don’t want to do anything other than exploit that. If someone can do something easier or better, I’d rather just use them. I have a great community of friends and we help each other out musically as often as we can.
（完全に変わったね。作業のどの段階でも、これが本当に最善で最も迅速な方法なのか自問自答していたよ。何度も気づいたんだけど、シンセサイザーでホーンのパートを演奏していた頃は、いつも本物のホーンのような音を出そうとしていただけだって。今回はその点をおさえて本物のホーン奏者を雇った。ずっと楽しくて楽だったよ。これからは自分にしかできないと感じたことだけをやっていきたい。確かに僕には独特の声があると感じていて、それを最大限に活かすこと以外は何もしたくないんだ。もし誰かがもっと簡単にか、もっと良い方法で演奏できるなら、彼らを雇いたい。僕には素晴らしい友人のコミュニティがあって、音楽面でお互いにできる限り助け合っている。）
— Please tell us which synthesizer you used primarily for this album.
Steve: There were many different synthesizers used on this album. There’s always a lot of Spectrasonics – Omnisphere on my stuff, as well as their bass module Trilian and Keyscape. But there was also a lot of plug-ins that were in Native instrument’s Kontakt format, as well as Arturia. and a lot of stock logic plug-ins like the ES2 and u-he’s Zebra.
（このアルバムでは様々なシンセサイザーが使われているよ。僕の作品ではいつもSpectrasonicsのOmnisphereを多用していて、ベース・モジュールのTrilianとKeyscapeもそう。でも同じように多く使っているのがNative InstrumentsのKontaktフォーマットにはいっているプラグインやArturiaのもの。さらにES2のようなLogicのプラグインやu-heのZebraもたくさん。）
— In closing, Please give a message to your fans in Japan.
Steve: I’ve always appreciated and loved the support and encouragement. I’ve gotten from my Japanese fans. From the earliest Toto days until now, I simply want to say thank you to all of you.
Lots of love, Steve
（僕は日本のファンの皆からもらってきたサポートと励ましにいつも感謝し愛してきました。TOTOの初期のころから今まで、ただただ皆全てにありがとうと言いたい。たくさんの愛をこめて、スティーヴ）
Tons of gratitude to Steve for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions.
Thank you so much, Steve! We love you!
