Luke and I kept in touch after the last El Grupo gigs, when Toto was busy with Falling In Between. Luke told me he was doing some work on his solo CD and asked me in on a few things. I was honored to be asked. It wasn't until I went to the studio and heard the first tracks did I know this was a really special musical situation. I knew it was going to be really good, but it was far beyond what I thought it might be.

I thought Luke was very creative, cool and relaxed in the studio, not to mention his normal funny self. Steve MacMillan was also really helpful. He is really quick, efficient and really good in the studio - everything you could want in an engineer. Basically I took my Nord Lead 3 keyboard along with my laptop with no idea of what to expect. I figured between the Nord and the laptop I could get just about any sound Luke could ask for.

I remember getting started listening to Stab In The Back... it was such a groove! We just started experimenting with some sounds and some vibe ideas with the tracks and it just sort of fell into place. The rest of the songs I played on pretty much followed that method.

Thanks for your compliment. :-) No, it wasn't composed, it was just seat of the pants improvising. We went about it as I mentioned above. I like using that kind of lead sound, so I started playing it and everyone in the room (Trev and Tina were there) dug the vibe. We 'rolled tape' (Pro Tools) and recorded a few passes. It was one of those passes that ended up on the CD.

The whole experience was just a great hang. It is quite a privilege to be hired by such a brilliant, creative and open minded musician as Luke. Steve MacMillan is a really talented engineer, and I hope to work with him again in the future. It was really cool to be in the hot seat 'being myself' and having fun. After one of those sessions, Renee (my wife) and I went to dinner with Luke, Trev and Tina. It was like family, and it was one of my fondest memories of that time.