Ringo has been working on the set with Toto guitarist and current All-Starr Band member Steve Lukather, along with Peter Frampton, Richard Marx, Dave Stewart, Glen Ballard and Nashville songwriter Gary Nicholson. "It's all my pals, really. We just get together," Starr notes. And, he says with a laugh, the results are "sounding incredible. It's a mixed bag, as my records always ware. We have the reggae track and we have the rock track and that's how it is. It's pop, rock, reggae." Starr is also taking the production reins on his own this time after working with Bruce Sugar on "Ringo 2012" and 2010's "Y Not."
"A couple of years ago I thought, 'Hey, I'm gonna try this,' " Starr says. "I was a bit insecure and I did bring a producer in and talked to him, and I said, 'Well, I'll call you in a couple of weeks.' And I did call him and said, 'Look, I'm having too much fun. I'm gonna do it.' I've always had ideas but I never held it together like I do now."
"A couple of years ago I thought, 'Hey, I'm gonna try this,' " Starr says. "I was a bit insecure and I did bring a producer in and talked to him, and I said, 'Well, I'll call you in a couple of weeks.' And I did call him and said, 'Look, I'm having too much fun. I'm gonna do it.' I've always had ideas but I never held it together like I do now."
Ringo will be plenty busy with other endeavors until he returns to the new album. The All-Starr Band tour gets under way Friday in Rama, Ont., and Starr is looking forward to reconvening with the ensemble of Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie (Journey, Santana), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), Gregg Bissonette and new utility man Warren Ham. "Everybody knows by now I love this band," Starr says. "I love the guys and we all get on well and I'm trying to do anything to keep it together." That includes 14 newly announced U.S. dates for October. "Everyone is cool and we just get on really, really well. I mean,nobody plays better than Steve Lukather and Gregg Rollie. Everyone is a prime musician. There's not any liggers in the band, really."
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the first All-Starr Band tour, though Starr says he's not surprised the concept has had staying power. "I think it's a great show to come and see," he says. "I always say it's like a jukebox, y'know? Every song's a hit. I put it together, and it's gone on."
But, he adds, having contemporary projects -- such as the new album, his "PHOTOGRAPH" art book and "Octopus's Garden" children's book, and artwork that will be displayed this year at the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago, the Ocean Gallery in Stone Harbor, N.J., and, staring June 19, at the Soho Contemporary Art Gallery in New York -- keeps him from being eclipsed by the high-profile Beatles anniversary activities.
"It's just been one of those incredible years, massive," Starr says. "But I did all that in the 60s. We are the Beatles and we made those records and now we're Ringo and I do what I do now and that's how it is. I don't sit around here dwelling on the past. I'm trying to get on with today. That's what I do." Nevertheless, Starr says that playing with Paul McCartney again at the Grammy Awards and on the subsequent "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles" was certainly satisfying.
"Well, it's not like we haven't done it before," he cracks, adding that, "for me it's always a high. I love to play with Paul. He's an incredible musician-writer, of course, and he's a good friend and the most melodic bass player. And, hey, we know the songs."
Starr's other Grammy Week honor, from the David Lynch Foundation on Jan. 20 at the El Rey in Los Angeles, will have its broadcast premiere as "Ringo Starr; A Lifetime of Peace and Love" on July 13 on AXS TV, featuring performances by his brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Ben Folds, Bettye LaVette, Brendan Benson, the Head & the Heart and more.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the first All-Starr Band tour, though Starr says he's not surprised the concept has had staying power. "I think it's a great show to come and see," he says. "I always say it's like a jukebox, y'know? Every song's a hit. I put it together, and it's gone on."
But, he adds, having contemporary projects -- such as the new album, his "PHOTOGRAPH" art book and "Octopus's Garden" children's book, and artwork that will be displayed this year at the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago, the Ocean Gallery in Stone Harbor, N.J., and, staring June 19, at the Soho Contemporary Art Gallery in New York -- keeps him from being eclipsed by the high-profile Beatles anniversary activities.
"It's just been one of those incredible years, massive," Starr says. "But I did all that in the 60s. We are the Beatles and we made those records and now we're Ringo and I do what I do now and that's how it is. I don't sit around here dwelling on the past. I'm trying to get on with today. That's what I do." Nevertheless, Starr says that playing with Paul McCartney again at the Grammy Awards and on the subsequent "The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles" was certainly satisfying.
"Well, it's not like we haven't done it before," he cracks, adding that, "for me it's always a high. I love to play with Paul. He's an incredible musician-writer, of course, and he's a good friend and the most melodic bass player. And, hey, we know the songs."
Starr's other Grammy Week honor, from the David Lynch Foundation on Jan. 20 at the El Rey in Los Angeles, will have its broadcast premiere as "Ringo Starr; A Lifetime of Peace and Love" on July 13 on AXS TV, featuring performances by his brother-in-law Joe Walsh, Ben Folds, Bettye LaVette, Brendan Benson, the Head & the Heart and more.
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