Beyond The Fab Faux: Rich Pagano Gauxs Solaux

HELL’S KITCHEN, MANHATTAN: New York City is a place where stars shine, but it can also be a land of long shadows. Just ask Rich Pagano, a world-class drummer who routinely shares the stage with the Earth’s top performers.  

Rich Pagano + the sugarCane cups (Photo credit: Christine Gatti)

Besides being the pulse of champion Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux, Pagano has played live and in the studio with some recognizable names: Patti Smith, Rosanne Cash, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies, Willie Nile, gospel legend Marie Knight, Joan Osborne, Levon Helm, and Ian Hunter to name a few.  

Get the point? He’s da man. In demand. But Pagano knows how to do more than just play for the song and sing along – he also know how to write ‘em. His solo release, Rich Pagano + the sugarCane cups, proves it with a standout assembly of 12 forward-looking rock/blues/songwriter assemblages, and continues to gain momentum since its widespread distribution in December.  

Recorded primarily in his Hell’s Kitchen facility, New Calcutta Studios, Pagano took advantage of the fact that the best around were at his place for project sessions, then stuck around some more at the end to contribute to his own solo dream. Voila: Trey Anastasio (Phish), David Johansen (New York Dolls), Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople), and Nile were all on board.  

His “house band” doesn’t suck either, packed with NYC’s who’s who of cats, including Andy York (John Mellencamp), GE Smith, Brian Mitchell (Bob Dylan), David Johansen, Steve Conte (New York Dolls), Chris Seefried, John Conte (Rosanne Cash), Jeff Kazee (Southside Johnny), Tony Shanahan (Patti Smith, David Gray), and all the members of The Fab Faux (Will Lee, Jimmy Vivino, Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli).       

But who needs back story? SonicScoop has Pagano’s first-person perspective on this tale of NYC persistence. 

Q: Drummers-turned-bandleaders are always interesting. How did this evolution happen for you?

A: I was always a drummer first. But I was never concerned with being THE drummer, just concerned about being a great SONG drummer. I wanted to be a songwriter but the sessions took over and touring took over. So I founded New Calcutta Studios in the city, became a studio owner, tried to write more but became busy with running sessions.  

Two years ago I said, “I’m tired of being a studio owner. I want to produce my own stuff,” stopped advertising the studio, and started doing tracks for this album. I did let people in to New Calcutta who wound up being guests on the record, though. With some, I would give them a good rate, and then say, “Before you go, would you mind singing or playing on my track?”

Miked up at New Calcutta

Q: That’s a nifty little strategy. As that unfolded, what was your vision for the record?

A: For the last 10 years or so, I’d go backstage after a Fab Faux show, and since I do a lot of singing in that band, people would ask me when I was doing a solo record. At the back of my mind I thought, “This is my main audience. Let me make a record they can relate to.”   At the time I was writing these songs, I was listening to a lot of solo Pete Townshend and his Lifehouse demos, Woody Guthrie, Lou Reed, solo John Lennon. Levon Helm is a huge influence on me – for a while, I was his “other drummer” when he would go out in front to play mandolin in concert – so that was a template. I was also listening to a lot of Bob Dylan, which can’t hurt.  

Q: You assembled quite a house band to back you up as you got underway. 

A: The fundamental players had the same sensibilities as I do in realizing the song, but just as important is my engineer Rich Lamb. He’s a successful engineer/producer in NYC, and he also played a lot of keyboards on the record.

Vocals go down in the control room (Photo credit:) William Coupon

I don’t play piano very well, and play bass badly, but I have relative pitch, so my process for writing/recording these songs was that I would sing a melody to Rich. Then he would block out the chords for me and write out a chart of those chords. I would then go over to the drumset and work out the right groove. Then I’d go into the control room, lay down a click, then go back into the live room and imagine that the band was there with me, and lay down a scratch vocal and drum track (not at the same time) to the click and his piano playing. Every song was started that way with overdubs right behind. 

Q: “You Want to Stay High” featuring Trey Anastasio and Jimmy Vivino is a nice gift to all of us guitar lovers out there. How did that come together with Trey?

A: When Trey was over here rehearsing with The Faux, we chatted for about two hours about the process of making a great record. I said, “I have a track for you, it’s called ‘You Want to Stay High’. I also said, “I wrote this long before I knew you!”, because he had some legal issues which he has since kicked. He loved the track – he said, “It’s me.” It’s amazing hearing him and Jimmy trading licks back and forth.   

Q: Since it’s your album, I’m sure you’ve noticed that promoting it is also your baby. How are you ensuring that people know it’s out there?

A: I’ve developed a relatively large fan base being the drummer of The Fab Faux, and working with Jimmy Vivino’s band Prisoners of 2nd Avenue. I’m diligently sending out PR blasts of updates about successes for the record and every month seems to bring in a positive review from a periodical – some more influential than others. I have an assistant named Brenna who works with me, preparing all my paperwork and my copy and I send that out to create more of a buzz.

I’m also being called to do TV. We were on air in Chicago, and we did Good Day NY as well. When I see a lot of letters coming in from certain demographics about a certain song, I’ll do the current acoustic trio version there. I want to build momentum with the acoustic shows, and tell fans about the success of the CD. Then in March, we’ll do a big electric show where we’ll recreate the record. Those shows will be announced shortly at richpagano.com.  

Q: What has stepping out in front to do your album, your way, taught you?

A: I wish I did it 10 years ago! I didn’t have the sense to put the time aside to do it, and I should have stayed the course of being a person who puts out a body of original work every year. The Fab Faux is bittersweet. It became very successful and i am proud of it, but I never wanted my legacy to be a Beatles cover band, and it depressed me that I wasn’t doing what I moved to Manhattan for.   But the upside is big. Now I enjoy Fab Faux gigs more than ever, I love that my music is finally touching people – and there’s more coming. — David Weiss  

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