On the heels of their recent performance at Southeast Portland’s Aladdin Theater, The New Format’s Alex Newman talked with Pino Palladino & Blake Mills about their current tour, their music making together, and their latest album– That Wasn’t A Dream.
0:00 - How their Portland show at the Aladdin Theater was the first show of their tour
0:30 - How Blake assembled this group from working with John Legend
2:15 - Pino Palladino’s initial impressions of Blake as a producer and their shared sensibilities and the process of forming their first album, 2021’s Notes With Attachments
6:55 - How the new album, That Wasn’t A Dream, felt like a new thing while also hearkening back to Notes With Attachments
8:35 - Pino Palladino’s relationship with the guitar
9:15 - On the process of crafting “Contour” as an example of Pino’s guitar playing and Blake is on bass (amending what many folks erroneously credit)
10:55 - Sam Gendel’s pioneering sound, in particular his solo on the wind controller in their recent Portland performance
13:05 - On this show as the start of this tour as it forges to and through Europe
14:30 - How Pino Palladino wouldn’t recommend Blake as a producer just so he could keep Blake to himself
15:10 - How Blake Mills would describe his experiences with Pino and what he adds to a song
17:55 - The innate rhythm Blake and Pino hear and the sense of space when playing together which lends to their percussive feel
20:30 - Thanks & closing