So your comeback is coming true at last, despite being a bit different than expected. Is the new album ready?
The new album is finally done. It's already mixed, and will be mastered within the next week. I'm looking to release it in late September, possibly early October sometime. The artwork and booklet is being created right now, and I want to give people enough time to be "aware" of it, before it's released. I'm planning some press releases and interviews, (including yours, thank you!) and hopefully fans and other people will help spread the word.

Rox Diamond took the decision to sell it through a website of their own. Why the choice to give up any search for a deal concerning a regular distribution?
As you already know, we ended our relationship with Z Records the 1st part of this year. It turned into a total frustrating and nightmare of a situation. It quickly reminded me of how dishonest record companies can be. I decided that I'll sell it myself on our own website, and this way I'm in control, and I don't have to trust anyone for anything. I might sell less records, but at least I'll know "how many" I'm selling, and I'll be calling the shots. I'm sure there are some good and honest labels in Europe, but right now, I just don't want to get involved with anyone.

Have you planned any strategy for inducing people to buy original copies and for contrasting the album’ s illegal diffusion through the peer2peer servers? Any exclusive gadget on offer?
Since I'm selling and shipping the units myself, without a middleman, I've decided that as an incentive to order directly from www.roxdiamond.com I will personally sign each copy ordered and also include a surprise "memento" from our Japanese tour. I hope people respond, because I believe this is truly a great bunch of songs, played by some great musicians.

Let’s talk about the main matter: songs. What’ s new or different with the new tunes in comparison to your classic debut’ s sound?
The first album was recorded about 14 years ago. I can't believe I'm actually saying that! Our producer at the time had alot of say in the selection of tunes, and we had input also, but there's always alot of compromising that is done in selecting the songs. This time around, we're all older, more mature, we're husbands and fathers, so I've written some things that definitely still rockin' but there are definitely some "different" things on this record that would "never" have been on the 1st one. Plus since I'm producing this new record, I'm doing what makes me and the guys happy.

Is there any song, in your opinion, which particularly fits in depicting the whole Powerdrive album? As far as I know some short samples of the new tracks should be available on your website www.roxdiamond.com…
The new CD is called "Powerdrive" and the opening title cut is "Powerdrive". All I can say is if the band was touring, this song would open the show, and absolutely bring the house down. It's all about that adrenaline rush playing live, and what you feel moments before you play or sing that 1st note... It's a powerful release of energy! There will be "song samples" on our website so people can get a "teaser" before they order it.

In my personal huge cd collection, a gem as the first Rox Diamond album has got a very special place. What are the “gems” in your own cd collection?
I am very honored that you say our 1st album "Rox Diamond" is one of your personal favorites of all time..That's what it's all about! My personal favorites definitely include several Kansas albums. After all these years their music still absolutely amazes me. I'm a huge Journey fan so I have to include their incredible list of records over the years. To name a few others Queen / A Night At The Opera (I was speechless the 1st time I heard that record). Lately I've really been into "songwriters" like Billy Joel and Elton John..It doesn't get any better than that.

Some people use to compare your vocal style to the one of Steve Walsh. Can you share this opinion?
I've heard the Steve Walsh comparisons since I was in high school, so that's nothing new to me. He is one of my all time favorite singers and musicians, so I spent alot of time emulating his style vocally. He is truly a great keyboardist as well. Kerry Livgren and Mr. Walsh were my music teachers all throughout junior high and high school! I hope I have my own sound and style, but I do still get the comparisons alot.

Are there any musical landmarks for Rox Diamond, in your opinion?
I would say the day we got our initial record deal. That was a special day, very exciting. Going to Japan was a dream come true. To travel to the other side of the world, and see people who barely speak English, singing along to songs I wrote, is pretty wild! The most recent "landmark" for Rox Diamond is getting an opportunity to do another record and get the "gang" back together again. All the guys stayed at my house and we jammed and laughed (and drank alot of beer! very important!!) We had lots of fun getting caught up on old times and preparing material for the new record. All great, great times!

Was the songwriting in Powerdrive personally arranged by you, as it happened with most of the first album’ s tracks, or the other guys in the band gave their contribution as well in the creative process?
Yes, I wrote all the songs on the new record. Some were written years ago, and some within the last couple years. The guys all contribute, but for this record especially, because of the distance between us, it was pretty much a situation where Rick and Dwain came in for 4 days to rehearse. They went home and then came back a month later, to record their parts, and then they went home. The entire rest of the record was finished by myself and Kevin. Kevin would fly in from time to time when I was ready for more guitar tracks. It was truly alot of fun, but totally different from the 1st time around years ago! When I write I'm hearing the arrangement in my head as I go, so I really have a strong vision of each part, and how the final product will sound. Luckily the guys trust me most of the time!

As I know the bandmates live far from each other, was it difficult to set the band together for rehearsal and recording sessions for this new album?
It was very easy getting all the guys back together. They were all very "into" it right from the beginning. It took a little "planning" to work out all the dates and flights and such, but it was all alot of fun.

After such a long-time inactivity, was it easy to find the sound alchemy out? No difficulties in embracing the musical instruments again? Did you follow any training method to achieve your old skills or you’ ve been keeping in a perfect sounding shape all through these years?
Soon as we started playing, it felt like no time had passed at all. It felt very natural, just like old times.

The loss of your manager when Rox Diamond were close to success; soon after a radical wind of change in the musical industry which blew you away with a thousand other bands. And when those unfair conditions seemed to be overcome, and you started planning your longly awaited comeback, a new false move affected your way. Do you sincerely think the hard road to this comeback is being worth the trouble? Don’ t want to feed any controversy, but if you’ ve got something you wish to shout out to the world, feel free to talk….
Although the experience with Z Records turned out to be a bad situation, it doesn't change anything about how I feel about making this new album. There was a reason we were meant to do it. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and once again we have proven that. It's been a long haul. I wasted alot of time over the last year waiting for the record company to simply do what was stated in our agreement, and it just didn't happen. Alot has been written about Mark Alger and his "practices" and I got to find out about them 1st hand. Life goes on.

With so many bands who hit the rock scene during the late ‘80/early ‘90, you’ d definitively be proud of having fans who still remember of Rox Diamond and post their positive comments about the band on various aor forums around, after a decade…. Seems that your debut album really left its mark!!!
I love reading some of the comments over the years about us. There are some really great reviews, which I intend to post on our website. There are some comical ones also, which I think are very, very funny. Everyone has an opinion.

By considering the troubles and disappointments Rox Diamond had to pass through, is there any suggestion flouring from your own experience that you wish to offer to the rising new bands?
I have learned that you have to "make yourself happy". If you write or play or sing to please people who have no clue about music, the only person who ends up disappointed in the end is "yourself"...Do what comes natural..Be true to yourself. You have to go into this business knowing that not everyone is going to "love" you.

Rumors about the new album announced some star-guest appearance, in particular the name of Stan Bush was spent for some backing vocals on your new album. Did you manage in bringing any guest musician in the recording studios?
Initially I had several conversations with Stan Bush (very nice and talented guy) about singing on the record, and he said he would love to do it. Unfortunately, this whole nonsense dragged on so long with the label, that he got busy, and we couldn't hook up. I had several nice conversations with him, and several emails, and hopefully down the road we will hook up. He's truly a great singer and songwriter. My children Chelsea and Paige are singing with me on one song called "Innocence of Yesterday". It's a song about how simple life is when you're a kid, and how you wish you could go back to that "time" once in awhile. A good friend of mine, Maggie Flanagan-Smith, who is an awesome singer, is singing some backup vocals for me also. It was alot of fun.

Where was Powerdrive recorded?
The drums and bass tracks were recorded at Clearlake Audio in North Hollywood, California. The entire rest of the album was recorded near my home in West Hills, California, at "The Rock Studio". It's owned by Lior Goldenberg, who is also the engineer on this project. He's worked with tons of people like Alannis Morrisette to Ringo Starr. Great, great guy to work with.

The debut album surprisingly encountered some negative feedback concerning a poor sound quality. Are you satisfied with the results you got in the recording studios, this time?
So much emphasis in the 80's and 90's was on "production". Everyone really thought "bigger" and "more reverb" was better. Times have really changed. In my opinion, I think some of the "over-produced" records back then sometimes were trying to make up for "bad songs". You can't hide a bad song. I read that certain people commented on the "production" on our 1st album, not being "this or that"..Again everyone has an opinion. I'm no longer a big fan of too much reverb either, but back then, that was the "sound."

Your long out of print live in Japan homevideo had a second youth on ebay as an unofficial dvd version. In both cases, it helped keeping the name of the band alive and making new people taste and appreciate your music. Any plans about an official reissue of that fantastic item, maybe including some bonus unreleased footage, if available, as extra feature, in comparison to the homemade version?
I would love to "package" our live performance in Japan, and maybe release some additional footage to the DVD...Maybe down the road...Rick Falco videotaped alot of great moments when we were in Japan, just walking around in Tokyo, or in rehearsal / sound check..Lots of good stuff for fans of the band.

By the way: I recently happened to take a look at your promo video for “Heart of mine”. The guy after drums isn’t Dwain Miller, is he?
The "Heart Of Mine" music video has popped up here and there..We actually shot that while we were "Casanova"...The album was completed and then found out there was another "Casanova" in Germany, so we were forced to change our name...You can see the band logo on Jeff Richfield's kick drum (our original drummer before Dwain came into the picture) I wasn't aware that it got some airtime on MTV's Headbangers Ball...I would love to see that.

That Japanese gig definitively featured a brilliant onstage performance. But as far as I know the band didn’ t have so many opportunities to play live, at the times of your debut album. So how could Rox Diamond achieve such an onstage ability?
Our live performance in Japan was received very strongly. The band had not done that many shows with Dwain Miller before we went over there. Luckily the show came off well..Alot of people worked very hard that night to make us look good! All of us individually have tons of live experience whether it be in different bands, or other situations, so it was very natural for us playing live together. I read a review once where someone said "We looked like we had been playing together for years and years." That was a nice compliment.

Any recordings from the Casanova days?
As a matter of fact, the very 1st song ever recorded by the band as Casanova in 1986, is going to be on the record. It's a song called "Thinkin' Bout Love"... It's still a great sounding recording. This new record has more than a few surprises.

Is this new project meant to be just a studio release? Would the guys try and overcome their familiar/working matters for some possible gig, or even one tour, if it happens?
We re-grouped with the intentions of making another record together, and if something else beyond that "develops"...Great! We would be interested in moving forward...It would have to be the right situation with the right promoter.

Once Ricky Falco declared he might have released a solo album. But did you all have any chance to keep on making music all over these years?
We've all continued playing over the years... I'm always writing new things..I have recorded demos with my oldest daughter who is a great singer... All the guys still play to keep their chops up... Nothing very serious though outside of this project... I mentioned earlier that Dwain plays regularly doing cover stuff... Dwain is an awesome talent.

I know this question comes too early but, according to your actual mood, do you feel Powerdrive will start a new course for Rox Diamond, or you just hope to cover its costs, having lost the promised support by your former label?
I would love for this new CD to "go through the roof" in sales and overall popularity. I am really, really doing this because I love to create and play music... I love to record... I love the entire process... I hope everyone loves this Cd as much as I loved recording it!

Any message for all your fans out there?
Thanks again to all the people who have followed the band...Stay tuned to www.roxdiamond.com for current news and updates! You will soon be able to order it!!! Thanks to you Alessandro, my good friend**Keep rockin' everybody!

Please avoid filesharing and other kind of piracy more than ever. The future of Rox Diamond is right in your hands, and this glorious cult band’ s destiny might depend on the amount of orders the new record will be able to get. Paul does believe in Powerdrive and invites you all for a taste. Have a little faith in such a serious man and musician as he is . Buy or die!!!