Palladino’s playing is the thread that links Perfume Genius with Phil Collins, Harry Styles with Chris de Burgh, and Nine Inch Nails with De La Soul. Indeed, his versatility and omnipresence is a running joke within the music industry. When another fabled bass player, Pink Floyd’s Guy Pratt, got married, he opened his groom’s speech with the words: “I’m only here today because Pino couldn’t make it.”
He also found himself becoming the sideman of choice for the rock aristocracy. “The first call I got like that was from David Gilmour. I could not believe it: am I going to the studio with this guy and pretend I actually belong there? I was nervous as fuck, but the drummer on the session was Jeff Porcaro [famed for playing with Toto and on Michael Jackson’s Thriller album], and he was really sweet: ‘Come on, man, chill out, have a smoke on this.’ So I did, and that seemed to work for me.
I just had to keep that attitude through all of that period: phone calls from Elton John and Phil Collins – you have to keep that headspace that you belong, even if you think you’re going to be found out any minute.”
Palladino learned that the Who’s bassist, John Entwistle, had died – and that the band had declined to cancel their forthcoming tour and wanted Palladino to replace him … on stage at the Hollywood Bowl, in two days. Indeed, he somehow contrived to spend 14 years as a member of the Who without really losing what he calls an “invisible stance”.
“I flew to LA, thinking, what are you doing? You don’t even know many Who songs. Pete Townshend was waiting for me at the hotel, with a big stack of CDs. ‘You don’t know much of the catalogue? Fair enough. You’re going to know it tonight, then, aren’t you?’ At the first rehearsal, Pete comes over and says: ‘You’re going to have to play louder’ – because I’m used to being the sympathetic musician, who fills in, doesn’t make a racket. That’s the one instruction you keep getting when you work with the Who: ‘Fucking turn it up, we can’t hear you!’”
Palladino says he’s “not exactly crazy about touring any more” – he stopped playing live with the Who in 2016 –
For the release of theyr self titled album WHO (2018) the duo once again tapped bassist Pino Palladino for his undeniable groove. He plays on about half the album while Gus Seyffert, whose resumé includes credits like Adele and Beck, performs on three tracks. The rest is played by Townshend himself.
