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Interviews and Reviews
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Lighthouse Interview
with Mike Baker and
Jim Preston 1992 |
KASR
Radio Review-
Arizona, 1992 |
Cassette
Single Review |
NoteBored Magazine |
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Autographs Magazine Votes Grieve # 1 Album of the
Year |
NoteBored Magazine Interview |
Tustin
Weekly Newspaper Review with Ray Flowers (Harold
Raymond) and Jim Preston |
Print
Interview; Unknown Source-Part One |
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Print
Interview; Unknown Source-Part Two |
Print
Interview; Unknown Source-Part Three |
WhiteThrone
Magazine-1992 |
Access
Magazine-1991 |
Sincerely
Paul Concert Advertisements and Mentions
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Knott's
Berry Farm Concert |
Orange
County Register |
Sincerely Paul Opens for
"A Flock of Seagulls" |
S.P.
with MTV's Video
Jockey "Duff" at U2's
Televised
Satellite Party |
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Hollywood's Famed
"Roxy" Club and Music
Connection Magazine |
Grieve
Advertisement-
Music Connection |
Sincerely Paul Opens
for "Undercover" |
Sincerely Paul Live at
Snow Valley Ski Resort,
Running Springs, California |
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More
Show
Announcements |
Yet
Another
Troubadour Show |
10th
Annual Reality
Rock Anniversary Concert |
Whiskey-A-GO-GO |
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CreationFest -
Artist Schedule |
WinterFest-1991 |
One of
Our Many
Troubadour Shows |
One of
Our Roxy Shows |
Sincerely
Paul Memorabilia and More
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Club OK
Ticket Stub |
Sincerely Paul Bumper
Sticker sold during
Grieve Release |
Sincerely Paul's
1st Bumper Sticker |
Artwork
for our Last
and Final T-Shirt |
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Press
and Media
Kit Release |
Troubadour Tickets-
Hollywood, CA |
Roxy Tickets-
Hollywood, CA |
Authentic California
License Plate
Inherited by a S.P. Fan
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Jim Preston
from Sincerely Paul
By Jason- www.somewhercold.com
February 2007
I
am so glad to finally get to interview you. Grieve was a
fabulous disc and still holds up today.
Can you
tell us some fond memories of that time in your life
musically?
It has been approx. 14 years since the band split and went
their separate ways. Honestly, I never imagined I’d be doing
an interview about Sincerely Paul all these years later. But
thanks to the internet, it has helped to bridge a gap
between the fans and some of the members of SP. And thanks
for the comment about Grieve. I am so grateful to have been
a part of that creative process. Some of the best memories I
have from that era was playing live and meeting fans that
appreciated what we did. Although one of our first big shows
was Cornerstone in the late 80’s, I would have to say the
1992 Creation Fest show in Pennsylvania stands out in my
memory as my favorite live show. The CD had just been
released on Blonde Vinyl, and we were able to spend several
days after the show hanging out with our audience at the
festival. The shows we did at Knott’s Berry Farm Jubilation,
as well as some of our Hollywood Club gigs rank up there as
well.
When did you get started in music?
I can’t remember a day I haven’t loved music. My mom had me
in piano lessons starting at age 6. That lasted a few years.
I then began singing in various plays and church functions
throughout my teen years. Just prior to joining the band, I
was taking opera and voice training through Cal State
Fullerton’s musical department. I was also writing a lot of
poetry and song lyrics in my college English classes.
With Grieve being released in 1991 and no subsequent follow
up album, what sort of musical projects did you pursue after
Sincerely Paul parted ways? If you know of any, are there
places that one could obtain some of your other music?
After leaving Sincerely Paul in 1993, I went on to form a
new band named SLIDE. One of the first songs I recorded was
“The back and the blue”, a previous Sincerely Paul song that
was never finished. So I tweeked it a bit with the help of a
keyboardist friend of mine, but ultimately fell back on SP
guitarist Harold Raymond and SP drummer Mike Baker to put
the finishing touches on the song. I was under time
constraints because REX records wanted me to record the song
so it could be featured on their 2nd compilation CD.
Commercially, this was the only song to ever be released by
Slide. As time went on, Slide eventually evolved in a three
piece band with new members with the hopes drummer Mike
Baker would also come on board as well. The compilation CD
was released through REX. The single generated enough
interest for REX to offer SLIDE a recording contract.
Unfortunately, I had to turn the contract down as they
simply refused to fairly negotiate with the band on any
level yet wanted me to sign a 5 album deal. As much as I
wanted to sign the contract, I didn’t feel it was wise for
me to sign away that many years of my life. Looking back
now, it was the right decision to make. But for music lovers
out there wanting to know about lost Slide tracks, they have
recently been found, and I am in the process of digitally
preserving these lost tracks. The Grieve CD shows up on Ebay
and Amazon.com and they are the only places I know where you
can the CD.
In terms of parting ways, what circumstances caused it?
How many songs did you get into the second album and why did
the band stop recording?
I would say creative differences caused Sincerely Paul to
split. I will even go a step further and say some of our
personalities clashed at that time as well. We drove our
poor manger Charles crazy. Some of us wanted to take the 2nd
album in a different musical direction, while others wanted
it to go another way. Following a show we did at Six Flags
over Georgia in the summer of 1993, I saw the writing on the
wall. I struggled with making the decision, and was the
first to leave the band. A few weeks later after my
departure, drummer Mike Baker left the band as well. I
imagine it was a painful time for all of us. It certainly
was for me. I had been with these guys for close to 7 years.
Prior to the split, we had about 3 to 4 new Sincerely Paul
songs we were working on. We had performed some of them
live, and was just recently told by guitarist Harold Raymond
he has these live tracks on tape. The tentative working
title at the time for the 2nd album was “Ego-Mine”.
In the 17 or so years since the release of Grieve, what have
you been doing? This could be musical, jobs, or anything you
can think of that you would be willing to share.
After Slide, I decided to return to graduate school and get
my Master’s degree. I was accepted to USC in Los Angeles and
graduated in 1998. I have been practicing as a licensed
Clinical Psychotherapist for the past 9 years both in
private practice and for the State of California. I am also
a real estate investor and manage my properties here in
Southern California. Artistically, I still write, and
recently I designed a fan website based on Disney’s Tower of
Terror Attraction. The website is located at
http://p067.ezboard.com/bserviceelevator . Scroll down and
find the forum “Sincerely Posts”.
With the advent of the digital recording age, would you
consider recording more music with your old band mates? How
about some solo projects of your own?
That’s a tough question to answer. I’m not sure if Sincerely
Paul (meaning all 5 of us) could ever record again. I’m not
saying it’s out of the question, but who knows….stranger
things have happened. I will tell you this. I was very
disappointed that I was not able to release a full length
Slide album. Slide allowed me to do the material I always
have wanted to do. I could see putting out a Slide album
today and would do it if I had the right people involved
with it. I would also welcome the notion of having some SP
members be involved with it. Ideally, I would need to work
with a talented keyboardist to make this project happen. So
yeah, if I was able to find the right keyboardist today, I
would definitely put out that Slide project that I’ve always
wanted to do.
Have you kept in touch with your old band mates? How
about those from your other projects, if there were any?
Until just recently, I had no idea where any of the other
band members were nor had I been in contact with any of them
for approx. 10 years. I have to give a big thanks to the
Sincerely Paul blog page that was started
http://christiannewwave.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/sincerely-paul/
because that page has helped me reconnect with both SP band
members Mike Baker and Harold Raymond. I recently met with
Mike Baker and it was a thrill to talk with him again and
reminisce about the old times. I have been in email contact
with guitarist Harold Raymond and hope to visit with him in
person soon. It’s been great hearing from them after all
these years. Talk about a lot of catching up to do! As far
as Slide, I have had no contact with the other 2 members
whatsoever. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for
them.
There are murmurings about releasing unreleased Sincerely
Paul tracks. Is this true? If so, how many will be released,
in what format, and how far along are you in the process of
gathering together those tunes?
All I know at this point is that Mike Baker and Harold
Raymond have some live cuts of unreleased Sincerely Paul
tracks. I may have some as well but need to dig further. I
did recently find some lost Slide Tracks that I recently put
into MP3 format. So the possibility of releasing these is
there, but how we are going to do it is another issue. Mike
and I have talked about doing a website. If that comes to
fruition, we will probably offer the lost music tracks of
Sincerely Paul and Slide there. Plus, the remaining members
of SP who went on to do Laughing Stock may have some
material to offer. I guess I have to ask everybody to be
patient as we truly have just started to talk again after
all these years. I also want to see if there is enough
interest from people before we set out to do anything. I
would say, a website is highly likely to happen at this
point.
Personally, what is it about music that makes you want to
create it?
I believe music speaks to the mind, heart, and soul in all
of us. It says something about us, and helps us communicate
to others. This has helped motivate me to do what I have
done in the past (musically speaking). Lyrics and music are
of equal importance to me…it’s the blending of both of those
worlds that make music such an interesting and fascinating
medium.
What is a day like in the life of JPS? What do you see
yourself doing 10 years from now?
We’ll a typical day for me is seeing patients during the
day, and working on real estate during the evenings or
weekends. Since I have been in the mental health profession,
you can probably imagine I have heard and seen a lot of
“horror stories”. But it is rewarding to know when you’ve
have helped out another person who may be hurting and in
distress. I am and will always be truly thankful for the
things that have been given to me over the years (ie:
family, friends, opportunities). In ten years or less, I
plan to be retired and traveling. I love to travel, and plan
to do more as I get closer to retiring early in my life. If
I am given the opportunity to perform musically again, I
would welcome that as well.
What are you currently listening to? What artists have
been in your rotation lately?
Lately, I have re-discovered The Beatles. I am also
listening to a lot of newer music courtesy of XM radio. I
absolutely love XM, and listen to a lot of Electronica and
D.J. culture music. Still love Patrick O’hearn, Tangerine
Dream. Also enjoy listening to The Sneaker Pimps, Garbage,
and The Smiths. Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett are in
rotation as well.
Any other comments you would like to make?
I truly want to thank all the fans that have remembered us
over the years. Thank you for your emails, your myspace
invites, your blogs,…. everything. I have always enjoyed
interacting with our audience. Who knows, maybe some new
material will come out of this. In the meantime, you can use
the above mentioned links to keep informed of what’s
happening. You can also go to one of these 2 places to chat
about Sincerely Paul.
http://vagrantcafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24
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