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Sax player Emilio Castillo reflects on career with Tower of Power, continues to make music
By CHRIS PAGE
Get Out
In the Bay Area and to hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe, Emilio Castillo is the undisputed mayor of Bump City.
But here in Scottsdale, which he’s called home for more than a decade, the funky founding saxman of horn-driven soul act Tower of Power is an everyday everyguy, a 50-something family man with a job that just happens to involve lots of travel.
Castillo’s neighbors don’t really know much about his full-time gig, he says. He doesn’t get hounded for autographs when he’s out shopping.
Even his family keeps its cool, considering they share a roof with a guy who has, as the leader of T.O.P.’s legendary horn section, lent his tenor sax to albums by everyone from Elton John and Aerosmith to Michael Jackson, Phish, The Monkees and Huey Lewis and the News.
“It’s ironic, but my wife and kids are not that gaga over my career,” Castillo says. “They don’t come to the gigs. It’s not that they don’t like my music or like what I do, but they’re not all enamored of it.”
Looking ahead to a year filled with both a tour in Japan — because, more than the cliché, the Oakland, Calif.-born T.O.P. is really big there — and a new album of classic soul cover songs for Sony Records, Castillo and company will prepare to play a gig in the East Valley Tuesday night at Casino Arizona.
Get Out spoke to Castillo about his life, his band and the latest T.O.P. phenomenon: playing for an audience of teenagers — who happen to think 36-year-old Tower of Power is the coolest band on earth:
Q: You’re constantly on the road, playing, but you’ve got three young children at home. How do you manage it?
A: I’m home more than most. People ask how you can do this on the road and stuff, but we usually do 120 gigs a year, and travel dates add maybe another 30 days, so that leaves me more than half the year. And when I’m home, I’m home 24 hours a day, where most men, they’re working six days a week, 12 hours a day. It’s really a dream life, I gotta tell you.
Q: I came to love Tower as a jazz band geek in high school, and I know a few people who got the Tower of Power bug that way. Do you see that across your fan base?
A: A lot of them are coming through the schools, yeah. Over the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve been seeing younger kids come around. When we’re in Japan, it’s all 20 and under. In the last 10 years, it’s the same in the States. I know a lot of them have parents who played Tower of Power when they were younger. They’re the fans who are really into it — just nuts over it — and their children are brought up listening to this music. But the teachers, yeah, I was doing this gig in Seattle and we had these young kids — 15, 16 years old — coming to the shows. About the fourth night, about eight of these young girls come in for autographs. I asked them, how do you know Tower of Power? And they said, “Oh, our music teacher loves you guys and he made us listen to you and you’re the bomb!” They drove down from Vancouver, too.
Q: Your horn ensemble is known for being the top go-to act for studio session work. How has that fared over the years? I imagine synthesizers have gotten more convincing compared to live horns — and cheaper for producers to use.
A: That’s true. There was a period where synthesizers were vogue, when groups like A-Ha were happening. But that was short-lived. I have a theory: Human beings love seeing human beings, love hearing human beings. There’s something irreplacable in that. Even with the state of the (recording) industry, there’s still a call for real, live musicians. We do OK.
Q: It’s funny where Tower pops up nowadays. You may not get radio play, but I see Lenny (Pickett, an original sax player in T.O.P.) is still playing on “Saturday Night Live” every week, and I hear your songs like “What is Hip?” and “Squib Cakes” as bump music on David Letterman and Conan O’Brien’s talk shows.
A: I can’t tell you how much ASCAP royalties I get from those shows. (Laughs.) They’re all playing “Soul Vaccination,” “What is Hip?,” all those songs. It’s great.
Q: I have to ask about Rocco (Prestia, T.O.P.’s renowned bassist). He had that liver transplant a while back, and I remember fans donating a lot of money on the Internet to help him out.
A: He’s doing well. All the fans’ support, it was an amazing outpouring of love for him, and I feel that’s the only reason he’s still here today.
Q: I know you’re still working on new material, but do you give any thought to the band’s legacy?
A: I’m extremely proud of what I’ve done in this industry. I’ve played the music I wanted to play and I’ve done it for 36 years. A lot of bands tried to change with the times, but we learned a long time ago we can’t change. We could play the phone book and it would sound like Tower of Power.
Tower of Power
When: 7 and 9 p.m. Tue.Dec. 7
Where: Casino Arizona, 101 and McKellips Road
How much: $33-$35
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