Ricardo Sanchez – ‘Taste + See’ the worldbeat of Ricardo Sanchez

There’s also a song on the record we finished the day before the recording. It has this island-Calypso feel to it. I couldn’t separate it from “Under The Sea” (The Little Mermaid) out of my head. It just didn’t feel right. It’s got this old Ron Kenoly-feel-of-a-song. I had another one on stand-by just in case. Well, we get through a rehearsal and I said, “I’m just not feeling this song.”

Our guitar player, Tyler Logan, said, “Yo, this song is awesome. It’s just different. It’s cool and shows how broad you can be.” I was struggling because Elevation Worship has a cool vibe. Bethel [Music] has a vibe. This is nowhere near that. My drummer said, “Well, that’s the greatness of it. We already have them. We don’t have you.” They talked me into it and now, I kid you not, that’s the song I keep going back to in the car. I wasn’t a fan of it, but now it’s my go-to song if I want a pick-me-up.

CCM: Did you feel pressure in the moment knowing that you were recording this live?
RS: I don’t know if it’s immaturity or my naiveté, but to be transparent, I’m great under pressure. It motivates me. But when it comes to music, I’m not worried. I am confident in who I am. You can call it whatever you want to call it—[I call it] confidence, not arrogance. I trust the guys that we used. We had a week’s-worth of rehearsals before that. Louie Higuera, our producer, had everything dialed in a month-and-a-half before our rehearsals, so the band walked into rehearsals already knowing the songs backwards and forwards.

photo: Terry Wyatt

If any pressure came to me, it was just about what to say in the transitions. I didn’t want to be trite or cliché. If it comes out that way, then it’s going to be genuine, because if people want to say it, they’ll say it anyway. I’m a Pentecostal minister, so I don’t want to “work people” emotionally, but I did want to be honest to who I am. If you ever catch one of our concerts, one thing you’ll see is passion in everything that we do on stage. I was more concerned that it wouldn’t translate onto a live recording. That was the only pressure I felt.

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