The Dead Daiseis avlsutar sin europaturné i helgen med gig i Malmö 16 november Moriskan Paviljongen, 17 november Göteborg Valand (slutsålt) och Oslo 19 november Vulkan Arena. Jag fick chansen att snacka lite med Doug Aldrich om den nya Best Of plattan, rotationen av medlemmar och lite om skillnaderna mellan att lira i Whitesnake och The Dead Daisies!
Enjoy!
Hey Doug! How are you?
I’m fine. I’m fine. So everything good with you, Pauline?
Yeah, it is. It’s Beginning to get really cold in Sweden. Remember to take the hats and scarves and gloves when you come over here in november.
Absolutely. Absolutely I will! I know it’s starting to, you know, it’s starting to get dark earlier and get colder, but it’s kind of nice after a long summer. It’s kind of nice.
Let’s get into this! You’re on this tour. After all of this time, with The Best Of album, which I love with the two new tracks, I guess you will play part of the last album, Radiance as well because you didn’t really get out on tour that one.
Well, yeah, we didn’t get to see you last year, unfortunately. But we’re so excited to be coming to Sweden, coming to Scandinavia and basically, you know celebrating 10 years of The Dead Daisies being a band together like a revolving door. And with repeating members we’ve got the Best of that album and we’re basically taking a little bit from each era of the band, and bringing it to you live.
Yeah, I have to say you excel live, I love to see you guys on stage!
Yeah, I think so too! I think you know, it’s always interesting to try and capture a band in the studio. And what they do live, it’s an art form, and it’s not easy to do, but we try, we always seem to kind of turn it up a notch when it comes to live. It just comes to life even more so and especially, you know with a frontman like John Corabi, who is back in the fold. Now it’s all about live, you know, capturing those moments.
Yeah, he’s pure energy. You’ve been playing with some amazing artists! I mean you’ve played with Dio. That’s hard to beat, but I know that you love to play with The Daisies as well. Is it because of the collective mind hive where you get to change the music, but always keep the core?
Yeah, you know The Daisies started off in a really simple fashion. David Lowy got together with an Australian singer who is very famous called John Stevens. And they wrote some songs. They wrote a song with Slash and they wrote with some other people and they just kind of decided like, hey, let’s make this into a thing, you know, let’s turn it into a band. We don’t have to make it. You know, it doesn’t have to be structured with like the same guys all the time. So that’s how they kind of started it off and it started to actually become a band.
Then they put out the Revolución record with midnight Moses on it, and that’s when I found out about The Dead Daisies myself. I was kind of locked in this world of White Snake and wasn’t really paying attention to much else, but that song really stuck out and the version was great. And it started to become like, that’s a band, you know, with Richard Fortis and Dizzy on keys, Marco Mendoza, Brian Tishy. I mean, that’s like a real band. And then all of a sudden, literally like two months later, I get a call and they’re like, well, Richard was going to go to Guns and Roses and start back up with Slash and Axel and it’s like what? Wow, that’s cool. But that meant that The Dead Daisies needed a guitar player. Well Richard and I are friends. I’ve known Richard for a super long time and he’s a great dude, an amazing guitar player. He said, hey, why don’t you just call Doug? You all know him and so that’s when I got in the band and ever since you know I got into the band it feels like, yeah, the core is there.
We’ve had a couple of changes as you mentioned. The biggest change being when John took off. John really wanted to do some of his own stuff, and he had a band with his son and they had some, you know, offers that they wanted to do and we wanted to carry on and so we got Glenn Hughes and that was amazing. Like a big left turn. We weren’t trying to, you know, recreate anything with Glenn. It was really something fresh and new. But the core was still there with David Lowy’s guitar, my guitar, Brian Tichy on drums and yeah. And, here we are. Back again now with a new lineup.
But to me the quintessential lineup was always with John Corabi. So now we’ve got John, “Crabby” back. He’s the mayor of rock’n’roll. He’s just the best uhm, I mean nothing against anybody else because they’re all individually great. But now with Michael Devon on bass, Michael Devon´s an amazing singer and was the right hand man of David Coverdale. Ten years after I left so we got 3/5 of the White Snake former lineup in The Dead Daisies now.
It’s interesting, it really is. I mean, the first time I saw you, at the Sweden Rock Festival it was with Brian, Marco, John, you and David. So that’s like the first Daisies experience to me.
We went crazy at that gig!
I went creepy. I got the tattoo.
You did!?
Yeah…
Oh my God. Oh my gosh, that’s right, I. Forgot about that! Haha! Somebody told me about that!
You were one of the first in our gang!
Yeah, I have the old dog tag, actually! Haha! (En dog tag vi fick som street team för The Dead Daisies)
We love you guys, the originals, the OG.
I think that’s why it’s so fun to follow everything that you do, because as you say, you were the core. And of course, John is the mayor of rock’n’roll. I went to see him here in Sweden when he did the solo thing as well, and I’ve actually seen Marco Mendoza twice on the small island right off the coast where I live in Sweden. In a barn!
Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah. I mean, Marco is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met! And he will play anywhere, anytime with anybody. But yeah, Marco’s always working. I can’t keep track of where he is, you know, he’s always somewhere always doing something but he´s a great bass player and we love him. Part of the, you know, we’re all part of the Daisies family together all of us.
I’ve seen a lot of people who almost get offended when you do a rotation and I’m always there like, it’s a collective they’re bound to do it because you all have your own things to do.
Well, I don’t. Actually when John took a break in 2019 or 2018? I decided I wanted to focus 100 percent on The Dead Daisies. I really didn’t want to be distracted by other things. And then when Glenn got involved, it even made me more like I want to focus on this. I want to, you know, make sure that Glenn’s comfortable and, you know, immediately started thinking about songs that he would like and that he would be excited about working on. He had music and we were busy. And then, you know, there’s always people asking “hey will you put a solo on ” something or whatever I’ll do. But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to take away from The Dead Daisies collective. You know, I really wanted to focus on that and.
And we had a couple little other little changes in there too. During that time we had Dean Castronovo on Holy Ground and then he didn’t do the tour, but Tommy Clufetos came into the tour. So I really was trying to just keep everything kind of solid from my end. But yeah, you’re right. It’s a collective and people can do what they want to do if.
And that’s why Glenn actually is back doing his solo thing, he really wanted to do that and we wanted to work. Thankfully, John is back and like you said he puts on a great show, whether it’s acoustic by himself or with the band, and you haven’t seen us for a little bit, but we did do some shows in the US and in Canada and John Corabi has never been better. I mean, he’s just he’s just so fun and puts on that same great show, sings his ass off as always. And I put him up there, Pauline. I put him up there with, you know, I’ve been very blessed to work with people like Glenn and David Coverdale and Ronnie Dio and John. I feel blessed. To have met him, I was 14 years old when I met John. And we have been friends ever since.
That’s so cool, I mean, in a business like the music business, you’re bound to meet a heck of a lot of people and to find someone that you actually do like, that has to be amazing.
Well, John’s just, he’s never changed. He’s always been the same dude since, like, I mean I’m basically, you know like in back end of my life, it’s just life flies by so fast. It’s incredible, but 50 years ago, or 40 years ago, whatever! It was 45 years ago, when I met John. And he was the same dude as now. He is this Cool guy. He’s Kind of quiet. He’s got that look like he doesn’t give a fuck look, you know? I mean, and that’s how he was back then. And now, all these years later, it’s the same guy. He hasn’t changed. It’s just crazy but he’s super funny, as you know, and just. Salt of the earth dude, really good. And he’s gonna owe me some money for all those compliments I just gave him.
You should do the thing that he and Marco do. They complement each other in different interviews, so they’re always squared.
Yeah. Yeah! Well, let’s do that. Let’s tell John to start throwing some compliments my way instead of the shade that he always throws me!
I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that for a second. So what can we expect? Because I know that you’re going to play different songs from different albums. Have you tweaked anything? Because I mean, like Glenn and John are two very different singers.
True. Yeah, we are doing a couple of the Glenn era songs obviously and it’s really cool here in John’s take on that stuff and his perspective on it. It’s very refreshing because of course, there’s only one Glenn Hughes, the voice of rock, but John delivers it in a way that’s pure Corabi. So it’s really cool. And I mean they’re both good. They’re both great versions. So people that come out to the show will get to hear some Glenn era songs but done In the Crabby Way, and it sounds really good and we are super happy with it. But the songs on the Best Of are basically a template for the live shows. It would be a good starting point for a set list, and there’s a couple songs that we got out that were on the Best Of like Miles In Front of Me which we totally revamped and made it into something brand new for the tour. So we’re really excited about playing that one and, yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stuff from each era, and pound for pound, it’s probably one of my favorite steps that we’ve ever had because it covers so much territory.
So about the writing process. I know that you often go into the studio, and more or less write everything on the spot. Is that your kind of relation to writing music before, or is that something that you started doing with the daisies?
It started like that at first in the very beginning of playing music and trying to compose music for my first band creating some original material. But you worked on it together. You know that’s how you do it. It’s like a real thing where you know, somebody might have a riff, a guitar riff or somebody might have a title or something and then you kind of make it into a song together. So everyone’s invested in it and, as time goes on, you start to get away from that a little bit and the songwriters tend to, you know, work together without the band and get the basic idea together and then the band kind of finishes it. That’s how it was with, like Whitesnake, I’d write with David specifically, just the two of us. And I thought that was very natural, but then when I got in The Dead Daisies from day one, it was just like you said, we all sat down together with acoustic guitars.
We really didn’t have much planned. Everybody had a couple of riffs and stuff or ideas, chords, melodies. But everybody works hard on each other’s ideas and tries to make them the best they could be. And it was very refreshing because as I said, it reminded me of the very beginning of when I first started to play music and you have to, you know, drop your ego. You don’t say “I really want to sound like this” or “let’s do it this way”, no, it was like “let’s try everything and we’ll just see what happens”! And you’d be surprised when you’re open minded like that and you’re working together really. First of all, it is very effective. You know, you get like, great things out of everybody cause everyone’s working together to make it the best it can be, and secondly, it’s rewarding, you know, because everyone’s excited about it. Everyone’s got a stake in the claim. Everybody can take credit for what the final song is. It doesn’t matter who came up with the riff or the lyric, or whatever. Everyone can take credit for it as a band song, and I think that’s really valuable. And that’s The Daisies. That’s how it’s always been.
We did deviate from that with Glenn because Glenn had some songs he wanted to pursue. And I had some musical ideas that I started to brainstorm, like to present to Glenn. I knew there was going to be a little bit of a shift in the process when Glenn joined. So I wanted to have some music prepared, you know from David and myself really. So we could kind of keep that formula going as well, but yeah, you know, hindsight of all the writing experiences, I think The Dead Daisies is a very honest and effective way to write together with everybody.
I get that! You can actually hear everybody in the songs. It’s never just static, one kind of music all the way through the whole album. You can feel the changes and you can almost see the sound. You can hear where Brian gets to show off a bit of himself and you can feel the Aldrich guitars. You know, you’re all represented and you can actually hear that. That’s really cool.
Whenever Brian is is on a song there is a feature for Him. He’s so good, I mean as you know. It’s just when you’re playing guitar with Brian, it’s like it just feels like you’re sucked into this. Do you know what it’s like when you sit down on a really comfortable chair, and it just kind of feels great, you know? That’s how it’s like when you’re playing music with Brian. It just feels like a super comfy chair. You just lay back. And you know it’s just good. And with him and Michael Devin, of course! You know, we love Marco. We love Glenn’s bass playing. But Michael and Brian have done thousands of gigs together and you cannot replace time and experience with anything else. So those guys have put in a lot of miles on the road and a lot of hours playing music together and it really shows when you hear them together, it really sounds unique. And of course, Devin is probably like the secret weapon. Now he’s the youngest guy in the band and he’s just on fire.
So let’s talk about the secret guy. David(Lowy), because I know he’s brilliant as a guitarist, I know he’s a pilot. I know he’s really into music overall. But I mean, where does he get this from? What’s he like as a musician? But no matter where I read it’s hard to get a grip of him, you know?
Well, he may seem like that. But you won’t get to know him from just meeting him. It’s when you’re around him you get him. He’s a very focused individual, and he dives head first deep into whatever it is that he wants to do. Whatever it is you know, it’s fortunately music and airplanes and he’s in business. But probably his biggest passions are our music and airplanes. So when is it time for The Dead Daisies to get ready for a tour? Or even when we’re on tour or whatever, when he shows up to the gig he’s 100% focused on that there’s nothing else that could distract him. That’s something that’s that’s very important. I mean, it’s in the same way of successful people in sports or successful people in anything, it’s their focus that makes them really successful because they don’t get distracted by whatever you know.
So, David, everyone knows he’s a successful businessman from before. And when he started the Daisies, I think it started off very innocent. And just like having some fun. But then it turned into, hey, this is really something. And he’s having a great time doing it and then little by little, it started to become a business too, in the music business. And so he runs with it. Everything in his life os very organized and very you know by committee. There’s a big team involved and so it allows David to focus on what he wants to do, which when he’s with us, it’s playing guitar. And and as far as his style musically and what he has contributed to his to the band, his band. He started the band. He’s not as well known as some of the other guys or you don’t know his style as much because we don’t know him as much.
But I will tell you that he has a very unique style. It’s a very honest and aggressive way that he plays guitar. I think he fell in love with, you know, the Australian sound when he was a kid. The AC/DC, the Angels, Rose Tattoo and a bunch of other people. Jimmy Barnes and a lot of other people with that sound but especially that downstroke guitar playing, you know, downstrokes like AC/DC and The Angels. And so that was kind of that’s his influence. And you can hear that on, on, you know everything from the very beginning of the band till you know when I joined the band on songs like Long Way To Go with that riff that David had. And it was just, that’s that classic David Lowy right there. It’s that downstroke thing. And then same thing with Rise Up, you know. We changed certain things and afterwards, everyone puts their spin on it. But when you hear a Daisy song that’s got the down strokes, it’s definitely an example of David putting his stamp on something. He’s a very honest and aggressive, simplistic guitar player, and there’s something about that that you cannot relearn; it’s either you do or you don’t. It’s the same way with anything that when you get comfortable doing something you do it your way and that’s how you do it. You don’t really think about it. And that’s how David plays, very honest.
By the way! Since we’re speaking to you in Sweden. I was just watching something yesterday with Yngwie. He was talking about in 1983, he went to Japan and the editor of a magazine said “Yngwie how do you hold your pick?” And he looked up and was like “Huh? Well, I don’t know. I never thought about it” and he looked at it and he goes “I hold it like this, you know?” But it’s like, he just does. He just does what he does. That’s it.
Yeah. I get it. Because when you look at the two of you on stage, you have different looks and ways of playing. And I really enjoy it. So I’m not going to complain.
No, it’s good. The different style is a beautiful thing. I didn’t realize that until working with Reb Beach in Whitesnake because I guess up until that point I’ve always been kind of this single guitar player. And so I never really knew how to work it. I didn’t know how it would work with two guitar players and Reb Beach is a very legendary player. Just an amazingly talented God-given player. He’s just got it, you know, he doesn’t even have to work it. He just got it. But our styles were a little different and at first I thought, basically, I thought Whitesnake you know would always have this big wall of guitar sound thing and everything. And when Brett and I played, it was a little different. We were playing off each other a little bit more, a little bit kind of in the way like… Maybe you know The Allman Brothers or Aerosmith or something that had two different guitar styles, and that’s how it was with me and rob. And then I started to really, really appreciate that later. In the beginning, I didn’t know how to handle it, but I really appreciate that and that’s exactly what David said to me when he asked me to join the band, he goes. “Look, we are completely different players and that’s what I want. I want you to play lead and I’m going to play rhythm.” And you know now we mix it up a little bit sometimes he’ll take a lead or something and it’s great! He’s like, really. Into it. But yeah. Different styles is good.
It is, and especially with a band that has so many different styles on the songs. I mean, it’s all rock music, but sometimes you feel like really It’s old school, garage rehearsal rock, and sometimes it’s the really clean up classical rock. And I love that you have all in between.
I think we lean more towards the greasy garage.
True, I wrote a review about one of the albums and I actually wrote that you’re filling that space that was missing because we had a lot of garage greasy rock in the 80s and 90s, and then they almost all went away. And then The Dead Daisies came. And you found that space and you filled it.
Yeah, that’s true. It’s like a vacuum that you know that gets empty and then somebody gets lucky enough to get in there, you know and fill that space and I think The Dead Daisies especially. You know, as I said even prior to me being in the band when John got in the band. That was the start of the Classic sound. You know his voice with The Daisy guitar sound you know? Really it’s something special. And it was with Glenn as well. Don’t get me wrong, but I think you know quintessentially for that sound. John probably is the guy.
I think it’s the beard.
Yeah, there’s power in the beard, Michael Devon’s got a beard, too. These guys, actually, you know in that style it is good to have a nice beard and both those guys do.
You know what. We have probably gone over the time limit already, but one last quick question. If you could recommend a gateway album for someone who hasn’t listened to The Dead Daisies, what album do you think they should start with?
That’s a great question. I don’t know. I mean I think The Best Of is the Gateway album because it covers everything you know. Well, I don’t know if that makes sense but yeah, The Best Of album. It has got everybody and everything included in it, so you can get a really good feel for it and it’s a good mix of songs, different people. You can hear the different styles of the different lineups, different singers and guitar players and drummers, bass players. For the albums that I’ve been part of I think, you know, why not start with Make Some Noise? Because it’s the, you know, the pure energy of the fusion of us getting together. With songs like Long Way to go and Last Time I Saw She Sun, Make Some Noise, Song And a Prayer. And those are good. A good example of what we still are doing. You know, sound wise.
Yeah, that’s the sing along album. Everybody knows those songs.
Hopefully we keep getting more people to check it out.
Yeah, definitely. Song And A Prayer is one of my personal favorites.
It is a good song! That’s interesting. We just had a simple song that John made a couple of little tweaks to the guitar that really made it come alive and then the chorus just really, like you said, it’s very sing along. Yeah, that’s a song that we have not played yet with John back, but I think we should.
I hope so. I really hope so in Gothenburg!
All right, you got it!
Thank you so much, Doug, for talking to me today.
Of course. Thank you so much, Pauline, we really appreciate you guys and can’t wait to see you and can’t wait to see your tattoo again.
Yeah, it’s always with me. You’re not going to miss it. Take care and I’ll see you in Gothenburg!
/P ”The Poseur” Pousár
