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The Dead Daisies are a band that’s always evolving. While an everchanging lineup could lead to an inconsistent output, The Daisies have returned at the top of their game. Guitarist Doug Aldrich has been a mainstay for three records now and took some time for a return trip to the site to talk about the new lineup featuring Hall of Famer Glenn Hughes and much more. Doug’s video kicks in just after the introduction. At about the 14:30 mark he begins to play a few quick classical pieces on his guitar.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws.com Conversation with Doug Aldrich:
On his relationship with Glenn Hughes – Well, we’ve been friends for years. So I knew that our paths were going to cross somehow. Originally Glenn was talking about doing a solo record and had kind of asked me to be involved. But then he wasn’t sure exactly when he was going to do it. Meanwhile, I got the offer to join the Daisies in 2016, so we were both doing our thing. He did his solo record, but then he went and was doing the classic Deep Purple, just really successful doing that for a couple of years. I didn’t expect to do it, but basically, I found out from management that they had been speaking to Glenn about joining the band. They called me and said, “What do you think?”, I was like. “That would be amazing. That would be incredible.” I never thought of it because, you know, Glenn’s been super busy and. They said, “Call him, talk to him and see what you think”, and I call him, “What do you think, Glenn? Are you serious?”, he goes “Doug, it’s time for you and I to make some music and we need to do with The Dead Daisies. It’s going to be great. I’ve already got a couple of songs sorted out”, and I was like, “That’s killer, man”. So then immediately David Lowy and I had been working on music and stuff, but without knowing who’s going to be performing on it, we can’t really get locked in. But once we knew Glenn was coming in, we specifically designed some things for Glenn and Glenn did the same for us. We took them all to the south of France and did a very focused kind of preproduction sort of situation and got busy. 1:32
On writing Dead Daisies material with Glenn now in the band –I knew what Glenn liked. To be clear, Glenn doesn’t need anybody to write with, Glenn wrote a bunch of stuff by himself. Fortunately, once we got solid and tight as a family in recording, we all were able to put our best foot forward on each one so that we could be helpful to make each song the best could be. But when it comes to something that I’m working on, I’m thinking about the singer I’m working with. I would think about John Corabi or I would think about Glenn or I thought about David (Coverdale) or whoever. With Glenn, I knew certain things he likes. He likes heavy groups. He wanted to keep things really simple. But I snuck in a couple of things there, like the “Bustle and Flow” riff, I thought Glenn would really dig that. He goes, “Hey, I’m going for a really simple vibe”, I go, “OK, that’s cool. But what do you think about this?” He goes, “I love the riff, but I can’t sing over that for a chorus.” So I said, “Well, let’s get a chorus for it, and let’s see what you think.” We tried a bunch of stuff on that song and it wasn’t happening. Finally, David Lowy came up with some chords and Glenn sang some. It was like, “Great, that’s it, man”. 3:40
“Holy Ground (Shake The Memory)”
On the track “Far Away” – That song was Glenn’s baby. He brought that in and he played me the basic parts. And I was like, “Dude, if we get this right, this could be your Grammy song”. So I basically went into it like I wanted to fulfill Glenn’s vision of the song. I basically knew from experience with doing stuff like that with Whitesnake, where I felt like you’ve got to get the layers right. You got to get the momentum right and the tempos, and then you’ve got to get the guitar treatment right, and whatever strings, if we decide to put strings on it, which we did for a little bit. But it first came down to the arrangement. So it was like, ok, let’s experiment with the arrangement, and we started off with a ten-minute song and we were asked to cut it down and we cut it down to seven. So that’s where we ended up. Then it was a matter of tracking it, getting the right feel because some of the riffs felt better at a different kind of tempo, and we’d start the song off here and then we’d go here and keep going up and keep going up. By the time we got back to the quieter sections, after the heavy parts, it was too fast. So it really took it took a bit of playing live together, the four of us. Finally, we got it tracked. I thought it was pretty cool focusing on the drums. There were guitars on it. Me and David both played and Glenn played and sang, but I was focused more on making sure the drum track was right. So I went into the studio with Ben Gross, the producer, and we put down a guitar just to see if we could get the transitions right, and it worked out and it was like, “Ok, that’s the track”. Now we had the arrangement done. It was a matter of getting the treatment right for it to make it really have a good feeling. I mean, I already knew everything Glenn does is very soulful. So it was good. I knew I was going to be brilliant. I don’t think he even had to sing anything. But once he does start singing on that verse, it’s just like, “Wow, that’s really cool”. Then the song takes you to some different places. 5:35
“Bustle and Flow”
On the role of David Lowy in the band – He is very focused and very, very driven. He wants to be the best he can be at whatever he’s doing. He’s got a job that is in the business world that he wants to be really good at, that he’s obligated to do for his family. He really loves to rock. He loves to play guitar. He’s been doing it for a long time. But he’s got a very simplistic, honest style is that is kind of inherent in all the Dead Daisies records. It’s almost like the way he strikes the guitar chord is just very punk in a way. It’s very aggressive and hard-driving. He likes it like that, he likes to play like Angus Young or something. You just dig in it and he’s not a lead player. He doesn’t use a no-frills guy. But interesting story once we got a couple of songs tracked. I’d go in and kind of experiment with how to do the guitars or what I was going to contribute to the song, and I put my guitar down and Glenn’s bass would be down, the drums would be there, and it would be like, “this is pretty good, man”, but it definitely took a Dead Daisies turn with David’s guitar. He’s got a really big sound. I think the main thing is he’s an aggressive, simple player. He plays in a way that I don’t play. And to that point, when Glenn wanted to bring some songs to the band, I said, “Why don’t we demo them up? And that way we can present them.” So he was starting to show me the guitar riffs on one thing and I thought, “That sounds great, man. I don’t want to waste time trying to learn it”, it wasn’t a hard part. It was two chords. It was very simple. But there was just a way that he was playing it that had a thing. So I said, “Let me just record you, and then I’ll suss out what you’re doing on the guitar later.” The whole time now that I’ve worked with other musicians, I’m learning. Even if Deen picked up a guitar, one time he did pick up a guitar and he’s like, “Hey, I got this riff”, which David and I did turn into a song. It didn’t go on the record. But Deen plays the guitar differently and it’s kind of cool, so I try to try to suss that out. But that’s to answer your question in a long-form. David brings his guitar sound to the band and it definitely brings it to Daisy’s side. 11:32
“My Fate”
On Deen Castronovo leaving the band – It was up to Dino. We got to rehearse actually, in October. It cooled down a little bit in Los Angeles and everybody came in and me and Glenn were already here and we’ve got to rehearse. Deen was having a hard time, it was bumming him out. It’s just like anything, if I had a problem with my fingers it would bum me out, I can’t do what I’m supposed to do. So he was definitely not feeling good about that. Also last year, he had started up a thing with some other guys called The Rise Above. It was a band where he was going to be singing more. He would be the kind of the main singer, I think. He’s got a great voice for this kind of melodic rock, like the Revolution Saints. So I think he just wants to do that. He wants to go sing and that’s fine. That’s the whole thing about the Dead Daisies, it’s been kind of a revolving door. People can come and go. He played great on the record. But I got to say, I’m really excited to have Tommy Clufetos come in. He’s a monster player. I always want to work with him. I couldn’t believe it. I know that he’s been busy with Sabbath and he’s been in Ozzy’s band for quite some time. I’ve seen him play and was like, “Dude, that guy’s insane!” He’s very powerful. Everybody’s got their strengths, Dino, obviously, was a super percussionist, kind of in a sense like Ian Pace, where Tommy Clufetos has got his own thing, which I think is probably going to lend itself to being a little bit heavier with Tommy just because of the way he’s been playing with Tony Iommi and Ozzy…Glenn’s bass tone is ferocious. He doesn’t even need a guitar and now he’s got two guitars, which is actually cool, it’s the first time Glenn has been in a situation with two guitar players. But yeah, it’s going to be thunderous. I can’t wait. 16:06
“Far Away”
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