Victoria Llewelyn chats to Doug Aldrich of The Dead Daisies ahead of their December UK tour.
The legend that is Doug Aldrich – guitar virtuoso, rock n’ roll exemplar and all round great guy – is bouncing with energy when we sit down across the miles via zoom to chat about the forthcoming Dead Daisies UK tour, a lifetime of musicianship, and all that which circles in his current orbit. Straight back from the school run, he is fresh, lively and very down to earth. It is remarkably easy to get comfortable chatting about kids and home life in general, it’s like catching up with an old and dear friend; so much so that I need to remind myself what I’m actually here for!
Given the sheer volume of what Doug has achieved he is remarkably humble, genuine and warm. Talking about the things he loves clearly lights him up and he carries no less enthusiasm today than he did at the time he featured in his first band ‘Lion’ back in the early 80s, when they were trying to carve out their ground on the Sunset Strip. Since Lion’s influences included bands like Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin it wasn’t easy for them in a world of Poison and Motley Crue – in fact they were one of the last bands to get signed, but they learned perseverance for sure, and a lifetime love affair with music was truly hatched.
After Lion, Doug progressed to the dizzying heights of playing with rock n’ roll royalty Dio and Whitesnake – ‘and that’s where things really started to take off’ he grins. “That’s when I first started touring, getting to travel and meet people. And now here we are with The Dead Daisies.”
Referred to as a ‘supergroup’, and rightfully so, Doug takes me through the who’s who. “We started in 2013 with David Lowy, the founder of the band, he and a singer John Stevens co-wrote a song with Slash, at which point David decided he wanted to put a band together. Marco Mendoza came on board, then John Corabi, Brian Tichy, Dizzy Reed and Richard Fortis. When Richard and Dizzy went back to Guns n’ Roses Marco gave me a call to ask if I wanted to join the band and make an album. That was back in 2016 and there’s been a few line-up changes since, most notably John Corabi leaving to do his solo stuff and Glenn Hughes coming in on bass and vocals. And we have Brian Tichy back on drums, who is the most incredible drummer I’ve ever worked with.”
“Brian is a powerhouse. He’s got the groove of doom! He makes every song he plays on instantly sound better; he brings everybody up. Having Glenn on bass and lead vocals is win-win, he is a legendary bass player, he writes songs every day and takes the lead on all our lyrics. David is our secret weapon! His guitar playing has a very honest, kick-ass quality to it, he plays a lot of downstrokes and has a real punk edge which is the thread that runs through all the Dead Daisies albums. Dave’s downstroke chugging!”
It's very clear that these bandmates share years of love and respect for each other. Having all shared stages as part of some of the biggest rock bands ever known, their working formula affords them mutual space to bring that mass of creativity together in a natural, seasoned – professional way. Rules and deadlines seem to be less relevant, it’s all about the organic evolution of music, shaped and formed by the wealth of expertise each individual delivers. Doug explains – “Glenn and I write together a lot, we have done for many years, I bring in a lot of different things for him to check out, that I think will inspire him. Glenn can pretty much make anything happen but is very particular about what he wants to work on, and since we’ve been friends for ever, I know what he likes! With David, we write together a lot too – he could be just playing something on the back of the bus on the guitar and I’ll think ‘that’s pretty cool!’ I’ll record it on my phone, email it to myself, run it through the computer and see what I can build around it. Brian will pick up the drum parts and then I’ll send the whole thing over to Glenn for him to have his way with!”
‘For myself, an idea may come to me, and I’ll set up a tempo on the programme we use to record, then I’ll just grab a guitar and try to emulate what’s in my head. When I’m writing, I can get so deep into it that it will consume my life, so I need to be careful when I allow those floodgates to open. I may end up sleeping in the studio, I’ll wake up in the night with an idea and I’ll have to get it down there and then. I went through two marriages because I was so consumed by what was going on with the music – my brain would just go over and over it until I got it how I wanted it. It can be non-stop.’
It sounds relentless. But, as I put to him, I guess this is why he is where he is. I wonder if getting the work/life balance can be a struggle sometimes, even if your work is as enviable as the way Doug describes it. ‘Primarily, I’m still just doing what I did when I was eleven, which is, I wake up, I get my guitar and I go play music. I hope I never have to get a real job! But when I’m in writing mode I can’t really be the kind of Dad that I want to be, as it’s all-consuming. Now that I have kids there has to be a shut off point. I make sure we do plenty of family stuff – my son plays on a couple of soccer teams and I coach my daughter’s recreational soccer team. Six-year-old girls and they’re just doing cartwheels on the pitch when it’s supposed to be soccer practice! It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done!’
Apart from the family and the music, the other great love in the life of Doug Aldrich is motorcycles. ‘I’ve owned Harleys since the 80s’, he grins, ‘but I hadn’t been riding much since when I had a day off, I’d want to spend it with the family. When the COVID lockdown happened, I discovered that Gilby Clarke had his own club – The Hollywood Riders – and I kept seeing pictures of them all at the beach with their motorcycles; it wasn’t long before I called him up and said ‘Hey, I wanna come ride with you guys!’ They are a great bunch, Gilby is the road captain and all the guys are big music fans, they ride out every weekend. I can’t always go on a weekender, but I’ll come for the day and maybe go back to someone’s house for drinks, maybe go bowling if someone suggests it – yes, the biker gang goes bowling! We are all just regular guys.’
‘Gilby has a thing he calls ‘Wednesday Wrench Night’ where we’ll pick someone’s bike that maybe needs a bit of attention, head up to his workshop and there’ll be around 20 guys all working on it. I have an older Chopper that we took up there after it started losing power whilst I was riding it on a six-lane freeway! So we got it tightened up and now it’s running pretty cool thanks to the guys! It’s very much like music – the camaraderie, all the motorcycle people bond like family. Rock n’ roll and motorcycles, they go hand in hand really don’t they!’
Returning to the music, I’m interested to know Doug’s thoughts on the situation for new bands trying to make it in the current times. Having been one of the Sunset Strip originals Doug remembers all too well the groundwork that needed to be put in back then to try and climb that ladder, and how it was done. ‘I prefer the way we did it, with Lion we’d print out a big stack of flyers and had a group of friends that would go all over Hollywood with them every weekend. From that we got a great following, we’d sell out at shows and then go for some extra production, and it would build. As a musician I believe you have to work hard, and also have something to offer. There’s a certain amount of luck involved, being in the right place at the right time, but we made sure we would always stand out from the other bands of that time.’
There are parallels, we agree, in that the dedicated team of flyer distributers and supporters has mostly been replaced by social media following and online event promotion. In a similar way, it starts off slow and then begins to climb as interest generates, but it comes back to Doug’s point about having something more to offer. ‘Bands today simply have to use their social media,’ Doug considers. ‘It’s the only way. I’ve noticed a few younger bands doing pretty well with adding content on their socials, and once it starts to take off it begins to pop up organically on people’s feeds – then if the music is good and gets attention and they’re making it interesting for people the next thing you know you’re seeing them on all these festival line ups. And that’s the only way they could have got there.’
‘Being in a band is like being in a family. You have a designated leader, often the lead singer as they generally get the most attention, and everyone has a job to make it a good fit. Maybe one person will take care of the social media, someone else will take the lead on interviews and publicity, another may be great at the techy stuff – it has to be equal; everyone does their bit if you want to make it a success.’
To finish up, how are the band feeling about coming back to the UK? Doug flashes a winning smile at this question. ‘Oh, man, we love it there! I have so many friends in the UK, from the Whitesnake days, I’ll always end up meeting them in the pub after a show. And we’re coming in World Cup season! Glenn’s team is Wolverhampton; we’re hoping to see success with the England team and can’t wait to enjoy the people, the food, the beer and the sport!’
‘The shows are going to be great. We’ve added our recent singe to the set list and we’re going to feature a couple of songs for Glenn to do his vocal gymnastics on! We’ve toured all summer, we’re sounding really tight, had a short break and now we’re ready to come back and start killing it. Put us on the stage! Right now! Let’s go!’
Tickets for all the UK shows are available from;
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