Dead Daisies Guitarist Doug Aldrich Talks New Music, Auditioning For KISS And More

The new Dead Daisies album is due out in September, so it's good to have Doug Aldrich from the Talkin' Rock with Meltdown band tell us about it. Plus, they'll be playing the Machine Shop on June 11th in Flint, Michigan.

As far as song ideas for the new album, he said everyone chipped in. "We all, all we all were, brought different parts in different song ideas. And that's generally what we do with The Dead Daisies is we'll bring in ideas, and then, you know, in this situation, Marty Fredrickson was producing, and he's like an amazing songwriter in his own. So he had a couple of ideas already. He and John (singer Corabi) had a couple of ideas. I had a few. Michael Devin had a few. David (Lowy) had a few. I kind of helped David, finish off a couple of his ideas, and then we, we played them off for Marty."

He told me that the first single's main riff for "Light Em Up" was written by Stevie D. from Buckcherry. "Yep. And Stevie had he had a whole song, but we just basically pinched the riff, and Stevie gave his approval, and then we kind of wrote a little bit new around that riff and, and then we, you know, originally I don't remember, I can't remember his demo, how the riff was played. It might have been played down here, or I'm not sure it might have been played in this position, but this is how we ended up doing it. And it's got kind of a classic Daisy's. But yeah, it's obviously derivative of kind of the way we played. It was derivative of kind of AC/ DC." He told me the new album covers a wide range of rock and was recorded in some historic studios. "There's there is a bunch of stuff that's in the vein of what we just talked about that's that fits together really well. But then we had a couple of songs that came in. We wrote one in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in Fame Studio. That is a crazy, important studio for, you know, early rock and R&B. Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin recorded their hits there. Duane Allman worked there with Wilson Pickett. And we were in the studio working on just playing through some blues stuff and kind of noodling around in a little bit for a week, and we wrote this tune that turned out to be way is really deep, it's like an album cut, it's not a single. It won't be a single, but it's probably one of the coolest songs on the record because it's like a cornerstone track that makes the album so much better just because it's on it."

Doug told me about earlier stuff he'd done with other bands, including auditioning for KISS. "I got a call from Eric Carr, who came and saw me play, and I met him, and he invited me to come down to the studio and meet Paul and Gene and, and I played on a couple of tracks in the studio just to see. And then they had me come and play a couple times live with them. And it was it was, you know, I felt guilty because these guys, nobody had seen them without their makeup yet. So I really felt awkward about looking Gene Simmons in the eye and, and, and seeing his face, you know, it's like shouldn't, shouldn't be doing this. But the bottom line is, is that they wanted a little bit more of a technical guitar player."

That's just for starters on this wide-ranging conversation with Doug.

Get tickets to see The Dead Daisies at the world-famous Machine Shop here. Check out the complete video interview below....thanks, Doug!

Want to check out a really cool live music venue? Get to Flint, Michigan and visit the Machine Shop!  It's a club that the fans and musicians equally enjoy. One thing about the Shop, is that many bands who now play theaters or arenas, have played there. It's so cool to see these bands grow and expand their audience. I can also tell you that those bands do not forget the venue, or how well they were treated there by management, staff and the fans alike. A testament to that is the fact that Vinnie Paul from Pantera was buried in a Machine Shop shirt.

Kevin Zink's owned the venue for 21 years, and has booked over 2,300 shows there, many nights with multiple bands. Everyone from Kid Rock, to Shinedown, to Sevendust and Eric Church have played the Machine Shop stage. Kevin told me that the Cleveland based band, Mushroomhead, has played there the most times.

If you've never been there, Kevin describes the club like this  - "I would describe it as kick ass, and then wonder about them since they have never been here! Hahaha!  Seriously though, it is like 80s rock club, meets hot rod shop, meets tattoo shop, but with top notch sound and lights!" People have traveled from near and far to catch a band or bands there. "You name the country and there is a good chance someone has traveled from there to Flint, Mi..  We have seen people from Japan, Denmark, Brazil and many more.  We have lots of people come from the far ends of the US to see their favorite band in the last of the real rock clubs."

You'd think in the world of Rock N' Roll there would be some crazy stuff on the bands riders, or backstage. Kevin says that doesn't happen too often. "I don’t find crazy shit, just a lot of messes!  Condoms are about the craziest on a rider, which really isn’t that crazy at all.  The days of crazy seem to have gone away a bit.  It is all pretty professional."

https://themachineshop.info/

Speaking from personal experience, The Machine Shop is staffed by very friendly, helpful people, who are also huge music fans. You can tell that the people who work there take great pride in making each show a memorable one for the fans.

With one look at their website, you can see that they host a wide variety of music, not just rock.

Check out some pictures taken at the Machine Shop by there in-house photographer, Minty.

I hope to see you at an upcoming show at the Shop. Oh, and don't forget to snag one or six of their world famous t-shirts!

-Meltdown-