With an inherited billion-dollar fortune up his sleeve, Australian businessman David Lowy (who runs shopping centres in the UK, the US and his homeland, among other places) remembered his old love, hard rock, in 2012. In his younger days, the rhythm guitarist had already made it into English clubs with his band Mink, but The Dead Daisies were then to attack a few levels higher for the then fiftysomething. For the five albums and hundreds of concerts to date, Lowy enlisted top-class musicians such as Richard Fortus (guitar) and Dizzy Reed (keyboards) from Guns N' Roses, experienced drummers such as Brian Tichy (Whitesnake), buzzing bassists such as Marco Mendoza and vocalists such as John Corabi (Mötley Crüe).
The band's 2019 lineup, which also recorded the new album "Holy Ground," includes Lowy, longtime lead guitarist Doug Aldrich (Dio, Whitesnake), drummer Deen Castronovo (Journey) and vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes. Especially the signing of the ex-frontman of Trapeze, Deep Purple and Black Country Communion made people sit up and take notice - and actually led to the formation, which had musically stagnated since the second album "Revolución" (2015), taking a musical step forward again. Maybe the old football wisdom "money shoots goals" is true after all, or rather provides TDD with official songs.
eclipsed: Provocatively asked: are The Dead Daisies a real band, or are you just entertaining an Australian billionaire in his early retirement?
Doug Aldrich: Not only David has fun, we have fun too. Sure it's his band, but it actually feels like one. There are ideas coming from all sides. I've been with the band for four years, and it worked well with our previous singer, John Corabi - and it's always unique with Glenn. He puts his stamp on each of his bands with his exceptional voice
eclipsed: But then what's special about the Daisies when each singer can push them in a different direction?
Aldrich: David Lowy is a classic hard rock guitarist and lover, so he sets the scene, even if he doesn't tell us in detail now what exactly he expects ..
eclipsed: The last time I saw you live without the Daisies, you were guitarist on the "Glenn Hughes plays Deep Purple Songs" tour.
Aldrich: You can see that everybody in the Daisies is into the band because none of us would have to do it for a job. And Deen and Glenn, in particular, I've crossed paths with so many times musically in my career that it feels familiar to play with them in a formation.