Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Dead Daisies, The
Label: SPV Records
Released: 2016
Runtime: 44:50
Rating: 4/5
It’s incredible what money can do. In 2012, money man David Lowy, a pretty unknown name in the music business, put together a super rock outfit, The Dead Daisies. In a mere four years the band has put out three studio albums, the latest of them, »Make Some Noise«, last August. In that relatively short span a whole guard of musicians has rotated through the band, which makes sense, really. The lineup is made up of high-flying, well-known names on the world rock map, all of them tied one way or another to bigger names in other bands or to other music projects.
Just consider that last year keyboardist Dizzy Reed and guitarist Richard Fortus left the crew to join the Guns’N’Roses reunion (back in Spain with Axl and Slash – ha ha, incredible what money can do), and that Fortus was replaced in The Dead Daisies by one of the best hard rock guitarists on the planet right now, the phenomenal Douglas Aldrich (Raiding The Rock Vault, ex-Dio, ex-Whitesnake,…). Then there’s no hiding how hot The Dead Daisies are at the moment. And the fever is still rising.
Even though only a year passed between the previous album »Revolucion« and the new »Make Some Noise«, it’s easy to hear that the new record keeps, nurtures and builds on the expressiveness of its predecessor. »Make Some Noise« builds a solid backdrop inside the songs, which in one breath combine swaggering, cocky debauchery, contagious musicality that grabs you instantly through catchy chorus melodies, and the incredible tightness of every member’s penetrating playing (which has gone up another notch with Aldrich joining the crew). That makes it the best album The Dead Daisies have released and recorded to date.
John Corabi (ex-Mötley Crüe) keeps up his highly likable vocal approach, which the songs and the band’s attitude downright bleed for, to get the most energy out of them. He’s mid-ranged, throaty, raspy, mildly punk-annoying, authoritative, effectively biting when he goes into the higher and highest registers, and at the same time thoroughly depraved and naughty. Picture Axl Rose who’s put on a little weight and dropped his voice a bit. The Dead Daises’ music also carries a noticeable pinch of punk in their otherwise typical American hard rock manner, and in its ragged, direct stance, with the guitar phrases and the spiked rhythmic ride, it feels incredibly good. And Aldrich is fantastic once again. In short, it’s incredible what money can do. This time, luckily, for a lot of money (right, David?), we get a lot of music too.
There are twelve tracks. Too many, of course (luckily two of them are covers, of The Who and CCR). The whole thing feels like the band’s time is running out, like they’re in an extreme hurry the whole time and so they push every single idea that pops into the members’ heads straight into reality. But simply. These are musical titans loaded with incredible mileage of rich experience and routine, which shows in how quickly they can write a very good song and, of course, record it. And with a rhythm section of Brian Tichy and Marco Mendoza, it’s all the clearer.
With all the penetrating fervor that every song unleashes in its untamed, unbridled performance, the whole album has a real “party time” vibe that calls for a total switch-off. So? The new album is ready to be played with full-blooded force on stages around the world, too. The Dead Daisies have no trouble with that. Recently they toured the US with Kiss, last autumn they cemented their name in Europe alongside Whitesnake, and this autumn they teamed up for a joint tour with the well-known and respected Northern Irish hard rock revivalists The Answer, where on 20.12.2016 they “set on fire” the club Bluesina Rock Cafe in Velden in Austrian Carinthia, among other places.
So. If you miss good old eighties hard rock, including the kind with at least a fleeting pinch of punk and glam energy, then The Dead Daises, in the absence of the inspiration that went bankrupt long ago at bands like Guns N’ Roses, Bon Jovi and Van Halen, are the perfect band-aid for your wounds of musical unfulfillment. Their pose and posture make total sense on »Make Some Noise« too. The members come from the times that lifted glam rock and, more broadly, American hard rock of the eighties to worldwide commercial expansion. And the new album is another reflection of the incredibly competent and skillful ride of seasoned tomcats who communicate extremely well in the business. Both in terms of songwriting ideas and in terms of felt energy. And that’s with a band that is basically artificially assembled. And thanks to Lowy. If he weren’t such a fervent hard rock enthusiast as a businessman, the music corporations wouldn’t have put a single cracked penny into the genre The Dead Daisies stand for in the times we live in. »Make Some Noise » is an excellent hard rock album, typical American fare, in the most classic sense of the word. This time played and recorded entirely without keyboards. Short, concise and potently igniting! Exactly what good rock’n’roll needs. An album like »Make Some Noise«, is something Guns N’ Roses could have recorded in their heyday, the late eighties, without any problems or brakes.
The Dead Daisies – Long Way To Go (official video):
Lineup
John Corabi – vocals, acoustic guitar
David Lowy – guitar
Doug Aldrich – guitar
Marco Mendoza – bass guitar, backing vocals
Brian Tichy – drums
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Suzie McNeil – harmonica, backing vocals
Production
Marti Frederiksen
Track list
1. Long Way to Go (4:20)
2. We All Fall Down (3:19)
3. Song and a Prayer (3:30)
4. Mainline (3:51)
5. Make Some Noise (2:51)
6. Fortunate Son (3:23)
7. Last Time I Saw The Sun (4:13)
8. Mine All Mine (3:33)
9. How Does It Feel (3:09)
10. Freedom (3:47)
11. All the Same (4:31)
12. Join Together (4:13)
