Doug Aldrich - The Dead Daisies UK tour 2021

Doug Aldrich, guitarist with The Dead Daisies, talks exclusively to RockScribeFiles about the band's upcoming and much anticipated UK tour.

By Paul Davies.

The Dead Daisies’ Doug Aldrich is in a buoyant mood. In fact, if he could bottle his optimism then the world just might be a better and rock-hard place for it. However, his sunny side up countenance has nothing to do with the current California weather of drizzling rain. Nevertheless, with an imminent U.K. tour, he is well prepared for the British winter not that it will matter given the expectant red-hot atmosphere the band generate at their shows. Dead Daisy Doug agrees: “More than you know, my friend, it's so exciting to think about coming over to the UK and getting on playing shows. We're very excited and we're well prepared and definitely up to the task!"

The recent shows on the US leg of the Like No Other tour have been incredibly well received as Doug opens up about the setlist UK audiences can expect: "It's going to be the new album, Holy Ground, that will be heavily featured and then we'll hit some of the stuff from the past that we've done that people have always liked and we'll take it from there," he says, "there's a lot of songs to choose from but we've got a good mix and balance and Glenn does the new stuff really cool," he continues," I mean, he basically puts a fresh coat of paint on the older songs. With Glenn singing and playing on them it's a different vibe. It's nice. We are changing it up as we are adding a few more songs for the UK so the set will be a little longer."

Having played with David Coverdale in Whitesnake and now with Glenn Hughes, there’s a definite purple streak that runs deep through Doug as he lifts the lid on the differences and the similarities of working with each former DP musician: "There's many similarities, but they're definitely different, too. Glenn is deep, he's got a complex kind of cool; an emotional state that he delves into as he's very spiritually connected," comparing further, "and that's similar to David, as well. But David's kind of larger than life. And Glenn is the diamond in the rough kind of guy. They're different, because they're different people, but they have plenty of similarities as well."

Holy Ground has proven to be a very successful recording for The Dead Daisies. It's charted high and, with Glenn onboard, 'the voice of rock' has added a legendary presence that has to be witnessed in the flesh. Furthermore, Doug, Glenn, and David Lowy have been busy working up songs for a follow up release to Holy Ground: "We do have some work in progress," reveals Doug, "Glenn and I started hanging out together in the summer. He was the only person I saw during the pandemic, and we started a follow up and got off to a great start," further adding, "I can always tell when David Lowy is onto something, he'll just kind of start repeating, playing a riff and I'll record it on my iPhone just so I can keep track in case something comes up. So, we'll definitely be working on something new in the near future. But, for the moment, we're still in tour mode."

What's going to be an intriguing scenario is the cover songs that the band will pepper their fiery set with. Judging by their slightly abridged US setlists, British audiences are in for a big treat on this front as Doug uncovers what to expect: "Glenn isn't big on the cover thing. There are a couple of songs that we have in the set that are songs that have done well for The Dead Daisies. For example, Midnight Moses is an Alex Harvey Band song that we put our stamp on. We do the same thing with Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Songs like that are in the set because they are successful for the band," back to Purple, " as far as the Deep Purple Mistreated and Burn songs go, we wanted to feature Glenn on that stuff. He does his own versions of them which is cool the way he sings them. Coverdale originally sang most of that stuff, but Glenn puts his spin on it. Another interesting aspect is that this is the first time Glenn's ever worked with two guitar players. So, when you hear Mistreated with two guitars it's really, cool. It's unlike any version that you've heard. We've got David Lowy and he's basically covering John Lord's parts. It sounds cool, man. It's a different vibe. And Glenn sings it a little differently."

Rewinding the tale of the tape on this iteration of The Dead Daisies, Doug recalls the first time the band and Glenn played together: "We got it together and had a jam. We were just kind of messing around and I think we played some Burn material. We also did a couple of other Daisy songs. But when Glenn hits those older songs, he doesn't miss, he always puts a fresh sound on it."

Going back even further in time, Doug remembers the indelible influences of British rock music that shaped his approach to playing the guitar on which he first learned how to play Smoke On The Water: "Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and, of course, Hendrix who is almost half British anyway, right?! Then, later, I really loved bands like Def Leppard when they came out, I just thought that they kicked ass. They had this amazing sound. I guess they had a great producer, too. But I think Pyromania and High And Dry are great records as well."

Further exploring his connection with David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes: "There are obviously songs that we're all connected to like, for example, my connection with Whitesnake, there are a lot of songs that I wrote with David that are fun to play. But we're focussing on the Daisies. And with the combination of Glenn, we've got a lot of material to go through." Doug is a repository of stories from both of his Mark 3 Purple friends, especially about Ritchie Blackmore: "I heard a lot of funny stuff. Good stories and stuff. Everything from a seance that Ronnie James Dio did during the making of Rainbow's Long Live Rock'n'Roll to David and Ritchie having some scuffles here and there and, I think, David probably being the winner. Yeah, lots of stories!"

Not only are there plenty of tales in the locker but also unreleased material of great interest: "I've had some fun jams with different people. And as far as unreleased material, there's a couple of things. I don't know where they are, but me and David were messing around and we did a cover of ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine' as a demo and I played it a little differently. I was inspired by a Jeff Beck style riff and David just killed it. He did it one take and he was frickin' amazing. I don't know where it is. It must be on his hard drive in his studio or something. I can't find it. But it was really cool." Back to the present: "There are quite a few tunes from the Holy Ground sessions. We probably had 25 songs and had to narrow it down first to like 14. Then we had to get it down to what's on the album and then one for a special promo. Some of those songs that we left off the album are still really good."

With a run of UK dates fast selling out, this is one inflammable hot ticket to get a firm hold on and witness a band with a stellar and fertile future.