Every year new bands come and go on to the rock scene and back in 2012 things were no different. Today’s blog post will focus on one band called The Dead Daisies.
The Dead Daisies
The two founding members of the band were Jon Stevens and David Lowy. The former manager of INXS brought the pair together. INXS was the Australian rock band for which Stevens previously had sung Lowy on the other hand made his name as a very successful businessman. Lowy also recorded music with Australian bands Red Phoenix and Mink in the late noughties.
The pair initially started together to write a few songs, but it didn’t end with writing a few songs. Within two months Lowy and Stevens formed the band! In 2012 the band started to record the self titled debut album in Los Angeles.
Early 2013 the first single, Lock ‘N’ Load, saw the day of life. This song was co-written with legendary guitarist Slash and it features Slash on guitar as well. Rock fans around the world got excited hearing this song! It gave the band a fair amount of air play. Lock ‘N’ Load became a number one hit on the radio station Planet Rock. Ultimately voted number 15 out of 100 by readers of Classic Rock Magazine readers.
Making a name for themselves
The album still had to be released as the The Dead Daisies got the change to open for ZZ Top. Quickly other bands got notice of their energetic live performance and so The Dead Daisies were able to open for Aerosmith. The rock band from Boston, USA, made their first comeback to Australia in 23 years and The Daisies were able to open for audiences above thousands of people.
From left to right Richard Fortus, Jon Stevens, David Lowy and Marco Mendoza
Over the years the band would see different line ups, however during the first tours it was a stable band. It was Lowy and Stevens together with Guns N’ Roses members Frank Ferrer on drums, Dizzy Reed on keyboard and Richard Fortus on guitar.
The bassist on this tour was Marco Mendoza, obviously famous for his performances with Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and Ted Nurgent. Mendoza also co-founded the band Black Star Riders that featured members of the reformed Thin Lizzy line-up. He left that band in 2014.
From day one The Dead Daisies secured an all star line up with musicians who’ve played with the world’s biggest bands and artists. More touring took place in the summer before the launch of their album.
The Dead Daisies
The self-entitled album came out in November of 2013 and really fits the style of 70s and 80s rock. Influences of Bad Company, Foreigner and Free are noticeable. The overall album gives us good melodies and great written songs.
The release of the album also saw the band make their way back to the road. Opening for Black Star Riders and headlining their first UK show. The live line up was still changing. So for this stint of touring we saw co founders Stevens on vocals and Lowy on guitar.
It was great to see Guns N’ Roses still respresented with Fortus on guitar and Reed on keyboard. Charley Drayton was on drums (The Cult) and Darryl Jones on bass (The Rolling Stones).
Their live performance went into the books as energetic and they were able to quickly make a name for themselves. To finish their first full year as a band The Dead Daisies went to Israel and played in a sold out club in Tel Aviv.
More touring and Face I Love EP
The start of 2014 saw more touring for The Dead Daisies, now with their new drummer John Tempesta (The Cult). During the summer the band released a new EP called Face I Love, which featured four new recordings. Your Karma, Angel In Your Eyes and Face I love the band stayed true to the style of the first album.
It was the first time that Dizzy, Fortus, Mendoza and the returning Tichy (who was in the band for a brief period before) joined the founding members to record new material. Next to three songs the band released a cover of a classic The Beatles song called Helter Skelter.
With the new EP out for sale the band went on tour joining the combined Bad Company/Lynyrd Skynyrd tour through America. Not much later they joined KISS/Def Leppard on their summer tour ending an amazing summer on the road. The reviews were all positive and the band was only growing in popularity.
New singer
Personal issues in the life of Jon Stevens, made the band decide to replace him with a new lead singer. John Corabi (Mötley Crüe) joined the band in early 2015. Not long after Corabi was annouced as the lead singer.
With Corabi they once more have a talented and successful member in the band. Having sung previously for Mötley Crüe, the ESP (Eric Singer Project) and played guitar with RATT. Corabi brought in fresh ideas for the band.
Performing in Cuba
In 2015 the band will see another mark on their already impressive list. The Dead Daisies were the first western band to play in Cuba since president Obama reopened trade ties. Darryl Jones joined the band together with Bernard Fowler sharing vocals with Corabi.
This trip to Cuba saw the whole band jam with Cuban musicians and play in a sold out Havana’s Maxim Rock Club. Later that week the band would play once more on the Concert For Peace, which saw them perform in front of 6000 people. It was an amazing trip and set the marks for their 2nd studio album.
The new album Revolución was being released in August of the same year. To promote this album the band went out on the road to open up for Whitesnake, Judas Priest and KISS. The Revolución album scored some airplay with songs like Mexico and With You And I. Together with the music the band also released a documentary of their historic trip to Cuba earlier in the year. This album already starts to develop more in the direction of what will be the future Make Some Noise record.
More line-up changes
With the start of 2016 it was announced that Richard Fortus and Dizzy Reed would leave the band. Both members would be taking part in the world tour of Guns N’ Roses “Not In This Lifetime Tour”. The role of keyboard was never replaced and it was Doug Aldrich that would take the part of lead guitar. Aldrich made a name for himself in bands like Whitesnake, Dio and Bad Moon Rising.
Now with Aldridge in the band it was time to record their new album Make Some Noise. The 3rd album the band really shows it hard rock sound with slight influences of blues-rock. The album was released in August and went in the charts around the world scoring the 11th position on the US Top Hard Rock albums. Four singles to promote the album were released for Long Way To Go, Make Some Noise, Song And A Prayer and Join Together (The Who cover). The new The Dead Daisies line-up turned out to be a success and once again they started touring with KISS.
Seeing them for the first time
The year was filled with touring throughout the world with several sold out dates in Europe and the UK. It saw the band make their first visit to Japan and play for the US Military Services in South Korea. Once again the band finished the year in Europe with a co-headlining tour with Irish band The Answer. Once again the tour was a success with many dates being sold out in advance.
The show in Utrecht at De Helling was my first time seeing the band live. It was a sold out show with The Answer hitting the stage first. Both bands had their unique sound with The Dead Daisies being the more 80s feel rock band. Both bands took time after the show to sign posters, vinyl and stuff like that. It is amazing to come so close to the legends that are the Daisies. All band members have their own unique past within the music and for some reason you’ve seen/heard them all on DVD’s, Youtube or albums. It was an amazing show and it was worth the trip!
Brining it Live And Louder
2017 didn’t show any time for stopping. Their first live album called Live And Louder was released in May and features is recorded during their fall tour in Europe and the UK. There is only one way to celebrate the new live album release and that is of course bringing the show back on the road with a new tour in Europe, Japan and South America.
With stops on the biggest festivals in Europe, the most memorable was the Woodstock Festival in Poland. The band was joined by the Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra to play a full 17 song strong set list in front of hundreds of thousands of people. The concert is fully uploaded on the official Youtube channel of the band and I’ll leave a link to it. It sounds amazing, it looks amazing and it’s a collaboration that feels right.
After the spectacular show in Poland the band was heading to America for their first headlining tour called: The Dirty Dozen. With the band’s line up unchanged for the last 2 years it will undergo one change before the end of the year to the line-up for 2018.
New album
With Brian Tichy leaving the band at the end of 2017 to pursue different projects, it was time for Deen Castronovo to join. Castronovo is of course famous for drumming for Bad English, Ozzy Osbourne and Journey. With over 18 years of being a member in Journey Castronovo is already a fan favourite within the band and he joins The Dead Daisies at the right time. The band went straight into the studio to record their new album Burn It Down.
While writing this blog post the first single Resurrected was just released and the song sounds mega. It’s a different sound compared to the Make Some Noise album. It has a real raw sound to it and is just an in your face sound. With the complete album being released on the 6th of April, fans of the band really have something to look forward too. Obviously a band that is famous for touring will take this album to the road starting in Europe and more dates around the world will be added! So keep your eyes out, because when the Daisies come to town you better visit it!
The Dead Daisies, the story so far comes for now to an end. I will obviously keep an eye out on this band in the upcoming months and hope to catch them while they’re on tour. Thank you for reading this and I really hope you find out some new stuff about this amazingly talented band and let me know what you think!
Are you just like me very excited about the new album? You can pre-order it on online stores and on The Dead Daisies website!
The photos are all from The Dead Daisies and the rights belong to them.
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