FEATURE - Anchors Away: Karina Denike's New Life 'Under Glass'

Photo by Lauren Klein

For San Francisco Bay Area music mainstay Karina Denike, 2015 has been a time of new beginnings. Best known as the co-lead singer for '90s Ska/Punk outfit Dance Hall Crashers (DHC), the British-born songstress has finally stepped out on her own with Under Glass, her extraordinary debut solo album.

After more than two decades as a regularly performing and recording artist, Denike felt the time was right to experiment with writing songs on her own without outside comments or collaborative opinions.

“It took a long time, partly just because I wasn't feeling so desperately like I needed to do it,” she says of the experience. “But I'm really excited and thrilled to finally make it something that's come out as my own piece. It does feel like the right time.”

Fueled by Denike's soulful voice (which at times reminds one of the sorely missed Amy Winehouse), Under Glass showcases an exciting array of music created using the chord organ, vibraphone and bass clarinet alongside more traditional “Rock” instruments. The tracks soar thanks to the contributions of some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians and composers: Aaron Novik (Tzadik Records, PortoFranco Records), Michael McIntosh (Ralph Carney's Serious Jass Project, the Cottontails), James Frazier, Eric Garland (Mads Tolling, Donavon) and Lily Taylor (Pour Le Corps Records). The album also highlights guests including Deston Berry and Alex Dessert (Hepcat), Ralph Carney (Tom Waits/B-52's), Brigid Dawson (Thee Oh Sees), Ara Anderson (Tin Hat, OK Go) and Meric Long (The Dodos). According to Denike, the album's eclectic flavor developed organically as the record took shape.

“It wasn't like a very clear decision to make a specific kind of record; it just came from what was woking through me as a writer,” she explains. “Also, the ensemble that I work with has pretty specific instrumentation, so that kind of has some limitations within how I hear the band working those songs... All of those elements definitely shaped the sound a lot, but it wasn't a clear vision that this record had to sound a certain way or anything like that.

“I've been influenced by a lot of different kinds of music; I've obviously listened to a lot of different styles,” she continues. “Narrowing that down seemed a little bit daunting to me, like, 'Should I do a Soul record or a Jazz record or a Punk record?' I felt like maybe it wouldn't all work together. So in my writing process, I've been influenced by a lot of different things, and I thought that maybe it wouldn't really come together in a cohesive way, but as I did start writing and as we were performing these songs live, it seemed to work great – and then it worked as a record that way. You don't really know what you're going to write sometimes; it just happens and then you sort of sit back and go, 'Okay, well there it is! That's what I came up with, so let's see what we can do with it.'”

Under Glass' completion was made possible through a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $16,000.

“I had already started working on the record, and it was just taking a long time,” Denike recalls. “It became a bigger feat than I expected. We were doing it and it was great, but it was taking a while to fund it because I was doing it all myself, even though there's about 15 people on the record. Getting everything where I wanted was taking a little bit of time and it was costing a lot, so we did the Kickstarter to get to the end of the line and make the process come to fruition.”

Like a growing number of veteran artists, Denike sees the advantages of using crowdfunding to build an album.

“I got to make the record I wanted to make; I had no pressure from a label saying, 'This doesn't fit into a certain genre,'” she says. “That was definitely something that could be a drag, when you deal with certain labels that have a certain style. This allowed me a ton of freedom; in some ways, having no pressure to try to appease anybody was wonderful. But doing it on your own is a lot of fucking work. (laughs) It's not that fun all the time.”

Thankfully, the commitment paid off. An absolutely stunning record, Under Glass shines brightest on “Anchors Away,” a gorgeous ballad highlighted by the expert use of the chord organ and bass clarinet.

“I was going through a relationship breakup, so it was sort of this feeling of being let loose into the ocean,” Denike says with a laugh. “[It was like] these are the wonderful things that I was counting on, and now I'm lost a bit. Musically, I feel like [the song] is definitely influenced by San Francisco and by the ocean, the foghorns and the environment of being in an older city. It had a lot of visuals to me when I was writing it.

“I wanted to make a sort of sea shanty/drunken sailor-type of song, influenced by Jacques Brel's 'Port of Amsterdam' and the like,” she adds. “I start 'Anchors Away' with the fog horn-sounding bass clarinet parts, but also the chord organ, which to me has a sort of messed-up drunken sound. It's a little out of tune and quirky. It reminds me of French cafe music, Edith Piaf, torch songs or sea shanties. There are some references to drinking in the song – among other things – and they all sort of tie together to me to create a picture in my mind of this ocean tale.”

The album's somber closing number, “Až Budeš Velký,” finds Denike singing a lullaby in her first language, Czech. It also serves as a tribute to her parents' roots in the Czech Republic. 

“That's a song that my mom used to sing to me when I was little,” she explains. “The melody is just so beautiful... I think it really inspired me as a musician just hearing these kind of dark and beautiful melodies, and it changes keys in this really beautiful way. Because there are a lot of ocean themes on this record, it felt like a really perfect part of it. The lyrics are about a woman singing to her child, saying, 'Your father's away on a boat. One day, when you grow up, you will be sailor and you will follow his path.' It's actually really kind of depressing, sad and dark. I just felt [it] was musically and lyrically cohesive with the album, and I just love that piece.

“The Czech lullaby is also funny to me, as the lyrics are so much about the ocean and sailors leaving home, yet the Czech Republic is surrounded by land,” she adds. “It's all fantasy, and I have no idea where the sailors in the story come from since they really have no sailors in the Czech Republic! (laughs)”

Born in Cambridge, England, Denike spent her early life performing street theatre throughout Europe, Northern Africa and India alongside her mother and siblings.

“My mom is kind of an insanely independent, crazy woman,” she recalls. “Not bad crazy – she just had a lot of really creative ideas. We were living in England, and she was a single mom with three kids. She just decided that she didn't want to be a boring housewife, so she bought a van and built beds in the back, and we got some crazy outfits...We'd travel through Europe playing street theatre to make money. We ended up in Morocco for a while, and North Africa. We moved to India for a while. We just had a couple of crazy years within my childhood where we just did a lot of exploring and [had] a lot of adventures. She didn't want to be sitting [and] watching TV every night in Cambridge and being bored, so that was her way of doing that. It was amazing; we learned lots of different languages and amazing cultures. We explored so many fascinating parts of life that I would have never experienced or known anything about. It made such an impact on my life.”

Naturally, Denike's early experience on the road proved to be great training for when she toured with Dance Hall Crashers years later.

“It was not very difficult for me to tour, and it was very difficult for a lot of people,” she offers. “I didn't get it; I thought, 'Why is everybody whining so much? So you were up late? So you're driving? So it's hard that you're not sleeping in your bed? Shut up!' (laughs) It felt very easy for me to just travel like that. In some ways, it was a little more glamorous than what I had done as a kid. We had been in India and Morocco, which is pretty brutal. You see poverty on a level that you... It's quite a shock when you're a Westerner to see that. It really prepared me for touring in a way that made it easy for me. Over long periods of time, it does get exhausting in other ways. You miss your loved ones at home, your pets and a million other things, but it didn't feel uncomfortable for me.”

Photo by Faye Chao

When Denike was 12, her family settled in Oakland, California. For the first time in her whirlwind early life, she felt at home.

“I always felt a little bit like an outsider [in Cambridge], even though it was my home and I identified with being English,” she admits. “But when we moved to the Bay Area, there were so many different cultures and different kinds of people here. I was getting schooled by these amazing Oakley musicians like Jon Hendricks and Sugar Pie DeSanto and these amazing Soul musicians from the Bay Area. We felt really at home; we were just in the middle of a bunch of really interesting people. I didn't feel like I stood out, so it felt really comfortable. There's some history here with San Francisco; as a European, it feels more comfortable [to me] than being in a very modern city.”

Denike was also fortunate to live in the area during the heyday of legendary Punk venue 924 Gilman St.

“Gilman is such a unique place; it started so many bands with people who I'm still friends with and are still performing and successful,” she says. “They've taken this kind of kids' DIY, Punk Rock ethic out to the larger world. It was really fun. It was an amazing time. In some ways, we felt like we were experiencing this new incredible thing, but I don't think many people would have expected that it would have this kind of longterm legacy. It just felt like a fantastically cool Punk Rock club. We all got to go there, and it was all ages and you got to be yourself, experience amazing music and be part of this fantastic scene. But I don't think people realized quite how much of a legacy it would end up being.”

It was during Denike's days at Gilman that she hooked up with Dance Hall Crashers, a band initially formed in 1989 by future Rancid members singer/guitarist Tim Armstrong and bassist Matt Freeman following the breakup of their previous band, Operation Ivy. Although the pair's involvement in the group was brief, the band eventually settled on a lineup fronted by Denike and singer Elyse Rogers. In 1995, the band's popularity in the burgeoning scene led to a deal with (510) Records, an imprint of major label MCA. While the deal resulted in greater exposure for the group, Denike says that the move wasn't without controversy. Like many former indie acts who signed on the dotted line with a major, Dance Hall Crashers met their fair share of pushback from certain factions of their audience. Looking back at the situation (especially now, a time when labels – both indie and major – barely exist), the singer still wonders what all the fuss was about.

“There was definitely some backlash by certain groups of people that felt like we were selling out,” she remembers. “I always felt that was really stupid for a bunch of reasons. First of all, we didn't get some huge advance. Some people did, but we didn't. But the bigger reason I thought that was so stupid was because so many of the bands that people absolutely loves and looked up to – from The Ramones to The Specials, from New Wave to Punk Rock – were on major labels. How else would [people] have heard them? It was such a ridiculous thing to me. Also, I actually grew up around the Punk scene in England before I moved to the States. I always thought American Punk Rock was a little bit silly for a little while. I felt like, 'Wow! You guys have it really nice here! I lived in a housing estate in England with people who were squatting, and you guys are from nice families and wear Gap clothing. You eat at McDonald's and drink Coca-Cola, and these are much worse corporations than a major label that's just trying to create records and sell them to the public. Yeah, they're making some money off of it, but it's a lot better than making money off of killing rainforests and [having] child labor.'”

Despite Dance Hall Crashers' success, nothing has been seen or heard from the group since the 2005 Live at the House of Blues DVD. Will fans ever experience the band on stage or on record again?

“We probably won't do anything else, but we're not going to say that that's definitely the case,” Denike reveals. “You never know; we may decide to do things. There's a few things that we never quite finished that we may get back to at one point or another. At the moment, everybody's mostly involved in their own things; everybody's doing cool things on their own. I kind of doubt something will happen anytime soon, but it may.”

Away from her solo endeavors, Denike regularly devotes herself to assisting friends with their creative endeavors. She contributed vocals and vocal production to Home Street Home, the “sHit Musical” written by Fat Mike of NOFX, while also finding time to serve as guest music director for Undercover Presents' 2013 rendition of Bob Dylan's Highway '61 Revisited. The five-year-old Undercover Presents is a Bay Area-based collective of artists carrying out the incredibly exciting mission of reinterpreting various classic albums from start to finish. In addition to overseeing the project, Denike delivered her own fascinating take on “Ballad Of A Thin Man.”

“I just love that song; it's so good,” she says. “It was such a fun thing to do. Also, it fit in with having been in a situation where I had been misquoted many times in the press in my Dance Hall Crashers days. You just always feel like maybe someone didn't get what you were trying to say, so that particular song was really fun!”

Denike's long-running association with Underground Presents will continue on August 13 and 16 at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, where she will be among the artists performing reinterpretations of Amy Winehouse music. More information on these can't-miss events is available here. Beyond that, Denike is planning an east coast tour for late August/early September.

Twenty-five years after her first album with Dance Hall Crashers, Karina Denike is creating exhilarating music close to her heart, longtime home and family history. If you're a longtime DHC fans or simply want to experience one of the most sophisticated songwriters performing today, order Under Glass here.

Photo by Joe Pichard

Official Katrina Denike Website 

Karina Denike on Facebook

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FEATURE - Music by the Masters: Talkin' Tunes with Pat McGee and Waddy Wachtel

left to right: Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, Pat McGee, Waddy Wachtel and Jeff Pevar (photo by David Bergman)

Think about the many great musicians who shaped your taste and love for music while you were growing up. Now imagine being in a recording studio watching these people perform on your album. This surreal scenario unfolded for veteran singer/songwriter Pat McGee when he succeeded in bringing in some of the finest players in history to be a part of his recently released self-titled 10th album.

After building a successful career with the Pat McGee Band, McGee decided to try something very different for his latest release. After buying a record player and rediscovering the magic of some of his favorite artists of the '70s (James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, etc.), he had a vision of working with the stellar session musicians who performed on these classics. When all was said and done, McGee's backing band for the album ended up being the guys affectionately known as “The Section” - guitarist Waddy Wachtel, drummer Russ Kunkel, bassist Leland Sklar, guitarist Danny Kortchmar and lap steel player Jeff Pevar. Other guests on the record include John Popper (Blues Traveler), Pat Monahan (Train), Matt Menefee (Bruce Hornsby). Paul Barrere (Little Feat), Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) and organist John “Red” Redling.

Getting any one of these guys to be on a record is amazing enough, but McGee managed to assemble the kind of band usually reserved for a music fans' wildest fantasies. His journey first began when he decided to record an album influenced by the grooves of his vinyl collection.

“I wanted to write music like that – stuff that so heavily influenced me when I was younger,'” he says.

As soon as the new tunes were composed, McGee set out to build the album from the perfect foundation – in this case, renowned timekeeper Kunkel. After searching out an email address for the drummer, McGee sent him a note to see if he'd be interested in being a part of the upcoming sessions. Then, McGee heard nothing – or at least that's what he thought at first.

“[Russ' reply email] landed in my 'junk' mail; it sat there for weeks because obviously I didn't see it!” he recalls. “I figured he wasn't into it... When we finally connected, he mentioned that he was touring with Judith Owen. He said, 'You know, Waddy and Leland are with me.' I was like, 'That was easy!'”

Before long, McGee and his dream team were laying down tracks at LA's Boulevard Recordings (the site previously known as Producers Workshop, which helped birth such classics as Pink Floyd's The Wall and Steely Dan's Aja). The sessions flowed with a live and loose feel, with nothing taking more than three takes to get down. Considering the histories represented in that studio, it comes as little surprise that the album was also recorded in a fashion that honored the past.

“I remember Waddy walked in, saw the tape machine and said, 'That's pretty bold!'” McGee says.

McGee gained even greater insight into just how special some of his collaborators truly are when he recently hooked up with Jackson Browne after a show in Providence, Rhode Island.

As he recalls, “I got to talking with [Jackson] afterwards, and he's like, 'Tell me again who you played with.' I told him, and he just shook his head, looked off into the distance and was like, 'Those guys defined my sound. I didn't know what my sound was going to be. I walked in with these songs for my first record, I played them the idea and what came back through the speakers and headphones was the first time I ever heard what my sound was going to be. It changed in one day; I knew exactly what I wanted to sound like for the rest of my career... The way they interpret my songs blew my mind.' I don't want to claim that I had the same experience as one of my heroes, but that's exactly what happened to me 40 years later.”

For Wachtel, working with his fellow session musician legends on McGee's album marked the latest chapter in a long and celebrated tradition started during what the guitarist calls “the most creative explosion of talent that the United States has ever had as far as Rock 'n' Roll [and] popular music goes.” There was a time in the '70s when virtually every major hit featured some configuration of “The Section.”

“That period in Los Angeles was astounding,” he shares. “ It was like our Liverpool – explosive, really. It was incredible.”

After all these years, the team still connects in ways that no other combination of musicians has ever achieved.

“There was never a problem communicating [between us],” he says. “As soon as I met these guys, it was like we knew each other from being babies together. It was never a weird fit; it was, 'Here's the tune,' and we'd play it. The concept of the way Russ plays has not changed, and the way Leland plays has not changed. It's an unspoken law [with] them that this is it; it just flows out of these guys... It's a wonderful thing to be able to know that if you bring in Russell and Leland, the reason you brought them in is what you're going to get. Always.”

Although McGee's new album has an old school charm, it is still a product of today's rapidly changing music industry. Like numerous other artists, McGee funded the album through Kickstarter. Although he admits that it took him some time to warm up to 'the whole ask your fan for money thing,' the experience proved successful: With nearly $81,000 raised, he was able to fully accomplish his vision on his terms.

“I feel like the fans have become the record label,” offers McGee, whose career with the Pat McGee Band has included a stint with Warner Brothers. “[Being independent again] is a slightly scary thing, but I got burnt by so many different label people that getting involved with a label again doesn't really interest me unless there is somebody who truly gets it and has a very clear plan of how to get this out there.”

Unsurprisingly, Wachtel has also had to adapt to changing times.

“Instead of being in the studio these days, you're usually in someone's house,” he says. “It's a whole different take on it now.”

In addition to his work with his longtime cohorts, Wachtel's playing can be heard on albums by Keith Richards (with The X-Pensive Winos), Iggy Pop, Bryan Ferry, The Rolling Stones and countless others. His 40-plus year history with the great Stevie Nicks has yielded such treasures as the incomparable opening guitar lick to the 1981 hit “Edge Of Seventeen” and appearances on 1973's Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac's self-titled 1975 album. (An exhaustive – and absolutely jaw-dropping – rundown of Wachtel's vast discography is available here.) Of course, getting the chance to chat with a player of this magnitude is a big deal for a music journalist. Although yours truly somehow fought off the temptation to turn our chat into a 30-hour interview, I had to ask him to share some thoughts on working with singer James Osterberg, better known to us mere mortals as Iggy Pop.

“We just came in, and it was a quick to-do,” he says of working on Pop's 1990 album, Brick By Brick. “It was basically a couple of guitars, bass and drums, and Iggy just had a notebook full of great tunes. He's a very deeply intelligent cat. You wouldn't think of it with someone who's pouring candle wax on himself and running up and down the fucking aisles without his shirt on, but he's a real beauty. I really, really like Jim a lot.”

Wachtel's increasingly full plate for the rest of 2015 includes creating music for the upcoming comedy Joe Dirt 2. As for 2016, he's looking forward to resuming his work with a dear friend.

“I get my Stevie back!” he says. “We did an album that nobody's heard. We went to Nashville, and Dave Stewart and I co-produced it with Stevie. We cut some great tracks and finished out a beautiful record, and then Christine [McVie] decided to come back to [Fleetwood Mac], so our record just got trampled. At first, I was very upset about it, but after a long talk with Stevie one night, I realized, 'Oh, yeah, that's a good thing because once this whole Fleetwood Mac thing is done, we can release the better tunes on that record and tour behind it now and have a clear road in front of us.'”

As for McGee, the immediate future includes summer shows in Chicago, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Atlanta and Michigan. (Dates are available here.) Additionally, a special signed vinyl edition of the new album (complete with two bonus tracks) is currently available for pre-order for a September delivery. Beyond that, expect the man to be wearing a big smile over his latest recording for a long time.

“All these years of listening to Classic Rick records and hearing these amazing guitar parts – whether they were the simplest thing in the world or really complex – I always wondered where they came from,” he says. “Now I know that they just come out of these people... I felt like I was watching the creation of a Classic Rock record, but it just happened to be my songs.”

Of course, McGee isn't the only one who will never forget the experience.

“['The Section'] made a name for ourselves because we’ve been involved with such great singer-songwriters; we've played on the best tunes in the world,” says Wachtel. “But when you walk into the studio and the song is a dud, there's not much you can do it. (laughs) All the expertise in the world ain't gonna make a piece of limburger cheese smell like a rose garden. I credit Pat with his songwriting; it's what brings a band like us into the foreground and let's us do what we do... The more Pat and I and the boys can collide, the happier we'll all be.”

Official Pat McGee Website

Official Waddy Wachtel Website 

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FEATURE - Listening without Limits: A Chat with The Spanish Donkey's Joe Morris

Left to right: Mike Pride, Jamie Saft and Joe Morris of The Spanish Donkey (photo by Vanessa Saft)

In the world of music, the best instrument one can ever have is a lighter to burn the rulebook.

With a decades-long discography boasting more than 40 releases as a band leader (and another 50 or so as a sideman), author and Free Music legend Joe Morris has built a career out of doing exactly what he wants. Currently, the uncompromising Connecticut resident is making some absolutely astonishing noises with his improvisational trio, The Spanish Donkey. Completed by master drummer Mike Pride (whose paradigm-shifting percussion work includes collaborations with The Boredoms and Millions of Dead Cops) and organist/pianist Jamie Saft (Jamie Saft Trio/John Zorn/Bad Brains), The Spanish Donkey recently issued RAOUL, their second album overall and first for the noted London-based experimental label RareNoise.

While there is little doubt that each member of the group is a master of his craft, the virtuosity displayed on RAOUL is much closer to Metal Machine Music than Moving Pictures. Want a greater idea of what this album sounds like? Okay... imagine Die Screaming Leiderhôsens covering the first Pigface album or Bernie Worrell taking on Confusion Is Sex. Depending on your sensibilities, that last sentence either just turned you on or scared you to death. Some people will put on RAOUL and hear three separate musicians falling down three separate staircases with their instruments for an hour or so, while others will experience some breathtaking musical interplay that grows more intriguing with each listen. Either way, RAOUL is another chapter in Morris' daring musical narrative.

“I've been making records since 1983, and I honestly have never done anything that's traditional,” he says. “Everything I've done has been an attempt to do something creative that I thought would stand out on its own even in an arena of a bunch of people doing something similar. All along, I've always tried to configure whatever I've played on the guitar on my own terms.”

Although RAOUL is sure to draw a line in the sand for even some of the most tolerant or “open-minded” listeners, it is difficult to deny that the album is the result of three truly brilliant minds working together – even in those moments when they sound like three distinct planets colliding.

“The part that's out of control is a percentage of it, and we want it that way,” Morris explains. “We want it to formulate itself spontaneously under a lot of very controlled methodological bits and pieces.”

A fixture of the Boston creative music scene since the mid '70s, Morris built a strong reputation in the area for his work as a soloist and in acts ranging from duos to larger ensembles. Along the way, friends and colleagues encouraged him to be more like James "Blood" Ulmer and John Scofield. While this suggestion was certainly a vote of confidence in his playing, this suggestion drove Morris – a young musician determined to carve out his own niche in the world – just a little crazy.

“My obligation was to do my own thing, like they did,” he said.

In an attempt to broaden his horizons, Morris traveled to Europe in 1981 to perform in Belgium and Holland. What was Morris' first gig after arriving on foreign soil? Sharing the bill with James "Blood" Ulmer. Who would later hear Morris playing over the loudspeaker at a club and seek him out to compliment him on the originality of his playing? John Scofield. Clearly, Morris made the right choice by packing his bags and going overseas.

“It was really an amazing experience,” he recalls “Two very well-known guitar players who other people told me I should be like – who I like fine, but I wasn't going to be like them, out of respect for them as much as out of respect for myself – understood that and encouraged me to do what I was already doing. That was an incredible thing that's given me an incredible sense of independence ever since... I went home just on a tear, as if from that point on, there was no way anyone was ever going to talk me out of doing exactly what I wanted to do with my music.”

When not exploring new sonic worlds on stage or on record, Morris serves on the faculty at the New England Conservatory's Jazz and Contemporary Improv Department. Considering his penchant for nonconformity, what does the educator in him see as an ideal balance between the forms and structures taught in traditional music education environments and the loosened rules of flat-out noise experimentation?

“I don't know what an ideal would be in general,” he replies. “I think people need to pursue their creative ideas. If they work, they work; if they don't, they don't... People can do what they want, and the more people do what they want, the better off we'll all be. But I think it's impossible to just do Free Music. We think, we repeat ourselves and we plan things, even if we plan things very quickly before we actually render them. I think it's really helpful to have an understanding that to approach things that appear to be sort of randomly configured, we have to do an awful lot of work. There's a high level of technical control and a high level of aesthetic commitment to be able to make something that sounds to listeners to be completely without order, or in some way have what they consider to be some type of amorphous or orderless configuration. The idea of being an artist is that you're trying to expand your audience's understanding of things – to present them with something that you consider to be beautiful, even if it's beautiful in its severity. And if we repeat what we know they know, we've failed. If we get any degree of surprise in that, then we've succeeded.”

As for the future, don't be surprised if Morris' next aural adventure is a completely different animal than The Spanish Donkey.

“I think the challenge for me has been to not think that my music from 1985 should also be my music for 2015,” he says. “As a guitar player, I sort of follow the model that if I'm going to progress with any expression and expand my ability to do something on the instrument and use it differently, I can't play what was new to me in 1999. That's put me in a weird position with an audience, because I'm always doing everything I can to change. I think there have been points where I got close to kind of getting over a little more, and I was done with that particular thing and went on to another one. I was told by some people, 'Don't do that; this is what's working for you now,' and I did it anyway. My relationship with the audience is that I play to people who are willing to accept that I'm trying really hard to keep progressing.”

photo by Doc Jojo

Joe Morris' Official Website

RareNoise Records

Joe Morris on Facebook

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FEATURE - Back to the Shack: Bob Daisley Revisits the Blues

Bob Daisley and Stan Webb of Chicken Shack, 1974 (courtesy of www.BobDaisley.com)

For nearly 50 years, renowned Australian bassist Bob Daisley has added his playing and/or songwriting talents to some of biggest names in Hard Rock/Metal history. In addition to Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Gary Moore, The Hoochie Coochie Men and many others, Daisley spent time in the incomparable Chicken Shack, the British Blues institution led by guitarist/singer Stan Webb. Forty years after last performing on stage with the group, Daisley recently released Live In Germany '75, a breathtaking CD document of a band at the peak of their powers. Daisley and Webb are joined in this particular version of Chicken Shack by drummer Bob Clouter and future Robert Plant guitarist Robbie Blunt. Limited to 1,000 copies, the CD can be purchased on Amazon US and UK and directly from www.bobdaisley.com.

In addition to serving as a musical snapshot of an intriguing era in Chicken Shack's long history, Live In Germany '75 boasts exceptionally clear sound – especially considering that the source tape is four decades old. As far as Daisley can remember, the show was recorded off the board.

“I have lots of cassettes tapes, and that one said, 'Chicken Shack gig, 1975 Germany,' he shares. “I don't know where it was recorded... It was good, clear sound on it; the separation is really good. I was pleased with the sound quality. I did a little bit of editing on it, plus mastering it helps, but it was good quality for live.”

Not only was it a rarity for a Chicken Shack gig to be recorded at all in those days, but Live In Germany '75 represents the most complete Chicken Shack recording in Daisley's personal archives.

“I played the tape and thought, 'Shit. People should hear this,' he says. “I'm proud of this; this is some good playing. I'm probably the only one who has a tape of that show. It should be heard. I didn't want to eventually go to my grave and think, 'Nobody's going to hear that.'”

The show itself was performed during an off night while Chicken Shack was touring with Deep Purple, who were on the road supporting their 1974 album, Stormbringer.

“Chicken Shack was quite a big name in Germany, France and around Europe, and we were second on the bill to Deep Purple,” Daisley recalls. “We did something like an hour before Deep Purple, but when we did our own gigs in between nights at a club, that was obviously a longer show because it was just our gig. But in those days, February and March '75, bands kind of jammed. You didn't just do a song; you did the song structure, but you jammed within it. The songs that are on the album are the basic set that we did, but the songs would vary each time we played them. One song would be eight minutes one night and 12 minutes the next night, depending on what was going on between us on stage. That's how it was back in those days; everybody used to do it unless you were just an out-and-out Pop band reproducing your Pop singles on stage. But most of the heavy Rock or Blues bands did variations of their songs.”

All it takes is one listen to Live In Germany '75 to know that the band was absolutely on fire in those days.

As Daisley says, “We had a nice little rapport going on between us; it was good communication. There's some nice light and shade and just having fun within the song. I thought this Chicken Shack lineup really worked well. There was a nice camaraderie within the band; we got on well together and had such a good laugh touring around Europe. I think because we got on so well together and we could have a good laugh, the enjoyment comes out in the music.”

While things were going incredibly well within Chicken Shack at the time, the scene was not so stable for tour mates Deep Purple.

“It was around the time when [guitarist] Ritchie [Blackmore] was becoming discontented,” Daisley observes. “He wanted to leave and form his own band. That didn't come across on stage, although Ritchie could be a little moody or a little difficult in his own way...I heard through the grapevine that it was because [then-Purple bassist] Glenn Hughes was very into drugs, and Ritchie was not like that. He didn't suffer people like that. Plus the direction of Purple was going away from what Ritchie wanted to do. He wanted to do hard, heavy Rock that was influenced by Classical music. It was Jon Lord and Ritchie who gave Purple their Classical influence with the heavy Rock, which was a great thing. Glenn Hughes was very into Soul and Funk and Stevie Wonder and all that stuff, and that was pushing the flavor of the band from what Ritchie wanted to do, which is why he said, 'Okay, you get on with it. I'm off; see ya.'”

Of course, Blackmore didn't leave Purple until finding a powerful vocalist to front his new endeavor. Those shoes were filled by Ronnie James Dio, whose band Elf opened the Deep Purple/Chicken Shack tour. Dio and fellow Elf members Mickey Lee Soule (keyboards), Gary Driscoll (drums) and Craig Gruber (bass) were soon selected by Blackmore to complete the first lineup of Rainbow. Interestingly, Daisley would join Rainbow himself two years later.

“The funny thing is that there was Ritchie, Ronnie Dio and myself all on the same bill and the same show on the Deep Purple tour, and we all ended up in Rainbow together a couple of years later,” he says.

Live In Germany '75 showcases Daisley's second stint with Webb's Blues music machine. Looking to break into the big leagues, Daisley originally accepted an offer to join Chicken Shack on February 13, 1972 - his 22nd birthday.

“It was kind of a big deal for me to join a name band and get on the scene that way,” he remembers. “It was very helpful to my career. I have a lot to thank Stan for.”

Formed in the mid '60s, Chicken Shack first gained popularity in the UK with an early incarnation fronted by singer/keyboardist Christine Perfect, later known to international audiences as Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. By the time Daisley joined the band, Webb had earned a reputation as a brilliantly gifted Blues player.

“Stan knew what he was doing with Blues,” offers the bassist. “I learned a lot from him; he was very knowledgable about Blues and its history, plus artists I'd never heard of. He had a huge record collection with a lot of 78s of old Blues stuff. I was soaking that up like a sponge.”

Daisley would appear with Chicken Shack (then featuring drummer Paul Hancox and augmented by pianist Tony Ashton and saxophonist Chris Mercer) on the classic 1973 album, Unlucky Boy, a scorching Blues Rock Rock collection that has stood the test of time. The album is perhaps best known for the gorgeous, string-heavy ballad “As Time Goes Passing By.”

“That was the only song off that album that got some airplay,” recalls Daisley. “I remember being with Stan somewhere when that album came out, and the song came on the radio. It was a great feeling.”

Of course, Unlucky Boy is also remembered for its infamous cover, which features a smiling Webb surrounded by a crowd of music industry types (and, for reasons Daisley can't quite recall, a little person). On the back cover, a now-forlorn Webb is left sitting at the desk with only the cleaning lady there to pay give him any attention.

“That was our roadie, Phil Carlo, on the front cover with the denim shirt,” Daisley explains. “The idea of the cover is kind of like, here's the star roadie, the big name record company guy, the manager... the picture of success. And then on the back, [there's] Stan with the cleaning lady; he's the real unlucky boy... he didn't quite get there!” (laughs)

Despite being involved with such a strong album, Daisley soon departed Chicken Shack to explore other opportunities. But after an 18-month stint with Mungo Jerry (best remembered today for their colossal 1970 hit, “In The Summertime”), he was invited back into Webb's world for a new band initially called Stan Webb's Broken Glass. By the time the band hit the road with Deep Purple and Elf, they had been re-christened Chicken Shack.

Although he greatly enjoyed his time with Webb and the rest of Chicken Shack, Daisley decided in late 1975 to leave the band for good.

“I had no problems with being in Chicken Shack,” he offers. “It was enjoyable, but I did want to get on more, if you know what I mean. I think that lineup of Chicken Shack deserved better. We didn't have a record label at that stage, the management was floundering a bit and I just didn't think it was being handled right. I loved the band; I loved Stan, Robbie and Bob. We got on great together, but I was looking to expand my horizons.”

Fortunately, Daisley was not out of a steady gig for very long.

As he tells it, “One night, I was actually out with Phil Carlo in a pub in London in King's Road called the Roebuck. That night, there was Luther Grosvenor; his stage name was Ariel Bender. He was Luther Grosvenor in Spooky Tooth and 'Ariel Bender' in Mott the Hoople. Phil introduced me to him, and we got chatting. He said, 'I'm putting a new band together.' He ended up coming 'round to Phil's, and we talked further. I said, 'Let’s hear some of the stuff you've got.' He had a drummer called Paul Nichols at the time. He'd come out of a band called Lindisfarne; they had some big hits as well. Paul, Luther and I had a little meeting and a little talk, and there was a bit of a chemistry there. We were going to be just a trio at first, with Luther playing guitar and singing lead, but it didn't quite come off as well as it should have or could have. We thought, 'Let's get serious and we'll get an out-front lead singer.' We asked around and we got in contact with Steve Elis, who was a good singer. He had been in a band called Love Affair, who had a big hit with a song called 'Everlasting Love.' Steve Ellis brought in Huw Lloyd-Langton from Hawkwind on guitar as well. That was the beginning of Widowmaker.”

Widowmaker's tumultuous two-year run – as well as Daisley's subsequent career with Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Uriah Heep, Gary Moore and a host of others – is chronicled in depth in his extraordinary 2013 autobiography, For Facts Sake. As previously discussed on this site, the 325-page book (which also features a slew of great Chicken Shack stories) is one of the most fascinating and in-depth Rock tomes ever published. Nearly two years after the book's release, Daisley continues to be blown away by the tremendous response it has received from fans around the world.

“People really love it,” he says. “I get so many comments coming through my professional Facebook page and my website; people are just raving about it. They say, 'God, I've read a lot of Rock autobiographies, and this one's the best I've ever read.' If you go into Amazon US or UK at look at the reviews on the book, people have taken the time and trouble to write that they love it. Some of [the reviews] are extensive, where people talk about the whole thing and just rave about it. I'm so pleased with that, because you don't know... When you write a book, you think, 'People could hate this' or just not bother with it. But people are just raving about it. It's really, really satisfying for me to read all those comments and reviews. I had one bloke write in to the website and say, 'I hardly got any sleep for the last four nights reading your book. I could not put it down – and my wife's pissed off at me because I kept her awake laughing!”

While Dailey went on to enjoy a long and celebrated career, Webb continued his work as one of the world's foremost Blues guitarists and performs under the Chicken Shack banner to this day. Daisley remains incredibly proud of his musical experience and long-running friendship with this one-of-a-kind man and player.

“The names 'Chicken Shack' and 'Stan Webb' have reached legendary status,” he says. “It's good to see Stan still out there and still doing it. It's an honor for me to have been a part of that; at the time, we had commercial success, but not in a commercial way as far as having hit singles and all that. We had a following and Stan was great on stage and people loved him. Everywhere we played, we brought the house down. There were two, three, sometimes four encores. They just wouldn't let us go sometimes. A lot of it had to do with Stan's personality – not just being a good player and entertaining [the audience] musically, but we'd get on stage sometimes and it would be 20 minutes before we played a note. Stan would be talking to the audience, doing impressions or telling them jokes and clowning about – and they loved him. It gave the band a real unique personality. If you went into a pub with Stan, by the end of the night, he'd chatted up the landlord, the doors were bolted and he'd have a crowd of people around him holding court in a pub he'd never been to before – telling jokes, doing impressions and making people laugh. That's how he was; that was his personality.

“Live was where he really cleaned up,” he adds. “Stan was funny and entertaining. People knew that when they went to see Stan Webb with Chicken Shack, they were going to be entertained not just musically, but all around. He was a funny bugger!”

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ALBUM REVIEW – Chicken Shack: Live In Germany '75

Although he is best known for his lengthy career in Heavy Metal (including playing bass on – and penning the lyrics and co-writing the music for – some of Ozzy Osbourne's most recognizable songs), bassist Bob Daisley is a bona fide Blues lover. Forty years ago, Daisley indulged his love for this music as a member of Chicken Shack, one of the most beloved Blues acts in the world. Earlier this year, he released Live In Germany '75, a CD recording of a Chicken Shack lineup completed by founding member Stan Webb on vocals/guitar, guitarist Robbie Blunt and drummer Bob Clouter. And man is it killer.

With only nine songs in 78 minutes, it's clear that jamming is at the heart of this recording. From a driving nine-minute take on Willie Dixon's “Homework” to the rock-solid shuffle of their nearly eight-minute cover of Sonny Thompson's “I'm Tore Down,” Chicken Shack bring these Blues staples into new and exciting worlds. With Live In Germany '75, you get a sonic snapshot of four musicians truly enjoying themselves on stage.

Naturally, Stan Webb's fiery playing gets better and better with each listen. A true master of the guitar, Webb is in his perfect habitat on Live In Germany '75, using the stage to explore his instrument in ways simply not possible in a studio setting. And when this combines with Blunt's formidable skills, the results (such as in the band's interpretation of Don Nix's “Going Down” and Robert Johnson's “Dust My Broom”) are otherworldly.

Not surprisingly, the band's ability to handle real Blues rubs off on their own material, especially on the Webb/Blunt number “Rain On My Window Pane” and the Webb/Daisley/Blunt-written “Crying Again.” The epitome of authenticity, Chicken Shack's originals effortlessly hold their own against the Blues standards explored throughout the set. The band on this CD is absolutely the real thing.

While every moment of Live In Germany '75 offers high-caliber sounds, the 20-minute “Poor Boy” is the release's undisputed masterpiece. Originally a five minute tune on Chicken Shack's 1972 album Imagination Lady, the Webb composition reaches transcendental heights on the German stage, encompassing Blues, Heavy Rock, Funk and some truly awe-inspiring dynamics. (Check out the quiet jam that breaks out around the 5:40 mark.)

With a lineup comprised of players who would later end up working with the likes of Rainbow (Daisley) and Robert Plant (Blunt), it comes as little surprise that there is a heaviness to Live In Germany '75 that easily puts the band in the same Hard Rock league as their mid '70s touring mates in Deep Purple. If you're a Metal fan interested in exploring the genre's Bluesy roots, this is an album not to miss.

Limited to only 1,000 copies, Live In Germany '75 is a perfect introduction to the onstage magic of Chicken Shack and an intriguing glimpse into one of the many fascinating eras to define Bob Daisley's long-running career. Get it while you still can.

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INTERVIEW - Mourning Star: A Conversation with Lucifer's Johanna Sadonis

Photo courtesy of Freeman Promotions 

Let's get right to the point: Lucifer is the best new Heavy Rock act in decades.

Fronted by captivating German singer Johanna Sadonis and boasting former Cathedral/current Death Penalty member Garry “Gaz” Jennings on guitar, Lucifer hits listeners with a jaw-dropping blend of classic Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Coven and Blue Oyster Cult wrapped up and presented by Sadonis' soaring voice. While countless bands try to emulate the vibe and character of these past greats, Lucifer actually succeeds while also building their own intriguing identity. 

Sadonis first gained international attention with The Oath, whose brief (and much-hyped) run lasted for one incredible self-titled album before crashing and burning last spring with absolutely no public warning. Thankfully, Sadonis quickly rose from the ashes to create the musical and visual concept of Lucifer. Rounded out by Angel Witch drummer Andy Prestidge and former Ladytron touring bassist Dino Gollnick, the band is set to release their full-length debut, Lucifer 1, on June 16 via former Cathedral/Napalm Death frontman Lee Dorrian's label, Rise Above Records. As those of us blessed with an advance copy already know, this record is absolutely the real thing.

Sadonis was kind enough to fill me in on all things Lucifer during her recent early morning call to me from Berlin.

Around this time last year, there was obviously a lot of interest and excitement surrounding The Oath. To start with a question I'm sure you hear quite a bit these days, what happened? It seems like that band ended before it even began.

Yeah, it did, unfortunately. I did have a lot of plans for The Oath, and it was not supposed to end so prematurely. I was actually devastated when it ended. I don't want to go into too much detail, but you could say it was like a fiery love affair, where everything happens very fast and you burn up all the energy very fast. It worked out really well with the songwriting, but personally it didn't work... I thought that instead of becoming all depressed, I'd just take all this energy and channel it into something creative. I sat down and plotted out Lucifer, and that's how this thing came about.

What was your biggest lesson from the Oath experience that you now apply to your work with Lucifer?

I guess I'm just careful of who I work with. I certainly don't need any drama in my life. The people who I have in Lucifer are really all amazing; nobody has a poisonous ego in this band. Everybody just wants to play and sincerely enjoys it. We're all very respectful towards each other, and it's really great. Everything is really easy in this band. I'm just doing the same thing I did with The Oath; I did it very passionately and I put a lot of thought into every move regarding the band. I do the same thing [with Lucifer]; I'm just careful of who I work with.

How has Lee and Rise Above helped you achieve what you've set out to do with this band?

Obviously, it came about because he signed us with The Oath. We got closer and closer in touch during the process of The Oath dying. He was there; we would speak a lot about the whole situation. I mentioned to him, 'I think I'm going to start a new band.' He encouraged me and said, 'Yeah, you have my support. I believe in you as an artist.' For Rise Above, it wasn't easy either that The Oath went. You invest a lot of money into a band, and they disappear and don't even properly tour for the album and so on. Labels put a lot of money into this kind of stuff. So Lee was completely supportive of me starting a new band. That definitely made it easier for me.

I did have the drummer already from The Oath, Andrew, who is now playing in Lucifer. The bass player who plays in Lucifer now, Dino, was already in talks to play in The Oath, so I had those two already. When it was about time to look for a guitar player, Lee said to me, 'Why don't you ask Gaz? Gaz has so much to give. He's playing all the time, and he really liked The Oath. Just ask him.' I did, and he was up for it right away.

Gaz is no stranger to this scene. How did having such a veteran musician involved ultimately help shape this new album?

Before I asked him, I did have a clear vision of how I wanted Lucifer to be. I wanted Lucifer to be a different band from The Oath. I didn't want to repeat the story, because I thought there was just no point. Don't get me wrong, I love The Oath and I'm very proud of that one album that we did, but I wanted Lucifer to be stylistically slightly different. The Oath was more of a Heavy Metal band in general. Even though there are similar core influences, I wanted Lucifer to be more of a Heavy Rock band with a lot of Doom. When I started talking to Gaz, I explained to him what I wanted. He said, 'How about you give me references of songs?' I said, 'Well, how about The Scorpions' In Trance album? How about '70s Pentagram? How about Black Sabbath's Technical Ecstasy album?' I was giving him songs as references and idea. He listened very carefully when I explained what I wanted, and then sat down with that influence and started making riffs and writing songs. He sent me tons of MP3s. I sorted through it, and then we would discuss the stuff that I picked. I said, 'Well, I like this one number really a lot, but there's one section that's maybe too Heavy Metal. For my concept with Lucifer, maybe we take out that bridge with all the crazy solos, and we put in a moodier part.' We would then arrange it together. When the songs were done, I would sit down and write the melodies and lyrics. All the songs on the album are written by Gaz and me together. Certainly, his style of guitar playing is dominant on this album. In my eyes, he's one of the best of the genre as a guitar player, and you can hear that it's him playing if you know Cathedral. That definitely shaped the sound of the band. Absolutely.

It's interesting you mention Technical Ecstasy. That's such a great album that few very people acknowledge when they think of Black Sabbath.

Yeah! For me, it wasn't love at first sight with that album, either. That came later. Obviously, when you're a teenager, you listen to the typical early Sabbath stuff. I discovered Technical Ecstasy as a gem maybe four or five years ago. I didn't realize before what a great album it actually is. I'm really obsessed with it; I absolutely love it.

Obviously, there are several different styles within the Metal genre. Lucifer, to me, seems to be very much going for that '70s Pentagram, Sabbath, Hammer Films, Doom vibe. What is it about that particular aesthetic and musical direction that appeals to you?

I've been listening to Metal since I was like 13 or so, which is over 20 years. I went through various phases and stages musically in Metal and Hard Rock and so on. The older I got, the more I kind of looked backwards to where everything is coming from and where the roots are – and why the roots are there with bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Aphrodite’s Child, Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep and all that stuff, and why all the Metal bands are somehow based on those forefathers. There's a reason for it – because it's so good. I think when you're a musician and a music fan, you realize that you cannot reinvent the wheel in Heavy Metal and Hard Rock; there's been a lot done. For me, it's just because I listen to that stuff so much – late '60s, '70s and some '80s stuff...That's mostly what I listen to in the Heavy Metal and Hard Rock genre. That's what I'm influenced by, so it's a natural thing to have the music influenced by it. Everybody in the band is listening to this old stuff, because that's where the quality lies.

As a drummer, I was really impressed by Andy's playing on this album. How would you characterize the impact he has had on the band so far?

Andy's great; that's why I took him over from The Oath. Back then, when we were looking for a new drummer for The Oath, he wrote to me. I'm a huge Angel Witch fan; I thought, 'That's amazing! The drummer of Angel Witch is asking me to play in The Oath! Of course he's killer, and we'll take him.' I took him into Lucifer as well, and he's such a good person on a personal basis. He has a certain style of playing, and he's such a music nerd, too. He listens to a lot of Prog stuff as well, and there's something very organic about his playing that I like.

You currently have Dino on bass. How permanent is this current lineup of Lucifer?

I would say it's very permanent. I think everybody in the band is really excited about what we're doing right now. We are really excited to go on tour. In the long run, maybe we will try to add a rhythm guitar player. In the beginning, Gaz said he would write the album with me and record it, but then maybe we would have to find guys to play that stuff live. But it turned out that it's impossible to find anyone who can play like Gaz, you know? Also, he's so fond of the album and loves it so much that now he's on board. We might want to add a rhythm guitar player because Gaz is playing so much on the album that it would maybe give it even more depth live, but the core of the band stands.

What are your touring plans for the States?

We just got a tour confirmed. We're starting off July 30th in California, and we're going to go on tour for a whole month with High On Fire and Pallbearer throughout the US. We're going up the west coast, up to the north for a few dates in Canada and then down the east coast. It ends in New Orleans.

Lucifer was born out of some fairly rocky times. What are your biggest hopes for this band now that the struggles of last year are in the rearview mirror?

I definitely don't want to repeat history. I named the album Lucifer 1 because I want this to be the beginning of a journey. We hope to get to play a lot and hope that the album will be perceived as we see it by people who actually buy it. I've heard some really amazing feedback so far from journalists, but obviously it matters even more so what people who just buy the record say. I'm curious to see how that will turn out. Hopefully, we'll keep touring and going back to the studio and doing it all over again. And again. (laughs)

*Some portions of the above interview were edited for clarity.

Photo courtesy of Freeman Promotions

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