The vocal stormbringer and the guitar hurricane hit holy ground

Glenn Hughes and Doug Aldrich talk about their renewed relationship as band-mates and how the new DD album came together.

Locked-down, yet already loaded with a new album ‘Holy Ground’, now scheduled for release (via Spitfire Music / SPV) on 22nd January 2021, The Dead Daisies continue to flourish.

Recalling the spirit of 60’s rock collective ‘Roundabout’ that begat the first line-up of Deep Purple, founder-member, David Lowy, continues to keep his daisies fresh with the regular nourishment of top-tier talent and a sprinkling of stardust.

Contrary to many bands, whose line-ups have bloated with successive iterations, the DDs appear to be getting tighter all the time.

Since their 2013 inception as a six-piece, when keyboardist Dizzy Reed departed in 2013 to rejoin the GnR night-train rocket-ride, he wasn’t replaced.

When both John Corabi and Marco Mendoza returned to their solo careers in 2019, founder member David Lowy was enthused by the enticing prospect of reuniting Doug Aldrich with his former band-mate, Glenn Hughes on customary double-duty.

Reconfigured as a sleek four-piece, Lowy, Hughes and Aldrich are complemented by percussive dynamo and former Journey-man, Deen Castronovo.

The album title-track is the latest song to be previewed from the forthcoming album, ‘Holy Ground’ to be released by Spitfire Music/SPV on 21st January 2021.

‘Holy Ground’ is the band’s 5th studio album that builds on the hard-rock foundation of its immediate predecessor (2018’s ‘Burn It Down). This time around, the bluesome grit of Corabi is replaced by the soulful intensity of Hughes, but the raucous and sleazy swagger of the band’s signature sound remains.

Following earlier previews of ‘Unspoken’ and ‘Bustle and Flow’ the title track is the latest metal petal to be plucked from the forthcoming album and reveals an old-school riff-driven monster with Hughes soulful vocals unbelievably stronger than ever.

This is hard-rocking, groove-fueled classic rock that surely anticipates one the best albums of 2021.

When Hughes screams: “Can you feel my bass-line” on the incomparable ‘Like No Other’, there’s no doubt that he still has presence to burn. As ever, Aldrich’s lissome fretwork is a delight, yet it’s the intensity of his rhythm playing that really stands out. On ‘Bustle and Flow’ he riffs like a man possessed by the spirit of Malcolm Young and under the otherworldly spell of Jimmy Page.

The Texan strut of ‘Chosen and Justified’ invokes the mystic mojo of Gibbons, Hill and Beard, with Castronovo’s crisp, economical drumming perfectly judged. The seven-minute slow-burn album closer ‘Far Away’ is the song that comes closest to expansive style of the much-missed Black Country Communion, embellished by a stirring string arrangement and thrilling coda that finishes the album in breathtaking style.

Decibel Report spoke to long-standing friends and collaborators, Glenn Hughes and Doug Aldrich, about their reunion as band-mates, how the new songs came together and how they expect the band to flourish in the coming year. Watch the interview right here including:

Doug on Glenn: “I love playing with Glenn, our styles are different, but I love his bass playing - it’s fun to play with.”
Glenn on songwriting: “I wrote the songs for what I considered to be the next chapter of The Dead Daisies…we had to have great material and I think we’ve got it here.”
Glenn on the F word: “The word ‘funk’ is overused, I’d rather use the word groove, I’m a groove-based bass player.”
Doug on Glenn as a front-man: “This is Glenn’s first time with two guitar players”. Glenn: “It’s is a great thing to express myself without the bass.”
Glenn on family: “I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so it’s important to me to spend time with people that I care about.”
Glenn on the tour set-list “There’ll be a couple of classic songs that I’ll bring from Purple.”
Glenn on Dio: “I didn’t know anything about Ronnie, I just heard him singing and went: ‘who the hell is that?!’ and we became such good friends. Not only was he the greatest metal singer, he was a good, kind, funny guy…soulfully and beautifully gifted.”
Doug on Dio: “It was everybody on one bus together, we had the funniest nights.”
Doug on unreleased Dio material from the Magica sessions: “There’s a song, that was a demo for ‘Electra’, where he asked me to put on a solo...In the end, we went somewhere else with it and rewrote ‘Electra’…It’s a real haunting song that’s never been heard”
Doug on Ronnie’s passing: “By chance, Glenn and I were together at show in Italy on the night that he passed. After the show we got a call from Wendy saying that he wasn’t going to make it.”
Doug on the German dance remix version of ‘Unspoken’: “It’s very different, but it’s cool.”