Launching his debut solo album, “Rock ‘n Roll Ain’t Easy”, in Sydney on Sunday, 18 February at Frankie’s Pizza, Dizzy Reed has arrived in Australia and is ready to release his album this Friday, 16 February through Golden Robot Records. We spoke to Dizzy Reed ahead of the release just after his arrival in Australia to talk about the new album and the upcoming show in Sydney and more.
Andrew: I hear that you just arrived in Australia!
Dizzy: I got in Sunday night and I’ve been kicking it here since then in Sydney.
Andrew: Nice! Obviously you have the show on Sunday and you have the new album coming out Friday so lot’s happening. It does seem like a long way to come for one show, are you doing any other shows at all or just the single show?
Dizzy: We’re just doing the one show on Sunday for now and hoping to come back and do some more and more shows elsewhere in the world as well.
Andrew: Aside from Guns N’ Roses last year we saw you with The Dead Daisies a couple of years ago, in fact one of the shows we saw you at was at the Harley Davidson shop in Sydney which was a fantastic show!
Dizzy: Oh yeah that was a good one, had a lot of fun doing that.
Andrew: So with the new album coming out ‘Rock N’ Roll Ain’t Easy’ which it sure is, it’s a great title, what can you tell me about the album and how long did it take for this to come together?
Dizzy: We actually started recording 10 years ago, the recording process itself took about a year or so. It was just a matter of trying to squeeze it in around other schedules with Guns N’ Roses obviously and at the time I was out with the Psychedelic Furs and all the other projects as well but mainly with GNR which is obviously my main project of course. We were doing it on spare time in the studio which ended up taking a lot longer than we thought it would but then it was just a matter of trying to get a hold of the master tapes which I did and then finding someone to mix it which we did and eventually everything fell into place but it just took a long time. A lot of times I wanted to just give up but I think the key to that was just not giving up which I think is a good key to life and a good way to look at things in life, if you really want something don’t give up on it. It will happen, you can make it happen so don’t give up. I also think the title of the record speaks for itself, rock and roll ain’t easy man so it’s not that easy to make a record.
Andrew: Yeah exactly right. So because of the fair amount of time for this album to be released, did you have any thoughts about if the songs would hold up or did you always think these songs would hold up well over time?
Dizzy: I wasn’t worried about that because I think the way I and Del James who co-produced the record with me, we wanted it to stay true to our roots and what we liked growing up and what we still like to listen to. So I kinda knew that it would probably stand the test of time and I think what we created sort of represents that really well so now when I listen to it, it doesn’t sound like it’s out of place at all. It seems like it’s right where it needs to be.
Andrew: Sure I’ve only heard a couple of songs from the album but it does have a very classic rock sound to it which is I guess the kind of thing you are known to do with a lot of the different bands and projects that you have done. When you first started putting this together, was there any particular idea that you wanted to do with this album? What sparked the idea to do a solo album in the first place?
Dizzy: I had some ideas that I had demo’ed up and I started playing with other people and Del in particular said, ‘You know what? You should record this for real’. That’s kind of how it happened. I ended up writing a few more songs leading up to that because we knew we could do more and one of the songs that we came up with was the title track “Rock ‘n Roll Ain’t Easy” and Del and Ricky (Warwick, Thin Lizzy, The Almighty, Black Star Riders) brought in “This Don’t Look Like Vegas”, worked that out too and we had a good collection of songs. There was a few that we left off unfortunately but it will be on the next record.
Andrew: I would assume you would be playing a majority of these songs on Sunday but will there be other songs from other bands you have done that you will be playing?
Dizzy: Well we’re going to be playing as many of the songs that we can work out so I don’t think we’re going to play the whole record but we’re going to work up a few from the new record and probably throw in some covers that we like and maybe some deeper cuts from GNR that I can actually sing and that will have piano on them!
Andrew: I have to admit I haven’t heard much of your stuff where you have taken a whole album and sang the whole thing, have you done much of that before?
Dizzy: I have a band called Hookers & Blow and we’ve been playing up in the States for I think about 12 years and I sing on most of the songs in that band, mostly by default! I enjoy it sometimes and we’ve played up in the States for a while now and we just did 18 shows in a row before I came here so was a warm up for the show at Frankies.
Andrew: So take us back to the beginning of your career, was there anything in particular that made you decide to take up music and was there a musician that had a major influence on you at all?
Dizzy: Well when I was a little boy, probably around 6 or 7 I guess, my grandparents lived in an apartment above us and my grandma had an organ and I watched her play that and my brother would go up there and make a bunch of noise with it and one day I was up there by myself and she said, ‘Want to know how to play something?’ So I watched her play a song and I sat down and played it back so she kind of nurtured that talent and I started discovering pop music and rock music and my dad had a big record collection and he was playing Booker T and the MGs one day and I went, ‘That seems like what I want to play, that’s the organ!’. So by the time I was 10 years old I had started my own rock band and by 11 or 12 we were out working and playing and by the time I was in middle school we were playing clubs so I started very young and again by default, I was the singer in that band until I was 20 years old. Then everyone kind of went their separate ways and I ended up joining a band as a keyboard player because I figured I would probably have a better shot at that getting a good gig as a keyboard player than as a singer for some reason but I think I made the right decision though. Then I moved out to L.A. and ended up settling with GNR, they asked me to join the band later on and that was it. As far as influences, all the great keyboard players. All the guys that played with the Stones, Nicky Hopkins and Ian Mclagan and Ian Stewart and Billy Preston. Jon Lord obviously, Billy Powell from Lynyrd Skynyrd, those guys are big influences on me growing up and Booker T which I mentioned earlier who was the impetus. Those records, without that I probably wouldn’t of made the connection.
Andrew: You mentioned staying to your roots on this solo album, do you feel a lot of those influences came up on these songs?
Dizzy: Yeah for sure, definitely. There’s a lot more to it than that as far as influences like Gregg Rolie, Joe Jackson and heavier stuff too. I can’t leave out Guns N’ Roses too, learning so much from them. I was actually a pretty big fan of the band when I joined so I can’t leave them out and also just the fact that just being around them, I learned a lot about putting songs together, writing and arranging songs so I can’t leave them out here.
Andrew: Oh definitely! What was it like working with Axl Rose when you initially started out with Guns N’ Roses? And has there been much of a change from then to now as far as the creative aspects and how Axl works?
Dizzy: The main thing is that they work really hard, Axl works very hard at what he does in every aspect of what everything is. Noone works harder than that guy and that’s what I’ve learned, a lot of us want to do this and get into rock music because we don’t want to work and don’t want to go 9 to 5 and in the end when you realize you want to do this for real and you want to play in the big leagues, you would be working way more than everybody possibly even works. Like me right now, I’m working right now! [laughs].
Andrew: [laughs] Yeah I guess that’s it, people get into music because they don’t want a typical day job I suppose.
Dizzy: Yeah so I’ve learned a lot from Axl and all those guys.
Andrew: Speaking of you being in Australia at the moment, what are your thoughts on Axl Rose performing live with AC/DC?
Dizzy: I think it’s fucking kick ass man! It’s fucking amazing and you know what’s just as cool is when Angus sat in with us [laughs]. That’s a wonderful thing all around for everybody.
Andrew: Yeah it’s a great testament to rock n’ roll with two great bands mashing together like that.
Dizzy: Yeah he’s the perfect choice for that, the perfect guy for that.
Andrew: Yeah I’ve seen a couple of videos on Youtube and it looked amazing so it’s great that he was involved with that. I don’t suppose you could tell me if there’s any news on whether you guys are working on new material at all or anything like that?
Dizzy: I don’t know anything [laughs]. I know nothing so we will see!
Andrew: Alright well anyway it’s great to have you in the country and have a great show in Sydney, it should be a fantastic time. Congratulations on the new album, it sounds killer from what I’ve heard so far. Thanks for your time, really appreciated and have fun in Australia!
Dizzy: Cool man, thank you. I appreciate it too.
DIZZY F’N REED ALBUM LAUNCH
Sunday, 18 February | Frankie’s Pizza | Sydney
Doors 4pm | Free Entry
Supported by: The Velvet Addiction, The Kids (single launch), The Desert Sea, Two Headed Dog, Junior Danger, A Basket of Mammoths
AUSTRALIA: PRE-ORDER ROCK ‘N ROLL AIN’T EASY VIA DIGITAL, JB HI-FI, AND SANITY
(PURPLE VINYL AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM THE SFR STORE)
http://smarturl.it/DizzyReed-RockNRAE
REST OF THE WORLD: PRE-ORDER ROCK ‘N ROLL AIN’T EASY VIA DIGITAL
http://smarturl.it/DizzyReed
