“Rock is dead. Or so they say. Get back for the counter-attack!” So begins the bio for Australian Rock and Roll band ‘Truck’ which features Horsehead’s Andy McLean and Baby Animals David Leslie along with Mark Donaldson on keys, Kevin Hunt on bass and Alex Deegan taking the drum stool. Add mixing by the legendary Kevin “Caveman” Shirley (Aerosmith, Baby Animals, Cold Chisel, Iron Maiden, Silverchair) and you get an EP that isn’t afraid to celebrate the greats of yesteryear and add in more than a dash of good old Aussie Pub Rock attitude. This exactly how you want your rock to sound … BIG. We caught up with David Leslie to find out more and check in on the Anniversary of Baby Animals second album…
David: G’day Mark how you going?
Mark: I’m all good thank you, hope you’re the same. As 2022 wears on you’re getting rather busy!
David: I must admit it was a hectic weekend but it was good. Great fun Thursday night playing with two bands, I’ve never done that before!
Mark: Yes, you’re doing double duties at the minute with Truck and Baby Animals on the same bill! Sounds hectic!
David: It’s good it keeps it interesting and both bands are in different tunings – Baby Animals in the flat tuning so it means I have to take extra guitars and extra shirts and dust off the old Baby Animals wig!
Mark: (laughs) You’ve been doing the Red Hot Summer Tour too! It’s a shame our Premier can only let Football go ahead with covid and the door has disgracefully been shut on music, so we missed out on that. As it’s the Anniversary of the second album ‘Shaved and Dangerous’ are you planning to head over here with that show? There’s no dates at the minute.
David: I would imagine we would be, with it being Suze’s home town and stuff. We always have great gigs in Perth and all the family comes down. So I reckon it’ll be on the cards, restrictions permitting.
Mark: And hopefully you’ll be supporting yourself too without the Baby Animals wig on!
David: (laughs) That’s be good fun.
Mark: It would. Aside from Baby Animals I remember being over in Sydney invited to the secret Dead Daisies show a few years back at the Motorcycle place and you popping up on guitar!
David: Oh out on Paramatta road there!
Mark: That’s right. I remember hearing that Richard was out and wondering who would be stepping in. It was short notice to learn the songs for bot that and the Kiss shows that followed how long did you get?
David: I got a week!
Mark: (laughs)
David: Yeah, Richard Fortus had injured himself on a motorcycle. I knew the manager so I got a call and he asked “Are you doing anything for the next couple of weeks?” (laughs) Arenas with Kiss? (laughs) OK! So I’m learning the songs on the morning of rehearsal and then two das of rehearsal and then we’re straight into it, so it was a bit of a learning curve! A great adventure though!
Mark: It was and I had a lot of fun, I got invited over for that warm up show and then stayed on to see you with Kiss in Sydney. Melbourne and Perth that year.
David: Great times!
Mark: I’ve ben listening to the new songs and even though I just got sent the three and whilst people will hopefully be familiar with the singles so far I think my favourite is the unreleased one they slipped in for me ‘Unconventionally Rising’.
David: that is a favourite of mine, and it’s had a great reaction so far. It will be the third single. We’ve just done a video.
Mark: So give us a little background for the uninitiated about ‘Truck’ and how you became involved?
David: Yeah, it’s a great project. They had done some recordings with Ricki Rae who is Baby Animals sound guy and he came on tour one time and was raving about this band “I’ve got these guys in the studio, you’d love ’em! It’s old school guitar, bass, drums, organ, piano and Andy from Horsehead on vocals” so I though OK cool, I would love them. So shortly thereafter they parted ways with their guitar player and they were doing gigs. They had these shows booked, they needed someone so I got a call asking if I would jump in to help them out. And as they were already on my radar I jumped in! When I heard the stuff I though “Whoa! This is pretty good” and it went from there.
Mark: Echoes of the Daisies there, but hopefully this will be a longer assignment!
David: (laughs) Ricki is a great producer gets a wonderful sound out of bands, we got to meet him through Jon Stevens and Tony and he was kind enough to do the live sound for us at our website Tenth Birthday show in Melbourne the other year, he’s unsurpassed in getting a great live mix! So he recorded the songs on the EP?
David: He recorded them and then we sent them over to Kevin Shirley!
Mark: What a great combination, and nice to have that connection, Kevin would have been engineering that first Baby Animals album before he started producing I think?
David: Yes he engineered, he’d done demos and live sound for us as well, so we took him over to New York with us back in the day and we came back and he stayed! (laughs)
Mark: He did indeed, and what a cracking career kicked off there!
David: Absolutely.
Mark: Before we take a look at ‘Truck’ and the latest songs this year is the 30th Anniversary of ‘Shaved and Dangerous’ Baby Animals second album. I know when you celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the debut album Frank and Eddie (original bassist and drummer) came out for a few shows, they of course play over here in teh West in their Creedence Tribute Band Proud Mary. Are they likely to be making any appearances on this tour?
David: I haven’t heard, there’s been no talk of that at this point. It would be great fun to do, whether it’s financially feasible is another story. I mean I talk to Ed a bit, we send each other stuff, he sent me 100 of Rodney Dangerfield’s greatest gags and said this reminded me of you! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs)
David: Occasionally we get to catch up, but it would be good to catch up for sure.
Mark: Take it all the way back for us David, one thing that always intrigues me about guitarists, especially ones with a tone as wonderful as yours, is where does it all come from. I know that you allegedly picked up the guitar in 1973 and haven’t put it down again yet! But who were those first influences? Who made you pick up that guitar?
David: My music was first on my radar I used to watch a show called GTK in the 70’s. ABC used to play it before the news. ‘GTK – Getting to know’ it was like a modern music kind of program and it has Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs live at Sunbury. And I saw Thorpy with that Les Paul and the hair and everything like that and I thought “I want to do that! That’s awesome!” I mean we always had music in the house and I’ve been trying to work on my tone my entire life and it’s still going. It’s a journey that will probably never end, I listen to recordings, even the BA’s records and I think “Gee, I wish I had one more crack at recording that!” (laughs) I would be completely different now and come from a completely different headspace.
Mark: An artist is never happy!
David: (laughs)
Mark: Aside from teh Baby Animals and Truck and Red Hot Summer dates you’ve also got the Fits Full of Rock shows – what a line up!
David: Yeah, The Angels, us, Rose Tattoo and The Poor! We’ve got to go on after those guys! I donlt know anyone who’d like to go on after the Tatts I’ll tell you what! (laughs)
Mark: Definitely one to watch out for! I think the first time I saw you play was back in 1991 if you can cast your mind back!
David: I can just about get back to ’91! (laughs)
Mark: Can you remember who you were playing in Europe with?
David: In 1991… we were up with Bryan Adams – ‘Waking up the Neighbours’.
Mark: A great tour, I must admit over the years you’ve played with some of my favourite bands – Bryan back in ’91 at the peak of his powers, then you came back to Australia to hook up with The Black Crowes and of course the Van Halen Tour. You’ve shared some wonderful bills over the years – anything that particularly stands out for you?
David: Oh Mark, it all does. Before the Adams Tour we’d been doing clubs and everything like that, some Barnesy supports, so we’d been playing some reasonably big venues but nothing on the scale of that. That was unbelievable, to see those guys play, or just to see any band on that level night after night, just to see how the whole machine is run and everything. Plus those Bryan Adams songs they already sound like they are played in a stadium, they’re produced to be ‘big’ so when you listen to them live somewhere like Wembley Arena it sounds like the record man! (laughs) That was great, great players, good guys, we were generally really well looked after because guys at that level – they’re not threatened by you! (laughs) they’re like “Come in and join the party, come on down!” Even with Van Halen, whenever possible we would get a soundcheck. They really looked after us. There were some nights when we couldn’t as they had to rehearse or do something else up until doors so we were literally pushing our gear onto the stage in front of everyone and plugging in! (laughs)
Mark: I love the fact as well that it was Eddie’s wife who heard the band and suggested you play. Back in those days your hear so much about ‘pay to play’ it’s great to hear about a band getting a gig in that way.
David: Yeah that’s true, there were ‘buy-ons’, and of course that sort of thing does exist. But this tour Valerie had seen ‘Painless’ on MTV and went out and bought the record and was talking to Ed about it and said “You should get these guys to open up.” And that was it! Bingo! What a dream come true! I thought that I was having my leg pulled when our manager first said that!
Mark: Were Van Halen a band that you listened to growing up?
David: Oh, I was always a massive fan as a guitar player. I mean I don’t play like that man!
Mark: I don’t think many do!
David: (laughs) None.
Mark: Let’s talk about Truck’s music now. How would you describe it? I’m getting a real high energy vibe, there’s a lot of ‘light’ in the songs, very uplifting, and then throw in an Aussie Pub, a massive hook and some great riffs, stir a little and there you have it! How did I do?
David: Yeah, that’s it. It’s old school Rock and Roll. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. We get on great as a group of guys for a start, we love playing together too, and it’s a great song writing vehicle – there’s always ideas bubbling to the surface, you know. We have another album written and ready to record, so it’s very buoyant on the song-writing level. But with the organ and piano it’s old school Rock, I love having that instrument in the mix because it means I donlt have to fill in all the holes, I can just riff or embellish and sit on ‘the couch’ instead of having to be ‘the couch’.
Mark: I always loved that freedom about the second Baby Animals record, the fact that your guitar playing on that was more progressive, a bit more experimental in some respects, like you said playing around those spaces, whereas the first album was just going for the throat with some great riff based rockers. Was that a development of you and your style at that time?
David: I think it was a developmental thing for me for sure. As you get more confident and you get more aware of sounds. You know the first album was done with a couple of guitars and a Marshall and a Roland 120M and that was it. While, you’re right, the second was more expansive, we had all these guitars and amps and we could go in and experiment and mess around and listen for part and for textures and colours and that sort of thing. And that’s something I still love to do. I’ve been doing it all day today!
Mark: Fantastic, what are you working on at the moment?
David: We’ve done some more tracks.
Mark: With that in mind I have to ask, when can we expect the album?
David: I should know the answer to that one! But I have to say, I’ll check with my people! (laughs) We had a bunch of recorded songs that we were going to put out and call an EP but we’ve been back in and done some more and we’re going to parlay that into an album. It seemed like the thing to do as there’s no shortage of material.
Mark: And a sign of the times, when I told people I was speaking to you today the big question was – is it coming out on vinyl?
David: No, not at this point. But how good is vinyl! I really understand the attraction of it – opening it up, putting it on and just disappearing into it!
Mark: Everything’s coming back now Dave, tapes came back a few years ago and I was talking to a band the other day and they were doing all of that but also releasing on Minidisc!
David: Minidisc! That’s a blast from the past! (laughs)
Mark: I’m just waiting for the 8-Track and the Laserdisc now!
David: (laughing)
Mark: Let’s take it all the way back now. When did you know music was going to be your life, was it a moment of realisation or something more gradual?
David: I donlt know if there was defining moment for me it was just always there. I’ve always played guitar, well since I was 8 or 9 and it’s always been there for me. And at school after Year 12 I was given the option of learning a trade or working at the power station or the coal mine but I didn’t want to do any of that. I didn’t give myself a ‘Plan B’ I just wanted to play music. I knew I was dedicated and willing to learn and a team player, all that kind of thing. It was all just there. I didn’t give myself an option though because I think if I had when it got tough I would have taken the option. Because it is hard. It ain’t easy and I don’t recommend it as a lifestyle choice I’ll put it that way.
Mark: And it stays difficult as time goes by.
David: Definitely.
Mark: What makes a great song for you? What does it have to have as a song-writer?
David: It’s simple – it’s just got to give you a feeling or take you to a place. Some of the greatest songs are relatively simple but a great song to me is one that when you get to the end you just want to go round again. I wanna hear that again. There are songs that make you cry. I cried when I first heard ‘Shadowlands’ by Ryan Adams made me cry the first time I heard it, I was like “Wow!” It really got me. Anything that will give you that feeling!
Mark: It doesn’t matter the genre or the style it’s that connection! That’s it for me!
David: Definitely.
Mark: If you could have been a ‘fly on the wall’ for the creation of any album in the history of Rock and Roll, what would you have like to have been there for – to see the magic being made?
David: I wouldn’t have minded being in the hotel where they recorded ‘Machine Head’ – in the hallways and having to go over the roof and everything they did to go back into the mobile recording van and listen to the playback. I’ve seen some photos of that and that would have been pretty cool. But it’s a tough question because there are just so many great records!
Mark: There are, but ‘Machine Head’ does sound like it would have been pretty interesting from what I’ve read. I guess any album of a certain vintage with all the technology makes them all the more remarkable.
David: Even with the technology that one still sounds awesome!
Mark: And we always end with a really easy one: ‘What is the meaning of life?’
David: (laughs) Have a good time all the time!
Mark: So you’re going for the Spinal Tap option Mr Leslie!
David: Yes I’ll take the Spinal Tap option as I have no idea, though I hope to find out one day. Though I guess ‘do what you love’ is a good option and I feel extremely fortunate to be able to do that. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve always loved doing it!
Mark: I’ve been loving the Truck songs, can’t wait to catch you live!
David: Thanks Mark.
Mark: Sounds like you’re loving it?
David: I am. It’s like being in your first band, you’re loading your own gear, there’s no money in it but it’s a complete ‘love job’. And every Wednesday night we have band practice, not rehearsal, we have ‘band practice’ like in the old days! Sitting in our lounge rooms on acoustics and it all comes naturally.
Mark: Thanks mate, take care and stay safe.
David: Great to chat. Come and say ‘G’Day’ when we’re over.
