The Dead Daisies – Long Way To Go: If modern bands have started to feel too safe and too smooth, we’ve got good news for you: The Dead Daisies are here to rough up the airwaves. These five musicians — all of them heavy rock royalty — are true believers in the power of the big riff and the shout-along chorus, and they know how to supply the immediacy, attitude, and pure wattage that’s always under-girded the best hard rock music. Make Some Noise, the band’s third album, draws its inspiration straight from the greats — Aerosmith, Bad Company, AC/DC, and other classic, go-for-the-throat guitar bands.
Yet the group also plays with the feel-good abandon of the best party rock of the 1980s, and given the resumes of the members of The Dead Daisies, that’s no accident. Lead guitarist Doug Aldrich has played with Whitesnake and Dio, and drummer Brian Tichy has hit the skins for Billy Idol, Foreigner, and Ozzy Osbourne. Bassist Marco Mendoza paired with Bill Ward of Black Sabbath on his first solo album and was the anchor of the reunited Thin Lizzy; ferocious singer John Corabi spent time in The Scream and Motley Crue. And then there’s rhythm guitarist David Lowy, who’s claiming a reputation of his own as a craftsman of punishing, intoxicating, and instantly memorable guitar riffs. “Long Way To Go”, the latest single, is built on a brutal — but by no means simple — riff composed by Lowy and amplified, and intensified, by his band-mates. This is a song about urgency (“long way to go/and no time to get there” growls Corabi on the chorus) and The Dead Daisies play it accordingly. But it’s also a forthright statement about the condition of the world — badly in need of repair, and our margin of error rapidly disappearing.
