Intervju - Danny Malone, Diving for Pearls För sexton år sedan släpptes debuten med Diving for Pearls. En skiva som sedan dess fått något av en kultstatus inom den melodiösa hårdrocken och AOR-scenen. Huvudmannen bakom Diving for Pearls heter Danny Malone och tillsammans med producenten David Prater, som bl a producerat "A change of seasons" med Dream Theater, lyckades de få ihop en platta med flertalet låtar med snygga melodier. Nu har andra plattan släppts, "Texas", och Malone/Prater har även huvudansvaret för den. Vi drog iväg lite frågor till Danny Malone för att bl a höra vad han gjort de senaste sexton åren. Här har ni svaren! 1. First off! What have you been up to the last sixteen years since the release of the first DFP album? Well, I never left the music business, I stayed in it, for better and for worse, and I mean WORSE... The first thing that I did, after the Diving for Pearls break-up, was to start another project with Elliot Easton of the Cars. Elliot and I had been friends for a few years at that point - Peter Clemente introduced me to him, Peter had actually done a short tour with Elliot following the release of his one and only solo record, Change No Change, which I believe came out in the early/mid 80s. Anyway, Elliot was a Diving for Pearls fan, and use to come to our shows at the China Club whenever he was in town and join us onstage for our encores, which more often than not, was a version of the Yardbirds 'For Your Love'. So anyway, that was how our relationship began, and once the Diving for Pearls thing ended it didn't take very long for Elliot and I to realize that we were both very attracted to the same types of music, a sort of eclectic blend of classic 60s rock and pop, every thing from the Dave Clark Five to Mountain and Howlin' Wolf. Also, we were very interested in doing the same thing musically, something that in 1991-92, was still considered unpopular; we wanted to make a classic rock record. So, we put together a little 4 track demo of some songs that we'd written, and oddly enough, it didn't take long before we had a deal with Atlantic Records. We immediately hired Roy Thomas Baker - Queen, The Cars, Journey, Cheap Trick - To produce the record, hired Stan Lynch and Benmont Tench from the Heartbreakers to play on it, called ourselves 'Band of Angels' and set up camp in Los Angeles for three months to record it. It was the spring of 1992, and not long after we arrived in LA all hell broke lose, the Rodney King riots happened while we were there. We were staying in Hollywood and were basically in lock down mode for 4 of 5 days while the city burned around us. Anyway, we finished the record, not a very good record I might add, and returned to New York only to have Atlantic make, the only decision they could make based on the absolute shit quality of the material we gave them, not to release the record. The only really good thing that came out that experience, for me, was that I meet my wife in LA that summer... a lovely girl from London. After that horrible experience - none of which was anyone's fault really, we just lost sight of what we were trying to do by trying to hard to be clever, when in fact, all that we were really doing was rehashing the past and being frightenly boring - I went back to New York determined to take charge of my career and put another band together that would play hard rock in the classic Cheap Trick style, which I did with a guy named Jack Daley, who is best known as Lenny Kravitz's bass player, and although no deal came out of that collaboration, a number of other good things did... I got a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music and spent the next few years just writing and recording songs for them, and worked on trying to get a record deal with this great little project that I was involved with called 'The Dunaways'. Now, the Dunaways were not really a band, it was more of a musically collective that, at times, included Glen Burtnik, and Billy Branigan, whose sister was Laura Branigan, you know of, 'Gloria' and 'How Am I Suppose To live Without You' fame, two huge 80s hits. Anyway, once again there was no deal, only some of the most important years of my life. I had finally taken music back from the attorneys and the A&R reps, back from the managers and the publicist that will suck the life right out of you, and did what was in my heart. And although, no one will probably ever hear most of what I/we did during those few years in New York City, I think that it is still, to this day, the best work that I've ever done. Now it's definitely not for everyone, it's actually on the light side of the pop/rock spectrum, but it's musical and melodic, and I'd love for people to hear it one day and decide for themselves if it is as good as I think it is. After, that I spent a number of years selling guitar to make a living and played in a bunch of local New York bands, most notably a guy named John Eddie's band, John had a deal with Columbia I believe in the 80s and actually had a hit with a sing called 'Jungle Boy'... remember that one? Anyway, I gave up on New York and the music business in 2000 and moved to London with my wife and 1 year old daughter Georgia, only to move back to Boston after two very long years in the England, and have been living here and attending college ever since. My God, that was a long winded answer to a simple question. 2. How come it took this long to get the second album out? The new record took so long to make because, not long after agreeing with Magnus, who was with MTM at the time, my life got very busy. First my wife and I had our first child; a little girl named Georgia, and then decided to move to London, which is where my wife is originally from. So, needless to say, I was heavily involved in some other things and finding the time to spend in Texas with David Prater was not at the top of my list of things to do. Also, Magnus was making the move from MTM to Atenzia, and it was really hard for me to consider making the record for a label that Magnus wasn't involved with, because, quite frankly, without Magnus we wouldn't be talking about a new Diving for Pearls record, it just would not have happened, full stop. 3. Please tell us a bit about the new album, where you recorded it, how long you worked on it, the writing process etc! The new record, 'Texas' was recorded last year - (2004) - in Allen, Texas over the course of about 5-8 weeks, although we did do a little bit of recording here in Massachusetts as well. Anyway, it was in pre-production for a few years before we actually started recording - but for many reasons, one of which was moving to London with my wife - we had a difficult time getting going. It wasn't until I moved back to the United States, in 2002, that David and I were actually able to schedule time together and get underway. All of the songs were written before we began recording, the only exception being the lyrics on 'Thought About You''. Although, some of the arrangements changed pretty dramatically once we began, David had a very clear idea of what he wanted to do production wise from the very start. As far as the writing is concerned, I wrote all the songs save sans one, 'If I only Knew" was written by some old friends of mine, Ron Baldwin and Fred Mahr. Most, but not all, were either written with my Diving for Pearls collaborator Jack Moran, or Elliot Easton, with whom I was involved with, in another project called "Band if Angels' following the Diving for Pearls break-up in 1991-1992. 4. Tell us a bit about each song: Tell you a bit about each song... Okay, but only a little bit. Thinking about things... 'Thinking 'bout things', Is only partly a love song, it started out as a song about all the dirty bastards in the music business, but you don't want to get me started on that... I thought about you 'Thought About you' is just your basic love song, we've all had those moments... day dreaming. The truth is Once again, a love song, something most of us have lived through, once or twice. If I only knew It's all about life and what to do with it, what's important, and what's not. Baby come down 'Baby Come Down/High Horse' you love her, and you want her but she's into some other things. The colours show People and things are not always what they seem to be. But, in the end our true colours show through and the truth is revealed. I will get over you Sometimes the only thing to do is to just let go. Broken man 'Broken Man' it's how I feel most of the time... but, my kids make it all okay. Heaven only knows A love song lyrically inspired by the Beach Boys, 'God Only Knows'... kind of... The sweetest sin A bitter sweet song...I can only hopes that you've all had a relationship like the one that inspired this lyric. Lonely is the dark A song about my father, who passed away in 1982, if you must know! Stop The World from Turning When they're good they're really good, but when they go bad, you just want to stop the world so that you can get off. 5. How did you become a musician? How did I become a musician? Well it all started in '64 when I, like so many people of my generations, saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show - a weekly variety show that was enormously popular here in the United States in the 60s. That was all it took for me, I was hooked from that day on, long hair and guitars were all that I cared about after that, eventful day, and truthfully I haven't really changed all that much in forty years. Needless to say, music has been an obsession for me for nearly all of my life, from the 60s British invasion, to the hard rock and punk of the 70s, to new wave and metal in the 80s and 90s... I still can't get enough. 6. What were you up to before that first DFP album back in ´89? Before Jack Moran and I started Diving for Pearls we were both in a little know Boston band called the Trademarks, who were, despite their unknown status, perhaps one of the best bands that I have ever had the good luck to have been involved with. We were a classic 80s new wave/post-punk/new romantic/techno band, we did it all, and were actually very popular on the Boston club scene. Unfortunately, that band broke up in 1984 and Jack and I, after having put together one version of Diving for Pearls in Boston, decided to make the move to New York seeking fame and fortune and good Indian food. 7. How do you work together with David Prater? Do you collaborate on songs etc? David Prater and I have always had your basic love/hate relationship. I mean at times I can't stand him, and I absolutely certain that at times he can't stand me. But, we try not to let it get in the way when we are working together. I should also say that David is extremely opinionated, he is a man that knows what he wants when it comes to the way a record should sound, unfortunately, I have some very strong opinions as well, and sometimes, not always, we disagree so strongly with one another that it boils over into heated arguments. Luckily, we're usually able to come to some sort of understanding and get back to what is important... the music. David and I collaborated a little bit this time around with actual song writing, in particular the song "I Thought About You", but more often than not, David's contributions come in the production/arrangement categories. 8. What´s your take on the music industry today, with just a few major labels, downloading and too many boy/girl-bands? What's my personal take on the music business...? Well it's not good, I shouldn't say that, here is a lot of things that are good right now, lots of really fine bands, bands worth getting really excited about. I mean the list is just too long to mention then all, but there is so much that I like right now. Bands like...The Killers, Jet, Audioslave, Greenday, My Chemical Romance, Queens of the Stoneage, The Foo Fighters, Stereophonics, Oasis, Gavin DeGraw, The Donnas, The Black Keys, The North Mississippi Allstars, U2, Coldplay, Velvet Revolver - although, I must say I liked Scott's old band much more... I could go on and on and on. There certainly is now lack of new and exciting music out there, is just that the Industry is completely upside down right now, with no apparent end in sight. It seems as though labels just don't have the time to let bands develop anymore, you either score big, right out of the box, or if you don't they immediately will stop spending money on you and drop you like a very hot potato. Unfortunately, a lot of great bands never see the light of day because they just didn't produce revenue for the labels quickly enough. It's no longer enough, unless you're on a small label, willing to take some time to let your career develop at a slower pace, to sell a few hundred thousand copies of a record, and build on that from one record to the next. You now have to be multi-platinum, or go home, and that is a real tragedy. 9. Will you tour and if so, any chances of coming to Sweden? Now, as for playing gigs, I'd hoped that the guys that helped me make the record would be able to go out and play a few gigs, and that may happen. Also, I'm in the process of putting together an official website, where I plan on making available a bunch of stuff from the Diving for Pearls archive, things like live recording, demos, the 'Gimme Your Good Lovin' ' video, etc etc etc... Along with other recordings that I done throughout the past sixteen years, some of which I think are very good. To answer your question, would I like to make another record, or when can we expect another DFP record? Of course I'd love to make another record, if people want to hear it. I'm not sure that there would be any point to making a record that no one would want to hear. So I guess if the response to this record is good I'd like very much to make another one. I mean, despite the fact that this took such a long time to finish, I really did enjoy making it. Anyway, who knows what will happen next. 10. A message for your Swedish DFP fans! Any last word... Sure, I'd just like to say that it has been a truly great honour to have been remembered so fondly by so many of you. I hope that, in time, you'll remember the new record as fondly as the first. Thanks.
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