Wie muss es sich wohl anfühlen, wenn man als Gründungsmitglied bei einer Band dabei ist, auch einen gewissen Erfolg mit ihr verbuchen kann, sie jedoch aus welchen Gründen auch immer nach ziemlich kurzer Zeit wieder verlassen muss? Gewiss tut das der Künstlerseele weh. Doch was empfindet man, wenn besagtes Projekt wenige Zeit später auch noch zu einem Senkrechtstarter und Wegweiser für zukünftige Rock-Generationen wird? Freut man sich dann für seine ehemaligen Kollegen? Versucht man dem Projekt auf Krampf wieder beizutreten, oder irgendwie von und im Schatten seiner Publicity zu leben?
Um Antworten auf diese Fragen zu bekommen, schauen wir doch mal nach Australien! So gut wie jeder kennt AC/DC und davon untrennbare Namen, wie Malcolm Young, Angus Young, Bon Scott oder Brian Johnson. Das ist ja sonnenklar, dass diese Namen mehr als gut bekannt sind. Doch wer kennt heute noch zum Beispiel Dave Evans? Im Interview erzählt uns der Sänger des AC/DC-Ur-Line-Ups, wie er heute rückblickend auf seinen Ausstieg aus der Band sieht. Auch berichtet er uns davon, ob er mit seiner weiteren musikalischen Tätigkeit versuchte, im Dunste der Aussie-Rocker zu bleiben, oder ob es ihm doch wichtiger war, seinen eigenen Sound zu leben.
Gerade kürzlich erschien sein neustes Album "Revenge", auf dem er sich zu bluesigen Klängen mit John Nitzinger zünftig austoben konnte. Was die Scheibe taugt, ob es weitere Zusammenarbeiten zwischen Evans und Nitzinger geben wird und natürlich was die Zukunft sonst noch für den Altrocker zu bieten hat, das erfahrt ihr im unten stehenden Interview.
Viel Spaß beim Lesen!
The Interview:
Alex: Hi Dave, how are you doing?
Dave: Good thanks and very busy right now.
Alex: How would you personally describe the development of your musical style, since you've started as a singer?
Dave: The style of music is basically the same. Classic rock. My vocals have become stronger with the years as the body and technique developed. I remember my father telling me when I was a boy that opera singers don’t reach their peak until at least 40 years of age. My father also is a singer and loves the opera. Most rock singers do not have a long career and a lot do burn out fairly young.
Alex: When did the music actually become your life? Was there any key moment?
Dave: I left home at 16 after a huge fight with my father about having long hair and the type of music I was listening to – The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Troggs etc. And I had sung all my life in school concerts and at private parties up til then, so it was only natural that I started a band at 17 years of age and it has been my passion and my life ever since.
Alex: What would you say has been the most enlightening moment in your history as a musician? Any especially memorable anecdotes you would like to tell us?
Dave: I met some blues musicians, when I was 19 years old and they taught me all about the blues and I sang in a blues band for a while. They showed me that rock came from the blues. This started me to develop my own style instead of trying to copy other singers.
Alex: Has there been any point in your career, where you actually thought about giving up this whole music business?
Dave: LOL!! Yeah, sure. A few times especially when disco hit hard in the late 70’s and in the 90’s when grunge made such an impact. I got into acting and advertising during that time and only did a few guest spots as a singer. Early 2000 I resumed my singing career more or less on a full time basis again.
Alex: What can you tell us about your latest album „Revenge“?
Dave: I have been living mostly in Texas the last several years and met local rock/blues legend, John Nitzinger and we became good friends and had mutual respect for each others music. Johnny has not been a well man for quite a while, as he had life threatining throat cancer some years ago and then on top of that suffered a major heart attack. He came back from both of those critical illnesses and was perfroming again.
He asked me if I would like to record an album of his songs and I at once agreed as I knew this was a great honour indeed. Johny had some great new material, that he had not recorded as well as some of his earlier recorded tracks that he wanted me to put down with him. It was very exciting for everyone involved as to how the two styles would come together. It was great to work with Johnny and everyone was knocked out with the finished product.
Alex: What reactions about the new album did you get from the fans and press so far?
Dave: The reaction has been brilliant with great reviews. One 10 out of 10 and several 5 out of 5’s as the best of them. My fans love the album and rave about it.
Alex: Has there been anything special about the production process?
Dave: No not really. Everyone involved were first class operators there in Texas and it just went so smoothly and we worked in harmony with no fuss but plenty of excitement.
Alex: Are you satisfied by the results or are there maybe some things you’d have done in a different way now?
Dave: I am very satisfied and couldn’t be happier with „Revenge“.
Alex: Generally, how is you songwriting process done? Is it like actually composing them or more like having a large-scale jam session?
Dave: I usually get the chorus or hook together first and then write the verses to justify the chorus and then look at riffs to go with the song.
Alex: What’s the intention behind your music? Do you want to transport a certain message – or different ones in different songs? Or is it more like pure entertainment?
Dave: Each song has a message or story, mostly drawn from real life experiences and some are just pure rockin‘ fun.
Alex: Can the fans expect more collaborative material from you and Nitzinger?
Dave: Maybe. I know Johnny has a heap of songs and I have a few that have been hanging around for a while that need to be recorded. It depends on how things pan out with our respective careers and time. We did speak about it but at the moment I have another recording project that I am working on with American song writer / producer, David Mobley and I have put down a couple of tracks already. I hope to finish that album later this year.
Alex: Where do you see the development or differences when comparing this album to your earlier ones?
Dave: This one has more a blues and Texas rock influence and someone described the album as AC/DC meets Alice Cooper deep in the heart of Texas. Johnny is a former Alice Cooper guitarist and toured with the Special Force act with Alice and helped to write an album with him – „Zipper Catches Skin“.
Alex: The rock scene seems to have opened up a little bit genre-wise. There are a lot of bands touring with a support from a completely different style of music, for example. Still, the classic rock/hard rock scene seems to rather stay in private. Would you agree? What's the reason for that?
Dave: That’s how it used to be way back. When I was a teenager I used to see bands touring from the UK with totally different styles and their own sounds. Great concerts with great variety of music. I toured in Europe with Amercian Southern rockers Molly Hatchet, some years ago with the Dave Evans Band and everyone loved the concert with two different styles of rock music. People were saying that they got two concerts for the price of one.
Alex: Currently, a lot of bands have a quite hard time to get their concert halls sold out, especially in rock and metal music. How do you make people come and watch you live on stage?
Dave: Publicity and advertising is a must, but that is a cost of course. But all the major acts are hyped up in the press on tv and on radio plus interviews before the show etc. A band has to have a gimmick of some kind. AC/DC still has the schoolboy thing.
Slash wears a big hat and glasses and is easily recognisable. A band usually has to have a signature of some kind. The Beatles had long hair and wore Beatle suits. Of course the music has to be good, too, but the trick is to be recognised or have a signature of some kind that others will promote for free in their magazines etc.
Alex: Let's talk about your time with AC/DC! Do you regret your departure of the band?
Dave: I regret that it ended up with me the way it did. We were all friends and so upvibe and rockin‘ at first, but with young egos and headstrong personalities clashing, it was a relief when I finally split. There were also major management problems, which made matters worse. I have had a long and amazing career and a lot of others have not lasted the distance. I have been fortunate since AC/DC to have kept performing, recording and touring around the world with other bands and as a solo artist. I am touring at present and am recording another new album.
Alex: Do you try to link your current sound to the old days with AC/DC? Or is it more about keeping the past out of your current work?
Dave: I have never copied AC/DC and have always maintained the Aussie classic rock sound of strong hook lines and strong riffs and no nonsense rock. I don’t own any AC/DC albums and only know the more popular of their songs since my time with them.
Alex: As one can read, you canceled AC/DC shows without any understandable reasons just short time before the concerts. Is that true or just one of those crazy rumors?
Dave: That is not true at all and that makes me prickle. When we were touring at the height of our success with our hit single „Can I Sit Next To You, Girl?“, our manager had booked us sometimes doing three shows a day/night. A lunch time show plus and early night and a late night show. It was a very heavy schedule and during that tour my voice just gave out and I could not talk at all. I could not sing again for a few days and that is all.
Alex: How much of a deal is music in your very own live? Do you sometimes listen to your own songs?
Dave: Music has been my life and still is. I don’t play my albums as a „sit down and listen to them“ as I am performing a lot of the songs, as it is and I am very familiar with all the tunes and I hear a lot of them on facebook and elsewhere as friends do play them sometimes when I am in their company.
Alex: What's up next for your future?
Dave: I have to finish touring in Europe and then back to the USA to finish my new album.
Alex: Now it's up to you to leave some final greetings for the fans out there!
Dave: Keep it Rock!!!!!!
Moderation: Alexander Kipke
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