Interview: Dave Sharp, The Alarm

SHARP TUNING

ALARM guitar man Dave Sharp is currently on the road with a backing band of Yankee Hillbillies and a set of songs more akin to the days of WOODY GUTHRIE and early BOB DYLAN. His first solo album is now on sale over here and was produced by Bob Johnstone, a country giant renowned for his work with JOHNNY CASH, WILLIE NELSON, and the legendary ELVIS (no, not the one in DREAD ZEPPELIN).

In the last year Dave has travelled the States with guitar in hand and played one-nighters to a handful in out-of-town bars and found himself doing a benefit show to an audience of a million on a live radio broadcast. Few can match him for positivity, he's constantly enthusiast over various possibilities and is keen to create "greater awareness within civil and political spheres." He's an active environmentalist, a justice seeker, and a man, it seems, urgently trying to get something across. Meeting for a beer I probe his motives and try to clarify his foreseeable future.

With you releasing your first solo album and the departure of Mike Peters what future does the alarm now have?

"Since the infamous gig at Brixton where Mike announced his departure, I've been talking to Eddie, and we're off like mind. We started so we must finish. We haven't achieved what we set out to achieve by any standard so we've decided to carry on. The spirit of the alarm is very much alive! Mike's departure has put a seal on a certain chapter but we are going to continue the message off the alarm and will announce shortly what we're going to do."

I've heard talk of Mike changing his mind and returning. Is that likely?

"Very unlikely."

How are you going about looking for a new vocalist?

"We are not. Eddie and I are writing songs together, and we're going to be doing the singing. We'll draft in some extra musicians to fill in the gaps at a later stage."

Touring, as you are, for six months with your own band, don't you think this extra workload will hinder getting The Alarm back on the road?

"Not at all. I see this has an ongoing project. At the end of the change tour Mike told me he didn't want to tour again and said he didn't want to make another record for two years. At that point I decided to pack a bag and my guitar and head off for NYC. I found myself in Greenwich Village and was quite distressed at what I saw. There were people living in the street and I was hustled by a 12-year-old trying to sell me crack. My eyes were opened to a lot of things. I found myself with a wider field of vision and started to write around my experiences. People were soon asking me to help out in things and I got heavily involved with Earthday, an environmental movement in America, and gradually became more concerned with civil rights and political issues. I guess, from that time on, this project was always going to run in parallel with The Alarm."

You seem to have played everywhere and anywhere in the States.

"It started off in the best Woody Guthrie hobo tradition traveling America in a car with a couple of guitars. I ended up playing in cafes, bars, etc, doing fundraisers and benefits right onto touring with SUZANNE VEGA and MARIANNE FAITHFUL. It all happened by accident, I had no scheme or plan In a sense, I became immersed in life. I got into a lot of things that I'd become oblivious to, touring in a rock'n'roll band."

You've got yourself an interesting backing band. How did that come about?

"I was asked to come along and see a band in a bar in New Jersey, and, when I walked in, I saw three howlin' hillbillies banging and yelling on stage. I was just knocked out with what they were doing, they really communicated with a positive energy. I just went up to them and asked if I could join in for a couple of numbers, there was an instant chemistry. Before long they were in the Hit Factory in New York with me and we put the whole electric side of the album down in 12 hours."

What about the acoustic side

"A few hours after finishing I flew with Bob Johnstone and our engineer Tom Flye [GRATEFUL DEAD] to Nashville and we completed the rest of the album out there. The whole thing was finished within a week. I'm not the sort of person who takes long about anything, I like to move fast. I wrote some songs, someone wants to record them, what's the big deal? I'm not going to spend six months in a studio worrying about them."

Are you happy with the result?

"I'm really pleased. It sounds like me and the Hillbillies. It was a great experience working with Bob, I felt he really liberated me in the studio. The music I make is fluid and it demands to be recorded that way, and he exposed me to a new way of recording. I was striving to do that for years with The Alarm, but we never succeeded. I wouldn't write off anything we've done in the past, I'm really proud of it, but in Bob Johnsone I found a producer who could really let me loose. I feel totally at ease recording now which is a great feeling."

Will you continue to make solo albums?

"Very much so. I also feel there is a lot I can do on a solo basis that I can bring back into the alarm. At present I've got a second album written and should be in the studio next year."

What about the next Alarm album?

"Eddie and I are working in between times while I'm doing this, but it's still too early to say. There is a possibility of something coming out in the later stages of next year."

Do you think it will be much different from previous works?

"It will be radically different. It's going to be phase two of The Alarm. We went as far as we could with the old structure, and we were beginning to repeat ourselves. We'll be coming back with a new frame of mind and a new kind of energy. I think it's going to be a refreshing difference for people."

You've been involving yourself in a wide range of issues and causes. Do you think people will start to see you as a crusader?

"No, 'cos I'm not on a crusade. There's just a hell of a lot of things going on in the world and I feel by bringing some attention to issues, by playing music, I'll at least be doing something positive. It's the easiest thing in the world sitting down and waiting for someone else to do something, but it doesn't work like that. If you want something to happen you've got to make it happen. I've seen first hand in America and other countries in Europe how people can get together and organise themselves. I'm sure there are people over here doing things, but from what I've seen there's not enough of it going on. By taking my Medicine Show on the road, I hope to throw the right energy out and motivate people. This isn't about some geezer trying to promote his album, it's about sharing experiences and getting things organised."

If you feel like landin' an ear and receiving a dose, Dave is currently on the road here in the UK and will be so until the end of October.

Mike Harris
Riff Raff
September 1991

Share on Google Plus