Interview: David Glen Eisley & Earl Slick, Dirty White Boy

Eisely and Slick

COOOOL CATS...

"I think we've played it down more than any of those bands. And to come to the defence of those bands, if I'm going to put together a band, and I've been on the road with DAVID BOWIE, on and off since 1974, where am I going to be able to get a singer who's going to be able to keep up with me, to write with me, and to perform with me, you know."

Thus states guitarist Earl Slick, currently residing in current Polydor signings DIRTY WHITE BOY, and previously seen strumming along with the likes of David Bowie, JOHN LENNON, and JOHN WAITE, to name but a few.

"Another reason we downplay it is because of the natural progression of how it all came together. It was so unpremeditated, not like, 'Oh let's put Dave Eisley with Earl Slick!'"

"No one would have ever thought about this line up," adds vocalist David Glen Eisley, last seen wrapping his Golden Larynx around GUIFFRIA's impressive pump like AOR.



The pair are in the country with the other two members of Dirty White Boy ex-AUTOGRAPH drummer Keni Richards and bass player F. Kirk Alley to do the usual press rounds concerning their most impressive LP Bad Reputation, but perhaps more importantly, they've just played their British debut at the Marquee the previous night. It's an event that has gone extremely well and the boys are happy!

"I never thought, 'Oh wow, everyone's gonna think this is cool, cause it's Slick, Me and Kenny,'" Eisley says. "The whole thing was a day-to-day progression. It was like dating somebody. The way we found each other and bumped into each other, it was so off the cuff. When we first met up, it was great, and it just grew from there. It wasn't like a 'sign on the dotted line and we're a band now' thing."

Perhaps the most important factor for Dirty White Boy's credibility is the fact that they've come to this country and played a show.

"Being here in England, and quiet here, there's a big difference between the English people and those in America," Eisley points out. "That Joe off the street in America isn't like a Joe off the streets over here. He's looking over the fence to see if Bob over here is digging on these guys before he'll commit himself. Over here you like it or you don't. We got up on stage and we really felt like, 'Well here goes!; And it was a fair shake for us to play and for you guys to see us. I think we all had a real good time."

But bearing in mind the overcrowded hard rock scene these days, what realistic chance did these boys think they had of making it?

"It's up to those people on the other side of that door," says a straight-faced Eisley, "motioning to the door that separates ourselves and the rest of the Polydor record company. "That's really the bottom line, because we'll deliver the goods."

"I think we'll be okay," interjects Slick. "In the overall scheme of things, we are sitting somewhere near the end of the heap. That comes from the overall experience in the band, which means we're going to get attention that other people aren't going to get. People may resent us for that but I've worked my ass off all these years, so I can sit here now and get taken seriously with a new band. We've earned it."

With the band set to head out on tour in the States before returning to these shores at a later date, the fact that they actually bothered to play here in the first place says a lot for the bands attitude. Already repaid in the fact that many have flocked out to buy Bad Reputation. As long as those on the other side of that door at Polydor do the right thing, we should see the steady rise of Dirty White Boy, a band giving big-named American bands a very good reputation indeed.

Jerry Ewing
Riff Raff
July 1990

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