NASHVILLE |FROM: TODD BRODGINSKI/LATHUM NELSON/MITCH SCHNEIDER
EARL SLICK
TO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM OF NEW MATERIAL IN 12 YEARS ON SANCTUARY RECORDS;
ACCOMPLISHED GUITARIST’S SOLO CD ‘ZIG ZAG’ FEATURING VOCALS BY DAVID BOWIE, ROBERT SMITH, ROYSTON LANGDON, JOE ELLIOTT AND MARTHA DAVIS;
ALBUM’S FIRST SINGLE—‘BELIEVE,’ A COLLABORATION WITH ROBERT SMITH—REACHES RADIO IN JANUARY;
U.S. TOUR WITH BOWIE KICKS OFF DECEMBER 6
Acclaimed guitarist EARL SLICK will release his new solo album ZIG ZAG (Sanctuary Records) December 9. His first album of new material in 12 years features collaborations with vocalists David Bowie, the Cure’s Robert Smith, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott, Spacehog’s Royston Langdon and Martha Davis, each of whom wrote their own melody and lyrics. The album’s first single—“Believe”, a collaboration with Smith—reaches radio in January. SLICK is currently touring the globe with Bowie’s band on “A Reality Tour,” which touches down in the U.S. December 6.
The ZIG ZAG album marks SLICK’s return as a solo performer, after having taken a few years off before returning to play with Bowie on his 2002 Heathen tour. The collaboration with Bowie on the track “Isn’t It Evening (The Revolutionary)” features mesmerizingly subtle guitar shadings which SLICK described as “weird,” saying, “For once, I’m on the other side of the glass and he’s playing on a track for me. He nailed his vocals in one or two takes and it came out great—that’s the beauty of working with David.” Meanwhile, Bowie describes SLICK’s technique as “earthly, timeless and never less than stellar.”
ZIG ZAG was produced by Mark Plati (Bowie, Duncan Sheik, Natalie Imbruglia) and includes four instrumentals. “After years of constant work, I took a much-needed break and spent some time hiding out in the High Sierras. But then I did some dates with David and felt inspired and started to write again, which I hadn’t done in a long time.” Word got out, and SLICK co-wrote songs with the album’s guests.
The variety of voices woven throughout ZIG ZAG lends depth and resonance to SLICK’s searing guitar work, be it Royston Langdon floating an airy melody over the meaty rhythm of title track or Martha Davis painting a trippy picture of New York City’s east village on the spiraling “St. Mark’s Place.” Main Cure man Robert Smith adds a cool melodic breeze to lead single “Believe,” while Joe Elliott amplifies the dark and dangerous “Psycho Twang.” “Each vocalist wrote his or her own melodies and lyrics,” says Slick. “Some of them got really rough demos from me and still managed to come up with amazing ideas. They really helped make this a unique record.”
Introduced to Bowie by composer Michel Kamen, the then 22-year-old SLICK was invited to join Bowie’s group and played guitar on three of his groundbreaking mid-‘70s albums (David Live, Young Americans and Station To Station). That collaboration led to a solo career and collaborations with artists including John Lennon (SLICK played guitar on 1980’s Double Fantasy album), Ian Hunter, David Coverdale and the band Phantom, Rocker and Slick (with ex-Stray Cats Jim Phantom and Lee Rocker). SLICK’s solo albums include several studio and live recordings. In a review of his 1976 solo debut, Rolling Stone magazine described his technique as “relentlessly emotional.”
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