Earl Slick Clinic: April 15, 2009

In the world of rock ‘n’ roll, Earl Slick’s a guy who’s been around the block. This legendary guitarist’s work has been featured on numerous Number One and Top Ten singles, not to mention a Grammy-winning album. He’s toured the world several times, has recorded with artists such as John Lennon and Ian Hunter, and now has four of his own solo albums under his belt.

But perhaps Slick’s biggest claim to fame is his continuing relationship with David Bowie; a relationship that, after three full decades, is still going strong. Slick started performing with Bowie back in 1974 right after David left not only his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust behind, but his own band The Spiders From Mars (featuring Mick Ronson on guitar) as well.  He’s performed on three previous Bowie tours (1974′s Diamond Dogs and The Soul Tour, as well as the immensely successful Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983).  Although Slick fell out of the music business during much of the ’90s, he’s now back in the spotlight again with high-profile appearances on both Bowie’s Reality album and world tour. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also just released his first solo effort since 1992 entitled Zig Zag, an engaging album filled with both riveting instrumental tracks and vocal numbers featuring a wealth of talented singers (The Cure’s Robert Smith, Spacehog’s Royston Langdon, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot, The Motels’ Martha Davis and even Slick’s longtime boss).
Livewire’s Tony Bonyata managed to track down Earl in-between his hectic tour schedule long enough to sit down over coffee to discuss his new album, some of his favorite guitarists, the large “empty spots” in his memory bank (aka the ’70s) and the reason why Mr. Bowie will probably never lose his telephone number.

Thanks to Larry DiMarzio for bringing Earl into Music Villa for what will be one of our most exciting clinics to date!