A Conversation with Dizzy Reed – HuffPost 8.22.14

Mike Ragogna: Hey Dizzy, Guns N’ Roses DVD Appetite For Democracy 3D Live at The Hard Rock Casino was recently released. Do you think this release is a good representation of what was going on during that period of Guns N’ Roses?

Dizzy Reed: Oh, absolutely. The first residency and the last one we did were both great experiences. I think the band was firing on all cylinders. We were full throttle and I think the DVD caught it just great. It’s almost the next best thing to being there.

MR: Was there anything that surprised you when you watched it?

DR: Not so much I guess, really just the fact that there were a couple of really good shots of me.

MR: [laughs] What about the performance? Did you feel particularly “on” that night?

DR: I thought so. I thought the whole band was definitely on that night, but I think we’ve gotten to the point where we’re always on. Like I always say, if you have enough people in the band like we do, you’re going to have a good night every night. There’ve been so many times where I’ve come off stage and I go, “I don’t know, man, that was a horrible show,” and someone will say, “Oh no, man, that was a great show!” and vice versa. We always have a good show.

MR: There are segments of Guns N’ Roses history that really bring out different aspects of the band. What is it about the Use Your Illusion recordings that resonate with you?

DR: Just being a part of it. Up until that point, I’d just been a pretty big fan of the band. They were the biggest band in the world at that time. I had to pinch myself a few times, that’s for sure. Objectively, looking back, the band was doing what it needed to do. To grow musically, to keep that dangerous element involved, even more mass-appealing, that machine kept growing. It was all included in what the band had already done, too. It was great for me to be able to join that and I’m glad that I was able to do it successfully. I think those two records really caught a moment in time, I think it really represented a shift in music, getting away from the hair metal and rock scene that was going on in Hollywood. Some of that had a staying power but a lot of it didn’t, a lot of people were starting to see that as kind of silly, I think we put a little bit more importance back on the Sunset Strip, what it represented and what it was there to give the rest of the world in that period of time.

MR: Guns N’ Roses is certainly not over yet, but what do you think their legacy is?

DR: I think it’s just saying, “Never give up and never give in.” That’s how I see it, because we didn’t.

MR: What led up to you becoming a part of Guns N’ Roses?

DR: I think it was a natural progression. I was a big fan of the band but I was also friends with most of them. We met in a rehearsal studio while I was in a band called The Wild. Guns ‘N’ Roses moved in next to us. Since Axl is a piano player, we sort of hit it off. I remember sitting in my truck–when I still had a truck–it was his birthday and we were waiting until six in the morning so we could go to 7/11 and buy him a beer for his birthday since between two and six you can’t buy in Texas. We had enough money for a tallboy, so I bought him a tallboy for his birthday. That’s a sixteen-ounce beer, for those who don’t know. He heard me playing the keyboards one morning, I think I woke him up because he was crashed out in our studio. I was playing the song “Bad Company” by Bad Company off the record Bad Company and that just really hit him at that point in time. He said that I was going to be the guy. They needed a keyboard player and that was going to be when Use Your Illusion came out. He had this whole plan in place. You hear things like that a lot, but he stuck to his word and here I am.

MR: Do you feel that Guns N’ Roses launched you?

DR: They launched me into a whole world of almost oblivion, as well as rock ‘n’ roll. I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for Guns ‘N’ Roses, no doubt in my mind. Who knows where I’d be?

MR: And now you have an EP with The Dead Daisies, Face I Love. How did The Dead Daisies project come together?

DR: Well I was down in Australia with Guns ‘N’ Roses and we were touring with ZZ Top and Rose Tattoo which was great. In our off-nights I heard that Richard [Fortus] was going off and doing some shows with a band called The Dead Daisies. I asked him about it and he told me he was in the band. At the time it was Charley Drayton on drums, Marco Mendoza on bass and Jon Stevens was singing. Those are all guys I’d wanted to play with for a long time so I said, “hey, if you guys are ever looking for a keyboard player,” and eventually they were so they called me and I said yes and it’s been a blast ever since.

MR: What has your experience with The Dead Daisies been like so far?

DR: It’s been really enjoyable. It’s good to get back to your roots, as they say. I’m playing sort of classic-sounding rock ‘n’ roll with a really good band. Every night is very enjoyable. I feel like I get to do what I do best, play the electric piano and the Hammond, and I get to sing a little bit here and there, too. It’s been really cool. And all the musicians who have been in and out of the band since I’ve been doing it are all top of the heap. It’s really a pleasure to come out here and see these guys. We’ve been on a great tour, we did two weeks with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company which was amazing. They couldn’t have been cooler, the crowd couldn’t have been more receptive, and now the same thing is happening with Def Leppard and Kiss, the guys have been great and the crouds have been wonderful and we’ve got another two and a half weeks of this. The EP’s out now so we’re playing those songs and hearing people singing along. We get to know that people are enjoying it.

MR: The list of influences that came into The Dead Daisies include INXS, Guns N’ Roses, Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy, Ozzy Osbourne and even Billy Idol. Theoretically, that’s not supposed to mix well.

DR: I think at the end of the day, great musicians will make it work. There’s a mutual respect between all of us. Many combinations of us have played in bands before. Marco and Brian [Tichy] have worked together, Brian and I have played together, obviously Richard and I have played together, it all kind of works out. Those band all sound different, but I think we’re all cut from the same cloth. We’re not spring chickens but we grew up listening to the same stuff.

MR: I bet that included one of the EP’s tracks, “Helter Skelter.”

DR: That’s a great song. We had been doing it live and we thought, “We’re in the studio, we should lay it down,” and it turned out great.

MR: That’s had a lot of great recordings over the years, but your take on it definitely has a different energy than any other version I’ve heard before.

DR: Richard bought a new effects pedal for his guitar and I think he just wanted to try it out.

MR: Dizzy, what advice do you have for new artists?

DR: I’ll say this until the day I die, you’ve got to go out and play in front of people. Especially these days, it’s so easy to just get locked into a “project.” It’s always going to be hard to find the right people to play with, but when you do you need to go play in front of people. You need to have that feedback, you need to have that interaction. You’ll know if what you’re doing is good enough, or if what you’re doing sucks. That’s a mean way of saying it, but you need to be able to accept that. That’s a lot easier to take than someone coming in and going, “Oh, I don’t like that,” because he wants to play a different guitar part. Go out and play in front of people, keep doing that and build up your representation and your fan base that way, then you can use social media to get people to come out and see you. The proof is in the pudding at the end of the day, as they say. That’s my main advice. Practice, and when you’re done practicing, practice a little more. If you’re watching your favorite vampire TV show, practice while you’re watching that. Think about practicing while you’re eating. If you’re going to school and it’s not music school, practice when you get home and your homework’s done. Just keep practicing and playing in front of people. That’s the best advice I can give.

MR: Is that how you did it?

DR: More or less. I couldn’t make records in my living room when I was a kid, I had to work and save up money to go in and record one song in the studio and hope that it turned out okay, but it usually never did. But I practiced, I still practice, and I feel the need and importance of playing in front of other people. And by the way, most of the time that’s going to be a rewarding experience, but you also can’t let that dictate what you do. Don’t think that because your friends came to a show and were into it that the song’s perfect. You’ve got to keep growing. Ask yourself, be objective and keep growing and keep getting better. Don’t overanalyze, because you can go too far with that, too. Sometimes you have to stop and get a valued opinion of whether a song is ready to be performed or recorded and that can be from anybody. That can be your dad, that can be the dude down the street who plays basketball, or it could be your producer. Or talk to someone who knows, talk to another band who’ve had success. But yeah, that’s pretty much how I did it, and I still practice a lot. I’d be practicing right now if I had a keyboard and we weren’t talking.

MR: [laughs] Don’t want to keep you but what does the future bring for both Dead Daisies and Dizzy Reed?

DR: The Dead Daisies are going to be out with KISS and Def Leppard right up until the end of August and then it’s right into the ten-year anniversary celebration for Hookers ‘N’ Blow, we’re playing at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood and September sixth in Las Vegas and then in October we’re doing an east coast and possibly Canadian tour with Don Jamieson. It’s going to be the rocking comedy tour, it’ll be fantastic.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne