David Glen Eisley, best known as singer in Giuffria and Dirty White Boy expands on his singing career and what the future holds with regard to new music and live gigs.
Who were your influences in the early days and have you always wanted to be a singer in a band?
Way back when I studied drums and that’s what I thought I’d be doing. My drumming Pal was Jeff Porcaro, who was a year younger than me but from the same neighbourhood, RIP (Toto). We’d go see drummers together, play at each other’s houses, just hang around with each other and other musicians from the valley where we all lived. I was about sixteen and he around fifteen, he was a killer at that age. Anyways, any band I found myself in never really had a singer or anybody willing to sing and I sort of could or was stupid enough to THINK I could!? Therefore I by default was always the “singing drummer”. Then I taught myself guitar and piano and just got into writing my own stuff and moved out front and started putting my own bands together. My first was a huge one with horns, girl singers, all doing my stuff. We’d play for pennies but had a blast. It was much like a Mad Dogs & Englishmen type vibe, louder than shit!! But all great young players. Then I started the original Mammoth which is funny as there was another Mammoth in another town and we’d end up playing in the same shitty bars. They later changed their name to Van Halen!!! LOL! Now Wolf uses his dad’s first band name again. I knew Eddie Van Halen later in life as we lived in the same housing area up off Mulholland Drive. Actually Alex lived next door to us and their mother lived a few doors down. Eddie would be up there changing light bulbs or just helping her around the house. So if I was coming or going we’d run into each other on occasion and talk about the old days, Mammoth, beer, bars, etc.. sweet guy, gone way too fast.
Apart from the bands we know about, have you ever auditioned for the vocal spot in any other notable bands?
Yeah, a long time back Ronnie Montrose heard a tape of mine when he was putting Gamma together. I met him somewhere in L.A. where he was and there was a piano there. So I sat and played a few of my tunes he had heard and he seemed to like it and he asked me to learn a few Gamma tunes, and I did. Anyway, the day came and they flew me to San Francisco and a car picked me up and off I went to SIR Studios. I knew Denny Carmassi from the past so I thought he’d bring me a little comfort…not to be. I just sort of froze and was terribly withdrawn. It was a nightmare really, but fuck it, I could barely function! Shit happens and THAT day was too much for me I guess and the nerves just got the best of me.
You have appeared on a number of albums over the years. Do you have a favourite and why?
Yeah I’ve appeared on a number of records actually. My one platinum record was for Michael Bolton, ‘The Hunger’ which I sang on and met Jonathan Cain from Journey, unless Neal fired him! Ridiculous it’s all become. Obviously the first “real” record was the Giuffria record which was my real start and it holds a place in my heart. “Silk & Steel” had moments I’m proud of too. My first solo record, “Stranger From The Past” I quite like a lot because it was me being free and I recorded the whole thing. Ron Wikso, who’s been out with Steve Miller recently and many others, sent in some drums. Craig Goldy came in and threw some solos on and Ricky Phillips played on a tune. He’s been in Styx for fifty years now! [laughs]. My old friend Stef Ellis played some bass RIP (Eye Of The Tiger) and I thank Pat Regan for a pretty cool mix. My last record, ‘Tattered, Torn & Worn’ has some moments I like. Again it's all me, guitars, keys, vocals and background vocals with Ron on drums again and a fella called Paul “Clem” Calder on most of the guitar solos. He’s a great guy and he co-produced the record with me. Those are the ones I can find moments of “that were sort of cool”. Actually a song called “Forevermore” is ironically on Goldy’s first solo record which I consider not only a cool song but one of my best vocal performances. Murderer’s Row, I’m pretty okay with what I did vocal wise and the writing and tracks. For that style that record kicks ass. Me, Bob Kulick RIP, Chuck Wright, Jimmy Waldo, Jay Schelling and again Pat Regan mixing. A very hybrid record as how it happened.
Any plans to release another solo album or collaborate with Craig Goldy again?
As far as working with Craig in the future I couldn’t tell you as the last experience with him was sort of a drag. A lotta weird shit was going down and said about me that I didn’t appreciate. I basically wrote an album's worth of sketches and I never really saw him for months at a time. NADA…so Paul who I mentioned put some roughs together as the record company was getting pissy (18 months of Bullshit). Then they wanted us to send it all to them to fuck up even more, which they did! We sent them a ball of knitting yarn, so too bad, figure it out boys. The entire thing was a nightmare! I have roughs of that entire record that just shit on their final product before that added a bunch of shit that didn’t belong there. I got calls from Gregg Giuffria, Craig and Ken Mary (who by the way I love) as well as the company itself to do a third Giuffria record, but the money wasn’t really there. Gregg could not or would not provide me with any ideas to kickstart me into anything so I blew it off. We had a particular way of putting a song together that created the “Giuffria” thing and without it I just wasn’t interested. I kept asking him for a note or a chord but there was nothing really there.
Some vocalists are on strict dietary regimes or gargle with special liquids. How have you kept your voice in tip top shape all these years?
As far as my voice I will do specific exercises at any given time but as we get older it becomes a bit tougher. Sprays and gargling really do nothing as they don’t hit your cords. You know when you choke on your food, THAT is where your cords are. So unless it’s a mist or inhaler of a sort then no fucking cough drop is gonna touch your voice box. Exercise is very important which I was huge on but since covid I’ve laid back on a lot of things I love to do, baseball being my first love really.
Do you still get the same buzz out of singing live as you did in the past?
I love playing live but I have no interest in tribute bands or any of that. I would love to put my band together (DGE) and do a bunch from my past and present and go play but you need money to do that right. Rehearse, pay your guys and feel good about it. That in itself gets expensive and it’s frankly not my priority right now. Maybe sometime, but I won’t unless it’s right because it’s not fair to people coming to see you.
Are there any musicians that you have not worked with, but would like to in the future?
There’s players out there I really like but I have no aspirations to go run them down. I dig them from afar but most are gone.
Have you or would you consider producing other bands?
As far as producing others, I don’t think so, as the business is totally gone and anybody I’d want to deal with already have got their producers. I’m okay for ME but not sure I could offer anything to “the new world” production wise.
Apart from your album “The Lost Tapes” is there any unreleased recorded material from your days in the bands you’ve been involved with that could be released?
I’m slowly assembling a new record of stuff that is nothing like I’m known for. It’s very laid back and personal with a couple of rockers but it’s mostly very introspective stuff that I ned to unload. There’s about fifteen in total and I’ve got one to mix and one to totally re-cut. You’ll either get it or hate it, but it’s okay either way.
You appeared in the UK in 2015 with a revised lineup of Giuffria. Is there a possibility this could happen again?
Giuffria, in reality, I doubt it as people’s lives have changed so much besides personal and health issues for some. If it was the “real” lineup then it could be interesting.
With the live circuit back up and running, is there a possibility of seeing you perform in the UK again?
That’s where we would gravitate to as our stupid record company never brought us there back in the day. Dirty White Boy toured all over Europe and there were more Giuffria fans that Dirty White Boy ones! It was hilarious and Slick as in Earl who say “are you sure you never played here?” and I’d just shake my head NOPE!
Do you have anything else in the pipeline at the moment that you can share?
As mentioned above I’m working on some material.
Interview by Stuart Dryden
