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 Where Eagles Dare.....
Spread Eagle clawed their way into the music scene by showcasing their music throughout Boston and NYC during the mid and late 80’s and after joining up with singer Ray West, bassist Rob De Luca, drummer Tommi Gallo and guitarist Paul DiBartolo delivered a rough and tumble self-entitled debut that teased our rock n’ roll palates with the hard edged “Broken City” and “Switchblade Serenade,” to the passion-laced “Through These Eyes” and the pleasingly sleazy “Spread Eagle” and “Hot Sex.”
A second helping came with the release of “Open to the Public” but to many of their fans disappointment, the banquet ended without dessert. Until now. With the recent reissue of “Spread Eagle” available through Lovember records, fans can relive the short but sweet career of this killer band as they are currently out on tour recapturing the magic that ran rampant on their debut record. Bassist and co-founder, Rob DeLuca, chewed the fat with GlamMetal a few hours before taking the stage in Boston. We talked about the early days, what made Spread Eagle stand out over other bands of the era, the current tour and believe it or not, Rob’s faith in the second coming of Axl W. Rose and Guns ‘n Roses.
Now, keep in mind this was phone interview, so he couldn’t read my lips. (Only “true” Spread Eagle fans will get that one… hee hee!)
Hi Rob, How you doin?
Good! How you doin?
I’m great, thank you. Aren’t you guys playing tonight?
Yeah, were playing in Boston. We’re goin’ on about 10.
So, tell us how did the reunion come about, who called who and whatnot?
Reunion? Well, I’m sittin’ with all the guys right here, so if I say anything that’s untrue, they’re gonna look at me ya know? But, I think Ray (West) was talking about the reunion a couple years ago. Ray was the first person to bring it up and then we have a mutual friend, who is our tour manager, Ray Freeman, and he was sort of pushin’ for it to. Ray (West) was mentioning Chris Cafferty on guitar, even like a couple years ago.
How have the first few shows gone over?
Great, we’re having a really good time. It’s fun music to play. We all agree on that.
Are you doing all Spread Eagle material, or are you throwing in other stuff and/or covers?
No we’re just doing all Spread Eagle material. We have so much stuff. We have two records and I feel that there is always gonna be someone disappointed that they didn’t get to hear a particular song so, I’d rather not do any covers yet, at least for awhile until we give them a dose of us, ya know.
Do you have anything special planned for the homecoming show in NYC on Sept 1st?
It’s a Cat Club reunion show. The Cat Club was one of the main rock clubs in NYC and the guy that owned it went on to open the club we’re playing that night called Don Hills. They are choosing that as a Cat Club reunion night, they’ve only done that a few times.
So, it’s a pretty big deal.
Will there be any footage shot for a future DVD or any recording for a live record down the road?
We’re talking about it. We wanna get this first one under our belts and just get used to doin’ it again but, with this bunch of guys, and then start thinking about things like that.
Have any plans for a new Spread Eagle record been kicked around?
Were definitely open to it. We talked just a little bit about it and it would be great. I think if things keep going the way they’re goin I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t.
Awesome! Let’s go back to the beginning. Why did you choose to base in NYC over LA, where the scene was breaking? Were you all originally from the city?
We were from all over the place. Ray is originally from NYC. The drummer was from Plymouth, Mass. I’m from Wilmington, Delaware and the original guitar player was from north of Jersey.
How did you all hook-up?
The three of us were in a band in Boston. Ray was in NY, in another band that was really popular. We just kinda like melded into one. We had a good working relationship, the three of us, cause we had been playing together for 4 years by the time we met Ray.
How long were you together before being signed to major label?
‘Bout three months.
Really?
Yep. We were pretty far developed in what we were trying to do, we just didn’t have the right singer. So as soon as we got Ray…the story’s on our MySpace page, and it’ true, cause I wrote it. We got Ray, we started rehearsing and people just started calling!
At this point Rob is distracted by multiple fits of laughter in the background…seems the guys in the band were picking on him for something he did not wish comment on. hmmm? Anyway, back to business…
It went quick. It’s not like we just picked up a guitar and all of the sudden we’re on MTV. We showcased for years and years, with another singer. He just wasn’t the right guy. We were living in Boston and flying or driving to NY all the time showcasing, but it just wasn’t happenin’ with this guy and everyone was telling us all we needed was the right singer. Which I guess was true because as soon as we got Ray, it made sense musically (to me).
Tell me about the song “Though These Eyes? Did you write the lyrics for that?
Yes I did.
Is there a special meaning behind it?
Um…I mean it’s pretty literal. Everyone writes a couple of songs where they’re kinda like…sad…whatever…I don’t want to think negative, but ya know, like, they’re venting.
So it’s autobiographical in a way?
Yeah, absolutely. We became a product of our surroundings very quickly. We were all together, roughing it for a while, in Boston (not in NY).
What happened after you guys disbanded in the mid 90’s? Did everyone go their separate ways, go on to other projects and did anyone have to get a “day job” at any point?
Yeah. I’ve worked many day jobs. All of us have. Let’s see…Ray moved to Florida to write with some people down there. The drummer, Tommy, I’m not sure of. The drummer on the second record, John Macaluso, he went on to play with TNT and Yngwie Malmsteen. I went on to play with Joan Jett. She was great. Then George Lynch and most recently, Sebastian Bach.
Did you write or record any material with Sebastian at all?
No.
Do you have any plans to do that while out on tour with him in September?
No set plans, but anything can happen.
Any comments on the “Supergroup” reality show?
I didn’t get a chance to see it that much to be honest with you.
What do you think about those shows in general, like the Supernova thing?
I don’t watch TV that much. I’ve seen Supernova twice for about minutes each time, and I thought it was really dumb both times. I like the people involved…the bands… I respect them immensely! It’s just the premise of the show...it doesn’t come across to me that it’s something that’s…um…
Credible?
Yeah. Credible. That’s a good word.
Over the years what bands, maybe that you’ve toured with, do you look up to or recall as being cool, etc?
We didn’t tour with that many bands actually. Instead of getting the big tours, we just kinda headlined the big clubs and theaters most of time. So, that’s a tough question to answer. Myself, personally, Axl Rose was great to tour with, but that’s a whole different thing.
Care to elaborate on that?
He was just a class act. He’s incredibly, incredibly talented and focused and “on” always… performing at the consistently high level he does, just a really nice guy, very personable, very happy. Not the lunatic that everyone made him out to be, in my eyes, at all.
That’s interesting. Do think that everything is gonna finally come together for him with the release of the record coming up?
Yes, things are gonna come together. The record is gonna be huge. I heard a bunch of the songs live very night and they’re incredible. That record is gonna bring it all back…huge. At least with them, I’m not sure about who else, I think it depends on the instance. If a band comes out with good record and they are from that era, I think they could do well, but if they come out with shit I think people will forget about them.
What else would you still like to accomplish in your own career as a musician?
I would like to keep doing the Spread Eagle thing. I’m enjoying playing with Ray West again after all these years. The drummer did most of the “Open to the Public” record, so he’s been a friend of mine for a long time and I really enjoy playing with him. But, Ray and I have a bond from before we were signed, so that’s pretty special.
When you were apart, did you and Ray keep in contact regularly?
We definitely kept in contact. We never had any problems with each other. We’ve always been really good friends. I guess there were times, when he moved to Florida, where I didn’t talk to him much, but we always were there, just a phone call away.
Cool. Are there any other interests you dabble in besides music and recording?
Um…not much. No. I mean, someday I’d like to try some other things like painting.
I’m really interested in it. But to do anything, you gotta really do it right, and I don’t have a lot of time for it.
Any thing you’d like to say to the Spread Eagle fans and our Glam Metal readers?
I’d like to say thanks for liking the band. I think we really did have something very special, unfortunately though, for only short period of time.
Do you blame that at all on the record company or something you might have done differently looking back on it now?
That’s kind of an opening for a cheap shot. It’s hard to say that the record company wasn’t involved in some way in us forgetting who we were and changing beyond what we were special for. The thing that I LOVE about Spread Eagle, and the thing that most people were so passionate about and also love is when we came out, people used to say, “they are not like a “band,” they are more like a roving street gang.” But we could play. It would’ve been one thing if we were all image and we just totally sucked, cause there were a lot of bands that were like that, ya know? But, we could play, here’s guys who have gone to music school and stuff, but we also lived it. There were all those bands who dressed the part, but they didn’t really live it. We had the best of both worlds. We knew about music and we knew about songwriting, but we also lived in the most seedy part of New York City and everything kinda happened. It was a magical thing. It came together and it was a beautiful thing. I think the beginning of the demise was we kinda forgot what was special about us, and this at least is my opinion; I’m sure the other three guys have similar or different ones, regardless, when we forgot what was special about the band, at that point it died… quickly.
Getting back to your question, what I’d like to say to the fans, is that I agree for a little while there we had something that was absolutely incredible and we are trying to respect that with this tour. Even though we don’t have our original guitar player, we have great guitar player, Chris Cafferty. We are trying to bring back that “feeling.” At least in “us” and we know that’ll translate to the fans.
The fans can always feel it when it’s real, believe me! Is there any one song that comes to mind that reflects certain experiences that may have been going on at the time where, as you say, you were “living it?”
The song “Broken City” where I think everyone who likes Spread Eagle, loves that song. Every word is true. The words, “I got rats in the kitchen, rippin’ up the trash, cold wind blowin’ down my back, straight through shattered glass.” That was our apartment. We were living all together. It got to the point where that became cliché. You’re struggling and you got rough times. At the time it didn’t seem like every band had that attitude. This was before like Poison and Warrant started dressing like tough guys, ya know what I mean? (laughter) It was when there were two separate factions of people who were really roughin’ it. They were tough and from the streets and their music reflected that. Then it got to the point where all the “prettiest” bands saw that that was marketable and they jumped on the bandwagon too. But like I said earlier, we were really living that. Like the song “Broken City,” we had a broken window out in the winter with a piece of wood propped up against it, it was crazy, but we rehearsed every single day and we were determined, so I think that tune is very autobiographical and special.
That’s what comes through, the passion of living through that, those emotions come through in the song. I think when people come to hear you play, finding that magic, like you said, that’s gonna still be there, because you can tap back into that time in your life easily.
Absolutely, because when we were doing that, it wasn’t necessarily just selling a product.
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Like it wasn’t contrived, it was really a part of your experience.
Right. We were the first band doing that, but we were definitely doing that before it became like “Okay now, how many tattoos can you get? How tough can you be? How much drugs can you do? How many times can you get arrested, or least ACT like you’ve been arrested?” I mean, believe me, we didn’t want to get arrested, but we were living
in Alphabet City, and there was bands who that were squeaky clean, and all of the sudden they started dressin’...what happened was every band started to look the same. You couldn’t tell Warrant from Spread Eagle, which was insane, because you couldn’t get two more different bands in the world. That was the beginning of the end and musically we forgot what we were about. But, I’m glad that we are where we are right now and I’m excited for this tour. We also reissued the record. It was remastered by Universal and resissued by Lovember Records/Universal Music. We’re excited cause, it sounds so much better remastered.
So if anyone needs to replace their old vinyl or cassette now they can?
Yeah and the reason that made us start thinking about the reissue was because used ones were going for like $75 on Ebay. Now you can get it from www.LovemberRecords.com .
You’re doing about 12 dates on this run and then going out with Sebastian for a few shows in China and Australia. Are there plans to return and do additional Spread Eagles shows?
I would say definitely. We don’t have a projected schedule, but I would say definitely and it would be really great to do it as early as November, but we’ll see.
Awesome! Well, kick ass tonight in Boston, and I’m looking forward to seeing you on the 1st at Don Hills, that should be a killer show and if I bring you a Glam Metal t-shirt what size do you wear?
A medium. We are skinny rock and roll guys!
Rob, thank you. Best of luck to both, you and Spread Eagle.
Really nice talking to you Tracey, take care.
Order the Spread Eagle reissue and check out tour dates at www.lovemberrecords.com or www.myspace/spreadeaglenyc |
