DEC. 7 -- When he's not our NY Rock Culture Examiner, Jeff Slate is a professional musician who has been leader of The Badge. Slate was also involved in a tribute to George Harrison in the UK a couple of years ago.
Now he's put out his first solo track in 15 years called "Dreamtime" that's available through Amazon.com and iTunes.
For the track, Slate enlisted the help of a couple of familiar names -- guitarists Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick, both of whom have played with John Lennon. Also involved are Alex Alexander on drums, Scott Sherratt on bass and Gail Ann Dorsey and Bethany Weimers on backing vocals. The song was produced by Slate and primarily recorded at Germano Studios in New York City.
"It all began with me talking to Scott Sherratt about reuiniting our teenage band the Mindless Thinkers to do some recording," Slate says. "I had about a dozen songs together for that project, but I was really focused on getting my solo album together and didn't really want to feel like I was going backwards. I had a couple of tracks I just couldn't get out of my head, though, and I heard them as more than just the old three-piece Mindless Thinkers sound. So I got ahold of Earl Slick and he jumped on board.
"Then I said to the drummer, Alex Alexander, 'I really hear Carlos Alomar on this track, too.' And Alex just said, 'Well, call him up!' And Carlos joined up as well. It's probably the first time Slick and Carlos have played together since "Station To Station" or at least Bowie's Serious Moonlight tour, so that was a gas. And once those guys were on board everything took off. Working with Slick and Carlos was like some fantastic dream," Slate says.
He said Slick called him after the session, telling him how much he enjoyed doing it and how much he'd like to play with him again and even referenced his work with John Lennon. During their sessions, Slick had talked about what it was like working with him.
"Once in a while, you get the look," he said Slick told him. "You know, over the glasses, the kind of squinty 'Hard Day's Night' look. And (Slick) could tell if (Lennon) liked it, didn't like it or whatever." He calls those conversations like being "a fly on the wall."
He summed up working with the two musicians by saying, "There's nothing better."
There will be another single featuring the same line-up, says Slate, followed by the release of his solo album in 2011.
RELATED READING:
Comments