Former 70's glam rock icon Michael Des Barres has definitely crammed many lives into his sixty four years. His recording and performing career spans out over an impressive four decades and the British born Marquis has toured the world countless times over with his seminal rock outfits Silverhead and Detective in the 70's, as well as a brief stints in the rock super groups Chequered Past and The Power Station in the mid 80's. He rubbed shoulders and shared a record label with the mighty Zeppelin and married one of the most famous groupies on the rock 'n roll circuit, Miss Pamela from the GTO's.
Michael has also continued to pursue his acting career which preceded his wild and crazy roller coaster ride in the music business. "I was watching the Olympics the other night and one of my friends on Facebook said that To Sir, With Love was on, which was this movie that I made when I was sixteen. So there I was in 1967on the television with my shades on. I turned around and looked at myself in one of my golden mirrors and said to myself 'Michael you're still wearing sunglasses' [laughs]. I thought what a wonderful life. I've just gone from one pair of shades to another".
While he has had his fair share of ups and downs, both personally and professionally over the last forty years, at this stage in his life he sounds like he couldn't be happier. "Everything is just fantastic", he says. "I've got this show NCIS, which I had no idea was such a huge show, it's so exciting. Everything is exciting, I'm just in this state of excitement, with the record, which gives me this incredible feeling of...working." The new record Michael is referring to is his latest release entitled Carnaby Street, which is named after the famed street in London where he hung out in the latter half of the swinging 60's. The new album, which seemed to come out of nowhere, contains ten, high octane, kick ass tracks that if anything, demonstrates that his passion for the music, is seemingly more alive now that it ever has been.
I recently had a chance to catch up with Michael as he was in full-on press mode to promote the new album. We discussed how the new album came to be, as well as the recently completed reunion shows with Silverhead, his memories of both the Power Station and Chequered Past, and how he abruptly conquered his substance abuse issues over thirty years ago. Read on to find out more about the incomparable Michael Des Barres.
Ryan: First of all I want to say congratulations on the new album Carnaby Street. I think my colleague Jeb Wright hit the nail on the head when he said in his review that "the album came out of nowhere and is a really nice surprise". I love how it has the best of both worlds, in that it harkens back to a time of real music and yet it sounds fresh at the same time.
Michael: That's brilliant because that's exactly what I wanted.
Read on...
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