Deen Castronovo Discusses The Dead Daisies, Journey, and How He’s Grateful To Be Alive

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak with legendary drummer, Deen Castronovo. Deen has a jam packed schedule this week as him and The Dead Daisies began their US Tour last night in Cleveland, OH. He also celebrates his birthday tomorrow (Friday, August 18th). As you will read in the interview, Deen has plenty to celebrate as he just over 3 years sober and is loving life right now with The Dead Daisies. Read on and enjoy!

LRI: Hello Deen!!!

Deen: Shawn!! Dude.. I am so sorry I was little late man

LRI: That’s okay. No, we’re good, man.

Deen: Awesome, buddy.

LRI: Ok. First…I gotta say, welcome to The Dead Daisies. Back in November when it was announced that you were replacing Brian Tichy, I was like, “Whoa…Holy shit! They couldn’t have picked, in my opinion, a better replacement.”

Deen: Thank you.

LRI: You are welcome!

Deen: I’m having a blast, bro. I am having a blast with these guys. The chemistry is great, they’re amazing players. It’s beautiful. Like you said, couldn’t have picked a better band to be in, I’ll tell you. I’m grateful every day for this.

LRI: How did that whole thing come about?

Deen: It was funny, Brian decided that he was going to work on other things. He had some other things he wanted to do, solo record and stuff like that. And they were like, “God, who are we gonna get?” Brian said, “Get Deen Castronovo. That’s a no brainer. He’s perfect, and he sings. And drums.” Management asked Doug to reach out to me, and the funny thing … This is the story. Ted texted me and goes, “Hey, are you available?” And I went, “Yeah, for what?” He texted back, “Dead Daisies is looking for a drummer. Do you want to do it?” I’m like, “Hell, yes.” The text was, “Well, can you fly to New York to meet the band?” I said, “Hell, yes.” And that’s the way it was, dude. I flew in on a Sunday, hung out with the band all day Sunday and Monday while they were doing the writing for the new record. After that I flew home on a Tuesday and they sent the demos of the songs they wanted to record. I had three days to learn all this stuff. That’s what I did, dude. I spent three days non-stop, pacing in my house with the stereo running, learning these songs. By Saturday, I was recording and I got the drum tracks done in four days. Incredible, dude. Just an amazing process. I had a blast.

LRI: That is so awesome

Deen: Yeah.

LRI: That had to be a blast. The Dead Daisies are a great group of guys! John Corabi is a bud of mine. I just told him earlier that I would be talking to you today and he gave me a couple of questions to ask you.

Deen: Oh, Awesome!

LRI: First he told me to ask you if you eat paint chips.

Deen: (Laughs) Dude, I know. He calls me Paint Chip. I’m the crazy one in the band. He’s like, “Okay. Did you eat paint chips as a kid?” It’s awesome.

LRI: That’s funny.

Deen: Him and I are so tight, Shawn. We are so tight. I’d take bullets for every one of these guys, man.

LRI: Dude, I’ll tell you what. I’ve always said if John didn’t have a music career, he could be a friggin comedian.

Deen: Totally, bro. There’s times, man, when I first joined the band, he’d be busing my chops. He’d be throwing these one liners, literally, I’d have to leave the room because my stomach hurt. He would just keep us laughing. It was incredible.

LRI: His second question was, why you never called him back last week?

Deen: (Laughs) Actually, he and I were looking at RVs. We were going to find a big ole’ motor coach, and he bought one. He got this really wicked one. That thing is a bad mo-fo. We were talking about getting me to get one so we could travel together. Both of us. It’d be funny.

LRI: (Laughs) Nice!!!. So ok, back to the album “Burn It Down” to where you were learning those songs. How was the recording process? Were you involved in the writing process at all?

Deen: I wasn’t included. The only part that I really played is when we got into the studio, and we would dissect the songs and go, “Well, let’s change this. And let’s maybe move this around.” Basically, the band was like, “Deen, put on your Bill Ward cap!” I was like, “Okay.” I knew what vibe they were going for, what direction they were going for. I just applied my style to that, and it came out great, dude. Most of the songs were one or two takes at the most. Just go in and blaze. It came out amazing. Yeah, they had the songs already done, dude. I just came in and put my stamp on it, you know?

LRI: That’s cool.

Deen: Came out great. Yeah.

LRI: Sure did. I’ll be seeing you guys Saturday, up in Flint, Michigan at The Machine Shop.

Deen: Dude, that’s going to be awesome. Is that the 18th?

LRI: Yep. That’s Saturday.

Deen: Yep. Day after my birthday, dude. It’s going to be awesome. I’ll be celebrating it in Joliet, Illinois. The band will have a hangover. They’ll have a hangover. I’ll be drinking my Coca-Cola. It’s going to be awesome.

LRI: That’s cool. I’ll be there drinking my water (Laughs)

Deen: You go, dude. That’s it. We’re the sober guys. It’s perfect.

LRI: That’s cool. From what I read, you’ve been sober for a few years now, right?

Deen: Yes. Three years … Actually, I’ve got it on my thing. I’ve got a clean date thing that was set up through Hazelden and my probation office, that shows how many days I got. I can look at the app, I can show you. It’s great. I got three years, two months and seven days.

LRI: Wow! That’s really cool dude.

Deen: Life is amazing, Shawn! I’ll tell you, man. You get out of that hell, and you realize what’s important and I’m grateful. Dude, number one, grateful to be alive. Grateful that I’ve still got my family. My wife, my kids, everything. Grateful that I’m playing again.

LRI: It doesn’t get any better than that, man.

Deen: Exactly, bro. Exactly. That was the missing piece, was playing. I had to set it down. I really had to set it aside three years ago. This needs to be addressed. It needs to be addressed, intense!!. And that’s what I did, dude. I walked by my drum kit, “Yep. Nope, not ready yet.” Frontiers would be asking me, “Oh, do you want to do another Revolution Saints record?” “Not yet. Not ready.” Not then.

LRI: Oh, really?

Deen: Oh yeah, dude. I was not ready. It took me, right at the two year mark is when I decided, “You know what? It’s okay. Let’s go ahead and do this.” And that’s what happened. And then, within a year, I was with Dead Daisies. Incredible!!!

LRI: Glad that worked out. I love The Dead Daisies. I saw them about a year ago in a smaller club. And I saw them, the year before that was with KISS. That was just huge for me because I’m such a big KISS fan.

Deen: Dude! You are? I am such a huge KISS fan!!

LRI: I’ve read that you are. I was thinking, “Man, I bet he wishes he was on that tour a couple of years ago.”

Deen: You know what? It was probably better that I didn’t, because I’d be such a fan stalker guy. I’d be standing by the … I’d say, “Can I visit you guys?” It would not be good. And now we’re doing the KISS Kruise.

LRI: That’s right. You got the KISS cruise coming up later this year.

Deen: They’re going to lock me up in my room, I’m sure, and throw away the key. I’ll be hanging by freaking Paul Stanley asking, “Can I visit? Can I visit and see you put your makeup on?”

LRI: With your vocal ability, maybe they might have to you bring you up and do “Black Diamond” or something.

Deen: Dude, are you kidding? That would be a dream come true. I actually told my manager, back when I was in Journey, I said, “Man, get a hold of Doc McGhee and tell him I’ll give Gene Simmons 10 grand, that he can put to a charity of his choice, to play two songs.” Not on stage, but at a sound check. “I’ll play two songs with you guys, and I’ll give you 10 grand to give to a charity of your choice.” It never happened, but that would have been a dream come true, man.

LRI: That is awesome.  I play guitar.  Growing up, Ace Frehley was just a huge influence on me. I would just stare at that huge live photo inside ALIVE II

Deen: Oh, yeah, dude. Yep. We’re the same, dude. I was the same way. I put on the records, I’d crank it until the stereo was distorted and I’d play along to the records. That’s how I learned to play drums, man. Totally!!

LRI: About your vocals, when did you realize that you could actually sing?

Deen: You know, I knew I could sing. I knew I could do background. I never wanted to be a lead singer. I knew I could backgrounds, and the big thing was the Bad English record.

LRI: Oh, right! ok.

Deen: The band was like, “Can you sing?” I was like, “Yeah. I can do backgrounds.” And they put me out there, and I started singing “Best of What I Got”, the backgrounds to it. And I could see all the guys in the band high-fiving each other in the control room because they were like, “Oh, man, he can sing. This is awesome.” That was when they knew I could sing backgrounds and every band I did, I would sing backgrounds when I was with Neal, and then the Journey thing happened, and Steve Augeri had lost his voice. They’re like, “You know what, dude? You’re up!” The second stringer guy was up.”

LRI: Yep, I remember that. Wow. That’s crazy.

Deen: That was it, dude.

LRI: I’ve seen you with Journey a couple of times, dude. Those were some great shows.

Deen: Thank you, bro. I miss playing with those guys, I really do. Now I’m doing the thing with Neal, we’re doing the “Journey Through Time” tour thing. We’re working on dates right now for next year while the Dead Daisies are off.

LRI: That’s great to hear. Would love to see that tour.

Deen: I’ve got the best of both worlds here, bro. I got a hard rock band I’m playing in, and I still get to play and sing the Journey stuff. I’m pretty happy, dude.

LRI: That’s very cool. Prior to your start with Journey…Back to ’95 or so, when you were with Ozzy, Richie Kotzen was almost hired to replace Zakk at one point, did you get a chance to rehearse with Kotzen and Geezer Butler. If so, what was the chemistry like with Kotzen? Any stories that you care to share about that time?

Deen: I gotta be honest with you, dude. We never played with Richie.

LRI: Ahhh ok. I thought I read that you guys did rehearse.

Deen: What happened was, they were talking about having Richie come in and do it. And then all of a sudden, he wasn’t doing it. I’m like, “Okay.” We went through a couple of different guitarists, and then I knew of Joe Holmes. I was like, “Sharon, this guy took lessons from Randy Rhoads. He knows the stuff. Let’s check him out.” Sharon and I met at a rehearsal studio, and listened to Joe play. He was awesome. He worked out perfectly. So, that’s how that worked. I would have loved to play with Richie. I still would. He’s a monster!

LRI: He’s phenomenal!.

Deen: Yeah, dude. I would love to … He’s a monster. He’s one of those shrapnel guys, you know? He was one that I never got to play with, that I always wanted to. I always wanted to work with him.

LRI: Yep. That would be very cool. How has the new Gioeli-Castronovo (Released on 7/13/18 on Frontiers Music Srl) album been doing?

Deen: Dude, you know, I hear it’s doing really well. That was a lot of fun to do, too. I got a call from Serafino at Frontiers asking me, hey, if you could work with any singer, who would you work with?” He threw out a couple names and he said, “What about Johnny Gioeli?” “I would love to do something with him.” And that’s how that worked out, man. They were like, “Okay. Let’s do this.” Johnny and Alessandro wrote most of the stuff. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I came in, did my drum tracks, and sang my parts. I think it took 10 days to do drums and vocals, and that was it, man.

Deen: It came out and it sounds great. It’s not bad at all.

LRI: It does. Dude, it sounds really good.

Deen: Yeah. Dude, I’ll tell you, Johnny has not missed a beat. He sounds incredible. Still sounds as good as he did when he was in Hardline. It blows my mind.

LRI: That’s not easy. Not a lot of people could say that.

Deen: Nah, dude. And he can. He’s amazing.

LRI: Whose idea was it for that album to do a cover of that Lady Antebellum song, “Need You Now”?

Deen: I have no idea. I didn’t even know that was going to be on the record, and they were talking about it, I was like, “Oh, Johnny, I want to sing that one. Not with you. But I want to sing that one.” That would sound a little weird. “I need you now, Johnny”(Laughs) Johnny was like, “Nope. That’s my tune, I’m doing that one.” He and … I don’t know the ladies name, but I think it’s an Italian artist, that sang the female part. I just heard the song probably two weeks ago because I really never listened to that one. I was like, “I know the song. No big deal.” So I heard it, and it sounds great. It really does. Johnny sold it. It sounds amazing.

LRI: Yeah, dude, I really like the sound of that record! You play it, it just pumps you up and you want to play it again.

Deen: Yep. The whole record, it’s a great record. My favorite song on there is probably “Who I Am”. That one was a really a real personal song for Johnny and I. Through all this drug addiction that I had and stuff, Johnny was always there. From a distance, but he would call once in a while and we would talk. He was always very, very supportive. And that song tells, even though we haven’t been, we haven’t really seen each other or had much contact, he knew me. He knew the real me. He knew me before I was using. I was a late user, dude. I didn’t start using until I got fired from Ozzy. No joke! I was completely sober. I experimented as a kid, but when I hit 21, I became a Christian, and I stopped. I did nothing for 10 years, until I got fired from Ozzy, and that was so depressing. I’m like, “Okay. I’m going to smoke some weed.” And that weed went to blow, and that weed and blow went to cocaine, or to meth. And meth and freaking alcohol. It really got bad, dude. It got really bad. But again, I am so grateful to be alive today. I was doing amounts, dude, that would have killed a rhinoceros. I’m telling you. I don’t do anything halfway. I do full measure, or I don’t do it all. I’m grateful to be alive, Shawn.

LRI: Dude, I’m glad you are here. Like I say, I’m really excited for Saturday.

Deen: It should be great.

LRI: I’ve met the other guys before, now I gotta meet you, too.

Deen: Yes. Definitely, dude. I’ll hook you up with some sticks. We’ll hang out, it’ll be great. Take some pictures. It’ll be awesome, man.

LRI: Yeah, it’s gonna be … It’s one of my favorite venues to see shows at.

Deen: Dude, awesome. I’ve never, I don’t know the place. But, it’s going to be great. Dude, I haven’t played in the States since 2015.

LRI: That’s right.

Deen: 2014-2015. It’s going to be my first jot into the US market, again. And I’m excited to play.

LRI: Tour starts Wednesday night in Cleveland.

Deen: I’m ready to go. I fly out tomorrow morning, brother.

LRI: I saw the tour schedule, you guys got a heck of a schedule.

Deen: Oh yeah, dude. It’s five shoes in a row, and then on the days off, we don’t really have a day off, we do promotions. We might do an in-store signing, or we might do an acoustic show. It keeps us working, but dude, it’s great. We’re very well taken care of. This band really takes care of its members. I’m telling you.

LRI: And you got the Guitar Center acoustic things going on.

Deen: Yep. That’s one of the things we’re going to be doing. It’s going to be awesome, man. I get to do one song. It’s great.

LRI: I’m really trying to make it up that afternoon when you are at the guitar center, it’s an hour north of me. I’ve got something going on that afternoon, but I’m going to try and wrap it up early to make it to that, if I can’t, I’ll definitely be at the show a couple hours later.

Deen: Yep. Call in sick. “I can’t make it.”

LRI: (Laughs) Right!!. Exactly.

Deen: Awesome, man.

LRI: Ok Deen.. Thanks for taking the time today. Good luck with the tour and everything, and I’ll see you Saturday.

Deen: All right, big guy. You take care, man. Thanks again.
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The Dead Daisies w/ Dizzy Reed’s Hookers & Blow – Tour Dates

Aug. 15 – Cleveland, OH – Agora Ballroom 
Aug. 16 – Fort Wayne, IN – Piere’s 
Aug. 17 – Joliet, IL – The Forge 
Aug. 18 – Flint, MI – The Machine Shop 
Aug. 19 – Louisville, KY – Diamonds 
Aug. 22 – Rochester, NY – Montage Music Hall 
Aug. 23 – London, ON – Harris Park 
Aug. 24 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Theatre 
Aug. 25 – Ottawa, ON – The Brass Monkey 
Aug. 26 – Montreal, QC – Foufounes Electriques 
Aug. 28 – New York, NY – Highline Ballroom 
Aug. 29 – Warrendale, PA – Jergel’s 
Aug. 30 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s 
Aug. 31 – Lancaster, PA – Chameleon Club 
Sep. 01 – Albany, NY – Upstate Concert Hall 
Sep. 04 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge 
Sep. 06 – Houston, TX – Scout Bar 
Sep. 07 – Dallas, TX – Trees 
Sep. 08 – Austin, TX – Come and Take It Live 
Sep. 12 – Las Vegas, NV – Fremont Country Club 
Sep. 13 – San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick 
Sep. 14 – Pomona, CA – The Glass House 
Sep. 16 – Los Angeles, CA – Roxy Theatre

Tags: deen castronovo, full-image, The Dead Daisies

Category: Interviews