January 10, 2013 21:38

David Bowie's guitarist Earl Slick: 'We want him to tour'

Slick says 'I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, 'Hey, you know what? Here's the setlist''

Photo: Press/Jimmy King

David Bowie's longtime guitar player Earl Slick has said that he and the rest of the legendary artist's backing band want him to tour.

Speaking to Ultimate Classic Rock about the possibility of live shows, Slick said: "We don’t know. Obviously, we want him to. But right now, that's a big if… I could get a phone call tomorrow saying, 'Hey, you know what? Here's the setlist.' I don't know. I can't speak for him or the organisation. Obviously, the band would love to go out. Even if it's not a huge tour, we would like to go out and do some gigs. But that's yet to be seen."

Slick added that he recorded his parts on Bowie's forthcoming new album 'The Next Day' - which will be released on March 11 - last summer. "David got in touch with me out of the blue, and he said, 'I'm ready to go back in. What are you doing? Are you around? Are you touring?' I said, 'No, just get me some dates.' We started banging dates around - and he was already recording - and I went in and did all my stuff in July."

Of the content of the record, Slick said: "There's a lot of rockers on there, I can tell you that… there's a few kind of really cool mid-tempo ones in there as well, but I'm the go-to guy for the rock stuff with David."

Slick's comments back up statements made by producer Tony Visconti, who said that the new David Bowie album is "a rock album".

Following the surprise return of Bowie, Visconti spoke to BBC News, saying of the first single 'Where Are We Now?':

"It's very melancholy, I think. It's the only track on the album that goes this much inward for him. It's quite a rock album, the rest of the songs, so I thought to myself why is David coming out with this very slow, albeit beautiful, ballad why is he doing this? He should come out with a bang. But he is a master of his own life."

6 amazing things about David Bowie's 'Where Are We Now?'

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