Here we profile Liberty's guitarist 'DL' and discover his musical journey from playing with obscure local groups, tuition with John Mizarolli, a summer season at Butlins and finally finding his "ultimate band".
"In 1984 I first heard of Prince with the track "When Doves Cry" and it changed my life, musically speaking"
It wasn't until DL was 17 though that he joined his first band called Berlitz which played local clubs and then venues like Heaven in London. His very first gig was at a celebrity charity football match at Edgware Football Club although Danny Baker is the only name he can remember playing.
Berlitz had a lineup change and became Zanshe which took on a more Prince type sound and image.
DL then studied for a year with one of Britain's leading guitarists John Mizarolli whilst also taking courses at London's Guitar Institute. During this time he invested in recording equipment and started to write and record his own song ideas.
DL's next joined Mirage which was a professional covers band and after an initial gig in Chester they went off for a summer residency at Butlins in Pwllheli, Wales (hey Ringo Starr's first band played there). They rented a house nearby and would play up to five sets a day at the newly opened nightclub. Whilst they played their own setlist everyday they also backed visiting artists such a comedian and singer Brian Connelly and (gulp) The Chuckle Brothers.
One summer season was enough and DL left to look for his 'ultimate band'. "I remember making a chart for things I wanted to accomplish that year at across the top in capital letters I wrote 'worldwide search for The Time' meaning my 'ultimate band'.
He saw an advert in Melody Maker for a keyboard player for a new band that listed its influences as Prince, Cameo and George Clinton, just the type of band DL was looking for. The guy on the phone said that he was the guitarist in the band and they were not looking for another but he had just left a similar band called Liberty. DL got the number for Liberty and called Kevin Sutherland who was just about to place an ad for a new guitarist for Liberty. Things worked out and DL joined Liberty as their new guitarist. Glen Scott joined Liberty on keyboards the following month.
Within Liberty, DL co-writes, plays guitar and co-produces tracks for Liberty.
"My highlights with Liberty so far have been winning 'Capital Radio/Coca-Cola Young Band Of The Year' and playing at Wembley Arena, what a buzz. Also winning the High Court name trial this year and our guest appearance on the Channel 4's Big Breakfast while looking at our photo in that morning's edition of The Sun during commercial breaks. Fantastic! But despite all that I still wear the biggest smile when I listen down to a finished Liberty master track and I know it's good, everytime I hit the repeat button on the CD."
During his time with Liberty DL has also played as guitarist in Heatwave's touring band and supported Kool And The Gang at a Portsmouth funk festival. He has also played guitar on various sessions.
After starting with a Fender Strat for years then switching to an Epiphone Les Paul, DL currently plays a pink paisley 68 Fender Telecaster Japanese reissue. He admires the playing styles of Gary Moore, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jesse Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, The Walter Trout Band and all funky blues styles.
As the rest of Liberty are all too aware, DL is a huge Elvis fan. "There is a large part of his catalogue that covers blues as well as rarely visited funky material, especially from the late 60's and 1973 Stax sessions in Memphis". The official Graceland website has actually placed DL on their list of celebrity visitors just underneath George Lucas. Click here to view.
DL's secret guitar passion is bottleneck blues and he can be heard playing an improvised bottleneck blues (The Pressure) on the Liberty's US album Real Funk.
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