AOR (Spirit of The Alarm), Ramshackle Day Parade, The Hard Travelers and a solo tour in February are just some
of the things happening at the moment in the life of The Alarm guitarist, Dave Sharp.

After a busy winter of 2008 putting together a tour with new band AOR (Spirit of The Alarm) and some solo support
slots with The Alarm, Dave Sharp is a very busy man. Despite this he set aside some time to talk to Babble and Beat
giving a short interview and spilling the beans on all that's going on with his career at the moment:


AOR live, December 2008

Interview


Babble & Beat - What brought about the start of your new project AOR (Spirit of The Alarm)?

Dave - In 2007, I was invited to take part in a voiceover for the re-release of The Alarm’s Spirit of ’86
concert held at UCLA, California. This provided an opportunity for myself and The Alarm lead vocalist,
Mike Peters, to renew our friendship and to re-evaluate the band’s 10-year career. Although we weren’t
able to find a way to regroup and join forces, we still remain friends. We both realized that enough water had
passed under the bridge and found we still had the greatest of respect for each other.

When we sat down to work on the "Spirit" voiceover project together, it gave us the much needed time to talk and
we both had a great time together. I felt positive enough to move forward and to think about perhaps performing
the band’s music once again. I felt that there is a blues-based, spiritual aspect to the band's music that had not
received too much attention in the UK. I have always felt that a sense of spirituality in music has the
power to cross countries and borders. In AOR, I have put together a collection of four musicians, Wayne Parry (Lead Vocals),
Dave Black (Bass Guitar), Tom Szakaly (Hammond Organ + Piano), and Simon Smith (Drums), who all have had solid
experience with blues "feel" music. AOR is a great opportunity for me to revisit some of The Alarm's material playing
with a band.

Babble & Beat - Why did you decide to put out the Lennon and McCartney track,
'With a Little Help From My Friends' as the new AOR single instead of one of The Alarm's classic tracks?

Dave - I really wanted to make a point with AOR's 1st single 'With a Little Help From My Friends'. Recently
I feel that there has been a giant disconnect in popular culture. I think it all stems from a kind of corporate
overload to the point where all I'm hearing is "Mac Music." It reminds me of when folks were saying that the ideals of
Woodstock and Punk Rock could never connect. I reckon that 'With a Little Help From My Friends' is an ideal track
to demonstrate how some sort of reconnect can happen. The version that we recorded is certainly not in line with
the original Lennon and McCartney track, however, some of you may recognize the track when you hear it.

Babble & Beat - Do you still keep in touch with your former band members Eddie McDonald and Nigel Twist?

Dave - Yes, definitely. We have been friends for a very long time. The three of us did toy with the idea of putting
something together after Mike Peters left the band in 1991. At the end of the day though, and out of respect for
everything we had achieved in The Alarm, we felt we couldn't continue unless it was the four of us together. I
certainly admire though what Big Country did recently to regroup for their 25th Anniversary
after Stuart Adamson's tragic death. When I had the opportunity to support them, I saw only positive things
coming out of that. I have got to say reuniting with the original members of The Alarm together for a gig in
2003 was a great experience.


AOR's Dave Sharp, December 2008'

Babble & Beat - You have contributed a version of 'Amazing Grace' to a project called Ramshackle Day Parade.
How did that come about?

Dave - I had been playing about with a rough version of this track when I was asked to contribute to this album.
I used a Gretsch Pro Jet through a Marshall Bluesbreaker and created this sound. I sent the rough demo of the track
to my friend Tim Bryant, and they were very happy with it and used it.

The Ramshackle Day Parade are made up of Tim Bryant with his friends Joe Kingman (We Free Kings),
Steve Wickham (The Waterboys), Doc Bekken, and Native American Indian Tom "Strong Buffalo" LaBlanc.
Tim Bryant said of the band, "The band never got together. Didn't hang out and jam. No one was ever late for
practice. No one ever got in the way. The music came together. That's what counts. Yeah, we might be an imaginary
band. But some real music - and some really fine music - is coming out of it." That's more than you can say for a
lot of the "real" bands I've been in.

Babble & Beat - Is there any new music out there that you have been listening to recently?

Dave - Kings of Leon. I really like them. I get a feeling from them that I had when I first saw early U2.
I think they have the potential to transcend their own time.

Babble & Beat - An eight-date solo tour has been booked for February. What sort of material can we expect
to hear and is there any new material in the pipeline?

Dave - I am looking forward to going out on the road in February and really enjoyed the solo dates that
I recently did with The Alarm in November. You can expect to hear a collection of my finest guaranteed recession
busters with some new approaches to older material - and some surprises. It has been quite hard to find time to
start work on anything new with all of these different projects going on at the moment. I do have some new ideas which I
hope to start work on sometime soon.

Babble And Beat