Iconic, legendary, and one of a kind are all terms we’ve heard when it comes to discussing the late, great David Bowie. ‘Freak’ is less common.
If anyone is going to brand Ziggy Stardust a freak and get away with it around the 10-year anniversary of his death, it’s his long-time guitarist, Earl Slick.
‘I thought he was a freak,’ the 73-year-old musician toldMetrowith a laugh as he prepared for an intimate Q&A at famed guitar shop and studio, Regent Sounds.
He branded the ‘whole audition a freak’, having found himself in a recording studio (not a rehearsal room), totally alone, after getting a call from Bowie’s management.
Slick humbly skips over how he came to be in the running to replace Mick Ronson at just 22 years old, being plucked from obscurity thanks to his reputation on the New York blues scene.
The details hardly matter once you’re sat in RCA Studios, headphones on, playing along to ‘some music’ for half an hour, hoping to impress Bowie, who seemingly hadn’t even turned up.
‘Nothing happened for about 10 minutes [after I finished]. And then David walked in the room,’ Slick recalled.
Unsurprisingly, the Heroes singer makes quite the first impression, but rather than being in awe, Slick was a little distracted.
‘It was quite the sight,’ he said. ‘It was the eyebrows thing that got me. Man had no eyebrows. I almost wanted to ask him, “Did you burn those off? Or do you actually shave them”? I’m serious.’
His shock at David’s unique look eased quickly, and the pair sat down with their guitars, chatting and playing, ‘totally normal’.
Later in the evening, at the Q&A, Slick joked he was ‘s**ting in his pants’ at the thought of taking over from Mick Ronson, Bowie’s much-loved original guitarist.
He joked that the crowd would either ‘really hate’ him or be mellow; thankfully, they reacted well but he added that the whole ‘hippy’ audience smelled of ‘weed’.
Slick stayed by the Thin White Duke’s side for years afterwards, famously playing on 1974’s David Live as well as Young Americans and Station to Station.
He told the small crowd at Denmark Street they were like ‘brothers’ on stage, but off stage kept a distance so they didn’t ‘burst into flames’ in a huge argument later on.
Over the next two decades, the guitarist dipped between touring with Bowie, recording with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and more, until in the early 90s, when he gave it all up.
‘I basically had a full-on breakdown in 93 or 94, everything was going wrong,’ Slick candidly shared. ‘I promised myself years before that if this ever became so stressful and a job, I’m done. And it was, so I stopped.’
Slick, whose real name is Frank Madeloni, walked away with no plans to ever return and became a timeshare salesman in Lake Tahoe.
For four years, he ignored almost every call that came his way, including from Michael Jackson, until finally a cryptic request from Bowie brought him back.
‘I thought, “All right, give it a shot. Let’s see what happens”. And actually, without a doubt, the best live stuff I ever did with him on stage was in the 2000s.’
This includes Bowie’s legendary Glastonbury 2000 headlining set, which has gone down in history as one of the greatest of all time at the equally legendary festival.
The entire band, including Slick, are set to reunite for Bowie: Live On The Loch later this year, a two day charity event in Loch Lomond, Scotland.
Hosted at Cameron House on November 7 and 8, Slick will perform with Mike Garson, Gail Ann Dorsey, Mark Plati and Sterling Campbell in a one-off charity event to raise money for Save The Children.
Tickets are on sale now, and the event will be live-streamed for anyone not able to get to Scotland, although you’ll miss out on a guitar auction.
Bowie’s Reality Tour (2003-2004) is often cited by fans as some of his best live performances, alongside the iconic Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973.
While the Starman holds a special place in many fans’ hearts, Slick quipped it was ‘nostalgia’ whereas he was talking about ‘reality’.
‘I don’t have the nostalgia for Ziggy because I wasn’t really aware of him back then,’ he continued. ‘There’s nothing wrong with nostalgia, you know. But I understand some of the fans will go, “Well, we don’t like anything he did after this.” I get it.’
Plenty of fans love the music Slick and Bowie made, with his 2013 comeback album, The Next Day, considered one of the best.
I asked if Bowie’s penchant for reinvention had rubbed off on him at all, prompting a deadpan ‘No’ from the legend.
However, Slick did admit those years with Bowie meant he’s a little more open to listening to newer stuff and ultimately be a better producer.
‘It’s opened my mind up to get a better understanding of how to deal with artists that I think are really good, that aren’t [my signature style],’ the musician explained.
‘I can actually help them get what they need, not what I want them to be. [If] somebody hires me to produce a record or play on it, it’s like, “what do you need for your record?”.
‘I don’t want to take somebody’s money and waste their time to try to turn them into me.’
Having spent an evening in his presence, we’re not sure anyone ever could truly be Earl Slick other than the one-of-a-kind man himself.
As for Bowie’s legacy, he added: ‘The music you do affects people in such a very profound way.
‘We had our ups and downs, but at the end of the day, best shows I’ve ever done in my entire life, I’ve been with David. Hands down. It always will be.’
Bowie: Live On The Loch takes place on November 7 and 8, 2026, with a live performance from Earl Slick and Bowie’s band. Tickets are on sale now.
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