Drummer Rik De Luca recalls how he ended up joining Spread Eagle in 2010
Drummer Rik De Luca recalls how he ended up joining Spread Eagle in 2010
Spread Eagle drummer Rik De Luca was recently interviewed by Andrew Daly for Vinyl Writer Music. De Luca has been a member of Spread Eagle since 2010 during which time the band released its third studio album Subway To The Stars in 2019.
In terms of how he ended up joining Spread Eagle, De Luca indicated (with slight edits):
“Ok, so if memory serves me correctly, a few years prior to me joining Spread Eagle, Ray [West] and Rob [De Luca] put a version of the band together with John Macaluso on drums, who played drums on most of their Open To The Public album, and Chris Caffery on guitar (Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra). I believe this was between 2006-2008 to tour and see if the fans wanted this band back or not. They did some touring and of course, when they came to Long Island, I had to go see my cousin and Ray just to say, “Hello.” I can’t remember the venue but it was packed, and they sounded really good, but to be perfectly honest, I was a little hurt, my cousin, Rob, never asked me to join, which I’ll explain later.
So, they went out, and did a run through the states, and had a blast, but later, they found out that even though the other two guys are fantastic musicians, it was missing the X factor, that certain thing that you just feel, and know its right when you play together. It’s hard to explain. It’s a feeling that makes you go, “Holy shit. This is unstoppable.” The fans wanted it though. I’m not sure how it ended with the other two, but I got that phone call saying, “Hey cuz, would you like to play in Spread Eagle?” I always looked up to my cousin and respected his work ethic, and Ray is like my brother, I’ve known him for so long, and worked with him before, so I just had this feeling this was meant to be.
If I can remember correctly, I think they already had a guitarist in place, or in mind in Dennis Kimmack, who is a sweetheart of a guy, and a really good player, but it was just missing that X factor. After doing many shows, it just felt wrong with him, and he felt the same, so he left on good terms, and it was back to looking for that right guitarist. I mean, you really have to be an amazing guitarist to pull off Paul DiBartolo’s playing on those first two albums. We started the audition process, and I forgot all about this guitarist whom I played with years ago, Ziv Shalev. I called him up, gave him the rundown on what I was up to, and that Spread Eagle was looking for an outstanding guitarist, and I knew he could cut it. I sent him some songs which he learned so quickly, and we all were a little unsure because he wanted to get in a room to play so quickly, but man, when he plugged in, and we finished the first song, I think it was “Revolution Maker,” we all kind of just look around with huge smiles on our faces, and new that X factor was just found. My god, it felt so so good. It was undeniable. We began rehearsing, and it kept feeling better and better. We did some shows and started to get things rolling again.”
You can read the rest of the interview with Rik De Luca at Vinyl Writer Music‘s website.