EVER MEET LEMMY?

He's heard Lemmy's unreleased solo album, had dinner with Chris Holmes, told Paul McCartney to get a round in, been told gangster Reggie Kray wanted to have a word with him... He is Dogs D'Amour frontman Tyla 7 Pallas, and these are some of his stories.

- Rich Davenport

In the late 80s, as increasingly faceless hair farmers with names like Rodd Thrustt (hair by Aqua Net, chorus by Desmond Child) swamped the rock scene, the Dogs D’Amour burst onto the radar with a raffish charm and bluesy sound redolent of the Rolling Stones and the Faces. Their mix of gutsy raunch’n’roll and acoustic melancholy set them apart, with only the Quireboys and The Black Crowes (the Dogs’ support band on their 1990 UK tour) as kindred musical spirits. While their reputation for excess was entirely merited, the Dogs worked as hard as they partied, and scored four UK top 40 albums between 1989 and 1993, showcasing the underappreciated songwriting of frontman Tyla J Pallas.

Since 1994, bon viveur Tyla has maintained a creative hot streak, balancing solo albums with releases from Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour and Hot Knives (featuring Quireboys frontman Spike), in addition to writing memoirs and poetry collections and attending gallery exhibitions of his artwork. Having released the vintage Dogs box set Dynamite China Years – Complete Recordings 1988-1993 in July, and currently readying the self-explanatory Classical Dogs collection and his new solo album Gilding The Lily, he regales Classic Rock with engaging tales of close encounters with Beatles, W.A.S.P.s, gangsters and more.

LEMMY