Singer-Guitarist Dave Clark Talks About His Cleveland Connections

Singer-songwriter Dave Clark, who just released his latest album, Arizona, used to perform with the local rock acts Baby Blue, Dreamer, Dia Pason and Rough House before he took his talents to Phoenix. But even though he’s now living in the same desert community that Alice Cooper and Rob Halford call home, Cleveland’s impact is still apparent in his music.

For example, Clark cites the late Eric Carmen of Cleveland’s Raspberries as one of his biggest influences.

“Eric Carmen was one of my three most significant influences when it comes to songwriting, right there along with the Beatles and Boston,” says Clark, who fondly remembers Carmen, who also lived in Phoenix (Clark and Carmen even ran into each other once at a Paul McCartney concert in 2019 in Phoenix), in a phone interview. “I went through a years-long Raspberries phase where I listened to Carmen’s songs hundreds of times, studying the nuances of his songwriting. While you wouldn’t necessarily put on a Raspberries record and a Dave Clark record and hear the immediate connection, it’s subtly woven into the chord structures, harmonies and the way the songs are built.”

Clark says Carmen’s influence is especially apparent on his track “Fallin’ For You,” a power ballad with a meaty guitar riff and some gorgeous vocal harmonies.

“Funny thing, that track was written in the middle of my Raspberries phase while I was on vacation in Myrtle Beach in the early 1990s, and I even thanked Eric Carmen in the liner notes for the inspiration,” says Clark. “People have been indicating that song as an album favorite, and it is neither a single nor has it been individually promoted in any way, so the interest is organic in nature.”

Clark purposefully released Arizona earlier this year on March 19, the anniversary of the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads, who was famous for playing with Ozzy Osbourne.

“I wanted to pay tribute to him in some way,” explains Clark. “I thought if I could do something good on the day that we lost a great guitarist, I could take some of the pain away from what would otherwise be a crappy day.”

For the album, Clark dug into his vaults and reworked some songs he wrote from 1988 to 1992 while he still lived in Northeast Ohio.

“I probably wrote over 70 songs in that time period,” he says. “I had some songs that were never released that needed to be heard. But I’ve also written newer stuff that really resonated with me. I wanted to create an album that combined the classic sound of my ’80s generation found in songs like ‘Lost Without You’ and ‘I Don’t Care’ with modern writing and recording techniques of the current generation. ‘Bringin’ Me Down,’ the album’s first single, is a perfect example of a modern sound and style that still echoes back to the heyday of the ’80s hair metal generation. People tell me the song is an ear worm; once they hear it, they can’t get it out of their heads.”

While most of Clark’s shows in support of the new album are in the Phoenix area, he has one gig scheduled for Northeast Ohio. Dave Clark will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, at Inn Between Bar & Grill in North Royalton.

“The last time I came to Cleveland, I did a couple of shows and ended up splitting the crowd,” says Clark. “I want it to be super impactful. It’s my official release. I want to do just one show. Inn Between Bar & Grill is centrally located in the suburbs. I lived in Seven Hills and went to school in Parma. For everyone I know, Inn Between Bar and Grill is less than a 15-minute drive. It’s a cool bar with a great vibe where I can play loud! I have a bunch of people going; in fact, more people say they’re going than the place can accommodate, so it should be a great time!”
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