With his dreadlocked hair, devilish dark eyes, and pierced bottom lip, Slink expected Rooster's Dave Neale to be a typical rock n' roll lady-killer. So when we got the chance to interview him about his love life we were braced for a few sordid tales of glamour chicks and groupies. Actually though, he turned out to be a real sweetie.
Cheer up Dave, Slink loves ya
"I'm quite shy really, the other guys in the band are much better with girls than me."
Dave confides and, just as we're recovering from the shock, he launches into a tale so touching Slink's hardened professional celeb reporter is almost reduced to tears.
"I got it really wrong with my ex-girlfriend. We'd been together for about three and a half years and we were really close. But when Rooster started taking off, I saw less and less of her and when the band got big I had to move to London because of all the shows and promotional work we needed to do. She was back home in Cornwall and I was just never there for her. Whenever we spoke we argued, with her getting annoyed because all I talked about was the band."
"She was right, but I was living my dreams and I couldn't help talking about it. In the end, it got really difficult, I felt like she didn't understand me anymore and we were growing apart. During a row - on Christmas Eve of all nights - I just told her I'd had enough and slammed the phone down on her."
"Later I really regretted breaking up with her, I missed her so much. I told her I'd made a mistake, but she'd moved on and it was all too late. We're mates now and everything's cool between us. I learned a lot from that experience."
Eager to cheer the poor petal up, Slinks reporter suggests he must be having more luck with the ladies now he's in one of Britain's top new bands.
"In some ways yeah. We go to these parties sometimes where it's all models everywhere, which is nice as you can imagine, but they're so gorgeous I'm too scared to talk to them."
Needing a hug?
Could this guy be any more of a lovely? Yes, he gets even sweeter.
"To tell you the truth, it's sometimes harder now. I get girls coming over and it's obvious it's because I'm in a band. When people don't like you for who you are, it can make you doubt yourself. It's kind of knocked my confidence because they're only interested in the image of what they think I'll be like."
Slink's reporter is in love. Next question is: 'So Dave, um, what do you look for in a girl?'
"Someone who's friendly, chilled out and easy to talk to."
Hmm, sounds promising.
"Looks are fairly important, but there have been times when I've met girls who I wasn't attracted to at first, but I started to fancy as I got to know them. But if I get talking to a girl in a club or somewhere and she's really hot, but up her own arse, then she's a big no-no."
Great, but what kind of looks does he go for?
"Brunettes, I like girls with dark hair."
Slink's reporter pushes her blonde locks behind her ears. Bummer.
