Whitesnake
Good To Be Bad
(SPV/Steamhammer Records) Interview with Doug Aldrich- Guitars

    When vocalist David Coverdale left British Hard Rock legends Deep Purple in 1976, many wondered what lay ahead for the charismatic front man.  Fortunately for all parties involved, it wouldn’t take long for the charismatic multi-octave singer to respond.  Following the release of  two well-received solo albums (1976’s David Coverdale’s Whitesnake and 1977’s Northwinds), the Saltburn-On-The-Seas, Yorkshire-born singer wasted no time assembling a largely unknown--albeit highly skilled--cast of supporting musicians, quickly recorded both the four song Snakebite EP and its subsequent full-length follow up Trouble.  Initially far more popular in Europe and Asia, the group eventually achieved international success with the release of the brilliant John Sykes-fueled Slide It In and the platinum-encrusted behemoth that is the mighty Whitesnake (a.k.a. 1987).
    Now, thirty two (!) improbably long years later, armed with a staggering array of arena ready material and with a uniquely dedicated fan base at their disposal, the mighty Whitesnake has once again returned.   
    On the brilliant Good To Be Bad (2008), an expertly assembled eleven song collection of instantly memorable Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, each track, beginning with the impossibly thunderous “Best Years”, and the refreshingly bombastic “Can You Hear The Wind Blow”, immediately commands the rapt and undivided attention of all parties involved (myself most definitely included) via a virtual tidal wave of gritty yet passionate vocals, searing fretwork and surprisingly intricate arrangements.  Driving home each key focal point with a razor sharp precision the majority of their like-minded brethren can only hope to achieve, the inexplicably long-running group scores major points early and often, resulting in a collection of material that, while stylistically challenging and varied, retains the key elements their core audience undoubtedly craves.           
    Continuing with the smoldering, emotion-laden “All I Want All I Need”, and the hauntingly beautiful “Summer Rain”, the quasi ‘…all-star…’ combination of vocalist David Coverdale (Deep Purple, Coverdale/Page), guitarists Doug Aldrich (House Of Lords, Dio) and Reb Beach (Winger, Dokken), bassist Uriah Duffy (The Brides Of Funkenstein, Flametal), keyboardist Timothy Drury (The Eagle) and ex-Steve Vai drummer Chris Frazier tear through each deliciously airtight composition with a sickening ease.  Wisely capitalizing on the grassroots momentum initiated with 2003’s highly successful 25th Anniversary Tour, the newly rejuvenated group swaggers through each carefully crafted Michael McIntyre co-produced track with a well-deserved confidence that belies the countless line-up changes that have so frequently plagued the group.        
    Although it’s seemingly unlikely that the group, regardless of the collective talent contained within, will ever effectively recapture the chart-topping chemistry of yore (think everything released prior to 1989’s Steve Vai-fueled overindulgence Slip Of The Tongue), other standouts, including the maddeningly infectious “Lay Down Your Love”, and the equally impressive closer “‘Till The End Of Time”, offer a staggering wealth of compelling sonic evidence in support of the sextet’s seemingly ever-growing legacy.  A definite must-have for both established die-hards and curious newcomers alike, what ultimately separates the searing ‘…instant classic…’ that is the mighty Good To Be Bad from the group’s most recent efforts  is Coverdale’s already much-celebrated ability to craft material that is somehow contemporary and relevant while remaining timeless.       
    But is it really that freakin’ good?  Absolutely!  Even if Coverdale and company’s once pioneering hybrid of Blues-inflected Hard Rock and Heavy Metal is somehow not your proverbial cup of tea (or if you’re able to meet or exceed your recommended yearly allowance of ‘…Retro Metal…’ via the train wreck that is the annual Poison reunion tour), the majority--if not all--of the decidedly ear-pleasing wares contained herein are seemingly guaranteed to leave even the most hopelessly dedicated of listeners only wanting for more.  Thus, if you’ve once again found yourself in search of a legitimately Old School fix that won’t leave you feeling coyote ugly guilty the next morning just for enjoying it, do yourself (and, as a result, those in your immediate vicinity) an incredibly enormous favor and pick this bad boy up.  Trust me, my friends, you won’t be disappointed.

Recently, acclaimed Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio, House Of Lords and Lion, to name only a few) was kind enough to speak with us regarding, among many other things, the release of the group’s latest masterpiece Good To Be Bad…

Todd: How did you originally become involved with Whitesnake?

Doug Aldrich: “I was playing in the band Dio with Ronnie James Dio…and the Scorpions came to Ronnie and said ‘We’re doing this tour next year with Whitesnake.  David Coverdale is reforming Whitesnake.  Would you be interested in coming out on the tour?’ and Ronnie said ‘That’s cool, but we’re gonna be working on a new record, it’s gonna take a long time, we plan on touring for the rest of the year…we’ve got a lot on our plate, so I’ll have to regretfully decline’.  Interestingly enough, a couple of weeks later, one of the Deep Purple crew members had said that David had inquired about me and had come to one of the shows.  And then I got a phone call from David’s assistant who said he wanted to meet with me.  So during one of our breaks, I flew up and met with him.  He said he was reforming Whitesnake, it was the 25th Anniversary tour, he had two months of dates to do and he was wondering if I’d be interested.  I was like ‘Absolutely!  I just need to check it out with Dio and make sure I’m not committed with something.  We weren’t committed…Ronnie was pretty tired.  We had toured a lot in 2002 and I was a little unsure of when he was gonna wanna start the record, so it was all good.  I told David that I’d love to do it and two months turned into nine months and he asked me to join the band and that was it.”

Todd: In hindsight, would you describe your departure from Dio as amicable?

Doug: “At first, not really…but I was forced to make a really tough decision.  I don’t think Ronnie was happy about it.  I think he felt that I left him in a lurch without a guitar player right when he wanted to start writing a record.  I just really connect great with David and the other band guys.  We all got along well and were having really successful shows.  I said to David ‘What’s your plan for recording?’ and he said ‘I don’t really know.  I don’t have any definite plans.’  He said ‘At some point, I would love to be in the studio with you.  Let’s just see what happens’.  So I said ‘Fair enough’ and I told Ronnie that I was gonna continue on the road.  Ronnie was upset about that, but since then, Ronnie and I have made amends.  Around 2005, Ronnie’s guitar player Craig Goldy, had been on tour with Ronnie and he had a problem…his hand got broken during the tour and Ronnie asked me if I could fly out and finish the tour with them and I did with David’s blessing.  …Ronnie understands that it was a very difficult decision for me and that I had to do what I had to do.  I loved working with Ronnie and it was a real honor.  He’s the king of Heavy Metal as far as I’m concerned.  There is no better singer in Heavy Metal.  Ronnie…he is the man.  I would do anything for him that I could at all times.  And I think it’s mutual, ya know?  I think he would do the same for me.  But that being said, I was really excited about Whitesnake.  Stylistically, I felt a lot more at home in Whitesnake and David and I just kinda hit it off, ya know?  Our musical tastes are very similar, but personally, we just got along great, ya know?  For me, it was like having an older brother that I never had, ya know?  I really felt compelled to learn as much as I could from him and hopefully inspire him.”

Todd: Once the songwriting process for Good To Be Bad began, did you find it difficult to recapture the classic Whitesnake sound while remaining contemporary?

Doug: “That’s the thing.  It’s really difficult…it’s a lot of pressure to say ‘Okay, let’s make a new Whitesnake record’, ya know?  It’s a lot of pressure because…Whitesnake is an innovator in a certain kind of heavy Bluesy Hard Rock.  When I first heard the older Whitesnake records, it was a kind of Bluesy Hard Rock that hadn’t been done.  And David kinda developed and founded, along with (guitarists) Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody, (drummer) Ian Paice and (keyboardist) Jon Lord, this sound that was, to me, innovative and groundbreaking for that time.  Several of the bands that I was in tried to emulate that sound.  …In ’84 there was a huge record and in ’87 there was a huge record, so in 2006, it’s hard to make a new Whitesnake record, ya know?  What you basically have to do is throw all of that out the window and write what you like.  And that’s what David and I did.  We didn’t sit down with any preconceived ideas about how we were going to compete with those records or how we were going to recapture that sound.  We didn’t think of any of that.  All we had was a bunch of riffs, little parts and melodies that we liked.  We were influenced by the music that we like, which is old Blues music and old Rock music.  David turned me onto a lot of stuff that I’d never had before like a bunch of The Faces records and a bunch of Blues music.  We’d watch a Chuck Berry movie and we’d be influenced by that, ya know?  A Temptations song would play and it would be like ‘We could do something like that, but a lot heavier’, ya know?  We just tried to do something that would get us off.  We basically organically just wrote what we liked.  Fortunately, it turned out to be a mix of a lot of ears of Whitesnake.  It’s got the 'Bluseiness' of the old classic Whitesnake and the aggressiveness of the late ‘80’s Whitesnake.  And we tried to do it all in way like how we feel now, which is hungry.  We feel hungry.  We’ve got something to prove, ya know?”

Todd: Was it difficult for you and David to achieve the necessary balance of ballads and ‘Rockers’? 

Doug: “No.  …David’s personal manager, a guy name David McIntyre, who’s been with David for twenty some years and really knows the Whitesnake sound, had himself a vision of how this record should sound.  When David and I were writing songs…when they were finished, we would play them for David and he would be like ‘This one’s great, that one’s kick ass, but I’m not really sure about that one.  I’m not really feeling that one’.  Through that process, we came up with fifteen or so songs that we narrowed down to I think eight.  We thought we had a pretty strong record cookin’ and we just filled in the blanks with three more songs.  There never really was a conscious thing where we were like ‘We need this type of song or this type of song’.  We just wrote and then the three of us sat down and picked the ones that we liked.  When we got to the end, it wasn’t conscious, but it was obvious, and we were like ‘Hey, let’s do a song that’s different.  It doesn’t have to be heavy, it doesn’t have to be a ballad, but it has to be something that adds to these other songs’.  One of those things was “’Till The End Of Time”, the acoustic ballad on the album.  It was cool because we were like “We could do a Reggae thing or something different’, ya know?  We ended up doing a really stripped-down thing that showcases David’s voice.  It’s just a simple tune that is, for me, my favorite tune on the record.  …David’s noticed…he’s been doing a bunch of interviews and talked to a lot of people about the record…that a lot guys are picking up on the ballads.”

Todd: Initially, did you feel any pressure ‘…stepping into the shoes…’ of guitarists like Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden and John Sykes?

Doug: “Yeah, there is that pressure, but I didn’t feel it much because I had just come off the road with Dio where I had been filling the shoes of Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi and Vivian Campbell, all of whom are amazing guitar players.  Stylistically, my style is probably a lot closer to Tony Iommi and Vivian Campbell…and that’s where John Sykes was stylistically…so it wasn’t too far of a stretch.  There’s definitely things that John Sykes did that I can’t do in the way he did them, but I did my best to pay respect to those records for the sake of the fans, ya know?  What I couldn’t do I did in my own way, ya know?  Hopefully I did a good job with that.  …And that’s the thing.  You could take John Sykes and say ‘Hey John…play an Eddie Van Halen solo’ and he could do it, but it’s not gonna sound the same as Eddie.  He’s gonna have to do it his way.  And that’s what I had to do when it came to doing Blackmore and Syke’s stuff.  Fortunately, I had also recorded a record with Ronnie, so I was also doing some of my own stuff.  Now, with Whitesnake, I’ll be able to incorporate some of my own stuff into the stuff from those guys as well.  One guy that people don’t talk a lot about with Whitesnake is Micky Moody.  He was kind of the go-to guy for slide guitar when Whitesnake was still in their early days.  And I love slide…I love (late Allman Brothers guitarist) Duane Allman and even some newer guys like Derek Trucks…he’s just an amazing player.  Even (Black Crowes guitarist) Rich Robinson…I’m a big fan of how he plays.  It’s very authentic.  So I wanted, in my own way, to incorporate the slide into the record a little bit ala Micky Moody.  I’m not saying it’s anywhere near as good as him, but I think it’s an important part of the Whitesnake sound that they got a little bit away from with some of the more recent records.”

Todd: How do you feel the group’s current line-up compares with the line-ups of the recent past?

Doug: “…This is a really great line-up.  We have a new drummer name Chris Frazier.  Chris did an amazing job on the new record.  …Chris played on the record…(legendary Black Oak Arkanas/Ozzy Osbourne drummer) Tommy (Aldridge) wasn’t available, so we basically just carried on.  Chris has an Ian Paice meets Cozy (Powell) style that’s still all his own.  He did an amazing job on the record.  There’s probably going to be a few that’ll miss Tommy, but Chris brings a really great groove and a great vibe to the band.  He’s different from Tommy, but equally important, so we’re really happy with that.”

Todd: Considering your combined experience in the studio, was it really even necessary for you and David to work with an outside producer on Good To Be Bad?

Doug: “Well, there’s good points to it and then there’s difficult things.  An outside producer can bring a clear head, he can settle disputes that are natural when you’re working with someone…and he can bring his experience to the table and sometimes it can be a really amazing thing.  For example, what Bob Rock did with Metallica and what (Robert John) ‘Mutt’ Lange did with AC/DC.  It was a great match and those guys ended up being kinda part of the band.  But the downside is that sometimes, unless the producer is willing to dedicate a hundred percent to it, they can take you in a direction you don’t really feel is the right one.  If the person has dedicated themselves to it , you can trust them, but if he just comes in to produce a project…  We know what we want, we just don’t know exactly how to get it.  It’s going to take us a little bit longer, but we’ll get there, ya know?  That’s the luxury that we had.  We didn’t have this huge deadline looming down on us, so it did take us a little longer for us to achieve the sound we wanted.  We wrote the songs, had done demos that sounded really good and sent them to the record company.  So we just needed to recreate that for the actual recording.  We just decided to see how far we could get with it.”

Todd: Once the actual recording process began, was it difficult to determine whether you or Reb should be playing a particular solo?

Doug: “…It’s whatever is best for the song.  Both Reb and I have had experience with being the sole guitar player in a band.  That’s fun and it’s a great thing, but there’s nothing like having two guitar players that have complimentary style together.  It really comes when you see us live because…if we’re playing a rhythm part together, the way I play it is a little different than the way he plays it, so the two of them together sounds really cool.  A lot of times, he’ll play a chord and I’ll play a different version of the same chord, maybe higher or lower and together, it’s just monstrous.  His lead playing is spectacular.  He’s a seriously gifted musician…he’s got really strong Fusion roots.  Winger, for me, is a serious Progressive Rock band with a Fusion base that also has these really catchy Pop melodies on top, which makes for a very unique sound and he just delivered that stuff amazingly.  His style is very different than mine, but together, it works out well because if there’s something that suits my style, he’s got no problem with me doing it and likewise, if there’s something that better suits him, I would insist that he would do it.  During the course of the recording of the record, he was on tour with a lot of bands.  He was touring with Winger and also with Night Ranger at the time, so we talked and he said ‘Well, you wrote the songs, so you should probably just knock out the rhythms and we’ll split up the leads’.  …Obviously the record has a lot more of my guitars on it, but what Reb did do on the record is really stunning and is some of my favorite work on the record.  On stage…it’s really open.  My goal with Reb on this upcoming tour is for us to be in unison, working towards us developing our own two guitar style.  We’ve done five shows together and then we had to take a break...  It takes about five shows for the band to get back on a roll, ya know?”

Todd: What are the group’s current touring plans?

Doug: “We have a couple of more weeks off.  David’s gonna go to Europe to do some promotion on his own and then we’ll get into rehearsal around the 22nd or the 23rd…right around the release date.  Our real tour starts around May 1st in Peru, Mexico and Argentina.  Then we’ll have a couple of days off before we go off to Europe to do the Summer festivals.  We start in Sweden at Sweden Rock, which is a really cool festival.  We hit a bunch of those festivals and then we hit the UK with Def Leppard…and also some shows in Spain and Greece with them, I believe.  We’re gonna be in Europe until the middle of August or maybe the end of August if we can hang out that long.  Then, hopefully, we can have some US dates in the late Summer or early Fall.”          

Select David Coverdale Discography
Good To Be Bad (2008) ***
Live: In The Shadow Of The Blues (2006) ***
Live…In The Still Of The Night (DVD) (2006) ***
The Best Of Whitesnake (2003) ***
Into The Light (2000) **
Starkers In Tokyo (1998) ***
Restless Heart (1998) ***
Coverdale/Page (1993) ****
Slip Of The Tongue (1989) ***
Whitesnake (1987) ***
Slide It In (1984) ***
Saints And Sinners (1982) ***
Come An’ Get It (1981) ***
Ready An’ Willing (1980) ***
Live At Hammersmith (1980) ***
Love Hunter (1979) ***
Trouble (1978) ***
Snakebite (EP) (1978) ***
Northwinds (1977) **
David Coverdale’s Whitesnake (1976) **
Made In Europe (1976) *
Come Taste The Band (1975) *
Stormbringer (1974) *
California Jam (1974) *
Burn (1974) *

* as a member of Deep Purple
** as a solo artist
*** as a member of Whitesnake
**** as a member of Coverdale-Page

whitesnake.com