Guitarist Doug Aldrich (The Dead Daisies, ex-Whitesnake, ex-Dio) is featured in a new interview with VWMusic discussing The Dead daisies' new album, Radiance, and his time working with vocalist David Coverdale in Whitesnake. Following is an excerpt from the interview.
VWMusic: When you joined Whitesnake in 2003, did David allow you creative freedom?
Aldrich: "He didn’t at the beginning. He wanted to play the hits on a couple of tours and started the band back up. I had gone and filled in with Dio in 2005 on some stuff – I went back with Dio – and David said, 'Look, make sure you come back home. Don’t stay with Ronnie.' And I just told him right then, 'Look, if we’re gonna move this band forward, we gotta come up with some brand new Whitesnake music.' So, he said, 'I don’t know when it’s gonna be, but you and I will be in the studio at some point. I can see it.' And I just took that as, 'Okay, I’ll start writing,' and I’d start presenting David with music here and there, and he started to gravitate towards it and invited me up to write with him in 2006. I guess it was 2007, we had a great run of songwriting sessions, and we put together an album called Good To Be Bad. It was just in the beginning he didn’t really – I think he was burnt of the music industry as a whole – and once we started putting out albums, he started getting back into it, I guess."
VWMusic: Describe the collaborative process between you and David that was born out of those four songs on the live album, Live… in the Shadow of the Blues, and subsequently took off from there.
Aldrich: "Those four were like the beginning. That was in 2006. That’s the thing that’s different about working with David; it was David and I sitting there, and we’d come up with an idea, and we’d program a drum machine, and I’d play bass on it and guitar, and he would sing on it. These songs were pretty much complete; the demos were really good. At some point, I’m sure he’ll release them. Now with The Dead Daisies, we did do some demos, but it’s just for reference; we’re not trying to make them fully developed because we don’t wanna get boxed in on what we’re gonna do. So, we’ll have some very rough demos, and then we’ll get in the studio together and play live together. That’s really important. I think what makes this Radiance album as strong as it can be is playing together; when Brian’s playing the beat, Glenn, David, and I are playing off of him. It’s a different flavor than if you cut the drums in New York, send the tracks out to L.A., and then record guitars, like how sometimes people have to do it these days. It’s a luxury, and it’s awesome that we can do it together in the same room."
Read the complete interview here.
During an interview with The CMS Network back in September, Aldrich revealed that he had left Revolution Saints and that he'd been replaced by Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra. His departure has been made official via a statement issued via the Revolution Saints Facebook page, along with the news that Jack Blades (Night Ranger, Damn Yankees) has also left the band. Drummer Deen Castronovo (Journey, Bad English) is the sole remaining original member of the band.
The statement is available below:
"Ladies and gentlemen, a big update on the future of Revolution Saints from vocalist / drummer Deen Castronovo! Joel Hoekstra and Jeff Pilson have joined and a new album, album #4, is coming in 2023 and album #5 is already being worked on. New single will be released this year. Huge, heartfelt thanks to Doug Aldrich & Jack Blades for lending their immense talents to the first three albums!"
Revolution Saints was conceptualized by Frontiers Records president Serafino Perugino. The band released three albums with the Castronovo / Blades / Aldrich line-up: Revolution Saints (2015), Light In The Dark (2017) and Rise (2020).
