Depending on where you live, the new CD “Good to Be Bad” will be released by rock icons, Whitesnake, in the next couple of weeks. This is their first studio CD release in a decade. We were privileged enough to get one of the first interviews with guitarist Doug Aldrich who co-wrote and produced the CD along with founding member David Coverdale. We also talked about his love of teaching and how he can see himself living in a small town like Buffalo, NY. So Doug, is it really “Good to Be Bad?”



 

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Gus: “Good to Be Bad” is the first studio CD since 1997’s “Restless Heart.” Why the decision now to release a new CD?
Doug: It really wasn’t a conscious decision. When I started working with him (Coverdale) in 2002-2003   (I was asked in later 2003 to join the band) I asked him what about recording? He said “I don’t know what my plans are or what we should do, at some point me and you will be in the studio working on something!” That could have been anything really! We just started to band around some ideas over the years since I’ve been working with him. We started to get some stuff that he was really excited about and of course, I was too! It was kind of very natural. It wasn’t like; it’s been too long we need to do a record! It was a natural progression. We have been touring and touring and been busy doing that so it was like ok, let’s get creative! Once we started to do that and making demos, it was very rewarding! It was more out of fun you know?

Gus: How long were the writing and recording sessions for “Good to be Bad?” 
Doug: It took about 5 months of writing to answer your question. Some of these ideas we have been banging around in various forms like backstage or during sound check. David would send me one or I would send him one. Technically we started for real right after Christmas in 2006. I went up to his place and grabbed a couple of acoustic guitars and started documenting what we had. We came up with a couple of demos during that first trip that we both were really excited about! That was a good day because if we had sat down and it hadn’t been a positive experience who knows, we may have lost interest or I don’t know. We had a lot of ideas but the first two we grabbed onto seemed to really turn out good!

Gus: Which were?
Doug: The first one was “All I Want All I Need” and the second one was “Best Years.” Those two came out of twenty different things that we jammed on. We picked those and we demoed them up. They would take on more personality later but we knew the seeds were there for some good stuff!

Gus: When putting together songs for the new CD what song was the most difficult to complete?
Doug: It was probably different for both of us. I would say, well….writing wise there was nothing that was really difficult. It was really a labor of love. If you’re excited about something it doesn’t seem like hard work. When it came to recording we have done some pretty extensive demos either at my place or David’s house also with the help of Michael McIntyre (David’s day to day manager and assistant.) These demos had a really great vibe. It was very daunting because you’re starting from scratch on a record and you’re like awe man, now we have to re-create this stuff? You do things when you’re making a demo; your doing them on the fly. It’s a throw away at the time but all of a sudden it’s like, “Wow, it’s really cool and now it’s stuck in your head!” You either have to better it or at least find a way to perform it again so it has a stretched vibe like it does on the demo. The same thing with guitar stuff. There were certain little bits here and there that I didn’t think about. The guitar may have been out of tune on the demo but the vibe was really cool! One of those difficult ones was “All I want All I Need.” For me to re-create some of that guitar stuff was difficult. The other one that was pretty hard was “Summer Rain,” because of the acoustics on the beginning of the song. Those were actually the acoustics from the demo because I couldn’t beat the ones that were there. They were recorded up at David’s with this old Gibson he has that was once owned by John Lennon at some point. It was given to David at some point by George Harrison, I think. It was sitting on the wall and hasn’t been played in years and years and the strings were all rusty but it had a vibe. I recorded it like that with the demo on that guitar. Even though I could get a much better acoustic sound…

Gus: You couldn’t match the feel?
Doug: Yeah! The guitar was buzzing and there was an air purifier in the background that was making noise. Anything I did, I mean, I re-cut those guitars three times and it just wasn’t happening. So we just kept the demos.

Gus: You have been a member of Whitesnake for about 5 years now. You and David were the primary writers and producers (along with Michael McIntyre) on the “Good to Be Bad” CD. How is your working relationship with David?
Doug: It’s really, really cool man. It’s really inspiring for somebody like me as it’s the type of situation I always dreamed of. I’m a perfectionist, I work really hard and I really care about what I’m doing. I can’t really work on too many things all at once. I need to focus on one thing and do it. A lot of times you don’t have the opportunity to do that when you’re working with a band because maybe everyone has different things going on when we are not on the road. David is Whitesnake! So if I’m prepared to be focused in on Whitesnake, then he’s going to be there. It was great for me. I spend time at his place or he came to mine and we just brainstorm songs knowing that it may or may not make the record. It’s what we wanted to do musically. We are close like family in a way, like brothers. Our wives are friends and we like to hang out and stuff. As we started to hang out more musically, I felt I was learning a lot every time I was sitting down with him. He was inspiring me to work even harder. He would sing something and in the back of my mind I would think that I have to make a song around this somehow. Hopefully I inspired him too! We had a great time and it was really painless. No matter what’s going on in your life and when you accomplish something that’s really important to you, it makes you feel real good! That’s what happened to us after we would get done with a song. No matter what was going on in our lives we were, like jacked up man! We were excited about it and gave us more fuel to keep going! We got on a really good roll and got 7 or 8 songs that Michael kind of approved. He was like our testing board. He was like: that one was really cool, that one I loved, and that one I’m not so sure yet? We might have revamped it or might have blown it off so it was good to have a third person to bounce ideas off of.

Gus: You kind of went into this but didn’t answer it fully. Now that you are a full time member of Whitesnake, do you still contribute to other projects such as Burning Rain or Bad Moon Rising or is Whitesnake your sole focus?
Doug: Bad Moon Rising was a band that I had back in the early 1990’s. We did three records and it was done in about 1995. Then I was doing everything under the sun either demos or tours or whatever would come up. Burning Rain was about 1998 and we did a couple of records. Since I have been working on this record, it’s just mentally and physically not possible for me to do more than just Whitesnake. I would like to experiment with some things in my free time (when I have some free time!) (laughs) This is the type of thing that I felt I needed to dedicate everything to in order for it to be the best it can be from my end you know? I knew what David was going to bring would be amazing. He did a killer performance on the record. I knew I needed to really focus in on this and haven’t been able to do anything else but this.

Gus: In the early 1980’s, you auditioned for the lead guitar player of Kiss. How was your experience of trying out for a band of that magnitude while being so young at the time?
Doug: It was crazy! Absolutely mind blowing! When I got to Los Angeles in about 1981, I put together a band with some guys and played wherever we could. We were playing at a particular club that was called Gazzari’s. We played there every couple of weeks. A girl came to me one night (this was in the early 80’s; ‘82 I think) and said Kiss was auditioning for a lead guitar player and thinks I should audition. I didn’t think anything of it. Then, a couple of weeks later, she brought Eric Carr to the gig. So I was like, ok, this is for real! Although Kiss wasn’t one of my influences I wouldn’t say, but I obviously respected them and liked their music! I was more influenced by Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. It was obviously a great opportunity! I talked to Eric and he said “I think you would be great!” I was blown away and like you said, I was very young. He called me one day at this music shop where I was working and said “Okay, I want you to come down to the Record Plant tonight!” I was like ohhh man! I was pretty nervous. Still at this time nobody (asides from Eric that I met) seen these guys without their makeup. That was always the big thing about Kiss. So I go down there and he (Eric) saw that I was a bit nervous, so he took me to this pub next door and did a shot of something. We go in and Gene and Paul were singing. They were very friendly and very cool! They said “Can you play some stuff on one of the tracks we are working on, put some solos on it?” I did that and there were a lot of little things to the story and you probably don’t have time for that. Basically, Gene wrote down on a piece of paper “Detroit Rock City,” “Firehouse,” and “Black Diamond” (I think it was) and said, “Learn these songs, come back next week and we will rehearse them together.” So, we did and it was in a big airplane hanger in LA. They had a huge backline with stacks of Marshalls and I was like “This is amazing man!”
Then, they invited me back again and that’s where I really started getting nervous! I feel like a fish out of water but obviously I played ok or otherwise they probably wouldn’t have called me back. I think they could tell that I was too young and too inexperienced or probably would fold under pressure (laughs). It probably was the best thing that could have happened to me that I did end up not getting that gig!

Gus: A good learning experience at the time.
Doug: Absolutely! It was a real wakeup call to say “You got something going on that is at least half way decent so know you have to start practicing on it and getting better!” That’s what I did for years and years and years!

Gus: During that time you were a guitar instructor. You are usually are at NAMM doing some sort of instructional presentation. How much do you like teaching?
Doug: I love teaching! I wish that I could do it or could see myself doing it again at some point. I’m really good one on one with students who care and want to learn. I feel I can help and get through to some people who aren’t motivated and excited about music and guitars. I can see myself one day, me and my wife, getting a little music shop somewhere in the country and doing that, you know? I really dig it! It’s very rewarding! When you work with somebody who doesn’t have God given ability (which is like myself, I really have to work at it) and see that person put in the time and are able to see the benefit from the time they put in and (then it) clicks in their head, it’s really cool!

Gus: Going back to Whitesnake, you guys just did some dates over in Australia and New Zealand. How did the first dates with the band and new drummer Chris Frazier go?
Doug: Chris did very well. Obviously, we had questions on how things were going to be because it was a different person. Which I think, is very natural. I was very impressed by him! When you’re use to touring with the same group of guys you get used to how they do things. So, when you bring in a new piece to the puzzle, things will change. There is just no way around that. There are several things I felt really good about. Now, Tommy is an amazing player and a legend and I loved working with him, Chris also brings that aspect and potential. He kind of has this swing to him like Ian Paice (ed. Note: he was the second drummer for Whitesnake.) There are lot of the old guard that miss that kind of swing you know? I feel we kind of got some of that back a little bit and that’s very cool! It always takes about 5 gigs to get on a roll. They say: one gig is worth a week long of rehearsals and it’s really true! The first gig was an hour long show in New Zealand with Ozzy, Poison, Kiss, and Alice Cooper. So that was pretty easy, an hour long set and we were out of there. We then started to do our own show and it was longer. The first show was good, the next show as a little better, then the next show a little better and the last show we did we felt; “Ok, now we’re rocking!”

Gus: Now of course you’re on a month long break. (laughs)
Doug: That’s what happens (laughs.) We will get back there. I’m glad that when we got to that point (it’s where it always is about 5 shows in) that we were starting to click.

Gus: Whitesnake are doing an extensive tour over in Europe this summer with Def Leppard on some dates and Black Stone Cherry on some others. If and when will there be North American dates?
Doug: I know David was looking into some things that he was possibly excited about. It all comes down to schedules and economics. I would say, at the latest, in the summer or early fall we will have some dates in the Unites States, at least in the major market areas. It’s been about three years since we have been in the U.S. so it should be pretty cool! The thing now that would really help us is getting a package together….

Gus: Those are becoming very popular again!
Doug: It’s a great value for the fans that spend money to see 3 or 4 bands that they really dig and go together well. That would be optimum!
Editors note: We then proceeded to talk about the other joint tours that will be going out this summer.
The Def Leppard and Whitesnake package is really cool. They are a great band and put on an amazing show. Plus they are really cool guys! We are really excited about that! I know David is really tight with Joe (Elliot) and I think they will have a really good time together hanging out and working.

Gus: Well, hopefully we can get you over here to North America soon and especially play the Western New York area as you usually play Toronto and haven’t played here since 1990 I believe.
Doug: I thought we did Buffalo in 2003?? Well, if not, then I’m pretty sure it was Rochester. It’s hard because sometimes those are the best gigs. Gigs where fans who really love music and live for music, it’s hard for them to get there and economically they have a hard time making ends meet and it’s a shame because that’s where the real fans are. Those are the die hard fans!

Gus: When you do have down time, what do you like to do?
Doug: I’m a pretty boring cat. I love to stay home with my wife and hang out with our dogs. Going to movies together or dinner, really simple things like that. We went skiing a couple of time this year which was a blast! My wife and I both like riding motorcycles and we do that once in a while. I love sports so I’ll watch sports. I’m pretty much a homebody. I try not to go out. I live in LA and it’s crazy there. If you got a little place that’s comfortable and you’re there all the time it’s good. You go out and it’s a lot of traffic and then there’s helicopters flying over head it’s just nuts! That’s why I can see myself whether its next year, or 10 years from now, moving to a small town somewhere; like Buffalo.

Gus: Yeah, then you can open up your little guitar shop!
Doug: What’s the one that has been in Buffalo for a while? I know there has been one in Rochester for a while too…

Gus: The House of Guitars is in Rochester and there is really no big one here unless you count Guitar Center as they are all mom and pop type of deals.
Doug: Yeah, Guitar Center is killing all the little stores.

Gus: Any closing thoughts you want to say to our GlamMetal readers out there?
Doug: I hope they get a chance to beg, borrow, or steal, the new record as it’s got some really cool stuff on it! David did an amazing performance!

Gus: You did too!
Doug: I’m happy with it! There are always things you listen to and you wish you would have done that or wish I had more time to do this. Recently I had to sit down and re-learn all of those parts so I can do a guitar type of tablature thing for it. I really had a great time as there was some fun stuff for me to play and all the melodies just stick in your head. I’m really excited about it! Like I said, we worked really hard on it and had a great time doing it. Thanks to our families as David, Michael, and I neglected everything during the making of this project. We are really proud of it! Who knows if it’s going to sell? …as there is no expectation at all. That is a nice feeling! If it sells one copy or a million copies or anywhere in between is really doesn’t matter. The fact is that we have those things under our belt and accomplished them and saw them come to fruition, that is what made it worthwhile.

Gus: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us at GlamMetal.com!
Doug: We really appreciate your support and it was a really cool interview!

For more information on current Whitesnake information, you can go to: www.whitesnake.com . Thanks to Kayos productions for setting up this interview!