Sail Away: Whitesnake's Fantastic Voyage

by Martin Popoff

  Zoom forward to 2013, and this general idea continues through a new band called Snakecharmer, its ex-Whitesnake members being Neil Murray and Micky Moody, A self-titled album emerged and it’s every bit as solid and swaggering as Burst The Bubble.

  “It wasn’t preconceived,” muses Moody. “We didn’t sit down and say, right, me and Neil are from Whitesnake, and Laurie Wisefield is from Wishbone Ash, so it’s got to sound like a cross between Whitesnake and Wishbone Ash. We just went away and we came up with some musical ideas, which we gave to Chris Ousey, the singer, because none of us write lyrics; so obviously, you know, everything went to him. But to be quite honest, it was that myself and Neil were in the early Whitesnake, so part of that sound is genetically drilled inside of it somewhere. It’s sitting there, although this band was never put together to be any sort of competition to Whitesnake whatsoever. Two guitars have always appealed to me; I just like the two guitars. Providing that the guys were on the same wavelength.

  “With Bernie Marsden, I worked with him for a long time, not just in Whitesnake, but other bands — Snakes, Company Of Snakes, M3 — and it’s early days for me and Laurie. I knew Laurie before, but we haven’t worked together. Actually, we haven’t done any gigs, so there’s a lot more to come from myself and Laurie. With this album we just went in and took a very professional approach. We didn’t stretch out. We haven’t had a chance to stretch out, really. But also with myself and Neil being in the band, people do expect to hear something that sounds like some of the early Whitesnake stuff. There’s no way we’re going to go try something else. Part of our roots were in the early band, and we were there, and we helped create the sound, so that sound is in us, and that’s going to come up anyway, and it’s the sound of two guitars.”

  Yes, so to summarize, including M3, there were a tangle of bands there for awhile (and it continues) which acted as an alternate Whitesnake, both directly, through the playing of Whitesnake chestnuts, but then growing and expanding to include fine, fine originals, written with maturity and performed with aplomb. And next to a Whitesnake that until 2008 wasn’t writing and recording new material, Moody, Marsden and Murray were providing food for thought to the Whitesnake faithful. Up into mid-2014, Bernie had been on the verge of issuing a star-studded solo album and Neil and Micky were to cut a deal with their label Frontiers for a second Snakecharmer record.

  “Well, I think, there’s quite a bit of Ready An’ Willing in there,” noted Marsden, on the record he had spent the last year upon, provisionally entitled Shine. “And you know, we’ve got David singing on it, which is fantastic. Getting him involved was really, really good for me. That felt really... I don’t know, what’s the word, it felt right. To do that track, and then to say, ‘Mate, do you want to sing on this?’ ‘Yeah, of course.’ So it was great. We didn’t have to ring up managers and stuff to do this. It was just two guys talking together. He did it and it was great. And then Joe Bonamassa got involved – well, Joe was involved really from the beginning, and it was through him that I got to meet these people from his record label and I’ve been playing with Joe off and on for about two years, invited out to his gigs and stuff, and then finally the guys came out and said, ‘Hey, we’d like you to make an album for us.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ll make an album for you but I want Joe to play on a track’.”

  “I played with the Allman Brothers last Friday,” continues Marsden, illustrative of Whitesnake’s lasting power — and even more so, the inclusion of Bernie on the new Jack Bruce album. “That was at the Beacon. That’s the kind of thing I’ve been doing, you know, with Joe and playing with other people, just to kind of put myself around as a solo act a bit. Getting involved in that level of people. Which is fantastic, really good, because I’m a fairly unknown quantity, in New York, especially. So it was great; when I came out I was amazed at the reception I got. It was really, really positive; just one of those special nights.”

  Side-projects aside, Whitesnake “proper” did indeed return to record-making, with Good To Be Bad, issued April 21, 2008, featuring a line-up anchored to the past, again, by Coverdale and Tommy Aldridge. The album was welcomed with open arms, and it rocks, rolls and roils as no less than the continuation of the goliath blues metal that shook the world back in 1987. Alas, in keeping with our mandate to create for you a book about the original continuous run of the band, the making of this album and its contours must be a tale for another time.

  “I just do the best I can in every given situation,” Coverdale told Radio Metal, as a brief comment. “But yes, it is funny. I had no plans to do this, so this is all a new adventure, and it’s very fresh for me. When I revamped Whitesnake in 2003, I had no intention of going back into the music business. I just wanted to be in the business of making music live. That has always given me the most pleasure. So I put together a fantastic band, and then we had so much fun touring, I said, ‘Let’s do this for a couple of months, four months maybe, each year.’ Many years ago, I would only tour every three years, so a lot of my songs stayed fresh. But if you tour every year, some of those songs start to feel old. And I thought that if they feel old for me, then they’ll feel old for some of my audience. And at the same time, the synchronicity was that Mick Jagger told me the Stones made albums to promote tours. And I thought, ‘Oh, the other way around to how I started!’ And he was absolutely correct: we made a new album of fresh material, it was received incredibly well, it was very successful. And when I toured in ‘08 and ‘09, we had 50% new music in our shows, which energized the older songs. It was a win-win situation.”

  “We were a bit apprehensive about putting our feet back in the water for that CD,” mused Coverdale in conversation with Rob Cavuto, mapping the transition from Good To Be Bad to yet another walloping studio record, Forevermore, issued March 9, 2011. “Good To Be Bad was so well received; it gave us a big shot of confidence, not only for Doug Aldrich and I as the creators of the music, but the production team of the Los Bros Brutalos, Doug, Michael McIntyre and myself. That kind of success gives you the courage to take a step off the edge. There is no way you are going to get some progressive silliness as we used to say in the ‘70s: ‘We must progress from the last LP.’ All of these songs are bloodline relatives of the others. Our mission is: can we tell the story quicker and make the songs better? The circumstance is that Doug Aldrich and I have an amazing friendship which transitions into a fucking amazing writing partnership. It’s almost telepathic and it has been noticeable for us in rehearsal where Doug and the band are picking up on things immediately; there is no labour involved. To me the consistency and versatility of the CDs are the things that are immensely rewarding to me. Something I generally look forward to getting into the car and cranking.”

  “I think it was my co-writer Doug Aldrich, my amazing guitarist and song-writing partner,” continued David, asked by Radio Metal about the increased level of “rhythm and blues and soul” on Forevermore over its predecessor. “He and I were given a boost of confidence by the success of Good To Be Bad. So we just went, ‘Fuck it!’ The most important thing people know is that Whitesnake writes, plays and performs the kind of music that we like to do. We are not creating music for anybody else — unless you like those elements! The identity of Whitesnake embraces hard rock, rhythm and blues, soul, melodies, amusement, fun… Hopefully, it’s good melodies that you can remember. That’s what we do; if you like those things, you’re probably going to like Whitesnake.”

  But in the spirit of the Jagger-to-Coverdale comment above, the real work of the band was in its regular touring, along with attendant live CD and DVD sets that kept reminding the fans of the rich back catalogue to be mined.

  Illustrating the mood and terrain of the band as it exists as a tireless concert entity, Aldrich had told me in the midst of 2005’s The Rock & Roll Rhythm & Blues Show Tour, “‘Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City’ is one I’m really excited about playing. When we were talking about the set, David was interested in maybe pursuing that one. And
at first I thought, well, it’s a great tune and it’s fun to play, but I’m not sure how it’s going to go over, because it’s a different sort of vibe, you know? But man, it went over great. That’s one of those old Bobby Bland songs that David did, I guess on his first record? But we play it greasier than what you would expect.”

  “In North America,” continues Aldrich, framing the modern band, “you think about ‘Is This Love’ or ‘Here I Go Again,’ and that’s killer, but there’s a whole ‘nother side to Whitesnake that people haven’t really been familiar with, which is, it’s really a blues-based band. And Dave is obviously one of the great blues rock singers, and it’s great to see that song go over, so I think we’re going to keep that. And then some stuff from Ready An’ Willing. There is a song from the first Whitesnake called ‘Take Me With You,’ which is a real rocking blues song. And then there are some surprises and little things we’re doing, like little pieces of Coverdale Page songs. And then obviously one of the coolest things is, we’re doing some Deep Purple stuff. We did ‘Burn’ last year, but we didn’t do it in 2003. So as of right now, ‘Burn,’ and ‘Stormbringer,’ we’re doing a cool little medley thing. And I’ve been working on an arrangement for ‘Mistreated,’ but that’s probably going to be down the line. Because right now the set feels really good.”

  Commenting on the material that would be showing up on Good To Be Bad, Aldrich qualified, “Well, I am an old Whitesnake fan. Obviously everyone loves what he did from Slide It In on, I really feel like that’s only telling half the story of Whitesnake. And I feel that there is a way to incorporate the vibe of the early Whitesnake with the commercialism of the ‘80s Whitesnake. And that’s kind of what David and I have been banging around. So I think, if there’s a way to have the integrity of the old and new at the same time, that’s kind of what we’re doing. It’s blues-based, simple, riffy, guitar-based stuff — I guess that would be the best way to describe it. There are a couple things in the set where... there’s a little piece of music that David and I wrote called ‘Snake Dance,’ and it’s originally something that I was just kicking over leads and stuff, but then I just asked David if I could kind of incorporate more of Reb in it. I was trying to make it more like Allman Brothers-y, because I love Allman Brothers. It’s heavier obviously than Allman Brothers, but I’m really excited about it. It’s kind of got harmony parts, and we trade off and square off a little bit; it’s really a positive space were in.”

  At the time of writing, Whitesnake has made no plans for a follow-up to the fine Forevermore record. It seemed that David was more in the zone of victory lap, issuing live product and celebrating anniversary reissues. There has also been an increased level of grumbling that his leonine and legendary voice was deteriorating. There’s no shame in that: retirement must come to us all. Although, of course, really, David — and Robert Plant for that matter, who is somewhat within the same genre and age range — can conceivably keep singing into their 70s, but there should be newly written songs to reflect the richer, lower realities of the human ageing process. And maybe they should both ditch the old songs, although in David’s case, that may not be too practical. In other words, fortunately for both of them, they are blues men, so ageing could open new doors to each, vocally speaking.

  Meanwhile, David keeps touring, and usually attached to retro bills with hair metal bands, most egregiously, the Rock Never Stops tour which found Whitesnake sharing the stage with Warrant, Kip Winger and Slaughter.

  “It was very disappointing,” noted David to our site, BraveWords, concerning one recent configuration. “It created an opportunity for me to fire my management and my agent. It was definitely not the kind of tour I was familiar with doing. And when I came back, the first thing I did was fire the management and I’ve recently fired the agent because he’s brought nothing to my table. I’m trying to avoid this perception by Clear Channel of me being basically a big hair package artist. I was in Deep Purple for God’s sake. I’ve sold 70 million records which means more to me than three MTV videos. I’m headlining every major festival in Europe, so what the fuck is going on over here?”

  “When I was calling it a day with my agent recently I said look, there’s no difference between people in Norway and Chicago. There’s no difference between people in fucking Athens and Detroit. So, why can you not get the kind of work that I’m familiar with elsewhere? If my car won’t do 60 miles an hour, then I’ve got to buy a car that will. It’s that simple and it’s not his fault. He’s got a particular vision and I don’t share that vision. If it means I don’t get to tour the States then that’s very sad, but I will not... there are some bands from the ‘80s that I really enjoy, like Tesla. Big fan of theirs; I would love to go out there with them. In the rest of the world, I’m attracting very young... 14, 15, 16-year-olds and I’m thinking, isn’t there anything else to do in Gothenburg on a Tuesday night? But they were singing the words to the songs and the reason they’re coming to Whitesnake shows is because the new rock isn’t giving them what they need. A lot of the venues they put me in in the States had a 21 years old age limit, so anyone who was younger couldn’t get in to see me.”

  And so don’t look for this old rock ‘n’ blues warhorse to hang up his microphone anytime soon. His fantastic voyage, straddling two rich music heritages and traditions —the UK to the US — has taken him too far to stop celebrating the trip, the Atlantic crossing toward a world of impossible riches.

  “No, no, I think retirement will be dictated... I can’t even say that,” laughs Coverdale. “I’m still the front man in a rock ‘n’ roll band that is still successful. Go figure. I just got the news that my daughter had a safe and perfect delivery of our second granddaughter. Life is rich. It is perfect. It is balanced and it’s an onwards and forwards scenario. The songs I’m writing with Doug are terrific. The guy is a partner made in heaven and it’s our destiny to work together and I think I can guide this to a very successful conclusion.”

  And so even if David struggles at singing the old high energy hits — as many of these furious and feverish front gods do — he will endeavour to stay in the spotlight. He’s too proud, too much the entertainer, too eager to keep his youth, too ambitious for a favourable placement in rock history. There’s good and bad wrapped up in all of that, but mostly there’s the inspiration of the intense human spirit that resides within the heart of a born entertainer, in this case, a man tall of self-worth because, as John Kalodner so hyperbolically gets across, Coverdale is in possession of a regal stature and constitution impressive enough to the point where believing in himself that forthrightly merely reflects the reality of the situation.

  The tense bit for and against that placement in rock history... well, that’s going to be up to David and how he conducts the rest of his career, in effect, how he writes his retirement. Stay too long and the old tart opens himself to ridicule; bow out with a perfect sense of timing, and the legend of the astute and British square-jawed howler is well an’ assured to grow, slow an’ easy, for decades to come.

  Selected Discography

  A few qualifying notes for you: I’ve made a few executive decisions to keep this tight an’ tidy. First, I’ve left off the double quotation marks around songs just to keep it neat. Also, I’m well aware the level of detail here doesn’t match exactly the focus of the book, in the fact that I’ve not given extensive listings for White Snake, Northwinds and Live... In The Heart Of The City, but then listed all songs for Good To Be Bad and Forevermore. The reason is that I wanted the discography to stand alone as a standard Whitesnake discography, whereas the focus of the book is very much the first solo album through Slip Of The Tongue. As well, albums released in the vinyl era get a side 1/side 2 designation, and CDs, just a straight numbered track list.

  Studio Albums

  Snakebite (September 1978)

  Side 1: 1. Come On (3:31) 2. Bloody Mary (3:18) 3. Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City (5:07) 4. Steal Away (4:16)

  Side 2: 1. Keep On Giving Me
Love (5:13) 2. Queen Of Hearts (5:15) 3. Only My Soul (4:33) 4. Breakdown (5:12)

  Notes: Credited to David Coverdale’s Whitesnake. Tracks 1 – 4 are the David Coverdale’s Whitesnake songs, issued on their own as an EP in the UK to constitute the band’s inaugural output. The full album listed here comprises those tracks plus four David Coverdale solo tracks. The album was issued in non-UK territories as the band’s inaugural output. Personnel on the David Coverdale’s Whitesnake EP tracks is David Coverdale – vocals, Micky Moody – guitar, Bernie Marsden – guitar, Neil Murray – bass, Pete Solley – keyboards, Dave Dowle – drums. Producer on EP tracks: Martin Birch.

  Trouble (October 1978)

  Side 1: 1. Take Me With You (4:45) 2. Love To Keep You Warm (3:44) 3. Lie Down (A Modern Love Song) 3:14 4. Day Tripper (3:47) 5. Nighthawk (Vampire Blues) 3:39

  Side 2: 1. The Time Is Right For Love (3:26) 2. Trouble (4:48) 3. Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick (3:26) 4. Free Flight (4:06) 5. Don’t Mess With Me (3:25)

  Notes: First output under the truncated band name Whitesnake; debut full-length album by the band. Keyboardist Pete Solley is replaced by Jon Lord. Producer: Martin Birch.

  Lovehunter (October 1979)

  Side 1: 1. Long Way From Home (4:58) 2. Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues (4:26) 3. Help Me Thro’ The Day (4:40) 4. Medicine Man (4:00) 5. You ‘n’ Me (3:25)

  Side 2: 1. Mean Business (3:49) 2. Love Hunter (5:38) 3. Outlaw (4:04) 4. Rock ‘n’ Roll Women (4:44) 5. We Wish You Well (1:39)

  Notes: Producer: Martin Birch.

  Ready An’ Willing (May 31, 1980)

  Side 1: 1. Fool For You Loving (4:14) 2. Sweet Talker (3:36) 3. Ready An’ Willing (3:42) 4. Carry Your Load (4:04) 5. Blindman (5:05)