Interview date: July 14, 2006
The biggest rock spectacle of the year in Slovenia, the concert by the legendary hard rock outfit Whitesnake, already got its overture yesterday, July 15, 2006!
So we, the RockLine crew, took up the official invitation from the concert organizer Stagearts right away and showed up, cheeky grins and all, at the Whitesnake press conference at the Grand Hotel “Domina” in Ljubljana. Whitesnake’s canceled show, because of the called-off Fan Fire festival in Feldkirchen (Austria), which was supposed to take place on that very day (the reason for the cancellation was too few tickets sold), was put to good use by the band for a bit of promo in Slovenia.
The “presser” kicked off one hour late, and not a minute more. At 5:30 p.m., Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale appeared in front of us. Of everyone who happened to be near him at that moment, the first one he fell into the arms of was Uriah Duffy, his bassist, who was also killing some free time in the hotel restaurant, but who of course got nowhere near the kind of attention his boss did. David was in cracking form. He greeted everyone present and didn’t hide how pleased he was to be playing in Slovenia with his band for the first time in his career, which was also one of his opening lines at the “presser”! He sat down on a big couch, after which, following the usual routine, the photographers surrounded him with all their gear. Jernej Vene, in his well-practiced role as host, announced in his welcome speech that Mr. Coverdale would be at everyone’s disposal for the next few minutes for any questions about Whitesnake. Coverdale, who holds up remarkably well for his age, made no secret of his routine, of knowing exactly how to handle situations like this. He was visibly relaxed, smiling, and ready for a juicy joke at any moment of our short but thorough get-together. Here’s a quick summary of his statement for the media.
What would you say about the revamped Whitesnake and the guys who make up the band’s lineup today?
David: “It’s a great band. They’re all pros, and they act like it and approach their job that way. They’re great musicians, grown men, they always give their all, and I can trust them completely. It’s a pleasure working with them.”
RockLine: How happy are you with how the current Whitesnake tour is going?
David: “Happy! That’s about the right word. It’s going great. At the last show we played for a 20,000-strong crowd, I think it was the day before yesterday in the Czech Republic, and it was an unforgettable feeling!”
Which musicians influenced you when you were young?
David: “Above all, Muddy Waters! He should have been president of the USA. And Freddie King, Albert King, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf,… Then, say, Portuguese fado.” (fado is a genre of music)
You mostly listed black musicians, yet everyone in Whitesnake is white?
David: Well, you see, I can’t scrape my white skin off, no matter how hard I try. Blues definitely has a huge influence on Whitesnake’s music. Blues is a word for feeling. When I was a teenager, in the ’50s and ’60s, white people’s music was “rubbish”. We could only listen to “pretty songs”. Blues brought sex into music. You know that word over here, in Slovenia, right? You guys do have sex here in Slovenia too, don’t you?
Have you ever thought about reuniting the eighties Whitesnake lineup?
David: Never. I’m very happy right now, and as they say, when you’re happy, don’t change a thing. I’m absolutely not in the mood to dig up the past. I enjoy what I’m doing right now, and that’s who I am!
RockLine: What about Deep Purple?
David: Same thing. There’s no point at all in doing a reunion and reheating old stuff. It’d be like leaving my wife and going back to my ex. That’s a thing of the past, and that’s how it should stay. I don’t want to go back to the past.
RockLine: Still, imagine Ritchie Blackmore calls you up and says: “Hello David, I’m seriously thinking about reuniting Deep Purple in the Mk. III lineup! Are you with me?”
David: I simply don’t think about it. But funnily enough, over the Christmas holidays this year Glenn Hughes called me and we touched on exactly that subject. Glenn said: “Have you heard the rumors about a possible Deep Purple reunion in the Mk. III lineup?” I haven’t, I told him. Like I said, right now I’m focused on Whitesnake, and I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Funnily enough, two days ago I talked to the record label that Ritchie Blackmore is under contract with, about the possibility of a deal for Whitesnake. The only thing I’ve considered is maybe recording something with Jimmy Page in the near future. Ritchie Blackmore was my teacher, he showed me a few things that opened up my musical horizons even further, and I’m eternally grateful to him for that.
RockLine: So we won’t be hearing Mistreated anymore?
David: Interesting question. While preparing for this tour, I wanted to put that song on the set list. I was really looking forward to playing and singing it live again. But when we played it in rehearsals and I sang Mistreated, I just didn’t feel the right vibe and the right energy. There was no real “feeling”. I’m simply in a different place right now.
RockLine: Does the band plan to release a new album in the future?
David: When I got Whitesnake back together three years ago, the one and only purpose was to play live shows to celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary. It never even crossed my mind that I’d record anything new. Now that some time has passed, things have turned around. We have four brand-new songs that we’ll put on a double live album, which I hope will come out this year.
That’s it in short. David then signed a few autographs and posed for photos with the diehards, then said a friendly goodbye and wished us a good time at the Whitesnake concert at Ljubljana’s Križanke the next day, where it’ll finally be loud and heavy again, just the way all Slovenian hard rock fans like it. And HERE you can watch a video of the press conference.
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