Doug Aldrich says that he worked his “a*s off to keep WHITESNAKE alive” during his 12-year tenure with the band.
Aldrich was a member of David Coverdale’s outfit from 2002 to 2014 before leaving to spend more time with his family.
In a brand new interview with Mulatschag TV, Doug described his working relationship with Coverdale as “a chess match”.
He said:
“David wanted me in [WHITESNAKE], but I told him that I didn’t wanna just play his old songs — I wanted to create new music. And one time I filled in for Craig Goldy on a [DIO] tour with Ronnie [James Dio], and Ronnie said, ‘Man, I want you back in the [DIO] band.’ And somehow it got on Blabbermouth that I was coming back to DIO.”
“And David [called me and said], ‘Douglas, what’s going on?’ And I said, ‘Look, D.C., he [Ronnie] wants me back. I’m with you, man — I’m with you — but we’ve gotta do some new music; we’ve gotta write together and see if we can move this thing forward.’
So I worked really hard on bringing him a lot of music over the years to inspire him. And he’d give me some things, and I’d work equally hard on his ideas to make them sound like what I thought they should. I worked hard at it, so that’s why I have to stand up for myself when somebody says, ‘Oh, yeah, David Coverdale just told you what to play.’ Not a f*cking chance, dude. I worked my a*s off to keep WHITESNAKE alive. That’s how I see it.”
Aldrich, who joined the rock supergroup THE DEAD DAISIES in early 2016, says that the creative process in WHITESNAKE was much different to that in his current outfit.
“The difference is that [in WHITESNAKE], only me and David did it together,” he said.
“With THE DAISIES, we do it all together as a band — the old-fashioned way; the way it should be. But you’ve gotta have everybody that wants to do that, not just collect a paycheck. So we work really hard together.”