WHITESNAKE Guitarist: DAVID COVERDALE 'Has The Biggest Voice And A Giant Tone'

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with WHITESNAKE/ex-DIO guitarist Doug Aldrich. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Classic Rock Revisited: Are you comfortable saying that you‘re one of the best [guitarists] out there today?

Doug: Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck are still out there playing their asses off; they are the greats. Eric Clapton is still playing. We just lost Gary Moore, who was one of the best. Then you have Michael Schenker and Uli Roth… these are all masters of the guitar. I appreciate what you are saying but I am actually not comfortable with compliments. I know there are certain things I do well and I just try to do them to the best of my ability. I was working on a song with my buddy Derek Sherinian, who is the keyboard player with BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION. At some point, he is going to do another solo record. Derek is a crazy talented musician. We banged out this song and he put it together and sent it back to me. He came over and he was trying to get me to play a part with him and I was like, "Dude, that is hard. I can't do it. I can fake it and do it my way but I can't do it like you do it." He was fine with that but that just shows that I have to do things my own way. When I do them that way then I can hang in there.

Classic Rock Revisited: What is your take on David Coverdale's intensity?

Doug: For me, honestly, I am not just saying this because I work with him, when I first heard David Coverdale sing I knew that was the type of voice I wanted in a singer. He has the biggest voice and a giant tone. It is like Eddie Van Halen's Brown Sound on guitar, vocally — David is that special. Last tour, we might have cancelled a couple of dates, but David's voice is back 100%. You never really know what someone is like until you are in a room working with him. Trying to capture David's voice on one little microphone is something that just can't happen. I have never said this before, but you can stick a microphone next to an amp and you can get a sound of what is going on, but you don't quite get the total real sound. When you hear David Coverdale sing in the studio, without a microphone, you realize what a giant voice he has. Ronnie James Dio had a giant voice as well.

Classic Rock Revisited: I have to ask you about Ronnie James Dio. He was instrumental in your career when he hired you to be in his band. Tell me your thoughts on losing Ronnie.

Doug: I saw HEAVEN & HELL dates for 2010 and I thought he must be doing better — that is what made it so hard. I was in touch with Ronnie more about sports than music. He loved the New York Giants. It was football season when he got sick. He had asked me to do a tour at the end of 2009. I told them that if he asked David, and that if he was all right with it, then I would be glad to do it. When he got sick, I tried to talk to him about fun things, like football and stuff, instead of burdening him with questions about his health. I might just ask how he was doing and he would go, "This thing is a real pain in the ass but I am doing better." I got a text when I was out of the country telling me that he was really sick and I called Wendy [Dio] right away and she told me that he was not going to make it. I said, "I am coming back home tomorrow. Do you think he will hang in there that long?" She said, "Definitely, he wants to see you but you need to get here." I was worried about it so I told my wife to get the baby and go see Ronnie. I'm so grateful I did that. She told him that we loved him and he blinked to her so we know he understood. I didn't get to say goodbye, as he passed away before I could get there. It was a huge loss for metal. I feel lucky to have known him and spend time with him, in addition to playing music with him. One time, we went to a sports bar down the street because I wanted to watch an Eagles game. Ronnie went with me to support me. A longtime mate of his named Willie joined us and there was this big guy who was some sort of actor, and he was for the other team and he just would not let up on me. He kept making all these rude comments and Ronnie finally got pissed off. Ronnie jumped up and went nose-to-nose with this big guy. I was like, "Holy shit." We all got chucked out of the place, but how cool is that, Ronnie stuck up for me.

Read the entire interview at Classic Rock Revisited.