WHITESNAKE Parts Ways With DUFFY, FRAZIER; New Drummer Announced

Legendary rock band WHITESNAKE has parted ways with bassist Uriah Duffy and drummer Chris Frazier. According to a press release, "WHITESNAKE wish Uriah and Chris every success in pursuing their individual musical careers and express their sincere gratitude for the exceptional contribution they both made to the legacy of the band."

Replacing Frazier as WHITESNAKE's new drummer is Brian Tichy, who has previously played with FOREIGNER, BILLY IDOL, OZZY OSBOURNE and VELVET REVOLVER.

At this time WHITESNAKE is still exploring its options for the position of the band's new bassist.

WHITESNAKE is currently in the studio writing and recording the follow-up to 2008's "Good To Be Bad" for a spring release via Frontiers Records.

According to a press release, WHITESNAKE's next CD will be "a solid, natural progression from the band's last opus, which was awarded by the influential Classic Rock magazine as 'Best Album of the Year' in 2008." "As always, we want to take it to the next level," stated vocalist David Coverdale. "I feel that with the last album we achieved a strong WHITESNAKE 'cocktail' that comfortably embraced and mixed all the previous musical aspects and styles of the band's history, while taking our identity a little further... all on one album."

Coverdale said the production team for the new album will most likely be the infamous Brutal Brothers, or Los Bros Brutalos, who handled the recording of "Good To Be Bad".

"The new songs are in the very familiar and recognizable WHITESNAKE territory of soulful, bluesy, melodic power rock, with a couple of ballads thrown in for good measure," the singer said. "It can't be a WHITESNAKE album without ballads, mate!"

WHITESNAKE was forced to cancel a number of shows on its 2009 summer U.S. tour with JUDAS PRIEST due to David Coverdale being diagnosed with "severe vocal fold edema and a left vocal fold vascular lesion."

In a February 2010 interview that was posted at WHITESNAKE's official web site, Coverdale stated, "My health and my voice have never been better. I am pleased with how I'm sounding on the demos of the new songs. Very secure, good tone, very powerful. No worries, baby. None whatsoever. I am so disappointed that I had to cancel the show and the U.S. tour, but these things happen. Fortunately, it doesn't happen a lot to me and the problem I had is not something that is ongoing. It was a one-time problem, some kind of blister on one of my vocal cords, and it hurt. The cure was simple — rest. I would have been able to tour again had there been an opportunity six weeks later. The human voice is a very fragile instrument, no matter how well you take care of it, and I assure you I invest in every vocal protocol you can possibly imagine. Ask any of my throat specialists. It was just one of those things."

WHITESNAKE's appearance at U.K.'s Download festival in June 2009 coincided with action-packed re-releases of the multi-platinum albums "Slip Of The Tongue", marking its 20th anniversary, and "Slide It In", which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.

WHITESNAKE's latest album, "Good To Be Bad", was released through SPV/Steamhammer in April 2008. In addition to the regular jewel-case version, a limited-edition two-disc set contains an extra CD in a cardboard sleeve, as well as a poster, photocard and sticker.