Tagged: Whitesnake
WHITESNAKE-TIME!!
Only 2 weeks till Sweden Rock Festival and all those bands that I love…! One of those bands being Whitesnake – a band that’s always been close to my heart.
It’s funny when I think back and remember how I even started listening to WS, it was after hearing “Guilty of Love” on the radio back in 1984. The reason why I loved the song wasn’t the song itself at first, it was that very simple but effectful drumroll that Cozy did right at the end of the song, before the last chorus. I loved that detail, could listen to it over and over again.
The rest is history. :-)
Sometimes when I find interviews or videos of my meetings with David Coverdale, I still can’t believe that this man went from being a poster on the wall in my teenage room, to somebody who knows and remembers my name in an instant, regardless where he sees me, if it’s in a crowd or a press conference or whatever.
If I stop and think about that, it’s pretty amazing, because of all the people this man meets on an everyday basis, in all different corners of the world – to think that I said or did something that makes him remember me every time, is pretty damn unbelievable. :)
These are some of those memorable moments…. The “classic” interview that I did in 1999 I’ve already published in this blog, audio files and all. Check for “Lost and found- David Coverdale” (link in left hand column).
David and Doug doing an acoustic performance at the Sweden Rock Festival kickoff party at Nalen in Stockholm, 2006:
LINK: http://www.myspace.com/video/lita77/david-coverdale-doug-aldrich-acoustic-live/4251198
One of those special moments was the press conference at the Sweden Rock festival-kickoff at Nalen in Stockholm December 2, 2006.
I recorded this press conference on an MD-recorder but the recorder/MD-player is shot so when I try to play the MD’s it sounds like crap. If anyone still wants to hear the entire press conference, drop me a line at intherearviewmirror@ymail.com or add a comment.
As you can hear from this short clip, the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired. But this is one of those small moments that I was talking about, in a room of journalists where David treats everyone politely but professionally, he never once mentioned anyone by name. Until I decided to ask something…
He kept doing that, talking as if we were old friends, when in fact, I had “only” met him maybe 3 or 4 times prior to that, very short hello’s apart from the long and relaxed interview that I had the pleasure of doing in 1999. One of the rare occasions where you don’t have to feel stressed. Usually you get 20 minutes, tops.
He had all the time in the world, cause I think I was the last journalist to talk to him that day.
A funny thing about the Sweden Rock kickoff press conference, was that I was going to take a photo of David and Doug before they left, but accidentally hit the record-movie button.
Thank god for that, cause I got these 8 seconds on tape (where he gets up to leave and doesn’t ask anyone else if they’ve got any more questions – he turns to me to check if I’ve got all the material I need..!).
LINK: http://www.myspace.com/video/lita77/david-coverdale-doug-aldrich-press-conference-stockholm/4224844
Then there was my birthday. Whitesnake playing in Copenhagen, Denmark that day and once again, David made it such a memorable birthday, I couldn’t have asked for a better b-day. :)
My friend Mari had a surprise in store, cause I didn’t know that she had prepared a sign to let David know it was my birthday.
Much to my surprise he took that sign and walked around with it on stage and sang for me.
Well, he has a way of making people feel like he’s singing just for them, one of those qualities that made him a superstar.
When he told the crowd that it was my birthday and that I was “giving out birthday kisses to guys” I thought it was funny and a very “Coverdalish” thing to do. :-)
Inbetween two songs, he went behind the stage and came back with a beer in a cup that he offered me as a birthday-gift and bowed. No wonder I love this man! :))
Small, but such nice gestures.
And he’s always done that. I can’t think of one single Whitesnake-show where he hasn’t talked to me from the stage or smiled and winked or whatever.
There was only ONE time that I was pissed off at him, and I was mad for at least a year…
It was Sweden Rock Festival, I think in 2003. I was standing in the front row as usual (being my size, you don’t see shit if you’re way in the back) and as you all know, when you are in the mosh pit, you’re stuck. You can’t move – at ALL.
Suddenly I feel how some guy had his hands all over me – where they shouldn’t be. I was so mad and frustrated because I couldn’t see who it was and I couldn’t do anything to get the idiot to stop what he was doing.
In the middle of all this, I see David looking at me and whoever the asshole was, with a big smile, and he says: “I don’t blame you man, she’s got great tits!”
WTF?! He could have said something to make the asshole stop, instead he encouraged it.
Oh boy, my respect for David Coverdale went down the toilet after that. I was pissed off, VERY pissed off.
When my “little brother” Chris Laney opened for Whitesnake in Linkoping some time after that, he put me and my then boyfriend on the guest list and I guess I had the opportunity to talk to David that year. But I didn’t want to.
I remember him spotting me from the stage, like so many times before, bringing the mikestand over to my corner, where he happily started talking, asking how I was doing blah blah, I don’t remember what he said exactly. For the first time ever I wasn’t interested in what he had to say. And I didn’t go backstage to hang with Chris and his band either. I just left.
But then, time heals everything I guess and I figured that maybe David had misunderstood the situation I had been in at Sweden Rock 2003, and I just decided to drop the grudge.
I’m back to being the same enthusiastic Whitesnake-fan that I’ve always been.
And I can’t wait to see them rock again. The new album Forevermore is the best they’ve done in a long time – go get it! :)
Lost and found: DAVID COVERDALE (part 2)
By popular demand – the second part of the David Coverdale 2000-interview. The part where fans had a chance to send in their questions and also the part with the “template”-questions that I used to ask every band I met back then, as a reoccuring part of my artist-interviews.
[All photos by Staffan Eriksson]
Many rock-magazines back in the day used to have a section with this type of questions. Guess it was just a way to ease things up a bit and not always be so overly serious. Fans can appreciate something different than the usual “who-produced-your-album”-sort of questions too on occasion. :)
I wasn’t sure how David would react, which is why I saved these questions for the second part of the interview. As it turns out, he enjoyed it, maybe because it was a little bit different from what he would normally have to answer in his regular interviews.
I hope that Micke Eriksson (Deep Purple Forever magazine), who helped out with the dialog with the record company, and photographer Staffan Eriksson, read this, because this is a message for you guys:
I promised you a copy each of this interview as a thank you for all your help.
That was eleven years ago and none of you ever got it, which was simply because when my computer broke down I lost all addresses, e-mails and everything. I couldn’t get in touch and I’ve felt bad about that ever since.
I take pride in keeping my promises so I hope that I’ll find them sooner or later.
And with names like “Eriksson”…. If you live in Sweden, forget it, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If anyone knows these two super-nice gentlemen, please give them the link to this blog. :)
As for David Coverdale, I think he is a true artist in every sense of the word, not only as a performer, but he understands the business part of things better than anyone.
He remembers people, something that is so important in this business. He always remembers my name no matter where he sees me or when. It could be in a Whitesnake-crowd or at a press-conference. He won’t hesitate, he just knows. I appreciate and respect that
I think this interview got so popular because he was so open to it and didn’t think of himself as being above “stupid questions”. On the contrary, he enjoyed them and it was a true pleasure for me as a journalist and a fan, to have this conversation with him.
There is still a lot more Whitesnake-material that I will be sharing with you all, so please feel free to check back, or add me on Twitter where I will be posting all my updates: www.twitter.com/lita77777
Lost and found: DAVID COVERDALE
Found my DAVID COVERDALE-interview from August 14, 2000.
Apologies for the first 2 minutes of this recording that, unfortunately, have been ruined after 11 years kicking around various drawers and boxes around the house.
The sound quality gets better after a few minutes. I’ve got the original recording somewhere….
It will be a nice surprise for me when I find it – someday…!
[David Coverdale and me in his suite at Sheraton Hotel, Stockholm, August 2000]
There was a transcript of it on my first website, but not this particular part of it.
The interview was divided in two parts – one for radio and the other one, which was a more relaxed version where there were no rules for what I could ask him, was for a website.
As it turned out, the “relaxed” version of the interview became very popular.
It was still the early days of Internet, as you can hear David mentioning in the beginning of this interview, that “Internet is becoming huge“. It still wasn’t back in those days.
So, when I published that online, every single Whitesnake-fan that had a modem, knew about it. I think it was actually linked from the official Whitesnake-site.
THIS part of the interview (the first one) was only aired once on the radio, no re-runs or anything.
So, here it is, back for Whitesnake-fans to enjoy – eleven years later! :)
I hesitated when I thought I should include David Coverdale and Whitesnake in this blog, because there is just way too much to look back on and remember. Tour-stories, interviews, David’s birthday-greeting, the Sweden Rock-kickoff press conference…
I love Whitesnake and David Coverdale is way up there on my list of heroes, alongside Judas Priest/Rob Halford and The Beatles.
There will be more – of everything Whitesnake-related! The second part of this interview for instance, with the “crazy questions”.
Bookmark this page or subscribe to it if you don’t want to miss it!
More to come….
The original diary-notes from that day, August 14, 2000
I checked my tape recorder and the microphone probably twenty times, went through the questions over and over again, tried to organize myself. I saw some people who looked like record-company people, but I didn’t approach them. You can tell which ones are record company people, managers, roadies – all that, it’s just written all over them for some reason. I could pick them out of a crowd anytime. Well, after all these years of doing this, I’d better…! :)
It was 4 pm and my interview was 4.05! I called the record-company girl from the hotel phone and she went:“I’m downstairs with your photographer, are you coming?”.
I took the elevator and went downstairs. She looked at her watch and said:“Well okay…! Let’s go!”
Before I knew it, we were in the elevator on our way up to David Coverdale’s room.
Next thing I know, we’re outside room 520. She knocked and we went in. There were three people in the room, a girl and a guy, and a man sitting next to the door who turned around when we came in.
He looked at me and went:
-I know you from somewhere, don’t I?
– Yes you do – you put me on the guestlist in Southhampton!
– Oh, is that where it was? he said and smiled.
– Weeell, it wasn’t THAT long ago... he answered and smiled. Man, three years IS a long time for ME! I don’t even remember people I met last week!
We started talking about David’s new website, and he mentioned how they had met Kino* in Japan recently and how they wanted to collaborate with all the people who’ve had the “unofficial” sites up until now. [*Kino runs one of the unofficial Whitesnake sites]
He gave me his business card with the “www.davidcoverdale.com” and I thought “finally!” there will FINALLY be an official site! We talked a bit about the people in the band, about Earl Slick about this and that.. He started to laugh, cause if we had continued, there wouldn’t have been anything left for David to talk about!Everybody left and went into the room next door. It was only me and the photographer left, and I told him in a quiet voice that I was dead nervous…
– You’re smart, I’m sure this will go just fine… he replied. I didn’t feel the least “smart” or cool, only extremely nervous…!!I was the last one to enter the room. I went in there as quietly and discreetly as I could, stared down on my boots and tried to make myself invisible by standing behind everbody as far back in the room as I could possibly get.
Then I saw how David stretched his neck to see who just came in and said in a loud voice:
– Hey, I know you!
The guys who had just finished their interview with him looked at me, the record company people looked at me, I felt like some sort of celebrity or something.
He wanted me to step forward, and when I did, I took his hand to introduce myself politely, the “journalist-way”, but he kissed me on my left, then my right cheek like “Uncle David kissing his niece“-kind of way! :)– Nice to see you again!
The people left the room and I was left alone in the room with David.
He was very relaxed, leaned back and told me to have a seat.
– So what’s new then? he asked while I was preparing my taperecorder.
It sounded just as if we were old pals who hadn’t met in a few years.
The first part of the interview was for a Swedish radio station, so we just talked about his CD and what he had been up to the part three years, also a few questions about the Van Halen rumors and things like that.
The second part was a bunch of funny, stupid, unusual questions that I brought with me just in CASE I felt he was in a mood to answer them…! And he was. Not once was it even close that he’d look at me with a “are you totally out of your mind?“-glance. On the contrary.
It was one of the best interviews I’ve ever made.
The original 30 minutes that I had for my interview turned into more than an hour, and I wish I could have stayed there all day.
When the interview was done, he even thanked me and said:
– Thank you Daniela, this was some interesting stuff…
That really warmed my heart. He had enjoyed the interview… And I got it confirmed a few days later too when I received an email from EMI that said “David was very happy with the interview…“. I don’t think I could have gotten a better compliment!
After the interview was officially over, we talked a little bit more about this and that, and suddenly he asked if I had seen the CD-cover. – Wait, I’ll show you! he said and got up from the couch.– Hey Mikey, do you have the CD artwork here somewhere, I want to show her.
Then he came back with a few stapled A4-sheets with the idea for the cover printed on them.
His wife was the centerfold in the booklet and I spontaneously said:
– Wow! She’s beautiful! (where the hell does he FIND all those unreal women?? *lol!*)
– Thank you, he said and sounded proud.
He signed a few things for me and before I left he said in his “bedroom voice” (well, that deep voice of his always sounds like that…!)
– You look very glamourous in that picture, baby!
What…? Baby? Lol. 
[The “glamourous” photo from Southhampton]
He did the “Uncle David kisses his niece“-routine again and said:
– A pleasure… as always! with a smile.
I gave his manager my business card, and left.
I played my journalist-role until the elevator doors closed, THAT’s when I relaxed and allowed myself to just be the Whitesnake-fan that I am.
http://www.facebook.com/InTheRearviewMirror
Songs before and after
I was out driving with my sister the other day and “Ain’t No Love In The Heart of The City” started playing in the car stereo. She said she loved that song, but was well aware that it wasn’t Whitesnake’s own tune. It’s an old R & B-song from the 70’s actually, but not too many people know that. Whitesnake have somehow made it their own.
Some songs just work better the second time. Maybe because the timing is better, or because everything can be perfected. Either way, it’s an interesting phenomenon. I went for years thinking that Diamonds and Rust and Green Manalishi were Judas Priest-originals. Probably because those were on the first Priest-album I ever bought, Unleashed In the East. I figured those were all their own songs.
I’m sure you can think of a bunch of great covers that were improved and modernized to fit a different (and often larger) audience – but here are a few that I could think of from the top of my head:
I LOVE ROCK’N’ROLL
(original by Arrows 1975 – covered by Joan Jett in 1981)
AIN’T NO LOVE IN THE HEART OF THE CITY
(original by Bobby Blue Bland 1974 – covered by Whitesnake in 1978)
DIAMONDS AND RUST
(original by Joan Baez 1975 – covered by Judas Priest in 1977)
GREEN MANALISHI
(original by Fleetwood Mac 1970 – covered by Judas Priest in 1979)
ACTION!
(original by The Sweet 1975 – covered by Def Leppard in 1993)
I DIDN’T KNOW I LOVED YOU (‘TIL I SAW YOU ROCK’N’ROLL)
(original by Gary Glitter 1972 – covered by Rock Goddess and more in 1983)
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 