Glenn Hughes says Doug Aldrich was the only man for the job when he needed to recruit a guitar player for his solo band.
The former Deep Purple, Trapeze, Black Country Communion and California Breed singer hits the road for a UK tour in October, starting at Norwich Waterfront on the 19th. It comes at the tail end of a wider European run.
Hughes’ longstanding drummer Pontus Engborg is onboard for the tour, and the vocalist was thrilled to secure ex-Whitesnake axeman Aldrich to replace Soren Andersen.
As he releases the first image of the lineup, Hughes tells TeamRock, “I felt it was time for me to start touring with my solo band. I called Pontus and Soren, but Soren had made a contractual commitment to do an autumn tour in Scandinavia, so I had to find a replacement.
There was only one man on my mind – Doug Aldrich. I’ve known Doug from his time with Ronnie Dio, and of course Whitesnake. Doug played with me on a couple of Purple songs at a festival the night before Ronnie passed away. We had great chemistry and talked about playing together again.
Doug is a welcome addition to my band, is a dear friend, both loving and nurturing, and is a rock phenomenon. I’m beyond grateful to return to a solo band touring cycle that will see me travel across many continents these next 12 months. See you down the front.”
source: classicrock.teamrock.com
14 Responses
This ought to be stellar! But if Black Country Communion and California Breed taught us anything, don’t expect this to last long.
Wouldn’t it be great if Sweet/Lynch could open for these guys!?! What a one-two punch that would be!
This is cool, although because it’s Glenn’s solo thing I guess there is no room for all the great music Doug has contributed to with Dio and with Whitesnake.
I think Doug is an exceptionally good guitarist, despite what Dee Snider thinks.
Dee Snider really blew it there. When he tried to justify his comments, he listed all the guitarists he thought deserved to bill themselves as “former Whitesnake guitarist” and one of them was Steve Vai!? Vai is an outstanding guitarist, but his contribution simply consisted of standing in for Adrian Vandenburg, just as Satriani stood in for Blackmore in Purple for a while.
Snider’s dismissal of Doug’s contribution also implies that post-90s hard rock is no longer relevant. Well, Snider, just because Twisted Sister has chosen to cease creating new material doesn’t mean that other bands want to roll over and play nostalgia too.
Snider’s comments had nothing to do with his playing, and everything to do with a band that rides on 80’s hits with the only original member who actually wrote and played those songs being Coverdale.
If that was what Snider’s comments were about, that description isn’t too far off the situation with Twisted Sister.
What they were really about was the alleged unfairness of a musician billing himself as a member of a band well established by the time that musician joined it. If Snider wanted to pick a fight with such people, he should also have mentioned Ronnie James Dio, Bruce Dickinson, Sammy Hagar, Brian Johnson, Scott Travis, Steve Morse, Mark Tornillo, and … David Coverdale.
In any case, Coverdale always held Whitesnake to be a vehicle for playing music, not necessarily with a fixed line-up. Just because its line changes a lot doesn’t mean it’s a dysfunctionality on the level of Ratt or Red Dragon Cartel.
Rides on 80s hits? At least they’re recording new music, as opposed to Twisted Sister. It’s not Whitesnake’s fault if the fans at their shows just want to hear the “hits”, and don’t even know Coverdale had been in Purple. Most bands are going through that these days.
Since when is Dee Snider the authority on what is and isn’t relevant anyway? Just because a band isn’t headlining stadiums or arenas anymore doesn’t mean they’re irrelevant to their actual fans that have stuck with them over the years. I’m not a huge Whitesnake fan, but I like them, and the albums Doug Aldrich did with them are pretty damned good – and hold up pretty well along their more “relevant” albums from the 80’s. The guy was part of the band for around 10 years I think? Look at Whitesnake’s roster on their Wikipedia page. Doug was with them for a lot longer than a lot of guys on that list (and there are a LOT of them).
I’ve said before that Glenn needs to just do a solo band since he’s not had much luck starting actual bands. This way, it shouldn’t matter as much if his backing band doesn’t stay the same. He can work with who he wants to in the studio, have other big artists make guests appearances, and he can tour and play songs from his entire career. Doug is a monster guitarist and he can play anything. The band Glenn now has is a great one and I hope I get to hear them live.
Glenn needs to start a RATT tribute band
To DR Is Live.I just about choked to death on a gulp of Beer when I read that! LMFAO!!!!!!
Sorry bout that Garry. Hope you didn’t lose any lager on that one. But what a way it would’ve been to go eh?
And Gary I’m sorry I spelt your name incorrectly the first time. My IPad has a mind of its own and I didn’t catch it. Sorry Man.