WHITESNAKE ANNOUNCE NIGHT RANGER’S JOEL HOEKSTRA AS THEIR NEW GUITARIST
Whitesnake has officially announced their new guitar player, New York’s own, Joel Hoekstra.
Whitesnake frontman, David Coverdale has posted the following message:
“Ladies & Gentlemen…Boys & Girls…Your Attention, Please…:)
One of the first, if not the first, guitarists to put his name forward after hearing that Doug Aldrich had left the band, was an exceptionally talented musician whom we had met briefly last year when his band opened for Whitesnake in Arizona.
Everyone was very impressed by him, not only for his ability to play amazing guitar, but, also, his very agreeable personality & he was definitely foremost in our minds when we began to search for Doug’s replacement in Whitesnake.
We jammed together & were mutually impressed enough to ask him to join Whitesnake on the spot. This was May 30th. 2014.
Joel is currently fulfilling his remaining tour dates with Night Ranger.
We sincerely thank you all for your patience & understanding…& so, without further ado, we ask you to welcome, as we have done, our exceptionally gifted new Snake Brother…
JOEL HOEKSTRA…Guitarist Extraordinaire
~David Coverdale’
Hoekstra is absolutely thrilled to be a part of the band, is looking forward to rocking with you all soon. To read about all the band’s he has worked with, please click here.
Oddly enough, Aldrich is working with Night Ranger’s Jack Blades.
Last sentence — it’s not “band’s” , it’s “bands.”
Was Joel on Eddie’s podcast a couple of weeks ago?
Coverdale gets the big %, his band has always gotten low wage….like Ozzy & Dio. I’m sure bigger names passed.
Boys gotta tell ya, not sure if this was the best career decision for Joel. I don’t know what prompted him to leave Night Ranger but in my opinion Night Ranger musically to me has it all over Whitesnake. Of course he still plays with TSO but I dunno. If this was an amicable split I don’t think joining Whitesnake us a step up. Night Rangers a great band with a catalog of great songs, and awesome live. Whitesnake is David Coverdale with a revolving door of players.
my guess is it’s a step up because whitesnake gets bigger gigs than night ranger.