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AOL chat on Feb-17-2003
HOST EMC Wasp:HW
- WH: Welcome everyone!!
Tonight we're excited once again to have with us none other than guitarist extraordinaire Doug Aldrich!!
You're probably familiar with Doug's work if you've followed Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, Burning Rain and most recently Ronnie James Dio. Doug is currently out on the road with David Coverdale's Whitesnake, who are celebrating their 25th Anniversary. You can catch Whitesnake on tour with the Scorpions and Dokken. For the most current tour dates you can log into www.Whitesnake.com. For the most up to date info on Doug as well as current Whitesnake dates, log into www.DougAldrich.com.
Without further delay, please welcome Doug Aldrich!! - It is really great to be here and hello to everyone!!
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug - this is Sherry and Lisa from Denver, we were on the last tour in CA and saw you just a week ago in Albuquerque. Wonderful Show. I would like to know if you solo work is still available to purchase?
- It is a little bit difficult to get it at this point. In the next 60 days we will have all of my solo work available on my website www.dougaldrich.com. Burning Rain will also be available on my website. Hope you had a great time in Albuquerque, we certainly did!!
- WH: (Q) Hello Doug! Congratulations on the WS gig, and thanks for the great show here in Pensacola on Feb 4th! You absolutely killed on "Cryin' In The Rain"! I was wondering if there were any particular songs you are especially enjoying performing live?
- I am having a great time with everything regarding this tour as far as playing the songs "Cryin' In The Rain" is an amazing guitar song and I have a lot of respect for John Sykes so I try to keep the integrity of his recorded guitar parts as well as inject some of my own style in to that guitar solo and lastly thanks so much I am glad you had a good time.
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug. I am a huge Dio fan, but I also love your work with Burning Rain--when can we expect your next album with them?
- Hi Ken, Burning Rain is on hiatus at this point obviously because I am not at home but I know there are people who are waiting for a third record and I hope at some point after the Whitesnake tour is completed that I will have more time to write for that record.
- WH: (Q) Doug - Will you be playing your custom shop Strats at the Denver show?
- I am using Les Pauls and Strats on this tour. I love all guitars and I especially love strats although on several of the songs my Les Paul seem better.
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug, Saw you a few times over the summer and the last 3 Dio shows in December. They were so great and we thank you for hanging out and talking to us for so long. My question is.....Will you be returning to Dio?
- I am not sure exactly what the future holds with Dio at the moment but I love working with Ronnie and the band and I hope to work with him again when schedule permits. Thanks for hanging out with me as well.One of the best things about being on tour is the opportunity to meet all the music fans around the world and everyone doing the Dio tour was so cool to me.
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug from Yuki. Where do you think I am now? I had a problem ... as you know? The show was great! How do you feel to play for Whitesnake?
- Hi Yuki, I am sorry if you have any problem but I hope to see you at one of the other shows. If there is anything I can do let me know and working with Whitesnake is an amazing experience.
- WH: (Q) SCREAM is without a doubt one of the most kickin' tunes on Dio's Killing The Dragon -- why not play it live? A band decision or Ronnie's call?
- It's one of my favorite songs on Ronnie's latest record as well and we perform that song several times but there is so much material Ronnie has from the past that we decided we didn't need that particular song in the set.
- WH: (Q) Doug - what will you do after the Whitesnake tour?
- sleep!!!!
I really really love my job and I hope that I won't have too much time off because it is so great to play guitar and I really don't enjoy anything else as much and I am not sure how far away the end of the tour is. - WH: (Q) Will you be playing with Dio during the summer in Europe?
- We will just have to see what happens with that. Ronnie is at the moment working on the story for the next record and I was hoping to write with him for that record at some point but these dates just came up and I am. I don't know what is going to happen with that.
- WH: (Q) Doug, what made you decide to take the Whitesnake gig on the tour? Will this develop into anything in the studio with them?
- First off, I feel like one of the luckiest guitar players around because I have gotten lots of opportunities to play with two of my all time favorite singers and I have enjoyed Whitesnake music for a long time, especially the older music that some people in the US might not be as familiar with. So it was a great opportunity and very exciting to work with David Coverdale. We are recording all of the shows on the tour and there is a very likely chance that there will be a live record at some point this year from Whitesnake.
- WH: Thanks for being so cool guys, Doug is going to get to as many questions as possible. Thanks!
WH: (Q) Give us a touring memory from Dio & Whitesnake show... - As for Dio, the tour was one of the best times that I have ever had in my life. All of the shows were special and Ronnie puts on an amazing show. All the shows were great so I am more likely to remember if there was a rough show as they are so few and far between. One of those examples was in Glasgow Scotland when my guitar equipment failed so I had to use a rental amp that night and it was funny I will never forget it...I had a reggae guitar sound and it didn't quite go along with the vibe that Ronnie recorded on Heaven and Hell.
With Whitesnake I have only been on the road for 3 weeks and already the band feels like we have been playing together for many years. The musicians that David assembled for Whitesnake are all amazing players and we definitely work very well together. We are having a lot of fun playing and getting to know each other. - WH: (Q) Do you have a plan to write songs with David Coverdale?
- When we were rehearsing for the tour we might have started to jam a song idea and David immediately started singing an original song on top of it. He really loves to jam so you never know it could happen.
- WH: (Q) Doug, a technical question...what kind of stage set up are you using on this tour, and is it different from what you used on the Dio tour?
- I am using mainly mid 70's Marshall amps and a variety of classic guitars.I have also run the same guitar system that I use with Dio.It has been my same guitar setup that I had for many years.
On my website we are updating the gear section since there has been so much interest from other musicians including pictures and full details. - WH: I saw Whitesnake open for Crue on the Girls, Girls, Girls tour in 87. I will be seeing you Wed night in Sacramento. Why did u not get any Notice for the House of Lords work u did?
- I was hired as a session musician for that record and at the time I was working with the band Hurricane. I would have loved to have gotten credit for that record but I had made a commitment to Hurricane and our record had not even come out yet so I recorded the House of Lords record in my free time and they felt that it was necessary to show the band with a permanent member so they put someone else's picture on the record although I was the guitar player on the record I was just put down in the special thanks section but that was cool because sometimes that stuff happens and you can't worry about it too much. In the end they ended up calling me for the tour anyway which I was able to do.
- WH: (Q) At what time Did u try out for Kiss?? Where the guys nice to you?
- When I was 18 years old they came to see me play in LA several times and we jammed together at a rehearsal spot in LA but I believe I was too young and stylistically too different to be in Kiss and yes they were really cool to me. They actually called me back to play with them a second time which I was shocked about. It shocked me!!!
- WH: (Q) Doug, this is Lee Ann and Lori from Canada, the ones with the light up sign that Ronnie thought was a UFO lol. (remember us??) We wondered if it was stressful to learn so many songs in such a short time?
- Not really. I am pretty familiar with the Whitesnake material so it was just a matter of doing some homework. I hope to see you at some of the Whitesnake shows next month!
- WH: (Q) Doug , since your tours were so close together, we wondered if you are feeling exhausted from the hectic pace of touring?
- I can say that Ronnie took very good care of us so I wasn't really tired when I got home and with Whitesnake it is exactly the same....first rate treatment and great people looking after us all the time.
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug, saw you @ the Masquade in ATL and talked with you briefly about your Marshalls. You said they all had master volumes installed. Any other tricks that were done to them that you would like to share? Also what power tubes do you prefer? Mark
- Mark thanks for hanging in Atlanta with me. I love talking about equipment and I wish I could spend the whole time discussing all the amps and guitars I am into. I like EL34 tubes for a warm overdrive sound. If you want more of a cleaner punchy guitar sound sometimes 6550's are better but I like the EL34's because of their warmth. My amps are modified by a guy named Martin Golub at Custom Audio Electronics in LA. I also have several amps that I use for various parts with other modifications, one in particular that I really like is by Mark Cameron. Recently I borrowed a new amp called Standel which is great too.
- WH: (Q) I don't care if you are playing a banjo!!! We love seeing you jam live and look forward to the Chicago Show. How does the vibe of this tour feel for you compared to last summer when you were out with the Scorpions?
- Really looking forward to Chicago it is such a great town and the people are really friendly there. The tour feels very different for several reasons, one being that I was in the opening band over the summer and now I am in the co headlining band with Whitesnake and it is colder now!!
- WH: (Q) What is most important for you, Burning Rain, Dio, or Whitesnake?
- Right now I am concentrating on Whitesnake. But they are all important to me.
- WH: (Q) When did you get an offer of Whitesnake tour?
- It was in the fall when it was confirmed. . maybe around November but I had heard about it that Whitesnake was going to tour for the 25th anniversary around the summer. I thought it was so cool that Whitesnake was coming back and it is funny that I am actually playing in the band right now.
- WH: (Q) While touring with Dio, did you get the chance to hang out with the Hammerfall guys? Or is it all work and no play?
- We got to hang a little bit although they were opening the show and most nights we would get to the venue right before we went on so most of the times we could only hang out after the shows or on days off but they are really cool guys and I hope that they are doing great.
- WH: (Q) In a hundred years from now when you're dead, would you rather be hatefully remembered or totally forgotten.
- I would hope...neither I try to be a good person and do a good job at anything I do and I have a lot of friends that I care very deeply about and they are the ones that are most important to me.
- WH: (Q) It's been about 12 years since we last spoke and I am very happy to see you doing so well. I live in phoenix now and plan on catching the show Friday Night. Everything looking good for Feb. 21 in Phoenix? and are you playing any early Whitesnake material? - John Weaver (Former Student @ Instrumental Music)
- Hi John, great to hear from you, hope you are doing well with your guitar. That was a really fun time when I was teaching and I made a lot of long time friends at Instrumental Music. I am really grateful to be in the position I am now and I look forward to Phoenix. Right now the Whitesnake set list is concentrating on David's US releases and it is a kick ass set. As I said some people are familiar with the older Whitesnake material so we might be playing more of those songs in Europe.
- WH: (Q) How was the show on the 8th in Texas? You played with Montrose with your bandmate, Keith St. John, right?
- Yes it was a great show. It was at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio and it was a great show as well. It looked to me to be a sell out crowd of very rowdy Texans. Red Beach and I caught the Montrose show since we were both fans of Montrose from way back and Keith sounded as amazing as usual.
- WH: (Q) Is it true that you have your own signature neck with Jackson and if so, are you using anything other than Gibson and Fender on this tour?
- I used to have a signature model made by Jackson in the 80's and it was a really nice guitar that was based off a combination of a Fender and a Gibson but now I am using Fenders and Gibsons exclusively on these tours. As I get older I really appreciate the classics more and more. I love reading Vintage Guitar magazines dreaming about all the guitars that I don't have.
- WH: (Q) I saw you on a TV special when you were playing with Tiffany --can you elaborate the difference between such extremes from going to a metal band to a pop oriented band? Was that strange?
- In some ways that could be very strange but for me it was actually really really cool. One of the ways to try and grow as a musician is to work with many different artists. The thing about doing that tour with Tiffany was hanging with one of my best friends Chris Frazier...he played drums on my solo records as well as with Steve Vai and he called me at the last minute when their guitar player couldn't tour and I filled in but it wasn't a band and as most people know that is not my normal style of music to play.
- WH: (Q) Doug, Happy Birthday from Beavis and Butthead Chicago!! What do you want for your upcoming Birthday?
- Hey guys, those are two of my bro's. I want to see your smiling faces more often!! and hope you guys are arranging a big get together for us in Chicago as well as reservations at Chicago Speedway so we can drive the Indy cars again.
- WH: (Q) Doug, you have worked with a lot of great talent, if you took a look back on your whole career --what would you say is the most land mark event or moment that comes to mind?
- My career is an ongoing work in progress and I have had a lot of really cool moments, one might have been opening the Van Halen show in Paris in 1995 with my band Bad Moon Rising but for a lot of people who haven't known me very long they might understand that playing onstage with Ronnie Dio and David Coverdale are any guitar players landmark dreams.
- WH: (Q) Doug, we wanted to wish you a very happy early birthday, we hope you have a great day!
- Thanks so much and see you next month!!
- WH: (Q) Hi Doug. I was listening to Bat Head Soup (tribute to Ozzy) and saw that you played on Crazy Train with Dee Snyder. What Did you record you guitar through? It sounds Like old VH to the T!
- It's my main amps that I have been using since 1983 which is a 1979 JMT Marshall and that was a white Les Paul that normally I don't use but it is interesting because Randy used to use a white Les Paul.
- WH: (Q) I have noticed a maturity or maybe more patience in your solos in your most recent records. is this you have concentrated on since the days of Lion? You have always been awesome, but You sound more incredible now.
- Thanks John, I am always trying to get better.. I have a lot to learn. Fortunately I have the opportunity to do so. I am playing guitar all the time I am really trying to push myself to be better. I am kind of a perfectionist and never 100% happy with my playing. Sometimes it tortures me but that is because I think if I should be playing guitar for many more years so I can try and get it right.
- WH: (Q) How did you like playing the American noise fan forum in the mid-90s with Bad Moon Rising? You guys were kick butt!!!
- Thank you. Sometimes it is hard to remember when you play a one off show like that. I remember the show but I don't remember all the details of it. It is a lot more fun to go on tour and play every day because you get locked in to a groove and it is a lot more relaxing once you get in that groove. One off shows are always stressful but I am glad that you liked it.
- WH: (Q) In ONE word, describe EACH of your band members in Dio, including yourself.
- Ronnie - Powerful
Jimmy - solid
Simon - heavy
Scott - glue
Me - driven - WH: (Q) Hi Doug, Mark here, do you have a small studio of your own? What's your take on Pro Tools?
- I do have a studio at my home that is really comfortable to work in for several years. In the late 90's I would bring in projects and engineer and produce them. Anything from blues bands to rap music. I worked with several actors and actresses and got an opportunity to really learn about equipment in the studio. My studio is based around old school technology such as 2 inch tape machines, and analog effects. I am kind of a purist in terms of sound. In Dio we recorded Killing the Dragon on pro tools and he got it very close the warmth of tape, I would like to get a pro tools rig of my own one day.
- WH: (Q) When you learn another players material --like the tributes you have played on or John Sykes or Vivian do you find that you have taken a little piece of them with you and your own style afterward?
- We are recording the White Snake on pro tools now as well. Not really each of those guys are great guitar players but my style was formed a long time ago.The interesting thing is that all three of us were influenced by the same guitar players like Gary Moore and Randy Rhoads.
- WH: We've got time for one more with Doug....
WH: (Q) Hi Doug have u done any tv or video game music yet?? - I did two songs for a Japanese video game and recently I did two songs for a Japanese tv show. Also, sometimes they use music from my solo songs for sports shows in Europe and Japan.
- WH: That just about wraps things up for tonight. Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight and being so cool!
WH: A very special thanks to Doug for taking the time tonight! Any last comments Doug? - Thanks to everyone for coming out. I am very lucky to be here with you. I look forward to touring this year.
Thanks to all the Dio and Whitesnake fans and all of my friends that showed up tonight! See you next time.
Thanks to everybody for keeping this music alive and strong!!! Goodnight. - WH: Once again, thanks to everyone for coming out!!
Keep up with the latest on Doug and Whitesnake by visiting www.DougAldrich.com and www.Whitesnake.com.
Goodnight, see you all next time!
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