told Mitch Lafon, explaining the mission of those early days. “When I
was with Purple I learned to tailor the style of music I was writing for the
identity, but within three years that became an ever decreasing circle. So,
when I formed Whitesnake I wanted Whitesnake to be able to embrace a plethora
of styles under a particular creative umbrella called Whitesnake. I wanted to
do hard rock, R&B, blues and, if necessary, with good commercial hooks and
I’ve done very well harnessing that.”
Mission accomplished and Whitesnake had
carved out a modest position for themselves with music that was about as
unfashionable as could be, given the punk, new wave, post-punk and pre-New Wave
Of British Heavy Metal times in which it was birthed. David had built himself a
ship of dreams. Now all he had to do was launch it against the aforementioned waves that threatened the seaworthiness of his new venture.
-4-
Trouble – “The Room Literally Shook”
David Coverdale, post-Purple, was his
own worst enemy. Sure, he could lament his lack of success through a
rockscrabble solo career, which then untidily morphed into Whitesnake with
compromised band names, confusing album titles and EPs. But facts were staring
him in the face: the public did not want funky R&B or blues
fusion or whatever it was he was selling, right alongside the
flailing Ian Gillan Band and the already failed Paice Ashton Lord. It was up to
the strong-willed lead singer and his band of pirates to change that seemingly
insurmountable public perception and slowly, toward some measure of success, he
would do just that.
July to August of 1978 would find the
band working on their first proper album, to be called Trouble , at
Central Recorders on Denmark St, in the heart of London’s Tin Pan Alley off
Charing Cross Road. Roger Glover had turned Coverdale onto the
place when they had been working together on Northwinds . Cramped and too
hot, with the control room upstairs, it nonetheless served its purpose — plus
it was cheap.
With Jon Lord suddenly free, just as they’re finishing up the record, David hauls him into the Whitesnake fold after attempts to
poach the talented Colin Towns from Ian Gillan’s band fail, as does an attempt
to coax Tony Ashton to enlist. Indeed, it could have gone the
other way. Jon and Ian had been lobbying Coverdale to join Paice Ashton Lord,
with David wisecracking that it wouldn’t have been a good career move for any
of them to be in a band called CLAP! To complicate matters further,
Mick Ralphs from Bad Company had been lobbying to get Lord into his band, only
to have Paul Rodgers quash the idea (and remember, Rodgers and Moody were in a
couple of bands together back in their youth).
The process of making the Trouble album found Coverdale presenting his mostly piano-based ideas
(born in Bavaria!) to Moody and Marsden on a Teac 3300S at what he called a smelly
cellar behind the Purple offices at 25 Newman Street, in London’s West End. The
album was hammered out in ten days including mixing (and fortifying visits to the
Newman Arms, a really cosy little pub), with much of the conclusion of the
process consisting of erasing keyboardist Pete Solley’s tracks so that Jon
could add his talents.
“Jon brought to the table what Jon Lord
did,” reflects Marsden. “I mean, when he overdubbed the stuff on Trouble ,
we had already recorded with the previous keyboard player, before Jon joined the
band. And literally, when Jon brought his Hammond organ and stuff into the
studio, I mean, the room literally shook. And you know, Jon had a presence
about him, as a person, and you know what he was like as a musician.”
Adds Coverdale, “A lot of people don’t
realize... they either look at Purple as a collective or particularly Ritchie.
But a huge part of Deep Purple’s sound was Jon Lord’s left hand on that
customized Hammond organ. My God, it would shake your haemorrhoids when he
would hit the bottom end of that
was with Purple I learned to tailor the style of music I was writing for the
identity, but within three years that became an ever decreasing circle. So,
when I formed Whitesnake I wanted Whitesnake to be able to embrace a plethora
of styles under a particular creative umbrella called Whitesnake. I wanted to
do hard rock, R&B, blues and, if necessary, with good commercial hooks and
I’ve done very well harnessing that.”
Mission accomplished and Whitesnake had
carved out a modest position for themselves with music that was about as
unfashionable as could be, given the punk, new wave, post-punk and pre-New Wave
Of British Heavy Metal times in which it was birthed. David had built himself a
ship of dreams. Now all he had to do was launch it against the aforementioned waves that threatened the seaworthiness of his new venture.
-4-
Trouble – “The Room Literally Shook”
David Coverdale, post-Purple, was his
own worst enemy. Sure, he could lament his lack of success through a
rockscrabble solo career, which then untidily morphed into Whitesnake with
compromised band names, confusing album titles and EPs. But facts were staring
him in the face: the public did not want funky R&B or blues
fusion or whatever it was he was selling, right alongside the
flailing Ian Gillan Band and the already failed Paice Ashton Lord. It was up to
the strong-willed lead singer and his band of pirates to change that seemingly
insurmountable public perception and slowly, toward some measure of success, he
would do just that.
July to August of 1978 would find the
band working on their first proper album, to be called Trouble , at
Central Recorders on Denmark St, in the heart of London’s Tin Pan Alley off
Charing Cross Road. Roger Glover had turned Coverdale onto the
place when they had been working together on Northwinds . Cramped and too
hot, with the control room upstairs, it nonetheless served its purpose — plus
it was cheap.
With Jon Lord suddenly free, just as they’re finishing up the record, David hauls him into the Whitesnake fold after attempts to
poach the talented Colin Towns from Ian Gillan’s band fail, as does an attempt
to coax Tony Ashton to enlist. Indeed, it could have gone the
other way. Jon and Ian had been lobbying Coverdale to join Paice Ashton Lord,
with David wisecracking that it wouldn’t have been a good career move for any
of them to be in a band called CLAP! To complicate matters further,
Mick Ralphs from Bad Company had been lobbying to get Lord into his band, only
to have Paul Rodgers quash the idea (and remember, Rodgers and Moody were in a
couple of bands together back in their youth).
The process of making the Trouble album found Coverdale presenting his mostly piano-based ideas
(born in Bavaria!) to Moody and Marsden on a Teac 3300S at what he called a smelly
cellar behind the Purple offices at 25 Newman Street, in London’s West End. The
album was hammered out in ten days including mixing (and fortifying visits to the
Newman Arms, a really cosy little pub), with much of the conclusion of the
process consisting of erasing keyboardist Pete Solley’s tracks so that Jon
could add his talents.
“Jon brought to the table what Jon Lord
did,” reflects Marsden. “I mean, when he overdubbed the stuff on Trouble ,
we had already recorded with the previous keyboard player, before Jon joined the
band. And literally, when Jon brought his Hammond organ and stuff into the
studio, I mean, the room literally shook. And you know, Jon had a presence
about him, as a person, and you know what he was like as a musician.”
Adds Coverdale, “A lot of people don’t
realize... they either look at Purple as a collective or particularly Ritchie.
But a huge part of Deep Purple’s sound was Jon Lord’s left hand on that
customized Hammond organ. My God, it would shake your haemorrhoids when he
would hit the bottom end of that
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