Canada's The Metal Voice recently spoke to Ex-Whitesnake guitarist and solo artist Adrian Vandenberg about Vandenberg's new album 'SIN' that was released on August 25, 2023 via Mascot records.
Vandenberg also spoke about how he was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne's band during the Speak to the Devil tour and how he was asked to join Whitesnake multiple times throughout the years and refused.
Adrian Vandenberg photo above by Neil Turbin
David Coverdale photo by Fernando Bonenfant
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When asked if he was asked to join Whitesnake prior to John Sykes joining
"The first time was when the first Vandenberg album was about to get released. And David (Coverdale) mentioned in an interview (English music paper) I got a new guitar player and unknown guy called Adrian Vandenberg and I read the interview and go what? I didn't know about it? A couple of weeks later David invited me to come to a Whitesnake show in Holland, he invited me backstage. I got picked up by the tour manager and he said David (Coverdale) would like to meet you and they've suggested to me to join Whitesnake and I said well I'm a big fan but I can't do it because this album (Vandenberg) is coming out and I signed a contract with Atlantic.
"The second time was when Whitesnake was headlining the Donington Festival in England and again David invited me backstage and he repeated his invitation but I was recording the second Vandenberg album in Jimmy Page's Studio. Again I said bad timing again let's stay in touch. "
"The third time was (when Whitesnake) was recording the 'Slide it in Album' and I got a call by his manager and he said I have situation right now (to join Whitesnake), I said man (can't) I'm recording the third Vandenberg. You know it was always when I was recording another Vandenberg album. I didn't like it (refusing to join) because David is one of my all-time favorite singers, just like Robert Plant, Ronnie Dio and Paul Rogers. But we both knew (Coverdale and Vandenberg) the timing it wasn't right each and every time. So in 86 when John Kalodnerum called me up and he said well I heard you got out of your contract with Atlantic and I would like to invite you to come to to L.A. to talk about a new contract for Vandenberg. So I was flown to L.A and I got picked up by a limo I go wow this is the life you know so the next day I was in the office and he said well I haven't been quite honest. I actually have two proposals for you. One is to to fire the rest of Vandenberg and to put together a new line of Vandenberg in Los Angeles with a couple of Top Class American or English musicians. I said well yeah it sounds interesting. So I said well what's the other proposal? He said well I would really like you to join Whitesnake and I said well I heard it before you know and do your mind if I think about it for a couple of days you know um I I had to put a picture in my mind. And then he said well why while you're here I would like to ask you to come up with a different guitar arrangement for 'Here I go Again' again and to play a Vandenberg style solo on it because the way John Sykes recorded it he says it wasn't radio friendly enough and it made him think of a country in western song played by a metal band. So I said great because I love the song. So I thought that was a great idea so I told Johnny of course, so that's when I worked with Keith Olson and I recorded the whole thing (guitar part) within half an hour."
When asked what the difference is musically from Vandenberg's latest album SIn to their last album 2020.
" I realized I was really happy with the 2020 album but when we started doing a bunch of live shows under our belt I realized I would like to try to get a little closer to how we sound live. So I turned everything up a little bit, a little bit more umph out of the amplifier, a little bit more punch on the drums. Just a little bit more of everything and go a little heavier, heavier than the 2020 album."
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When asked if he was ever approached by Kiss or Ozzy to join their bands, since Vandenberg supported these two bands in the 80's
" I did. A story that I never told before. Ozzy actually. First time I met him (Ozzy) during the tour. But I must say he was not quite sober, which was unusual for Ozzy of course (laughs). His tour manager introduced me to him and he was in a lunchroom of one of the hotel and he said Adrian do you want to join my band? (Adrian said), we are supporting you guys and Jake (E Lee) is a fantastic player. He (Ozzy) mumbles something, like stay in touch or whatever. But later on um some people mentioned that Don Airey (keyboardist) and a couple of other guys in the band um mentioned to Ozzy that my style of playing had a lot of resemblance with um Randy Rhods' playing and in the sense of classical influences like Euro metal type of stuff combined with American and blues.
Adrian Vandenberg. Joined by vocalist Mats Levén, drummer Koen Herfst and bassist Randy Van Der Elsen, the influential axe-slinger delivers a vibrant, visceral, and vital vision on the group's fifth full-length offering, "Sin", brought to life in broad strokes of anthemic hard rock and airtight metal and produced by Bob Marlette (OZZY OSBOURNE, ALICE COOPER, ROB ZOMBIE).
Recorded in Holland and Los Angeles with Marlette, "Sin" represents a natural evolution for VANDENBERG. Scorching pinch harmonics light up the first single "House On Fire" as the groove underlines a chantable chorus from Mats.
TRACKLIST
1. Thunder And Lightning
2. House On Fire
3. Sin
4. Light It Up
5. Walking On Water
6. Burning Skies
7. Hit The Ground Running
8. Baby You've Changed
9. Out Of The Shadows
Rockers Weigh in.... w/ Queensryche Todd La Torre, Producer Zeuss & Jimmy Kay
Don't Call It Hair Metal: Art In The Excess Of The 80's Rock w/ Sean Kelly (Lee Aaron, Coney Hatch)
Bob Dylan's Childhood Home in Hibbing, Minnesota USA- Covers- Jimi Hendrix, Guns N' Roses, Nazareth.
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