Whitesnake mainman David Coverdale has hailed new guitarist Joel Hoekstra, calling him “truly inspiring.”
The axeman joined Whitesnake from Night Ranger earlier this year following the departure of Doug Aldrich who had been with the band for 11 years – and it’s a move which couldn’t have worked out better for the veteran frontman.
He tells the Eddie Trunk podcast: “Joel came with six shiny stars of approval in every aspect of his life, but Jesus Christ, what a player! He’s incendiary, an amazing musician, truly inspiring and a beautiful guy too.
“We didn’t audition him, we just threw him in, jammed together and told him, ‘You want it? You’re in.’ It was that simple. We just had to keep it quiet out of respect for his colleagues in his former band Night Ranger. I respected that until the point where it was just starting to get out. I said, ‘You know, you want some front page on this Joel. We’ve got to pull the trigger.”
Hoekstra recently said it was an “odd” experience hooking up with Whitesnake guitarist Reb Beach in the band again after having previously replaced him in Night Ranger. And he said while he could’t go into much detail about the new Whitesnake material, he insisted fans would appreciate their efforts.
He said: “The only thing I can tell you is that it’s really cool – great, straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll. Blues-inspired rock that you’ve known and grown to love from Whitesnake. We should have some good stuff for you.”
A release date for the band’s 12th studio album has yet to be announced.