Whitesnake have recorded 18 tracks for new album Flesh & Blood

Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra has given an insight into the band’s upcoming studio album Flesh & Blood.

It was revealed in May that the record’s release would be pushed back until 2019 due to “technical issues.” And while fans still have a while to wait to hear Whitesnake’s first album of new material since 2011’s Forevermore, Hoekstra hints at what they can expect when it arrives early next year.

He tells Juice FM: “I don't know exactly which songs David Coverdale is going to use yet, because we recorded 18, so we'll see exactly what gets released and what order, but there's something there for everybody – all the classic Whitesnake elements are there.”

Asked if any of the new material is reminiscent of 2015’s The Purple Album, Hoekstra says: “I think that there’s stuff on there that’s Purple-influenced, because I think Whitesnake has always had a Deep Purple influence.

“There's some material that harkens back to the early days of Whitesnake, that's bluesy based, and there's some that sound a little bit more like what David refers to as the 'Geffen era' – the Slide It In, 87 album, Slip Of The Tongue sound.

“Then there's some stuff that's reminiscent of the most recent era, Good To Be Bad and Forevermore. And there's some stuff that’s what David even says is brand new, uncharted territory for Whitesnake. So we'll see what he picks for the album. 

“Hopefully there'll be something there for everybody – I really think there will be.”

Whitesnake are currently on the road with Foreigner and Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening on the Juke Box Heroes Tour, with the next show taking place at Irvine’s FivePoint Amphitheatre tonight.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.