Whitesnake man reveals AC/DC inspiration

Whitesnake guitarist Joel Hoekstra has revealed AC/DC inspired him to take up rock guitar.

His parents are both classical musicians and pushed Hoekstra to play instruments at an early age – but he reveals he had no real interest in music until he heard Angus Young’s riffs.

He tells Double Stop: “I came from a very musical family – both my parents are classical musicians, so they had me on cello and piano at an early age. All that gave me a solid foundation to build on but I wasn’t really into the concept of playing music until I started rock guitar aged 11.

“I heard AC/DC and I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool.’ I think a lot of people my age heard rock music when they were growing up and it was part of their upbringing, but it really wasn’t for me as my parents listened to nothing but classical.

“It was really the first time I thought music could be really cool. AC/DC and Angus Young was the inspiration.”

Former Night Ranger man Hoekstra joined Whitesnake earlier this year following Doug Aldrich’s departure after 11 years with the band. And he says once he heard the news, he sent an email to see if Whitesnake mainman David Coverdale would give him an audition.

Hoekstra continues: “I just thought, ‘That’s a darn good gig, I’ll shoot an email off – just to put the feelers out there and see what’s happening.’ It was a combination of me doing that and a couple of well respected people put my name forward to David.

“I flew out and we got on great, and that’s always the most important thing. David is rock royalty – working with him is fantastic, he’s an unbelievably great dude.”

And Hoeckstra says the material they’ve been working on for the upcoming Whitesnake album is “kick-ass” and fans should expect something great from the record, which is due to launch next year.

He adds: “The songs are kick-ass. It’s straight ahead, blues-inspired rock that Whitesnake’s been playing for years – we’re not going to come out with a formula change. It’s going to be great.”

Whitesnake release Live In ‘84: Back To The Bone on November 10 via New Frontiers Records to mark the 30th anniversary of the Slide It In album.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 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 maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to 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.