Tom Russell with David Coverdale (1989)

Episode 1 – David Coverdale

Our journey begins in London in 1989.

At the EMI offices at Manchester Square, legendary Scottish rock DJ, Tom Russell sat down with one of rock's most charismatic frontmen, David Coverdale of Whitesnake. The band was riding high on the success of their multimillion-selling album, "1987," and their follow-up, "Slip of the Tongue," and Coverdale was in full flight, charming, cheeky, and generous.

This wasn’t your typical press junket interview. This was classic Coverdale, talking music, band members, The Glasgow Apollo, fame, the British press, and sharing a few off-the-cuff stories that couldn’t possibly be repeated in polite company.

In this debut episode, we dust off the original tape, let it roll, and react in real time. Tom shares memories of the meet up, we offer a few reflections of our own, and together, we invite you into a moment in rock history that feels as fresh now as it did then.

It’s the perfect way to kick off Access All Areas, a podcast built on a love of music.

So turn it up. Let’s go backstage.

Tom, Andy and Scott

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Watch the video of the show on the AAA YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@AAA-TheTomRussellTapes

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Hi, Tom Russell here.
Welcome to the very first
edition of Access All Areas, The Tom
Russell Tapes.
I've been very fortunate to
have been in the music business for
nearly 50 years
and for 45 years of that I've been on the radio
playing rock music
and I've been very fortunate to get the

(00:27):
interview
major rock stars all over the world for the
last 40-5 years.
So all these tapes are.
A lot of these tapes
were lying about in my attic, my loft,
and I thought to myself, you know, it's a
shame I'm
not as young as it used to be.
So one fine day I'll not be here.
The shame of all these tapes just got

(00:47):
good bend when there's
a lot of people out there might be
interested in listening to them.
So I've got together with a
couple of old rock stalwarts from
from these perps,
Scott and Andy,
and we're going to be putting these out by
now and again over the next few months.
So hopefully you can lie back and relax and enjoy

(01:09):
the, the, the Tom Russell access all area tapes
And the man who's going to, or the
two men are going to be asking me questions
and trying to
see if I can remember
what we're talking about is
Scott and Andy from the Apollo memories
website.
Guys, how you doing Tom?
How are you doing? This is quite this is

(01:30):
quite exciting. This
when when Scott, when, when you said lie
back, relax.
Take me back to
when I was a
when I was a child,
I was I had I had my headphones in and I
was listening to Tom. That's
it.
Nothing untoward going on.

(01:51):
OK, so let's let's start by
playing this recording.
Can you can you remember where you recorded
it, Tom with, with Mr Coverdale?
Well, it's David Coverdale
of Whitesnake. And
I think
I haven't dug out all the tapes, but
there's at least four or five interviews
that I did with with David Coverdale over
the years.

(02:12):
And
this is, I think the,
the third one that I did with him.
It was recorded right about 1989.
And and
it was after the phenomenal success of the
87 album that sold million copies.
This, this was the follow up album.
It was called slip of the tongue
and
typical,

(02:33):
typical
Coverdale tongue in cheek.
But during the interview, there's a few of the,
the, the
tongue in cheek moments that we threw into
the conversation and, and David answers the
questions. Great.
Quite well.
Oh, it's all right.
What do you remember particularly about
this interview, Tom?
I remember, remember the record company
phoned me at the

(02:53):
record shop in Bishopbriggs at the time and
the company phoned me and said
Whitesnake, I've got a new album recorded. Tom
as you know, the last album sold millions
of copies, the 1987 album.
So it's now in 1989 and
there
releasing this new album, Slip of the
Tongue.

(03:14):
Would you like to come down to,
to London
for, for, for the day and
meet up with David and, and do an
interview? That's it, of course.
So they, they sent off a plane ticket after
we flew down British Airways
and made my way to EMI at Manchester Square
in London.
And that's where we recorded this

(03:35):
interview.
And what was David like when you'd met him
before? Obviously.
Did you remember who you were?
Very much so.
Even
the rock fraternity as an artist's radio,
DJs, television people, press people,
is fairly small.
You know, when you think about it, if it was
George Michael that was releasing a new album

(03:55):
than the
thousands,
hundreds, hundreds of thousands
of journalists, radio presenters, etcetera,
wanting to do
interviews.
But as we've discussed before, the rock
music has always been
the underdogs.
It's always been
a wee bit unfashionable.
Therefore the number of radio presenters,

(04:16):
especially in those days
that
were interested in a new White Snake album
in the UK
was fairly limited.
In America there'd be hundreds and
thousands in Japanics and Germany.
These places, the
thousands of people wanting interviews,
but in the UK
there was only a small, a small bunch of us.
So David, yes, the, the,

(04:37):
I would say they knew me before
we walked down Buchanan St and he saw me. Which
Tom, how you doing?
Not all of the artists,
but
David, certainly.
And if you think about the interview now, I
mean, I know it's a long time ago, but
we've all been listening to, haven't we?
What, what really stuck out for you
from the interview before we listened to
it? What was the moments that you thought? Gosh,

(04:57):
I remember that
well.
As you said,
as you, as you said, we're going to be
listening.
To the interview in just a
couple of minutes,
but some of my memories
that I'd totally forgotten about because I
hadn't listened to this interview for
30 years
until I talk about the tape and give a
listen.

(05:18):
We talk about obviously the
the immense success of the 1987 album and
Slip of the Tongue was the follow up album,
so a very important album for for White's name.
We also talk about
the the writing of the songs.
He wrote most of the album with Adrian
Vandenberg and he talks about the
differences in guitarists, differences in

(05:39):
the songwriting.
He talks about his wife, then wife
glowingly,
and
he talks about his days with Deep Purple
and he talks quite, quite poignantly about
his relationship with the
music press in in the UK, Plus a few other
surprises that you'll you'll hear you
listen for the next 20 minutes or
25 minutes, whatever that is.

(06:00):
OK, Tom.
Well, thanks very much for that
introduction.
I'm really looking forward to listening to this
interview again.
It's gone back in time in this rock'n'roll
time machine that we have here in 1989.
Can't believe how long ago that was now. But
let's press and listen to you talking to
Big Dave.
Welcome once again and

(06:21):
welcome back to radio client.
Thank you very much.
Hi, Scotland.
How you doing
in a while? Yeah,
I just had awful news today.
I bumped into two gentlemen from Glasgow
called the Jesus and Mary Chain,
and they told me that the Apollo was being
pulled down.
It is sacrilege.
It is heartbreaking.

(06:41):
I had some of the most intensely moving
evenings of my life
singing with a crowd
and it breaks my heart
and I'm so sorry that that's happened
because that was a wonderful place to play.
It was,
it's gone now.
We've got to look forward.
We're having a new hall built, a new
modern.

(07:01):
It's not the point.
The situation is one of the reasons I think
there's a lot of kids
getting to drugs and alcohol or whatever.
It's because
they don't see any escape.
And Rock'n'roll, if nothing else, is great
therapy
to help you face another day
to get
rid of those Penta passions.
I'm a great advocator of expressing
yourself all the way and trying to
encourage that.

(07:21):
And everybody I know and everybody I meet,
whether you're reading, writing, drawing or
singing or whatever,
because there's so much pressure from the
outside,
you've got to rely on your inside,
you know, to
to do that.
And you always need a release for your
emotions.
And if you don't have the lucky,
if you're not lucky enough to be in love at
this moment in your life when you can share
with a partner, which we're all destined on

(07:43):
this planet to do,
you know, you've got to dig into yourself
to find that.
And anything that can support you other
than those horrible,
horrible things like singing along with the
snakes, you know, it's good therapy
and it, you know,
it saddens me.
That's such a wonderful thing.
I know what you're talking about today and
whatever, but the Apollo was a very
precious place and it was a great community
centre for people.

(08:04):
So does governments and city councils
understand that youth clubs and ping pong
tables are not the answer.
The better we'd all be
slip of the tongue. I
thought you'd get me on that.
What's wrong with that?
It's
nothing.
It's the whole album is probably

(08:25):
for
my money.
I think it's the most consistent
album and certainly the most pleasurable
and the first ever truly
group
album
I think I've ever done.
It was a great experience.
It's hard work,
but it was a great support,
you know,
experience with my colleagues, the
protection team of Mike Drink and

(08:45):
Keith Olson,
and of course, my missus,
you know, gave a great deal of input and
certainly inspiration to all the work.
And I'm thrilled, thrilled with it.
I'm very proud of my colleagues and very
proud of the work.
Almost three years ago, you and I sat in I
think this very office
for about it's almost three years
and we started talking about the 87 LP,
which wasn't even out at that stage.

(09:06):
We were, we
were listening to Advanced White label at
the stage that time.
And you've been through a rough time. And do
you know what I didn't know at the time we
talked,
I didn't know I was 3 million in debt.
I didn't know that.
I think I had a known that
we would have jumped off the hotel in
California, probably dollars of pounds

(09:27):
dollars,
but the exchange was still a parity at the time.
My luck is always to move to a country
where the pound drops.
Oh, terrible.
Not a good arbitrager
out of 87.
History will tell.
We sold what, 10 million copies now?
So many people.
I think we've sold 20 million albums
in the last three years,

(09:49):
including back catalogue.
Incredible
nuts, absolutely nuts.
And it's,
it's a testament to the fact that, you
know, it's a pat on the back which I don't
seem to get from elements to the British press
for
believing in, in,
in harm. Rock
and pushing forward for it,
you know, and also it's a testament to the
British and European audiences for
supporting me for 10 years

(10:10):
and proving me that to me that I was doing
something right and giving me a great
foundation and launching pad
to actually take over
in North America as we did.
I couldn't have done it without the help
and support that I received from British
audiences.
87 was
primarily written by yourself and John.
John of course, no longer with the band.
You've written majority of the material and

(10:32):
the new one with
all of it,
with Adrian, all of it apart from the
refurbished full
song.
But you wrote
originally for B.B. King?
Yeah, when he was working with The
Crusaders.
In fact, my wife recently worked with B.B.
King on ATV show in America
the Week.
Yeah,
very recently. And.
And I asked her to send my respects and to
tell him about the tune.

(10:54):
And you know, it's the old, it's an old
story anyway.
But the thing was,
Adrian,
it's the first totally 5050 songwriting
partner I've ever had.
It was just
the most pleasurable experience
to sit down and write with that man.
It was great.
It was
adult, professional, juvenile.

(11:14):
We tried everything.
We didn't do the usual British nonsense of
talking about to the point it was
exhausted.
We tried every idea that each of us had
and finished it off before going. Now I
don't think so.
Or yeah, this is fun,
you know what I mean?
We work together beautifully and as far as
I'm concerned, he's a partner for life.
Partner for life.
There's another six in the can as well. It
was a very fruitful exchange.

(11:37):
Steve joined the band,
play guitar
on
all the LP.
Adrian doesn't, unfortunately.
Adrian, I'm sure, I'm sure people have read,
had a very serious injury, self-inflicted
unfortunately,
which compromised his his playing.
He couldn't even hold his guitar, let alone
play it.
And I had escalated my approach to Steve,

(11:57):
who's been on the cards
since I saw him in Crossroads.
And I was doing research on Steve Vai
for the last six months in 1988
and jumped in when I thought when
the time was right.
But I had to speak to Steve.
I was going to let Adrian for his boots as
much as possible on the album
and be as encouraging as possible,

(12:18):
but he couldn't play.
He couldn't do it.
So I received his trust and his blessing to
to speak to Steve
and he came home
to recuperate.
And one of the most disgusting things I've
ever seen in my life is the way it was
reported by the British press.
It was obscenity
that they rejoiced to the fact that
that he was out of the band
and we were speaking on a daily basis
discussing what was going on.

(12:39):
I'd like to think
that I was a support unit for him
because I know what it's like
to to
to be have a 5050 chance.
I've never been able to work again,
and the fact that I put out a press release to
say that Adrian Vandenberg is a member of
Whitesnake, but it's recovering from an
injury was either ignored

(12:59):
or put in such a small and significant part
of a magazine
that
I'm still having to answer questions on that.
If Adrian Vandenberg is out of Whitesnake,
he is left,
as far as I'm concerned, as a partner for life.
And I'm continually disgusted by these
squalid little people
who seem to be
living in this awful dark place, which I
don't envy at all.

(13:20):
I'm getting on with my life and I'm making
music for people who want, who are,
who are interested in listening to it.
We've, we've discussed this on numerous
occasions over the years. David,
when 87 came out,
you were saying the same thing.
When we spoke at Donnington, yeah,
you were saying the same thing.
When you spoke in Glasgow with Cosy years
ago, you were saying the same place. Scary.
Just ignore
them.
Scary to me, it's, it's impossible to ignore

(13:42):
because I flew in
and yes, we've talked about it before, but
you forget
you were in such a positive place with the
people you're working with and the people
you're living with.
And then suddenly you're reminded with a
slap in the face
just how bitter and cynical
some people are.
And it's scary to me.
It's don't you think it's embarrassing that
I had to leave my home country

(14:03):
in order to move to a more positive place?
This has nothing to do with the audience
because the audience has always trusted me
and you know, they know I work for them.
They are my boss.
It's that simple.
And I will always respect that.
The press paint this picture of me being
smug because of this success.
There isn't an ounce of gloating or
smugness in me.

(14:24):
I'm so happy
and so optimistic and positive inside
that somebody
patted me on the back and said
you were right to pursue
and take that road.
You know, you were right to believe in Hard
Rock, rhythm and Blues
because you've never compromised.
I don't care what anybody says.
I have never compromised my original
integrity of what Whitesnake was all about.

(14:45):
I've adapted to certain production quality sound.
You know, the sound of Whitesnake has
certainly changed,
but the integrity never,
never.
I've never compromised Whitesnake or or
what it from the beginning
and anybody and anybody who was
trying to compromise White Snake
was asked or aggressively.
Terminated.
Yeah, the The

(15:05):
Elbow award.
The bun is Rush.
Kevin's gonna call us.
Oh, Mama,
Mama.
This is a tune.
This is Steve Rey's favourite song.
And every sound you hear that sounds cat like
is all guitar.
It's a testament to his genius.
There's little alley cats in there.
There's Panthers in there growling.
It's a sexy little tone
and it's about the ultimate woman.

(15:26):
And we all know what they look like.
Political Mark 1. David.
Is that about the messes?
Well,
I never like
with all the songs I do.
They're all documents of my life.
It's just the kitten that.
Yeah.
Well, that's obviously that's quite an easy link.
But women are generally feline
and cat like
and have been worshipped since the dawn of
man or whatever.

(15:48):
It's for any man, for his woman,
you know, because women, as I say, are
Cadillac and they can be sweet and purring
and demure and then suddenly
the nails come out in the bangs.
Women are the the most unbelievable
creatures.
They can either elevate you to Superman
status or make you feel like a piece of Doo
Doo on this on the street, you know,
and it's just a song about the ultimate woman.
Just think about it as your missus.

(16:09):
It's just a
you know, it sounds like Italian and it's
however, a nail isn't Italian anymore.
It's cover down,
cover down.
As a matter of fact,
live what David,
I was privileged to be
the Odeon at Hammersmith the other night and
Aerosmith were playing rather well and came
on for an encore and, and dragged this guy

(16:30):
on to sing with them and, and the encore
and lo and behold, it was David Coverdale.
I, yes, I was
the last thing I expected actually,
actually gone down.
And I don't mean this negatively to
Aerosmith because I was only going to see
him at Wembley,
but I'd gone down to check out the Choir boys
who I'd heard and I was very impressed.
And I'm still looking for an opening act
for the American tour.
And this I'm very,

(16:52):
even though it's obviously the critics are
going to go, ah, it sounds like the faces.
So what? The faces don't exist anymore 15
years ago and these kids
are potential stars.
You know, I really enjoyed them when I went down.
I got to the Hammer audience real quick
and I forgive you real early
and
to catch the whole show.
And I was most impressed.
Yeah, there's a couple of ragged edges, but
that's Rock'n'roll,

(17:12):
you know?
And then suddenly the ghosts of Hammersmith
and the Whitesnake Choir,
you know, and all this stuff
and all these memories.
And I was going, Oh my God.
And I was in a
wonderful place, but it was weird,
you know? It's like history was
like a lot of ghosts around me.
And I've never, I realised I've never
really been in the audience
at Hammersmith Odeon.

(17:33):
And
then Steven of course finds out I'm there,
Steven Tyler
and my sister's gone, gone.
Can I go? And I'm
going, no, I'm tired.
I haven't been saying for three months.
And it's not like riding a bike, you know.
And
so I said, well, what should we do? And I
get this message back with a set list and stuff
and I see The Beatles sign down, which I
can remember because McCartney I think

(17:54):
based it on Long Tall Sally.
So I thought, I wonder whether I could sing
those lyrics,
you know, get away with it and forgetting
the part that goes, how can you laugh when
you know I'm down, you know, that part?
So I'm standing there.
I'm really confused.
And I'm, I'm going, oh God, you know, but
what if people don't want to see me? What
if this, you know, negative reaction
because, I mean, you can't believe your press,

(18:15):
you know what I mean?
And according to the press, nobody's
interested in seeing me.
So, you know, it's a bit
nervous and had a couple of
wheat Toddies before.
So what had happened? Stephen's wife had
called New Jersey in America
to get a friend to get a Beatles songbook
to to
tell her the lyrics.
If I'm down over the phone, right.

(18:36):
This is why the show was going.
I had no idea this was happening.
And the next thing I'm dragged backstage
ready to go on for the encore and given
this huge white plaque,
you know, the lyrics to I'm done.
I said I can't walk on
this.
It looked like, you know, it looked like a yacht.
You
know, it was huge.
So this the roadie slipped it on stage
while the van were off
and
and Stephen introduced me

(18:57):
and it was just,
it sounded like they missed me as much as I
missed them.
You know,
it was wonderful and I'm delighted that
they invited me and I was honoured to share
the stage with such a
legendary band and great singer.
So when are you going to come back and play
for us with the the new wife name?
Well,
this is the absolute truth.
The British tour was supposed to start
November the 15th

(19:19):
British and European Tour.
I was coming here
1st
and the situation is,
I mean this, you can, you know, Rod
Mcsween, A fellow Scott
from ITV who's my agent and friend
had the tour already,
but I didn't finish the album in time.
And at this moment in time, I'm really
very, very tired.

(19:39):
But don't play the violin for me,
you know, because, you know, it's worth
being tired for what I've accomplished with
the album
for for my feeling.
And,
and of course, as you know, any kind of
major rock band has got a tour that's
booked almost a year in advance.
So I was doing the UK,
Europe, and then going to America for
February.
And of course

(19:59):
everybody's going to think that I'm going
to start in America, but that.
It was not the way it was planned,
but if I went on stage now,
no matter how great the crowd was, I
wouldn't be able to deliver the kind of
performance they'd want and expect me to do.
I'd probably collapse before the drum solo.
I'm pretty worn,
pretty worn out, and I have to build up
that stamina
so I can come out here and

(20:20):
and inspire you Whitesnake Choir members
and to take the roof off.
Honest to God.
There was talk at one stage of you doing
the Donnington Festival 88.
Obviously that was nine.
Yeah, that was cancelled.
I bumped into Morris last night.
As you know, he was promoting the Aerosmith shows
and
he said,
well, we couldn't get it together then
David, what do you reckon next year? I

(20:40):
said, do you want, if you want me, I'll be there.
I said.
But The thing is, and I want you to be
aware that I'm planning to do a major.
Thank you for all your support to her and
every place I can play,
every possible place I can play.
I don't want people thinking I'm just going
to come in from the for the big show or the
big bucks and go.
That is not the situation.
But it is a wonderful experience to share a
large event.

(21:01):
So what we'll probably do is the monsters
and and then we're doing a concentrated
have have yourself to Murray Weinstein
Christmas 1990.
Can you believe you're in the 90s?
Hey,
and we're still in there kicking.
Jeez, man, that's wonderful.
It's wonderful.
Who are the bail boots from hell?
Keith
Keith Olson, Mike Clink,

(21:22):
myself, a guy called Tommy Thunderburg,
Glenn Hughes,
engineers, anybody who was walking past at
the time,
no major stars because I'm just so tired of
seeing Axel Rose sing.
We've done and like Axel Rose singing with
Michael Monroe
and I love Axel, so don't get me wrong there.
But all these duets are done to death,
you know, So it was just like

(21:43):
anybody who made a good cup of tea was a
Delbert,
you know,
next track we're going to play David.
It's the one that no doubt
the
the popular press in the UK rather than the
music press.
The the, the sun in the mirror, I've been
asking about
Slow Poke Music.
Oh, it's a charming piece of ditty.
I've actually had Slow Poke Music since
before the actual chorus.

(22:04):
I've had since the the very first solo album.
In fact, if anybody has that and they look
on the album and see the publishing, you
know when you have to who've written a song.
And then underneath they have
published by Sunset Sunset, Deep Purple,
Overseas Music or whatever.
And I've formed this company called Slow
Poke Music
Limited
right back then back in 7576 or whatever it was.

(22:26):
And the guy who was officiating on behalf
of Deep Purple overseas
was a very kind of modest
bomb.
And he took a little bit of exception and
without discussing it with me changed the
name to SP Music.
But it's actually Slow Poke Music.
And I had that chorus line
all all those years ago.
But I can never could take it further, or

(22:47):
that I would be satisfied with the piece
until
all these years later, I work with the
magnificent Adrian Vandenberg
who brushes the dust off it and adds bits
and pieces all over the place.
And we've got a good little tune.
It's a nice little seduction one which
I have no doubts men go through on a daily
basis when they
cohabit discotheques at night.

(23:09):
You know, I think it's fun.
It's a once again, it's a tongue in cheek
and it's a story,
you know, when you move it to the left or
you shake it to the right.
But I like the north-south,
mostly
east, West, North and South. Oh,
baby, so hard.
I'm going to melt in your mouth.
Play it, Tom, before I get into trouble.
Just a quick one, David on.
No thanks.

(23:30):
Tyler tried
they give you a kiss.
Oh, I couldn't help but I couldn't have no
tongues.
No tongues.
I hadn't seen him for a long time.
I'm very proud of Steven.
He's a great performer, great stylist.
And what a legend.
I mean, those songs walk this way. Just
a quick one and and they come back in time.
I know you know a little bit in the past,
but I'd like to ask you

(23:51):
what you felt when you heard that
deep purple the angle in a parted company
yet again.
Well, it's it's I saw.
I think I
I was alerted to it when I saw by accident.
Mike clink this with the producer,
you know, of guns and Rogers in the Super
the time
he's a he's a bugger for collecting all of
these heavy metal comics, you know,

(24:12):
and now,
which you can imagine I I avoid
anyway, he
I saw this thing and it was a letter from Ian,
like a press release,
you know, instead of being a little
more than a little negative to
the manager of her and stuff.
See, my feeling is, and I mean this with
great respect, but they killed the legend
of Deep Purple the day they reformed,

(24:34):
and I think we all know why they reformed.
Well, Perfect Strangers was a good LP.
Yeah, you see, I was very ploughed.
I was very proud. It's
the Japanese in me.
What am I doing?
I was. I'm
totally proud of John
and I miss him
deeply as a friend, you know, on a
constant, on a consistent daily basis.
Although I never want to have a keyboard

(24:54):
player in Whitesnake, I will no doubt be
using one probably to all make the band
when we play live.
But The thing is,
John was such a.
Precious
beloved friend,
you know,
and I'm very pleased.
It was interesting to me on Perfect
Strangers because obviously I listened to
it out of curiosity, professional
curiosity,

(25:15):
that he was
using some of the instruments that I've
been trying to get for years, but probably
we couldn't afford them, you know, the fair
lights and all that.
But yeah, I agree, there was some good
moments on it.
Knocking on your back door.
Serious thing.
Gillen totally denies, of course, what it's about,
of course.
Well, he's an aspiring politician, I
understand

(25:35):
Member of Parliament for Hard Rock,
but I don't know.
I don't know how
I know how bad the egos can be within that
lineup.
You know, when I was reading all the
stories about how much they missed and
loved each other, I had to have a, a
chuckle,
you know, because I do know the other side of it.
But
I mean, there's room for us all.
And I, as long as John's happy,
I'm delighted.

(25:56):
I mean,
that is
my wish.
And hopefully he's making some good dough
as well.
Has been grounded
David,
Hard Rock, heavy metal, rhythm and Blues,
what we like to call it has has
come a long way and changed
a hell of a lot
since the young lad from Red Car was
invited to to join
Deep Purple way back in the 70s.

(26:17):
Memories of those days compared to to to now. Are
you happier and more content in your life?
Oh gosh,
night and day.
I mean, had I achieved this kind of success
earlier,
I wouldn't have been ready for it with all
the collective experience under my belt.
Number one, I wouldn't have been living
with the right people. I
wouldn't have been working with the right
people,
and I would have

(26:37):
wouldn't have been the kind of person who
could have accepted it as graciously
as I did when it happened.
It's really very strange because it's
only recently
the work that I did with Deep Purple was
made available in Japan
on CD,
and I got
all of these things sent over to me.
So of course I listened to them

(26:58):
because I haven't heard him for years.
And I heard all of this like Kid, because
it was the first album I ever made, but the
first time I'd written songs for an album.
And I was hearing like all the rough parts
and stuff and, and remembering as it was
when we recorded it and Glen and me in the
studio and me arguing with Richie and all
kinds of stuff.
And I listened to, you know, you had
arguments with Richard.

(27:19):
Oh, yeah, there was AI mean something.
He was very silly sometimes.
I was working all day and night writing
lyrics and stuff.
And nobody told me.
One morning it was a photo session
and I was literally just getting into bed
and I'd been up literally all night working
in the studio.
And
the tour manager called up and I said, what
are you talking about? Nobody told me
that's legitimate.
Nobody told me about it. And

(27:39):
then the next thing,
just this terrible kicking at the door,
I got out of bed and I was, you know,
northern that not impressed.
I opened the door and Richie going, I said,
look, mate,
in this business you got to look after
yourself.
You can't have people telling you
everything.
And tramped hold of him and smacked him up
against the wall.
And I said don't
with me,
you know, scudgy.

(28:01):
And
it was a kind of Boo
and his wife who had trouble present
pronouncing her ours.
His wife then
was going, oh, witchy, witchy.
Somebody got witchy.
I was cracking.
I mean, that diffused my furor
and I went down and I think I'd actually
did do the photo session and looked like a
piece of, you know,
the usual, you know, and four letter
starting with S, finishing with T

(28:22):
Sweet.
But I learned a great deal of good and very
negative stuff from Richie stuff.
I still apply today.
But one of the things that I reflected on was
it was actually rock'n'roll aristocracy.
In those days.
I actually never met the audience
that I was playing to.
I didn't know what was touching and what
wasn't, you know, And I was just going
along with the

(28:43):
the flow of it all, like copying everybody
in in the band, you know, their attitudes
or whatever.
And,
but never again will you see that kind of
decadence and self indulgence in the terms
of travelling and the
the lifestyle that was indulged. And
I'm delighted to have experienced it
because it will never happen again.
It was just

(29:03):
a truckload,
you know, of experience
and everything that I've learned, both good
and bad, I still apply to this day
with Whitesnake
and,
and attitudes with people.
I'm totally respectful, respectful to my crew,
whoever I bump into.
It's not
just ignore him.
It's a handshake and how you're doing
everything. OK,
I've always got time.

(29:24):
It's a fabulous working relationship.
It's a team,
you know, it's a hand picked team
that works beautifully together.
And
I just don't, you know, why make enemies of
people that you, you need to, to put your
trust in.
And you know, all of these lessons you learn.
And there's a lovely Lowell George who was
one of my favourite singers
and man from an American group called
Little Feet,

(29:44):
Great man's voice
the line in a song
which said people you misuse on the way up, you're
going to meet up on the way down.
And
I reflect on that a great deal.
David, how much are you looking forward to the
lives
you worked for months in the studio with
Steve and obviously so.
And how good a player the guy really is. How

(30:07):
much are you looking forward to the live
side when you get up on stage there with
Steve on one side and Adrian on the other?
Are you kidding?
I want to film this because I want to see it.
I want to be in the front row to see this band.
I really do.
I mean, not only
do these kids look with kids, sorry lads.
Well, Vice 28,
the baby of the band.

(30:27):
I mean, I wish I had my
well screwed on when I was 28.
Yeah, it's very dangerous.
It's
a very dangerous band
and I'm really excited
that we're going to play out with is in
actual fact the last track in the album.
It shows Steve.
Steve's variety of playing.
The acoustic

(30:47):
playing at the beginning is just lovely.
Sailing Ships.
Did you write that? Is that an old one or
is that written in the studio?
It took
38 years for me to to be able to write
a complete lyric with that sentiment
and that theme.
It took 38 years for me to be able to
discover
that song.
And it was it's a 5050 song with Adrian.

(31:08):
It's my lyric,
you know, and it's a song about life.
It's a graduation of life, like when you
leave school and the ocean is what's ahead
of you, the adventure.
And it's not it's it's mostly a rough Rd
because you're inevitably on your own.
This song
is written
as a companion for you on the journey
to take strengthen.
It's a part of the song which says take me
with you.

(31:28):
It's not me
to take the song with you,
to give you strength
on the road,
because it's up to you
to express yourself, to sail your ship
across the water.
That's you.
You do it.
Don't expect anybody else to.
Other people can sort of give you the key
to unlock a door into a certain
place,
but it's down to you.
In the final analysis, you're the one who
holds the key to your destiny.

(31:50):
You know you must recognise those things
because nobody's going to tell you.
They'll probably have it themselves,
you know, it's just a key to the journey
down the road.
And hopefully, you know, this song will
give you a bit of strength.
Let's hear it.
David Coverdale, thanks for taking the time
to talk to us tonight.
My pleasure, Tom, absolutely a pleasure
anytime.

(32:10):
And we look forward to seeing you next year.
Threading the boards of the young Scots.
Throw whiskey of the sight of the Apollo for me.
Would you?
God bless you.
Hello, this is David Coverdo from
Whitesnake.
It's after midnight.
You're listening to Tom Russell in the
wonderful city of Glasgow.
Hello, this is David Coverdo from
Whitesnake.
Please join Tom Russell and myself
on Friday night when we're doing an

(32:31):
interview together
and going through the new Slip of the
Tongue album.
We think you'll have some fun with it.
Also, before I forget,
have yourselves a Murray Whitesnake
Christmas.
I miss you people.
So Tom,
we've just listened to the the recording.
It's a cracking recording, isn't it?
Personally
you feel about it, but I thought you both
sounded, not only did you both sound really young,

(32:54):
you both sounded really relaxed with each other.
It was, it was a really cool interview.
I thought that the atmosphere felt very
positive.
Was that how it felt in the room at the time?
Yes, very much so.
As I was saying before we listened to the
interview, the relationship between the
the bands and myself as a
radio presenter and indeed with with other

(33:17):
rock radio presenters dotted around the
country
and indeed with
certain journalists,
you know, the rock journalists, the
Kerrang, Metal Hammer, etcetera
and classic rock.
The relationship that were hard
tended to be
warm,
personable.

(33:38):
Do you fancy a paint a good idea, Tom?
2 pints are heavy please
type of thing.
So, so,
so yes, I, I got on well with David, a lot
of people tended to slag him off
for,
for some reason that the music players
didn't,
some of the, the rock music players didn't
like him.
And as you have in that interview,

(33:58):
he found that quite
hurtful,
understandable.
It's quite funny now looking back on
because he's now got,
you know, a huge following in the UK.
He's very popular because of his various
interviews he's done in the music media.
It would be lovely to ask him, you know,
how has that changed, wouldn't it? It'd be
nice to ask him.
How do you feel now in 2024
about your relationship with the press?

(34:20):
I think he's been very professional about it.
I don't think he would,
he would slug any day off.
No, no, because he's he's he's accepted now.
Why do you think that the,
it was
rock press as well? Why were they, why did
they have it in for him a little bit?
It was the rock press, mainly the, the
popular press.
Had never heard him.
Whitesnake.
Who? Who? Who's Whitesnake

(34:41):
would be the attitude of of your average
journalist with the Sun or or the,
you know, the Times or the Telegraph or
Smashers. Yeah,
there's never literally never had the David
Coverdale.
The might have heard of Whitesnake, but
David Coverdale, who's he
that that that was the the situation back

(35:01):
in the day.
Remember even.
TV hadn't started at that stage.
I'm not sure if it's maybe the fact that he
came from it was a red car in in Yorkshire
came from a working class area,
working class background.
But he didn't talk working class even back
in the the early days and the purple days.
He talked more as
upper upper class type of,

(35:23):
you know, that posh sort of accent.
Yeah, yeah.
But why that should make any difference.
Some of the the journalists
I think
thought it was a bit of an arse, but most
of the the Rock fans didn't.
The rock fans didn't like didn't go to see
him, but 100,000 people went to see him
when he played at Donnington.
Yes
yeah.
So

(35:43):
it's just sad and, and the good news is that
he's still here, 2024,
he's still recording.
Whether they'll tour again, who knows?
His voice
maybe isn't as strong as it used to be.
I'm sure he'd accept that. But
he's left us with some great, great,
great memories.
Do you know, and I was at that Donnington
the first time the headlined with Cosy

(36:05):
Powell and and the band etcetera.
And I remember and I've seen it, there's a
video of it, Tom, you've seen it.
He he burst into tears at one point because
the crowd are singing the song and he it's
as if he can't believe it.
You know, he's like,
wow, and he's crying and
you hear his voice crack because he can't,
you just can't keep his emotions.
And,
you know, is it in the love in the heart of the
city?

(36:25):
I think it was.
And it was just like, wow, you know, and
you know, a great, one of the best gigs
I've ever been up on that subject.
He then he starts the interview without any
prompting, talking about something that's
very close to me and Andy's hearts and that
that's the Glasgow Apollo.
It felt, I don't know how you both felt,
but I I thought he felt really genuine at
that point about the Apollo and his

(36:46):
affection for it and how sad he was
about it closing.
I agree.
In fact, it
was almost as if he he had that in his head
and he was determined to get it in because
I thought, I think I'll start with saying hi,
welcome.
We're here with David Coverdale and
immediately
with all the Jesus and meditating have just
told me that the Apollo has been pulled down.

(37:08):
You know,
barely.
I barely got a sentence out,
which is fine.
But yes,
I think he genuinely,
he loved the Apollo.
In fact,
there's Apollo memories have a white snake
concert on.
We do.
We've got there's there's various ones.
Actually, there's quite a lot of white
snake material available from the Glasgow
days, back in the Apollo days.

(37:28):
So we've got quite a
he's very pop.
I mean, they even gave it a mention at the
recent gig that they did at the, the the
new venue in Glasgow at the Hydro.
He gave a mention then as well, which was
only a few years ago. So he's
he's he's maintained that affection for the
Apollo, which is lovely for us.
Yeah. OK.
So then then he he he talked the thing also
got me there, guys.
And I don't know how you felt about it, but

(37:49):
he talked about the importance of music to
young people
in terms of, you know, keeping them off the
booze, keeping them off the the drugs.
He got quite philosophical actually about,
yeah, the role of these places.
I mean, what did you think of that? Andy?
What did you think of that? I thought that
was great. I
thought,
well, he's obviously
like a deep
concern, but it's a deep interest of his to

(38:09):
keep people away from the bad, bad,
you know, bad stuff like drugs.
And he
sort of like he was like
he was making sure that
you knew as a listener that he wanted that
he saw the Apollo or any it could have been
any venue, actually
any venue of that style, but that it was a
more than a venue.

(38:29):
It was a community
and the community want needed to be
nurtured.
And if you took that away, that would
dissolve into nothing.
And the people would the kids would have
nothing to do.
I mean, you, you, you did say, Tom, they
were building the new what was it the SECC
at the time?
You know, that was such a cultural icon, but
I'm joking there.

(38:50):
But it was, you know, it
was there,
the concerts there.
I remember going and I was like, Oh, this
isn't such a great thing.
But anyway, back to Dave.
I mean, I think the, the, the thing that
again struck me and,
and
we're broadcasting out here to the world,
not just to, to Scotland, but
there was that relationship with the
Apollo.
And as there is the relationship with the

(39:10):
Hammersmith Apollo in London, as there is
with the,
you know, the the halls in Leicester and
you know, Sheffield and you know, the and
Newcastle City Hall, etcetera.
I wonder what it is and interest in both
your pins in this.
I mean, why is it the mean?
It's very unlikely there.
There's going to be an SEC memories.
You might, you might get a book or a list
of it, but you're not going to get like the

(39:30):
the Barlands, another venue in Glasgow.
It's iconic.
There's the the Barland Walk and there's
there's a real cultural thing about it.
You really care about it.
They're not going to do that unless I've
got it wrong.
And I could have it wrong, but I can't
imagine the hydro memories.
I just can't imagine it.
But maybe I'm wrong guys.
What do you think? I mean, is it still
culturally as important as it used to be?
The venue itself? The gigs probably are, but

(39:52):
the venue still is important.
My opinion.
I can remember my mother and father talking
about all that.
I But it's not the same as the
Empire,
the Glasgow Empire.
That's what comedians used to come and go
on this stage and
they would know then if they were good or bad,
if they could, if they could win an

(40:12):
audience over at the Glasgow Empire. So
my mom and dad's generation
had their Apollo.
Yeah,
the Glasgow Empire.
There was the Alhambra, there was King's
Theatre, which is still there.
We're talking in Glasgow about Glasgow,
obviously, by the way, but
London's the same

(40:32):
the, the, the old theatres that
was at the old Victoria and, and
the
different theatres in London.
So I think
I can't imagine
a book coming up at
the, the wonderful memories of the Glasgow SCC
or the,
you know, Wembley, Wembley.
I've been or
Manchester Arena or whatever, but who knows

(40:53):
the kind of the, the,
the the young teenagers of today
may well be
watching this
in what they're talking about
the Glasgow Apollo.
What what was the Glasgow Apollo?
So average? Yeah.
But I also think it might be a, a a
matter of size.
If you've got a huge audience, you don't have a
not as
intimate.
That's the word.

(41:14):
It's not an intimate, even though the
Apollo was
quite a big venue,
it it was quite big enough to be intimate.
The other
like at the weekend there I went to see a band
in a in a venue in Sydney called the Enmore
Theatre.
It's an art deco 1930s building
recently done up.
It's beautiful,
it's amazing inside
and they take out all the seats

(41:36):
for big gigs
And then when there's like a sit down,
they'll put in seats
and it's a sloped, sloped
thing
and it's it's a small, it's maybe like a
2000 seat or
maybe or it's you can get 2000 people in it.
But when you take the seats out,
it's 2000 whatever.
Anyway.
So that's got a small enough so that a

(41:56):
small enough people will be able to have a
distinct memory.
You know, in a big venue.
No, with everything, just there's, there's
things everywhere going on.
You know,
it's a spectacle.
You're looking at a screen.
Usually my only comment on on that without
pouring
too much cold water onto and I said it at
the time
and I've said it for the past 30 years.

(42:16):
Unfortunately if they had never built the
SEC and then the Hydro the big bands just
would not be coming
to to
right the Apollo
how wonderful it was great atmosphere,
smelly stick carpets,
bad bouncers, etcetera.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, capacity that tickets to go and see a
big band that you're paying a hundred 100 lbs

(42:39):
yeah,
to go to the Hydro, but there's 10,000
people at 100 lbs Yeah, it's a lot of
that's a lot of money.
If it was there,
if we only had the Apollo
with
capacity of 3 1/2 thousand
tickets have been
300 lbs, three hard £400. Yeah,
I, I,
I agree, agree with the fact that
there is

(43:00):
there should there is a place for a large,
large venue because Oh yeah, you know,
but that venue, O2 Academy in Glasgow and
the the one that was that the one that
burned down. No,
that was ABCABCABCABC.
So that was like
that smaller than the Apollo, the O2,
smaller than the ABC or the comparable size
the O2 was about

(43:21):
is about 2000, I think.
All right. OK. So
I've never been there because I haven't been to
Glasgow in 27 years,
so
there always is.
I think there's a place for a small venue.
Anyway, we're getting way.
Yeah.
Are we talking about David Coverdale? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
No, this is

(43:41):
no, this is fine.
What I'll just say is you're listening to
access all areas, the Tom Russell tapes.
If you get any comments on what we've just
been talking about in relation to the size
of venues,
let us know in the comments section because
we'd love to hear what you think about this
conversation.
So can I bring us back to the, the, the
Coverdale
interview, Tom And the the next part of the
conversation goes on to talk about the

(44:01):
album slip of the tongue and how proud he
is of that album.
And it's the most complete album he's ever
made is a part of a team, etcetera.
What did you think about that part of the
interview? Well, David says that, but every album,
every other rock star that I've interviewed
over the past 40 years says that about
every album.
It's
natural, your new album,
album, that you are promoting

(44:23):
the album. That
is the only reason that you're sitting in
front of this guy
asking you all these questions.
Yeah,
that's that's why you're there
is to plug the tour and plug the new album.
And obviously
the new album is always the best album that
I've ever made to our heart.
Just accept that it's just
par for the course.
It's not the one thing I didn't know.

(44:43):
And he implied everybody knew this, but I
didn't know it.
That he wrote full for your loving for B.B. King.
No,
no, that either.
It was Co written with Bernie Marsden,
wasn't it?
I think so, yeah.
So I suspect Bernie the the the late great
Bernie Marsden. I
suspect
he was the one that was the B.B.
King fan as opposed to David.
Could be wrong,
but I would I would suspect that came from Garni.

(45:06):
I want to hear a version of it now by B.B. King.
You know, I'd love to hear a be a version
of that song by B.B. King.
But then I just happened to have a 7 inch
copy here.
Vinyl
with the AI.
It's possible.
It's definitely possible.
Barely possible.
You're absolutely right. Yeah.
Let's go into the AI and have a go at it.
When he talked about

(45:27):
when he recorded the 1987 album,
he personally, it was over $3,000,000 in
debt, $3,000,000
in debt.
So if that album had not taken off and had
not sold well, Slip of the Tongue might
never have been recorded
and and every album since might never have
been recorded if it was already 3 million
in debt.

(45:47):
He then went on and off.
There's a relationship here, remember?
There is.
But he then went on, and you mentioned it
earlier, Tom, he went on to talk about his
relationship with the British press.
Now that was quite a was, I wasn't shocked,
but he he was definitely quite clear about
the fact he wasn't comfortable with that
relationship.
He didn't think it was a fair relationship.
How did you feel about that part of the
interview?
I agree 100%.

(46:08):
As I said earlier, I think
the British press were
over the top cruel about about his work,
about him personally.
What can you do about it? As an artist, all
you can do is perform to your best when
you're on stage, right? Forward your your
to your best.
Yes,
As he said during the interview, at
the end of the day, it's down to the the

(46:29):
public.
And if they buy the album
and if they and they like it,
if they go to the concert, buy the tickets
for the concert, then who's right? It's
interesting that because I, I, I think, and
it's a bit like, you know, Oasis couldn't
sell a sausage role in America.
And yet they're all over the British press.
And here's white state, way bigger band,
you know, in terms of record sales and
Oasis will ever be.
And yet the British press are so in love

(46:50):
with them.
It's very odd, isn't it? I mean,
do you think, again, I mean, Oasis are a
rock band as well, but they're a popular
type of rock band, if you know what I mean.
They're not, they're not a rock'n'roll band.
But
what is that about? I mean, is it just
press LED? Do you think? Is it the way they,
the press, influence the music fans in the
UK or is it just to do with the taste,
musical taste? the United Kingdom,

(47:11):
I think it's partly that
and
I think again, it goes back to the the 70s
and the 80s.
Where in any comparable size town to to
Glasgow or Newcastle
or indeed Manchester, Bristol, Plymouth,
Liverpool,
any compatible sized town in America

(47:32):
had 20 radio stations
that you could listen to.
You're a population of 1,000,000 people and
you could, if you happen to like pop music,
you'd a choice of two or three different
stations.
If you like country music, you'd a choice
of a couple of stations.
If you liked jazz, classical
speech,
whatever, you had a choice.
If you liked rock,

(47:52):
you had a choice of probably 3 or 4.
You could listen, you could
press button one and listen to classic
rock, press button 2, Blues, 3
new releases,
button 4 alternative.
So you had this massive choice.
So it was perfectly natural for a young
radio presenter
that happened to late rock music to get a job

(48:15):
and
and have a career on it.
In the UK
in the 70s
there was what, 2 shows
a week on the radio?
There's nothing in television.
There's no way
in years
you would have an interview with David
Coverdale or with
Young or Jon Bon Jovi or any of these guys
on television

(48:36):
in the 70s and 80s.
I realised Jon Bon Jovi was a bit young in
the 70s,
but you know what I mean.
The, the point still stands.
I, I remember I was only a child in the
70s, but I, I remember David Bowie and, and
particularly Slade who were a rock band. I mean,
absolutely fantastic rock band.
But they and the suite, another one, you
know, they, they had the singles, but the
suite but a massively talented and

(48:58):
underrated band in terms of the quality of
the musicianship and the singing.
But they were on the telly.
But why weren't, you know, Deep Purple or,
you know, even Led Zeppelin? You know,
they, they, they didn't, they even, they
didn't get an awful lot of
exposure on the television.
I never saw Led Zeppelin on the television
until the probably the late 80s or the
early 90s, you know, So
it's quite, I mean, this

(49:18):
is probably not the subject for this, this
interview, but
I can send.
I can see why he was so frustrated.
I can definitely see it because it doesn't
make any sense to me at all.
So if you're, you're looking for a career
in America in the 70s as a radio presenter
and you happen to like music, rock music,
you know, you had a
wide choice.
You know, there's hundreds of radio

(49:38):
stations
that you could apply to as a,
you know, as a,
a team maker.
So you got a job as a team maker and you're
what you know, you kept your nose clean and
you watch your way up to be an assistant
presenter and
you watch your way up to be a presenter.
Then after a few years
you become the
the boss.
So there's a career

(49:59):
path there.
There was no such thing in the UK for
somebody.
That happened to
like rock music.
I can't remember Tommy.
I think probably Tommy Vance and Alan
Freeman were the only
two presenters
nationally in the UK that would even think
about playing
rock track.
He then goes on in the interview.
I I never knew this and I've spent and I'm

(50:21):
sure people who are listening to us will do
this now as well.
There was in this moment where he told us
about a gig that that
I believe you were at Tom, you said you
were at it at the Hammersmith down in
London where Adel Smith,
because they were just bleeding into the UK
at that point really because they came late
to the UK market.
But then they had David came on to do a
song with him, a Beatles song.
I'm done.
Absolutely fun.
It's on YouTube.

(50:41):
I've just listened to it and
Coverdale's doing his usual yodelling and
all the rest of it
with the crowd.
It's fabulous.
What was that like? Do you remember that
moment? No,
I agree.
I can vaguely remember being there
and
I used to get a lot of work then then
in London as well.

(51:02):
Record companies, goodbye to what was
talking about earlier on.
Record companies were good to me
because there was only a few of us.
But yes, I, I, I,
I was there and
I really can't remember anything about it.
Not that I was
drunk and
I probably had a couple of pints, but
it's just
one of so many memories over,
over over the years.
I've been very lucky.

(51:23):
One of these great rock'n'roll moments that
you just forget.
So it's great when you see videos.
That's one of the advantages.
I have been having cameras these days.
At least you, you, you can get these
prompts for the last 10-15 years.
OK, so
he then went on
with
going down a little winding Rd here.
But then he then he went on to talk about
Deep Purple.
And initially I thought,
you know, he was kind of well, we all we

(51:43):
know why they come out of retirement and
you know, it was slightly, there's a bit of
an age.
Well, I detected if you felt the same way, guys.
And then then you said,
Tom, that.
Oh, wait a minute.
Perfect.
Strange.
This is a really good album.
And it is a really good album, you know,
there's no denying that. Yeah.
How was, what do you remember about that
time, guys? I mean,
for me, it was, I don't know if he, he was,
I think it was animosity there.

(52:04):
Or was it just his relationship with that
chair that was the issue? I didn't detect
much animosity. But,
you know, there were rivals.
Yeah.
You think about it.
Rival of
rock singers, the two of them.
I've, I've.
I've no idea either way, to be honest. It
was an interesting part of the interview, I
thought when he, when
he went on about
Deep Purple and
and

(52:24):
when he said his favourite
track in the album is knocking at your back door.
Yeah,
well,
and I said I
spoke
about that and he denies it's about
anything other than
knocking at your back door. Yeah.
I can't remember what David says, but it's
quite a good. We
went to the interview.
The only thing that came in at that
part there was the, you know, he had

(52:45):
Ritchie by the throat
and then the
Richie's then wife with the, with the, the,
the speech impediment, who couldn't say a
role of ours, which I thought was quite funny.
But then again, there was a bit that I
thought was quite poignant.
He he, he obviously still held a love for
John Lord and incidentally from people
listening and John Lord was the,
the, the keyboard player for Deep Purple

(53:05):
and for Whitesnake,
the the late great John Lord.
He was an amazing guy
and he and he obviously still has that
affection for him quite often here.
I'm doing interviews.
He's not that affection, as you mentioned
earlier, Tom
maybe moves on to the next person, but I
don't think that happened with John Lord
really towards the end.
Now, he talked a little bit about Adrian
Vandenberg and he talked about the the

(53:26):
track Sailing Ships.
Now, I happen to love that song.
It's a really good song.
It's one of the
the better songs from the later Whitesnake
albums, I think. But
do you remember that, that part of the
interview and how, how, how he framed the,
the, the discussion about that particular
song and obviously Adrian's
injury that stopped him from
playing on the album etcetera.

(53:46):
Yeah, I'd, I'd totally forgotten about that.
So had I
injury story
I had.
I think he he says that Adrian Cole wrote
the song
with with David, but
he couldn't play guitar on it.
So Steve, I came in and and, and and
he says how wonderful Steve's playing was
going from that to
the electric
etcetera.

(54:07):
But yes, I thought it was a
part of the interview.
Yeah.
Andy, you might know this.
Do you remember the Tokyo Tapes album?
That's a great album.
It's a brilliant album.
Was that after this? Then? It must have been.
Must have been recorded a few years later.
I don't know.
I can't remember.
But that's a brilliant album that just the
two of them playing in that room in Tokyo.

(54:28):
So you've heard that Tom does ring a bell.
Released
recorded in July 1997.
So he got
he got his chops back then Adrian got his
chops back. Is he?
There's a lovely acoustic album.
And it's funny because
it makes me sometimes when I hear David
sing and know when he's he's not,
as you mentioned earlier, Tommy, he's not quite
given his age.
It's not a surprise.
He's not quite the same. He was.

(54:50):
But when he did the acoustic set, his voice
was brilliant.
He wasn't doing any of that screaming stuff
that he does, you know, but the American
sounding band that he created with
Whitesnake. But
he still had the chops and that and it was
lovely to hear.
It's a great I've not heard that Tom.
You should listen to it.
So really.
Album and there's a version of sailing
ships on it.
That's why I mentioned it because it was
such a good album.
Yeah.
OK, so coming to the end
there was a couple of bits I thought,

(55:10):
but obviously
appealed to us because we're from
from Scotland.
When he asked you at the end.
Could you
go and tip a whiskey over the demolition
site of the Apollo.
That was magic.
I loved that.
That was
really nice and individually
did
did you.
I
didn't actually
spill it.
I just toasted.
I went I went to you know, there's a

(55:32):
an Australian theme bar
you know opposite the prevailing theatre
where the Apollo was.
And a
few weeks later I happened to be out in
Glasgow for a couple of pints
And and that
that part of the interview popped in at my head
and my pal and I went up
went into that Australian theme bar
bought a couple of whiskeys and we just we

(55:53):
just toasted the
raised the toast
didn't spill a drop though. And
now that you should have been a good
Scotsman Tom.
And in the final bit that I just wanted to
to ask you about.
And I mean, we've done this to you,
but he did a couple of idents at the end
and a little couple of little bits of
trailers for your show.
How easy was it to get him to do that? Was

(56:13):
he quite happy to do that for you?
I think just about every interview I've
done over the past 40 odd years,
I've always
tended to ask for that.
And 99.9 times out of 100,
the artist is quite obliging.
Perhaps it would be different if asked at
the start of the IT was
our first interview and asked at the start,
it might be different.
I'd like to think that

(56:35):
most of my interviews I didn't give the
artist a hard time.
I let them do what was there for, to plug
the new album, to plug the tour
and
get something a little bit interesting, a
little bit different from what did you have
for your breakfast this morning, David? You
know, so I've, I've got lots of these. We
we
jingles as as they call them.
One of my favourites is the Aussie one,

(56:57):
Ozzy Osbourne
and the Angus Young one.
I love the Angus Young one as well.
Great, sure, but
just doesn't play enough ACDC.
That's the Angus one.
You don't hear them very often do
interviews.
It's quite nice when you do hear them do
interviews.
It's quite nice.
Well, we'll we'll be having
an Angus and Brian interview.

(57:18):
Fantastic if you
bond, but Angus and Brian will be coming up become
coming up in the next few weeks.
Fantastic.
Well, guys, I don't know about you, but
I've I've thoroughly enjoyed this.
A
big smile on my face.
You can see this
TomTom.
Could I get a quick one in?
Of course you can.
That was a that was a David Commodale

(57:39):
reference.
That
was like
that was a David
Commodale.
He was, he was in his
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah.
I thought, I thought that was pretty funny
when he could.
Can I get a quick one? He
but
he was very sharp, very sharp.
He was very sharp.
He's he's always good for an innuendo or three.
Why is or three or four? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(57:59):
So, so have we
have we got a thought about what we might
do next week, guys, what we're gonna do
next week.
Tom, have you thought about it?
I've
got one ready that we could perhaps go with.
I recorded it back in the early 80s in
Edinburgh or as the Americans would say,
Edinburgh.
They can't say butter. They
can't say
no,
they
can't.
And it's

(58:20):
an interview that I did
backstage at
Ingleson in Edinburgh,
which was a big
show, show ground after the Apollo was
after the Apollo closed or I
can't remember.
But
Rush
played
Angleton
and
but they did it a couple of times.
I think they did it in 81 and in 83.

(58:42):
And record company asked me if I'd like to
do an interview and I said certainly.
So I went through and did an interview and
I was really, really nervous about it
because
there's only three guys in Russia, as you know,
and
they tend to rotate.
All three of them do interviews, but they
tend to rotate.
So
whatever that happened to be on a Monday

(59:04):
night, it's Getty that does the,
the, the interview, etcetera, etcetera.
So I was in a panic in case it was Neil
Peart because Neil is so intellectual and I
was a relatively inexperienced interviewer
and I was really quite probably as nervous
as I've ever been doing an interview over
the years.

(59:24):
But I went in, I did my homework.
He was charming, he was pleasant, he was
cooperative.
And it was a pleasure interviewing him.
So I think that's the one that we'll have next
if you guys are in agreement.
Neil Peart from Rush,
as a lifelong Rush fan, I can't wait to
talk about Rush for a couple of hours with

(59:44):
you, Tom.
So
thanks very much for tuning in to Access.
Hilarious.
The Tom.