It’s a freezing Sunday afternoon. Riding high on the kickoff of his first American tour in 40 years, Adrian Vandenberg and his namesake band are en route to Cincinnati, roughly 6 hours away from where he played the night before, St. Charles, Illinois. He could be kicking his feet up, indulging in the luxuries a veteran rockstar of his caliber should be enjoying at this point in his career. Instead, he’s on the phone with this pesky interviewer, graciously answering questions about everything from Manic Eden to touring with the law offices of Eisen and Witz (AKA KISS). All joking aside, we couldn’t be happier to finally present to you an in depth conversation with the one and only, Adrian Vandenberg.
Greetings Adrian and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Adrian Vandenberg: Great! I’m doing good actually. We’re just arriving in Cincinnati, ready for the gig tonight. It should be great. Yesterday we had our first one and it went great. The crowd was fantastic. It was really, really exciting.
I want to thank you for what was an incredible show last night and graciously signing my copy of the first Vandenberg album in the freezing cold. That was too kind of you.
AV: Oh well, yeah *laughs*. For me, that’s completely normal. Everybody was waiting outside in the freaking cold. It was freezing man! I think I’m gonna donate some frozen sperm from last night to a sperm bank somewhere *laughs*.
How does it feel to be back in America? If I’m not mistaken, isn’t this Vandenberg’s first tour of the States in 40 years?
AV: Yeah, exactly. At the time, we did two tours in the States. One was in ‘83. One was in ‘84. ‘84 was exactly 40 years ago man. It’s ridiculous! We were a special guest to KISS when they were in a bit of an identity crisis and decided to take their black and white makeup off, but put even more pink makeup on. It was an interesting tour.
How did Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons act towards Vandenberg on that tour?
AV: Eh, they were not the most comfortable with it apparently because we just had a big hit with “Burning Heart” and they were in an identity crisis. The first two nights, we tore the roof off. By the third night, we got the message that we weren’t allowed to use all the lights anymore. The night after that, we couldn’t use all the sound anymore. The night after that, we were only allowed to use half or a third of the stage. The crowd didn’t mind because it just makes you fight a little harder.
It was a little strange, but it was karma because a couple years later, when I was in Whitesnake, they were opening up for Whitesnake when we played Canada. It was quite a blow to their egos. They were not very happy with that, as a matter of fact, because they behaved like a couple of jealous kids basically. They were bad mouthing us to the crowd. I heard from David (Coverdale), who I’m still regularly in touch with, he told me now he made amends with Gene and Paul over the last couple years. It’s all good. In the end, everybody wants the same. We all want to play rock n’ roll and have fun.
Which is exactly what Vandenberg did last night, and kicking it all off in my hometown no less. Do you have any special memories of playing Chicago back in the day, whether it be with Vandenberg or Whitesnake?
AV: Yeah, one of the clearest memories is having, I think it was with Vandenberg…I always like to go for a local dish, a specialty of whatever city I’m in because I’m a bit of a foodie. Somebody told me, “You gotta try the Chicago deep dish pizza.” There’s about four square meters of cheese on those things! I remember being onstage going, “Holy shit!” *laughs* I was feeling rather sluggish, but you gotta do it. That was definitely one of the memories. The other one was that the crowds are really, really loud and I love that because it’s pretty inspiring when you feel the crowd loves it, just like yesterday. It was wonderful. It was really, really inspiring.
Over the years, you’ve played many different types of guitars. In the ‘80s, it was signature models from Peavey and Fernandes. I noticed last night it was a Gibson Les Paul. What led to the shift to Gibson and do you have a favorite guitar?
AV: Well this Les Paul, I bought it brand new in 1980. It’s been with me all my life basically. If you see any pictures from the early Vandenberg tours, that’s the same Les Paul. It used to be darker in those days, but over the years, it faded of course. I’ve played every record with it basically. I’m gonna play the reissue of my Peavey Vandenberg model, but I only received one of the prototypes the day before yesterday. It’s being set up, so I’m hoping to start playing it on the shows as soon as possible.
When it came to rebooting Vandenberg, was there ever consideration to include the members of the classic ‘80s lineup?
AV: No, I hadn’t really thought about it. That has a lot to do with the fact those guys sued me about 8 or 9 years ago. They wanted to claim my name, including my family name. They said that I wasn’t supposed to call myself Adrian Vandenberg anymore *laughs*. It was a weird thing man. You should’ve heard my dad. He was livid! There were about 5 or 6 lawsuits. Of course, they lost all of them, but there was a lot of negative energy. I thought, “Man, I never need to see those guys ever again.” The only one out of the other three that I would’ve considered was the drummer, Jos (Zoomer). He used to be a friend of mine, but it appeared that he was involved in those lawsuits as well. Life is too short for that kind of bullshit. I didn’t really wanna know about it.
What are the biggest differences between Vandenberg in the ‘20s and those early days in the ‘80s?
AV: Well definitely much more experience. You saw the show yesterday. These are all very intense musicians. I’m really, really happy with these guys. We have a great vibe together. This was our first show. We haven’t really done a lot of stuff in the last 6 months. We did a 10 show Dutch tour about three months ago. Since then, we haven’t played. We are not big fans of rehearsing ‘til you drop. We only rehearsed one day and we thought, “Let’s go for it!” I like to keep it fresh. If you over rehearse, I always think that it may be probably too much or something. I really enjoy letting stuff happen on stage. It went pretty good yesterday! We were all pretty excited.
On this tour and latest album, Sin, you’ve got Mats Levén handling vocals. How far do you go back with him and what qualities does he bring to the band musically?
AV: Actually, when I had to part company with Ronnie Romero, I thought, “I only know three singers that can handle this type of material. Who has the range to sing Whitesnake stuff and Vandenberg stuff.” I almost forgot about Mats. Mats is an amazing singer, as you know. You heard him yesterday. I suddenly realized that in the ‘80s, I heard a couple of tracks from a Swedish band called Treat that he was the vocalist in. I remember being very impressed.
Then, I also realized he was involved with Yngwie Malmsteen for an album and a tour. Anybody who survives working with Yngwie Malmsteen is a plus already! Mats is an amazing singer, a great guy. We work really well together. As you saw yesterday, he’s got a commanding stage presence, which is also really important, especially in our kind of music. I’m really fortunate with this lineup we have right now.
Speaking of Yngwie, back in the ‘80s, during the days of the big name metal shredders, did you feel a sense of camaraderie among this group or rather a rivalry?
AV: For me, I’m a Dutch guy, as you know. Whenever we’d have a week off or two weeks break in those tours, because those tours were a year and a half long, I always loved to go back to Holland and put my feet back in the mud. I didn’t really feel part of the whole competitive LA guitar thing. One amazing guitarist after another rolled out of that scene. They were all really, really, really great. That’s never been part of the reason I make music personally. I just wanna express myself on my guitar. I never see it as a competition.
I don’t think you can really compete in emotions. That’s how I look at it. You can’t say that Brian May is a lesser guitar player than Eddie Van Halen or that so and so is a lesser guitar player than BB King. It’s all about what you’re trying to say on your instrument, whether you’re a drummer or a bass player or a guitar player. As a vocalist, it’s a little bit…I wouldn’t say easier, but it’s more logical because it’s so personal. When a vocalist performs and he or she is the real deal, then you feel the performance.
As an instrumentalist, I think it makes a great instrumentalist when you’ve got your own language so to speak. When you hear three notes from a guy like Brian May, you wouldn’t hear those same three notes the same way from Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan. I could name at least 30 guys, if not more. For me, that’s always been the most important thing: The emotion in it, the right note in the right place. Technique is really great, but I see it as a means to express what you want to get across.
It was awesome to hear a couple of songs from the early Vandenberg days last night, specifically “Your Love Is in Vain” and “Burning Heart”. What were the ambitions of the band back then and what are your favorite songs from that era?
AV: Well, you just named two of them. Another one is a song like “This is War”. On the Alibi album, a song called “Voodoo” has always been one of my favorites. It’s kind of a riot. Sometimes I hear some old stuff and I think, “That’s actually not so bad.” In those days, I was overly enthusiastic. Well as a matter of fact, to be honest, I still am *laughs*. I haven’t learned anything apparently.
Basically, I just wrote whatever came up in my mind and what happened when I was sitting behind the keyboard or with my guitar on my lap or something and wrote something that I would’ve liked to hear from somebody. I never really over thought about what I was writing, which you can basically tell by the pretty juvenile lyrics of those days. I was a young dude at the time. I thought it was pretty cool, you know?
Those were also different days. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I heard a pretty old, classic Judas Priest track and I thought, “Hmm, my lyrics at the time weren’t that much worse than those guys.” *laughs* It’s all a matter of how you feel it. With performers, when the music and the lyrics go hand in hand, it gives you a kind of emotion as a listener, then you’ve hit the target basically.
I want to talk a bit about your songwriting approach. What is the biggest difference between writing solo and writing alongside a collaborator like say David Coverdale?
AV: That’s quite a difference. At the same time, when David and I met for the first time and the first time he asked me to join him, we sat down and chatted. It was a Whitesnake show where I went as a fan. We had very much the same early influences when we started out, so when David and I wrote together, it went very, very easy and natural. It was quite close to when I wrote by myself. It was a fortunate situation because we were both pretty surprised it went so smoothly.
When I sit by myself, a strange thing is I try not to overthink because it happens naturally. When I’m working on music, little bits and pieces of lyrics pop into my head and I usually write them into my iPhone or write them down or something. Later on, I connect those ideas that came in because I, in some kind of a superstitious way I suppose, believe in the fact that there’s a reason why they pop into my head. They lock in with the vibe of the music that I’m working on at the time.
I had read that, prior to joining Whitesnake, you were working on some music with Tony Martin of Black Sabbath. How far did this collaboration go and were any song ideas used on any future musical efforts?
AV: He only stayed with me for a long weekend. What happened was Whitesnake went into one of their many hiatuses and I didn’t want to sit still. The boss from Atlantic, who actually signed Vandenberg at the time, suggested to me to put a new band together to record a new album. He sent me a cassette with about 15 singers. Tony was definitely the one that sprung out. Another one was a guy from the States, what’s his name again? He was from Atlanta. He was the singer of a band called Strangeways…
Terry Brock!
AV: Terry Brock! Yeah, fantastic singer. I went up to see him. He was a really nice guy. Musically, it really clicked, but then Tony Martin stayed with me for a while. We got on very well together. He’s a great singer, as you know. But then, I think somewhere in the process, David wanted to start Whitesnake up again and I forgot about the whole situation. I had a couple of those phases in my life where the Atlantic boss tried to put me together with other people. For some reason…I always go with my intuition. I don’t want to think too much about stuff. If something feels right, I go with it. Sometimes it’s stupid *laughs*, but usually it works out nicely I suppose.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first and only album from Manic Eden. What events led to the formation of this supergroup and if the opportunity was right, would you be open to a Manic Eden reunion?
AV: It’s interesting you mention it because my record company, Mascot, is rereleasing the Manic Eden album worldwide this month. It’s nice because over the years, I had so many requests from people. “Where can I find this record?” I’m happy for those people it’s getting rereleased. I don’t know. I always go with the flow. If there would be a situation where the Vandenberg band would be on a temporary hiatus or something, I could imagine a couple of gigs with Tommy (Aldridge), Rudy (Sarzo), and Ron (Young).
It’s down to everybody’s schedules. Everybody’s busy. Rudy is touring with Quiet Riot. Tommy…I don’t know what Tommy is doing actually right now. I think he’s kind of locked in with David if David has more plans. I don’t know. Nobody really knows. I’m really proud of that record. It’s one of my favorite things that I’ve done. But then again, so is what we do right now with Vandenberg.
You saw it yesterday. We’ve got an amazing lineup together. They’re all great guys and fantastic musicians. What more can you wish for? I’m just a dude from Holland who really enjoys playing guitar and it went out of hand. It’s a hobby that went out of hand basically. That’s a beautiful thing.
During Vandenberg’s initial run, the band released three studio albums. Is the plan to do the same with this incarnation or go even further?
AV: Well with this incarnation, we’ve released two albums, as you know. As far as I’m concerned, people can’t get rid of us very easily *laughs*. We got an amazing band. Great players, great guys. What more can you ask for? I’m happy as a pig in shit, as the traditional American saying goes. Yeah, man! There’ll definitely be more Vandenberg albums and tours!
In closing, any special words for the American audiences who are looking forward to seeing you on this tour?
AV: Oh yeah! We really hope everybody and their grandmas come down to the shows because, as you were able to tell yesterday, we really have something to offer. We really enjoy shredding the stages together. I’m enjoying every split second of it. It’s a beautiful thing. I hope we get to see a lot of our American friends in the next month, and I hope we get to come back and do a lot more touring over here because it’s a blast. A big part of our musical influences are all from America. It’s great to bring it back so to speak as a couple of Dutch guys in wooden shoes, eating cheese, and hanging out with well endowed women!
The new Vandenberg album, Sin, is available now on Mascot Records. For more information on Vandenberg, visit www.vandenbergband.com.