The Snakes (Bernie Marsden) Special Interview in Japan (from "Burrn!" Magazine, October 1998) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Whitesnake guitar combination, Bernie Marsden and Mickey Moody debut with the new "Once Bitten..." album in the vein of the good old sound! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The original Whitesnake sound was created by David Coverdale and 2 more people, Bernie Marsden and Mickey Moody. (Marsden stayed until "Saints And Sinners" (1982) and Moody left before "Slide It In" (1984).) They both later appeared here and there on some albums but gained no success. Now they lead the life of quite average musicians. And finally they formed the new band The Snakes. Three members of the band come from Norway and they are Johnny Lande (vocals), Sid Ringsby (bass) and Willy Bendiksen (drums). On the brand new album "Once Bitten..." the band reproduces the classic Whitesnake sound. And that's really great. But, is there any originality? Well, not so many. Of course, you remember that these 2 guitarists created that classic Whitesnake sound and that's it. But there's no nostalgie of the past here and the guys comosed wonderful hard rock numbers. So we talked to Bernie Marsden who came to Japan for the promotion tour. BM - Bernie Marsden TM - Takehiko 'Tack' Maeda TM: You're for the first time in Japan since the Whitesnake concerts of '81, right? That were the first concerts of the foreign band I saw in my life. BM: It was awesome. I was much younger as well. (laughs) TM: OK, we're going to discuss many things but let's start from the past. You left Whitesnake in 1982 after the release of the "Saints And Sinners" album, remember that? BM: Well, it was so long ago. We had enormous problems with our management at that time and inside the band there were problems as well. So when I met David (Coverdale) one day in the studio I said, "Now it's over, I'm leaving." It looked so sad. Somebody owned all our money so we didn't have any in the band. But David asked me to help with the songwriting and I agreed. 3 weeks later he announced to me the split of the old Whitesnake and that he was looking for the new line-up. I was quite surprised but that was the typical business thing. But I had no other way out and though I still remained the band member for the half a year and that was a really good band but I got used to not playing there... That was the first time I quit a band. But time heals all the wounds and soon I started thinking about music business again. TM: So you got used to the fact. BM: That's right. You know, Whitesnake reunited without me or Ian Paice or Neil Murray. But the band is probably stronger now but it could be no worse in the different situation, I guess. But when Colin Hodginson, Mel Galey and Cozy Powell joined Whitesnake it became rather bad. I didn't like their Donnington show at all. Mickey was of the same opinion. You see, Mickey left the band when it split for the first time but returned later and we had a great relations though pretty shocked. So in 1983 Whitesnake was a disgusting band. I heard their recordings with John Sykes and I should say that it was different but quite nice. Well, the line-up of 1983 is... OK, it didn't last too long 'cos David understood everything much too soon. TM: Mel Galey wasn't the guitar player who could perform the melodic stuff that you did. Well, being a fan of Cozy I was glad he entered the band. But Colin Hodginson was really no good for Whitesnake. BM: You seem to know Whitesnake history very well. OK, Mel is really a good songwriter and a nice guitarist but he has no blues feeling inside. When I was a member of Whitesnake David wanted to do everything expect one. He needed to gain control over what we did. He had to split the old line-up to create something new. But still I respect the time I was in the band and all the career we went through together. You know, it's great that David had the line-up which included John Sykes, Neil Murray and Cozy Powell but that's how they became another long-haired band of the 80's just like Aerosmith or Bon Jovi. Nevertheless the songs of that period are really good and their playing is wonderful. But I guess that it was a big mistake to engage Steve Vai in the band. The Coverdale/Page project again faced too many troubles. And David just needed to do something different. You know, it's been 10 years since I'm waiting for the new David Coverdale album and I really wanna listen to it. So now since Whitesnake is over he himself confirmed the recording of the solo album. But if Whitesnake is over The Snakes is here to stay! TM: I don't know exactly about your career after Whitesnake but I guess the list looks like SOS, Alaska, MGM, Moody Marsden Band and now The Snakes, am I right? BM: Absolutely! TM: Let's speak about SOS and Alaska. You seem to be unsatisfied with the Alaska and MGM career, don't you? MGM consisted also of Mel Galey and Neil Murray but no albums were released... So how can you explain it? BM: MGM existed just for about 20 minutes. (laughs) But even those 20 minutes were great. It was a very interesting band and the recorded tape still exists. I have some plans to complete an anthology album and it will include a couple of MGM tracks as well. One of those songs was recorded with Glenn Hughes and another one with ex-Toto singer Bobby Kimball. MGM didn't exist for too long but made its identity in the rock music world. Everyone around really wanted to play with Bernie and Mel. We both were in Whitesnake and were good songwriters, you know. Anyway, it didn't work out. We couldn't write the songs together and probably only one was completed. It's like 2 pitchers in the baseball game trying to do the same thing. SOS and Alaska were my first bands after leaving Whitesnake and it all happened very fast. We recorded albums and played at the "Reading Festival" but my heart wasn't there so it didn't last long. You see, all the Alaska songs were made with the keyboards 'cos I didn't play guitar at that time for about a year. Though I still think that the Alaska albums were quite good. After that Moody Marsden Band was born. Mickey also went through many bands and while I was working on soundtracks and TV music in America we kept in contact and decided to play together again. The start of Moody Marsden Band was somehow smooth and only our friends new about it. Many people think that our shows gathered only 100 people but we managed to sell 500 tickets and finally about 1000 people went to see us at some places. The best sales were in Germany and we completed even 3 albums. After that was the "Green And Blues" rock'n'blues album. Later we met Johnny Lande from Norway and started The Snakes project. That's all about my past. For the last 2-3 years I've been away from music business and now I don't need to be a famous rock star. I'm much more satisfied with my work for Andy Taylor, John Phar and Meat Loaf and with the albums of the bands I produced. TM: Speaking about Whitesnake, in of the interviews in 1988 David said, "The remake of "Here I Go Again" is a big hit now but I didn't mention Bernie in the credits to it. So I'm not gonna pay money for it to him." Do you know, did it really happen? BM: Absolute bullshit! Could David really say it? He changed a bit at that time. He also said in one of the interviews that "Here I Go Again" was written on the ship on which he sailed from Portugal in 1985. That's a complete mistake. He faced a big mess in his career at that time and that's the result. In fact "Here I Go Again" was written together with "Rough And Ready" for the "Saints And Sinners" album by David and me but the credits say 'Coverdale/Moody.' So Mickey got all the royalties for it. But that wasn't with "Here I Go Again" 'cos I really wrote the song. For instance, if you and me write the song together, both of us will be mentioned in the credits. So that's quite a strange thing for David! TM: Really? BM: From 1987 up to 1988 when David became number one in America with his new Whitesnake line-up he tried to convince everyone that the band didn't exist at all until 1987. He abandoned the past completely. But he seems to have changed since that time. For a long time me, Mickey, Neil, Ian, Jon (Lord) were assured that David=Whitesnake, that he's the only leader but now the impression is changing somehow. You know, many people buy albums recorded by the original line-up and it's nonsense to say that the band didn't exist up to 1987. When me and Mickey were the band members 90% of all the songs were written together with David. That's the absolute truth and you can't change it. It's quite easy to say now that David didn't write a single song and I wrote everything but that's not true. We happened to be a good songwriting team and you can understand it while listening to The Snakes album 'cos some songs sound very similar to the Whitesnake stuff. So if you listen to both of us you'll never know what really happened. The real problem is that we wrote those songs together and I will get my roalties as well as him. But money is not the key point 'cos he is a songwriter and I'm doing the same thing too. And I still respect the times I played in Whitesnake and never said anything bad about those years. Probably some weird things concern the lyrics but we were young and careless. David wrote both good and bad lyrics. He wrote about what really happened to him in everyday life. And if he wanted me to help him with the songwriting I always did. That's how "Here I Go Again" came out. So I'd like to confirm the statement that David was always the Whitesnake leader. And in the end he says 'thank you' to everyone who supported the band for its 20 years of existance. So 5-6 years from that 20 happened to be with me, Mickey Moody and Neil Murray. We still think about our fans like he does but he never mentions any other musician who played with him always mentioning him main role in the band. Though we never thought anything like this about himself, really. So maybe the time has come for me, Mickey and Neil to say who we really are. TM: After you left the band I was dissatisfied with this decision too but still remained to be the Whitesnake fan. And I'm agree with you about that Steve Vai was the big mistake for Whitesnake. Anyway, he's a good guitar player... Though his version of "Fool For Your Loving" from the "Slip On The Tongue" album is quite average. When I first heard it I had the impression that I see my girl-friend's rape right before my eyes. Did you hear that 'cover'? BM: I did. TM: What do you think? BM: I feel the same as you. That's the disgusting cover-version, it has nothing to do with the original song. But I'm agree with you, Steve Vai is a great guitarist. I met him once and he's very friendly guy and the guitar hero as well. Well, about that song... I still don't understand why David decided to put it this way. Maybe he disliked everything at that time. And he could sell his own soul just to sell some more records. Nothing like Robert Johnson. And David always had to be a good and interesting songwriter. That's what John Sykes always had. A good-looking person, a great guitar player and a brilliant songwriter at the same time. But I think 2 stars can't exist in one band. It's something unimaginable for David. Me and Mickey never tried to separate our roles in the band... We just recorded albums and played gigs... But David always made his own rules and wanted to control everything we did. 10 years later it's much more easier. Now I don't have anything against him or Whitesnake. I guess that when he decided to create a remake of "Fool For Your Loving" he simply didn't feel the same passion that he did during the song's creation. That's what really matters. TM: OK, let's talk about The Snakes. First about the band name, was it that you felt proud on the fact that this band reproduces the sound of Whitesnake or at least it's based on it? BM: That's right. There're 2 original members of Whitesnake in this band but we play under the different name and want to establish ourselves as the ex-Whitesnake members and that's why we chose this very name. During the Whitesnake times people called us 'Snakes.' You can say that The Snakes is a kind of 'Whitesnake Part 2' or that we play the same thing that Whitesnake did, I don't really care about it. TM: When I listened to "Once Bitten..." it seemed to be a great album with wonderful music and feelings inside. So if this album could be released by Whitesnake I could consider it as one of the best band's albums. BM: I'm very glad that people like the album but it could be OK even if people won't like it. That's not the album that everybody can enjoy. Originally we wanted to make a rock'n'roll album this time. And if it sounds like Whitesnake the main reason for it is that me and Mickey are in the band. And don't forget about the Johnny Lande vocals. But I don't want to sound like David Coverdale, he's no David. But the thing is that he sings in the same style. So here're the main reasons why The Snakes music seems so close to Whitesnake. We didn't enter the studio with the idea to create a new Whitesnake album but that's the result of it. OK, some tracks really sound like Whitesnake, "What Love Can Do" or "Real Faith," for instance. Some time back David called me up and said, "Let's play together again!" so I started writing new material for the band and those two songs are what I did back then. But as you know nothing really happened. And here apperead Johnny who sounds very similar to early David, especially on "Come And Get It." He's got a great voice and it's perfect during the live performances. On our concerts we play "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City" and it's like going back for 15 years. TM: On "Once Bitten..." Johnny sings absolutely like David and it wasn't when he was in Vagabond, right? Did you notice the similarity of their voices? BM: Once we played "Ready And Willing," "Mistreated," and "Fool For Your Loving" and then our drummer Willy Benediksen listened to that "Ready And Willing" and he couldn't believe what he heard. Well, I'm the big fan of Johnny's voice and if he sounds like David on this The Snakes album that's completely my fault. No denying, Johnny is a big fan of David but he likes Rod Stewart as well and many many others. OK, like you said, on Vagabond albums he didn't sound like David but with The Snakes you can still understand that that's him singing. We already recorded a live album but I'm not ready to talk about it right now. One thing I can say is that you might think there's David singing there. TM: As can I understand The Snakes was formed when you were in Norway... BM: It happened when I toured with the rock'n'blues Green And Blues Allstars band. Like I told before, Johnny heard this tape and wanted to sing for us. And you see, the main reason for it was that during those concerts we played "Don't Break My Heart Again" and "Ain't Gonna Cry No More" from the old Whitesnake times and the audience liked it very much. Those songs are really powerful ones. So when me and a friend of mine went backstage after that show I saw Johnny crying there. He took my hand and said, "I never thought I'd hear those songs live anymore." It looked really touching. And that's when I knew I had to play them again and again. Also I heard many Whitesnake fans saying that the new band line-up doesn't play any old songs and even when they do it they can't express the feelings that have to be there. I could never forget it and I knew that Johnny can make us popular again. I feel like I'm back in time when I was 15 or 16 and that's why I'm very glad to play live again. And for Johnny it's a great pleasure as well. TM: OK, that's enough for "Once Bitten..." but I think it shows that the fire of old Whitesnake isn't burnt out in you and Mickey. So if we compare your new album to the famous "Whitesnake" of 1987, it's quite good, it might be a new direction in hard rock. BM: Well, I don't know. If you listen to it, it might seem so. The album has 12 songs and it's recorded like we used to do it before. Of course, you can select some beatiful moments from this album but it's not the way it has to be. We just wanted to create the album in the vein of classic rock. I guess Ronnie Lee Tekro worked a lot on the Vagabond albums production. And we just had fun during the studio sessions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------