DAVID COVERDALE - Shedding Skin!
By Tim Henderson

David Coverdale's new album, Into The Light, is the first album in over twenty years that will be released under his own name rather than the popular Whitesnake moniker. Into The Light is not a departure for Coverdale by any means - it features plenty of the blues-based rock that made him famous, and there are a few tracks that are unquestionably Whitesnake - but it is definitely a dozen steps forward for the rock veteran. The message that Coverdale is sending with this new album is clear: past glories are wonderful, but it's the here and now that matters.

"You know, it's like all this talk about my working with John Sykes again," says Coverdale. "That was a Kalodner dream. John started a retro label (Portrait) and good luck to him, and good luck to all the bands of the '80s that he's got, but I said to him, 'John, you should know I don't go back.' I mean, how many versions of 'Still Of The Night' do you want? It's not interesting for me to do that. Writing to suit an image or an identity is not for me. I just want to write. If I write something that sounds a little country and western and I like it, I can put it out under my own name. If I play a concert I can do Deep Purple songs, I can play Whitesnake, Coverdale/Page, whatever. As Whitesnake I have a responsibility to play only Whitesnake songs. That's what people come for hundreds of miles in all weather to hear. I don't want to play f**king Britney Spears songs, but under my own name I can do anything."

That "anything" also means that when it comes to the live show, Coverdale will not be a predictable rock vet. New material may well substitute some of the old tried and true classics of the Coverdale catalogue, something that he will explore with the help of his fans.

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