Two solo albums on the hump ("White Snake, 1977, and "Northwinds", 1978), but no band in the back. Ex-Purple singer David Coverdale wanted to create facts even before the release of his second work and founded David Coverdale's Whitesnake in February 1978, who presented themselves as a band for the first time in Great Britain on the "Northwinds Tour" in March. "It was not a lightning start that I made after leaving Purple in March 1976. With Roger Glover as producer and guitarist Micky Moody I recorded my [first] solo album in the summer of '76. But it did not appear until May of the following year. Roger, Micky and I already had 'Northwinds' in the box, which was also put on ice for almost a year."
In addition to slide specialist Moody (ex-Snafu), Coverdale recruited PAL guitarist Bernie Marsden. Neil Murray (ex-Colosseum II), drummer Dave Dowle and keyboarder Brian Johnston completed the line-up. Johnston didn't make it to the first studio work of the young band. At the EP "Snakebite", which was released in June 1978, she introduced herself with four songs, among them "Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City". "I knew the song in a soul version of Bobby ["Blue"] Bland and thought it would be a good fit for us," said Coverdale.
Three fifths Deep Purple
Jon Lord, who was on board from the debut LP "Trouble" (1978), was also a good match for Whitesnake in her blues-rock-influenced early phase. "Winning Jon was a win-win situation for everyone involved. And when Paicey joined us a year later for the 'Lovehunter Tour', we not only had a first-class band together, but also the necessary publicity," Coverdale sums up the entry of his ex-colleagues, while Ian Paice has his view of things: "Unlike Purple, Whitesnake is David's baby, and we only got as far involved as he wanted us to," says the drummer. "I accepted the offer to change to Gary Moore's band because I didn't earn anything with Whitesnake back then." This puts Coverdale into perspective: "We had to invest a lot in the beginning, but I don't think Paicey ever played in a band that had as much fun with each other as we did back then" The investment volume also included that the band indulged in the Purple producer Martin Birch. He supervised all Whitesnake albums until "Slide It In" (1984).
Whitesnake vs. Rainbow
Birch also produced the first four Rainbow albums. "I can't remember exactly how the competition between Whitesnake and Rainbow came about," explains Ritchie Blackmore in a recent interview with eclipsed. "I think some of David's speeches were getting the mood going. He was frustrated that I had left him alone at Purple." The two of them don't want to say a word today about the fisticuffs they witnessed on the sidelines of a Rainbow concert in Munich in February 1980. "I'd rather think of the fact that we've been getting along well again for some years now and that I would have liked to have realised our Blackmore Coverdale Project. We talked about which Whitesnake songs Ritchie and which Rainbow songs I could interpret. Even if the project did not succeed, it had serious consequences: Ritchie was again into rock music and founded a new version of Rainbow, and we [Whitesnake] approached 'The Purple Album' with all our might."
