Rockezine.com interview with Company Of Snakes on Dec 12, 2001

with Bernie Marsden on Dec 12, 2001

Since 1997 we`ve got The Company Of Snakes and this band features three original members from the very first (1978-1982) Whitesnake line-up: guitarists Micky Moody & Bernie Marsden plus bassplayer Neil Murray. After their recent show at the Podium-Hardenberg, the friendly and humble Bernie Marsden, composer from million-selling hits like "Here I Go Again" and "Fool For Your Loving", talked to REZ about the past, present and future of The Company Of Snakes and Whitesnake…
		Bernie, we read that the new C.o.S. album was supposed to be out in August, but there were some problems… Yeah, it was originally scheduled for late summer, but it was never fixed. Then I wanted to remix some stuff myself. I was able to do this after all the festivals we played in the summer and that was August. Then we thought it would be okay to release it in November, but this is nearly Christmas, so that`s why we`re touring right now. We take our time to work on the record some more while all the Christmas albums come out in December and then release it in January. There were no real problems, it`s kind of my fault because I wanted to remix some stuff. No real fault, I`m just the reason.
		Did you record and produce the album yourself? Pretty much yeah, with help of some very good engineers. It`s good to have some help around, we do it together really. I listen to their advice and then I ignore it, haha.
		Are you recording and producing yourself for a long time? I got into some production some ten years ago and I enjoyed it then. Now that I`m a bit older, I don`t enjoy it that much anymore. If you want to do a good job, it takes a lot of time and you`ve got to have 100% convinction. I find that hard now to have. If I`m working with a guitarplayer and he has a little problem with a certain part, after then minutes I want to do it myself. "Just give me the guitar", you know? And that`s not good. I just try to do it fairly quickly. I like to be in the studio for as little time as possible, but as long as the record is good.
		Do you have your own studio and if so, do you prefer digital or analog equipment? Yes. I have a studio at home, not a big one though. It`s kind of a personal studio really. I like working with people, you know? Too many studios these days have electronic machines. I want to hear real musicians, that`s what rock is all about. I have an old analog taperecorder, I don`t do this digital stuff. It`s purely for demos. I just have 8 tracks and if a song sounds good, I`ll keep it. If not, I`ll just clean everything and start again. It`s mainly a copyroom for old bluesalbums, to be honest with you guys. I find these old bluesalbums on vinyl and start putting some bass on them and stuff. I collect old bluesalbums so if you know any good shops, let me know.
		Do you still play your guitar every day? I suppose so, yeah. I never have practiced. It`s a terrible thing to do. I play every day so I guess I practice in my way. I`m too old to practice now, but I was too young to practice then. You can practice too much and lose a bit of feel. I play more from the heart than from the head. That`s the way it goes.
		What`s the status of C.o.S. in the various countries around the world? I don`t really worry about this. With Whitesnake I`ve played in front of 100.000 people and tonight I`ve played to only 200. But, I`ve played with as much feel, because if 200 people come and pay their money, you make a good show. You do the best you can and don`t say "oh, there are only 200 people, so I don`t play". It`s not the audience its fault. Everybody likes to see a full house, but you can`t guarantee it. You have to work hard. In Germany our average will be around 1.000 people, I guess. We`re doing okay. The last two summers we`ve been doing the bigger festivals and this way you can hit more people in one show.
		REZ saw you perform at the Wacken Open Air in Germany where you recorded the double live album "Here They Go Again - Live". Is it true that the singer that night (Gary Barden, ex-MSG) isn`t the actual voice we hear on the record? That`s correct. It`s a very easy answer. The singing on the album was not good enough, on the recording. The reason it wasn`t good enough was because of the recording technically went wrong. But, that didn`t really matter because the guy who was singing with us at the time was never gonna be on the album anyway. He did know that. It was kind of a strange situation. We had a great singer before who was in Bad Company (that`s why the band is called Company of Snakes, JG) and he`s kind of a solo artist. We`ve been friends for a long time and so he came and joined me in this new band. We did some gigs, then some more and it was fun. At some point he told us he had to leave for The States. I said "okay, let`s finish these few shows, shake hands and have a beer sometimes". He said that wasn`t possible, because he had to leave right away. But, we had five shows to finish. So then I rang Gary Barden and asked him if I could come and help us out. He agreed and I told him that if it would work out, he could be the new singer in the band.
		The first couple of shows were good, but Gary is more of a heavy metal singer. What I write is more rhythm & blues, bluesrock so to say. Gary doesn`t sing like that. But I didn`t tell him he had to do this big show at Wacken, because I thought it was unfair. So when we got there, Gary went "what`s this?" I said to him "oh yeah, this is the huge Wacken festival. I forgot to tell you, sorry. It`s going to be recorded for a live album as well". I told him to not worry about it, just do the gig. We problably weren`t going to use the recording anyway, because at the time we had no singer. Then Stefan Bergren from Sweden found me and we invited him down to the studio. He sang on a couple of songs and it sounded good to me.
		His voice sounds pretty much like David Coverdale… Yes, on the David Coverdale songs it does. If you can sing a little bit and knew that stuff, it would also have to sound a bit like David, because you know the songs. He sings his way but respects the songs. We had this Norwegian guy some time ago and he just thought he was David. It ain`t gonna happen, you know? There`s only one David.
		What are you going to do after the new album is released? We`ll do some more shows and then we`ll do some festivals through the summer. We go to South-America, South-Africa, maybe Japan, Australia so it`s quite busy.
		There seems to be a lot of interest in The Company Of Snakes… Yes, there is. When the people who came to see us realised that we`re here doing the old Whitesnake stuff again, they told all their friends and kept on coming to our shows. It`s a fun band to be in, we play good stuff and enjoy ourselves.
		Is this the only band you`re in at the moment? No. I have two or three bands. I have a rhythm & blues band with some soul elements in it. We have a black girl singer from Detroit, it`s fun. We do all sorts of different stuff. Then I do a solo project and there`s an album coming out in January of February. I just try to keep changing a little bit, it`s refreshing. A bit like Jaap Stam, you know? He plays football. It`s the same game but you play in different teams, haha. We do live gigs with all the three bands. The C.o.S. is the only rock`n`roll thing and it`s 75% of my career. I`ve always done something different alongside bands I played with.
		Bernie, after almost 25 years there`s still a lot of interest in the old Whitesnake stuff all around the world. Doesn`t that make you feel extremely proud? Yes. People come to our shows and bring their kids with them, it`s great. Don`t forget that when I was 30, my audience was the same age. But, they don`t stop liking music. They get 40, 50 or 60 and still like my music. When I`m 80 years old I will still like The Beatles, you know? You just don`t stop liking the music. But if we`d been doing this interview 20 years ago and you`d asked me what I`d be doing in 20 years, I don`t think I`d have told you I`d be playing at the Podium-Hardenberg on a Wednesday, haha. So you never know. As long as I enjoy what I`m doing, I keep doing it.
		Do you keep up with the rock scene these days? I think there are still some very good bands from the same time I began. I saw The Who this year and they were fabulous. And I saw Deep Purple this year and they were really good. Not because they`re friends of mine, they were just really good. And I saw Ritchie Blackmore his new band this year and it was great. Different, it ain`t "Smoke On The Water", but it was really good. He`s up there performing with his wife, she sings great and is such a lovely lady. Ritchie is happy. He was smiling, talking to the press, shaking hands with people. This is Ritchie Blackmore! What happened? He`s just happy, music is music. Looking back, I don`t think you should think "oh, that was great and now I`m here doing this". I`m lucky, you know? I was in a big band, great succes. I`ve written songs that have sold millions and millions, number 1 in every country. So what do you do? Do you have to have another number 1 hit? Maybe I will write that song, who knows? But if I don`t I don`t worry. I`m still here. I don`t have to be at the Podium-Hardenberg on a Wednesday, you know?
		You still love to play your guitar on stage… Exactly. Whether there`s a 100 or a 1.000 people, if they buy a ticket you play. If you get your name on a poster, you do the job. If not, don`t go. That`s the way I think about it.
		Any new bands you particularly like? Well, I have two young children. But they`re girls so they`re kind of into Alicia Keys. She`s a great singer I think. Bandwise, I`m not so keen on bands like Limp Bizkit or Marilyn Manson. I just think this is Gary Glitter in rock, you know? It`s theater. If it`s theater, it`s great. I love the theater. But don`t tell me that`s rock music. Maybe that`s controversial, maybe I`m too old. But I like things such as Blur, Dave Matthews or Santana. He comes out with a fantastic album from out of nowhere. Music is music. Limp Bizkit is good fun. Their music is a little crazy for me, but I never liked heavy metal anyway, even when I was 25. I like rock music and heavy metal never really interested me. I like Led Zeppelin, that was kind of heavy. But it was only heavy because no one had ever done it before. The heaviest thing I`ve ever heard still is Howlin` Wolf, so. "Killing Floor" and "Down In The Bottom", that`s heavy to me.
		The other guys from the early Whitesnake within C.o.S., Micky and Neil, have also been musically active all these years… No matter what we all do, we seem to have to invisible connection. Especially Neil has played with lots of guys like Gary Moore, Brian May, Black Sabbath or Peter Green and yet we still need only one phonecall and we`re back together. Micky and I have also done lots of different things but we`re much better when we do it together. It makes more sense to be together. The stuff Neil did with Brian May was fantastic, just like his work with Gary Moore. Gary and I go back a long time. We used to share an appartement when we were kids. We told each other that we`d be rockstars someday, haha. We`re still friends. I did a show with Gary only three months ago. We played a benefit show together to raise money for the Eric Clapton charity, the Cross Roads.
		How about staying in touch with David Coverdale? Not really that much. We`ve spoken, but he`s in The States all the time and we`re here but you never know. Next year is a new year and you never know.
		Bernie, are you willing to work with him again and get the old Whitesnake together? Of course, sure. I think it would be fantastic. Maybe the time is right. It`s down to people like you, the fans and the magazines. If you say "hey look, all these bands reform nowadays, why don`t you? The bands we don`t want reform", haha. I think the first reason we could do it is because we would write some great new songs. That`s what we did best. We wrote some fantastic songs together. You heard them tonight and they`re timeless. We played them with the same spirit as when we began. Two of the people that wrote these songs are here tonight, so they have to sound like they were meant to. It would be wonderful to play to a new generation of people without all the bullshit of the rock business, you know? I`d like if this was a Whitesnake gig tonight, that we`d still be talking like this after the show. It would be a bit more difficult, because it wouldn`t be here but in some huge hall in Amsterdam. But, I`d like you to say "hello, remember me from that interview at the Podium-Hardenberg?" and then come backstage to have a little chat or do another interview. I`d like that very much. People are people. If you have 15 minutes for somebody, then that`s great.
		Who wrote the songs for the new album? Did you do all of them? I wrote 6 or 7 songs, Micky did 1 or 2 and we did 3 or 4 songs together. You`ll see when the album comes out. I wrote 2 things with Stefan, our singer and some stuff we did with the entire band.
		How do experience all the waiting while being on tour? You`ve been doing this for so long now… I enjoy the shows and everything else I don`t really like that much. I read a lot and listen to some music. Thank goodness for the walkman. On the bus you can watch a movie or something like that. It`s boring, really. If I didn`t enjoy the show even 10% then the rest of the day would be terrible. You have a very heavy travelling day and then at night you see 500 smiling faces because you`re there. That`s worth the travelling. We`ll be coming back problably after Christmas after the record is out. We`ll do some shows, maybe here at the Podium on a Friday. That would be better. A lot of people still think that The Company Of Snakes is a tribute band, so we have some work to do to make it clear to everyone that this is the original Whitesnake band. We `re the guys who actually did it back then. Maybe we should have called it the "Murray-Moody-Marsden Whitesnake". But then we wouldn`t play here, it would be in some huge venue. And, then it`s not Whitesnake. We`d leave David out which is impossible to complete the original Whitesnake. I just enjoy playing on stage, it doesn`t matter that much whether it`s a huge stadium or a pub. You don`t play different, you just play. I remember Reading Rock with some 100.000 people and then you realize that you might be a bit popular, haha. You don`t care that much at first, you`re too busy writing creative music. I also remember a show in England on our 3rd tour and we did this huge hall. There were thousands of people standing outside the venue, they couldn`t get in anymore. That`s when I understood that Whitesnake was getting very big.
		Did this succes change you as a person? I don`t think so, because we`re not those kind of people. It`s nice to be famous, of course. You have many many fans. But those fans, they make you famous. You have no divine right to be different to them because really we`re the same. It never really effected us very much. I do think it does effect some people very very much. We always try to keep tight with the people and give them an autograph if they want to. Sure, why not? I`ve seen artists throw their fans out and I was like "excuse me?" Without those people I wouldn`t be here. That guy and one million others bought my record, you know? He`s the guy who came to your first gig with one hundred people and then he came to the gig with one hundred thousand people. Sometimes it can be a bit frustrating. Like when you have to get to the airpost and someone comes up with 50 albums and he wants to have your autograph on each one of those, haha.
		Do you think one can write the perfect song? No. Do you mean something like "Here I Go Again"? The thing is when you`re a songwriter you don`t know when you write the song. When do you have a classic? You don`t know. I wrote a lot of songs at the same time when I also composed "Here I Go Again" or "Fool For Your Loving". Suddenly those two became huge hits. If I could write a perfect song every day I would do it. I would give one to each of you guys as well, haha. "Go and make me lots of money", you know? Songwriting is where the key to the guilders is, really.
		Are there any dreams left? In the beginning you dream about having your first album out and doing your first radio and tv stuff. Then you want your first gold disc and you win your first songwriting award. Then when you have all those, what else can you have? So problably no, there are no real dreams left in the music business. But I want to be able to do what I do and that`s as good an ambition as when I started. When you look back being my age, I`m 50 years old now, it`s okay. Mick Jagger is nearly 60, so what? When you`re young you want to be famous and you want to be number 1. You work, you work and you work. And then you become famous and you get number 1 and you think "oh man, this is so difficult. But I did it!" That`s the easy part. The hard part is staying famous and staying number 1. That why I`m really glad and happy that I was never in a pop group. Even really succesful pop groups maybe have 2 years. I`ve been playing guitar professionally since 1972. Next year it will be 30 years and I can still play here or in Madrid or Tokoy. Maybe there will be a hundred people. But the guy from that pop group who was very big for 1,5 years can`t play anywhere. Nobody knows him anymore. That`s the difference between a pop group and a rock band. Jimmy Page didn`t have to do anything ever again and he can still play everywhere in the world to 500 people or more. No problem. I don`t have any real ambitions left. My ambition is to carry on and play music. Ambitionwise I did something this year that I thought I`d never do. I was at the National Theater in London, the national theater stage of England, playing every night for 5 months. This was never an ambition but it was fantastic! I was in a Shakespeare production. This is not rock`n`roll but it`s entertaining and being in the show business. It just makes you interested in what you do. I was playing guitar in a Shakespeare production and this is strange but I did it and really enjoyed it. You never know what you do next and that`s what keeps you going.
		Bernie, thanks very much for your time. Any last comment? I`ve always liked playing in The Netherlands. I hope you all come to our shows and like the new album. We do a lot of new songs on stage, just to promote the new record. It would be too easy for us to carry on playing the old Whitesnake stuff and do no new songs. But we`ll always do a few of the old ones, of course. The difference is there`s no real difference.
(Johan Godschalk)