**UPDATE**: After this article was originally published earlier today, WHITESNAKE frontman David Coverdale took to his Twitter to clarify that the Christmas project will not be a full-length album. “Nope…not an album…Sorry…”, he wrote. “I’m working on a couple of festive ditties…Not quite sure how to record with my guys remotely…But, def worth trying…:)”
The original article follows below.
WHITESNAKE frontman David Coverdale is working on a Christmas album, to be released in time for the holidays.
The news of WHITESNAKE‘s upcoming yuletide collection was broken by guitarist Reb Beach during an appearance Tuesday (April 13) on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”.
Asked if WHITESNAKE still has any live shows on the books, now that the coronavirus pandemic appears to be waning in some parts of the United States, Reb said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “David hasn’t said anything about any live shows. The only thing… He texted me last week and wants me to come over and do a Christmas record. He loves Christmas — he’s really into old St. Nick. He wants to do some Christmas stuff, which is great. He’s writing it now, so he wants to have it out by Christmastime. It might be kind of a ‘risqué’ Christmas album. And then I’m sure he’s gonna wanna go out and do some stuff next year.”
This past February, Coverdale told Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station that he has been forced to delay his retirement tour due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.
“People, as you can imagine, are extraordinarily desperate to go to shows and to perform shows,” he said. “It’s just not safe, and it’s not gonna be the energy, the atmosphere that we’re familiar with. We have to make sure [to] work as a global community, and, for me, as a global artist, work together and be, as they would say, in solidarity with each other and support each other and respect each other. It’s a global pandemic — it’s not just us. And mask up. Let’s get out of this. Get vaccinated, and let’s get out of this thing.
“I don’t think it’s ever gonna be the same,” he continued. “I think society has changed. This has been a really challenging time for people who have been alone, I think. And that’s a lot of my target audience with my social media — to try to uplift people’s spirits, until I can get out there and truly do my appreciation and gratitude tour. And hopefully while I’m still physically able to do it and not just farting dust.”
David spent the first couple of months of the year promoting “The Blues Album”, the third and final release in WHITESNAKE‘s “Red, White And Blues” trilogy, a series of compilations organized by musical themes that began last year with “Love Songs” (red) and “The Rock Album” (white).
“The Blues Album” was released on February 19 digitally and on CD and as a double-LP set pressed on 180-gram, blue vinyl. Like “The Rock Album” and “Love Songs”, all the tracks on “The Blues Album” have been revisited, remixed, and remastered.
Early last year, WHITESNAKE was forced to cancel its U.S. tour with SAMMY HAGAR & THE CIRCLE and NIGHT RANGER so that Coverdale could undergo surgery for bilateral inguinal hernia. Eventually, all of the shows were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Coverdale, who will turn 70 this coming September, had both his knees replaced with titanium in 2017 after suffering from degenerative arthritis. He later explained that he was in so much pain with arthritis in his knees that it hampered his ability to perform live.
WHITESNAKE had been touring in support of its latest album, “Flesh & Blood”, which was released in May 2019 via Frontiers Music Srl.
Nope…not an album…Sorry…I’m working on a couple of festive ditties…Not quite sure how to record with my guys remotely…But, def worth trying…:) https://t.co/Sxl3AlX2dB
— David Coverdale (@davidcoverdale) April 15, 2021