"A friend of mine picked up the phone and said, "Some guy says he's Ritchie Blackmore!" And it really was..."

Rainbow's last vocalist Doogie White talks about the fourth studio album by his current Scottish-Danish band Cornerstone, "Two Tales of One Tomorrow", as well as about babysitting, working with Ritchie Blackmore, auditioning for Iron Maiden, talking to Wattie of The Exploited...

Vassil Varbanov: Hey, Doogie, how are you?

Doogie White: I'm very good! Good evening, Bulgaria!

V. V.: Where are you at the moment?

D. W.: I'm actually babysitting for some friends' children in London... This crazy world of rock'n'roll!

V. V.: Sometimes kids can be noisier even than a rock'n'roll band.

D. W.: Yes, but I have them in a cage.

V. V.: Great, let's then talk about the new Cornerstone album, "Two Tales of One Tomorrow". Why did it take you so long - almost 4 years - between this one and its predecessor, 2003's "Once Upon Our Yesterdays"?

D. W.: We released the previous CD in the end of 2003, that's why we waited a bit longer to release this one. We wanted to issue the new one in November 2006... You see, it's actually three, not four years.

V. V.: So be it. Which of tracks on "Two Tales of One Tomorrow" is your favourite one?

D. W.: I've been putting the album on random play, because I'm learning the songs for our tour. Today's favourite is "Prey", and yesterday it was "Two Tales of One Tomorrow" and "We Are the Dead"... You see, they're equally loved.

V. V.: The self-titled track starts with some oriental motifs. Where did you get the inspiration for this?

D. W.: That was an old riff I took to Ritchie Blackmore for the second Rainbow album we were recording together. I had almost forgotten about it, but now, when we were doing the new Cornerstone CD, I thought about it and played it to our bass player Steen Mogensen (ex-Royal Hunt) and... That's it.

V. V.: You're a Scotsman surrounded by bloody Danes in Cornerstone. Where do you live actually?

D. W.: I live in London, England, and the others live in Denmark.

V. V.: Then how do you rehearse?

D. W.: Once the band starts rehearsing, the rest do their stuff and I fly to them just for the last week of the rehearsals and do my vocals on the top. That's the way everybody does it.

V. V.: You mentioned Ritchie Blackmore. What memories do you keep from working with this guy?

D. W.: I enjoyed playing with him. He has always been one of my favourite guitar players. When Ritchie called me to ask me to join Rainbow, we were having a party and a friend of mine picked up the phone and said, "Some guy says he's Ritchie Blackmore..." And it really was. I've got good memories of that time, although it ended too soon.

V. V.: Last week, when we talked to Michael Weikath of Helloween, he said that Ritchie keeps on doing this Renaissance stuff with Blackmore's Night justВ because he's selling much more of it than he was with Rainbow...

D. W.: I don't think that's the reason for which Ritchie does Blackmore's Night. I don't think there are any commercial thoughts in his mind. He just enjoys that kind of music, and it gives Candice a vehicle for her creative talent. Even once, when I was in Rainbow, we used to go to Renaissance fairs, dress up and drink mead and ale, so I don't think he's got anything to do with something as sinister as commercialism.

V. V.: As far as I know, you attempted at replacing Bruce Dickinson in 1994, just before joining Rainbow, but it didn't happen because of Blaze Bailey. Was this a big blow for you?

D. W.: No, because the whole thing came completely unexpected. I sent them a demo, and I was going to go to Scotland on Friday, but their tour manager said, "Don't go anywhere, son, as you've got an audition for Iron Maiden on Monday." They handed me a list of 22 songs and told me to learn them, so I spent three days learning them and auditioned on Monday... Obviously, it would have been a fantastic opportunity for me, but it wasn't to be.

V. V.: Nevermind.В By the way,В which of the Scottish musicians you know has the most wicked accent? Is it Wattie of The Exploited? Or maybe Fish? Or is it you?

D. W.: I think it's Wattie, although we're from similar areas. He's from a town called Hamilton, and I'm from Motherwell, but I'd give him the most wicked Scottish accent of all.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock