Within musician circles, Joel Hoekstra was already a well-known and well-respected guitar player and composer of guitar music. In recent years his mainstream public profile has been elevated through his work as part of Night Ranger, the touring company of We Will Rock You and for many successful North American tours as part of the annual Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s travelling road show.
In late 2014 he became known on a more global scale after being tabbed by David Coverdale to replace Doug Aldrich as the latest in a long line of stellar axe slingers to grace the lineup of the legendary Whitesnake.
But even before joining Whitesnake, Hoekstra wanted to flex his songwriting and production muscles and began work on a new solo album that would be in the melodic hard-rock vein. It took two years, but Joel Hoekstra’s 13 is releasing Dying to Live on Oct. 16 worldwide.
Hoekstra spoke about the genesis of the album and why he felt now was the right time to stake a claim to being more than just asix stringer for hire.
“I have done instrumental solo albums that are completely different from most of the music I play. Two were kind of jazz fusion and one that was more fingerstyle acoustic. Fans who have gotten to know me through Night Ranger, Rock of Ages and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra were always asking why I hadn’t made an album of rock stuff that they could listen to. So this is that album,” Hoekstra said from his apartment in New York City.
“I actually put together the first half of the album before I was signed to Whitesnake and before I had a deal with Frontiers Music. I know some people have remarked that I am riding on the coattails of Whitesnake, but truly that wasn’t the intention at all. I just wanted to make a cool rock album because I have had fans asking for it. And quite frankly I always wanted to make one to show people my writing style and ability to produce and kind of be the boss for a chance. And the process actually began a little over two years ago, which was way before Whitesnake even entered the picture.”
Another unintentional aspect of the album, but one that should give it even more cache, is that Hoekstra brought in a veritable rock who’s who to fill out the rest of the musical and vocal parts on the album. Half of the album is sung by former Journey and Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, while the other vocal leads and done by Adrenaline Mob and Symphony C frontman Russell Allen. Drums are ably played by the legendary Vinny Appice (Dio, Black Sabbath), with Tony ‘The Fretless Monster’ Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder) on bass.
“I didn’t say to myself, ‘I am going to do a supergroup album.’ I basically just started asking friend by friend if they wanted to play on this and everybody said yes. I went to Frontiers about halfway through and they were thrilled to see it was kind of a supergroup after all, because they have been doing a number of albums like that recently.”
Even though he did all the songwriting and producing and laid down all the guitar tracks, bringing in musicians with such ability and pedigree meant the performances were even better than Hoekstra ever hoped for.
“Tony is the perfect bass player. He has the perfect sound with that fretless bass of his with so much grit and energy, and I just thought he would be the best guy to play bass for me on this album. And I asked who he would recommend as a drummer and he said to ask Vinny. That was a great move because Vinny just gives an album a sound and character right out of the gate. He is not one of those drummers trying to cram in fills that are inappropriate – he really plays for the song. But he also doesn’t play it safe. He is not afraid to put a fill in the middle of a chorus if that makes sense. So I was like, wow right from the start I’ve got this really cool rhythm section with Tony and Vinny that’s like Dio on steroids,” he said.
“It just so happened that as soon as I needed a singer, Russell Allen had signed up to do the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour and when I heard him I said to myself that he had to sing on this record. So getting Russell on the first half of the album was super exciting. Then I called in a favour and got Jeff Scott Soto to sing background on those first tracks. Even though he was overqualified, we had worked together in the past and I knew he would nail it. But it soon became clear that this was going to be a project album and I knew there were some songs coming that were really right for Jeff’s voice, so I asked him to sing lead on the second half of the album.”
On top of this Derek Sherinian (Dream Theatre, Black Country Communion) was also brought in to add some keyboard flourishes, and another Trans-Siberian Orchestra singer, Chloe Lowery trades lead vocal riffs with Solo on the album’s last track, the powerful and evocative, What We Believe.
“She is not only a superstar in waiting as a singer, but is a great, friendly person and was game right from the moment I asked her. She has got to be one of the best female vocalists in the world right now. She is just crazy good for those who may not have heard of her,” Hoekstra said.
Most of the musicians recorded their tracks alone, with the exception of Allen, who worked directly alongside Hoekstra. While many musicians like the vibe and feel of having all the recording done under one roof, and with the band all in the same place, Hoekstra believes that a musician working alone is freed up to try things and play their best at all times.
“I am a session guy myself and I have been doing it this way for years and I can tell you people get my best work when I am able to do it on my own. It’s because you are less self-conscious, you’ll do a million takes if that’s what it takes to get exactly what you want. And I know I am dealing with some of the best, most versatile and most experienced rock musicians in the business. I don’t need to tell them what to do,” he said.
“If there’s a producer in the room and other band members are hanging around, you tend to play it maybe a little safer and play what you know will work for sure, rather than trying stuff out. I am a big fan of everybody doing it on their own and that was really my production style for this album. I just let them do what they wanted to – give them the tracks, give them the basic parameters, but just step back and let them play. And this really enabled everybody to get their personalities on the record and make it feel as though they were invested in the songs as much as I was. And listen, there’s no way I am going to try and micromanage Vinny Appice or Tony Franklin!”
Dying to Live is a true melodic hard rock album, but one that still has heavy elements, balanced out by more emotive and evocative parts. And that’s exactly what Hoekstra was going for both musically and lyrically.
“There is kind of a theme for all the lyrics which is about overcoming obstacles in life to arrive where you are meant to be. The album is really about that struggle to become the person that you want to be, that you are destined to be. And some of the songs, like Say Goodbye to the Sun, Scream and The Only Way To Go are written from the point of view of the obstacles or the demons or the vices that you’re battling with in your life. Whereas Dying to Live is more of a fantasy-based song about trying to overcome the problems in your life. There are some songs that are direct representations of things in my life and others that are more fantasy based and exaggerated for dramatic effect. But I like to keep the songs open to interpretation to a degree because I want people to be able to relate to the songs in their own way,” he said.
Hoekstra is fully aware of the current state of the music industry – where singles dominate, downloads are often stolen and in many markets – particularly North America – ‘albums’ are seen as obsolete. But he doesn’t care, as he understands that there is still a significant global audience for melodic hard rock.
“For me, it’s about being productive every day and doing the best I can with what I am trying to do for a living. Beyond that, I am not capable of changing or even influencing the current layout of the music industry by any means. I have managed to do okay and get this far and I am hoping I can continue to do this for the rest of my life. That really is the definition of success these days. It is frustrating to see the state of the business, but at the same time everything that’s happening around this solo album and my work with Whitesnake is so exciting. People are learning who I am and I am meeting a lot of new people,” he said.
“But in this day and age there’s definitely going to be a redefining of your standards and objectives. When I put this album out I am not fantasizing about owning a mansion and having five sports cars out of it. But at the same time, I still think it’s more about being productive every day and exploring other avenues such as placement in TV, movies and video games these days. Those have become more acceptable ways to try and make money from an album. So for me, it’s not so much about complaining about what it would have been like 30 years ago, it’s more about making it what it can be today.”
Without a doubt, Hoekstra is living out many a guitarist’s dream by signing on with Whitesnake, joining a litany of amazing guitar players from Bernie Marsden, through to John Sykes (Blue Murder, Thin Lizzy), Vivian Campbell (Dio, Def Leppard), Steve Vai (David Lee Roth) and more recently Doug Aldrich, who he is replacing. He will get the chance to swap licks with another guitar hero, Reb Beach, who has been in the band since 2002 and is also a founding member of Winger.
“I met David Coverdale briefly when Night Ranger was opening for Whitesnake in 2013. When I first heard there was an opening, I put some feelers out there because I thought it might work, that I would be a good fit. I didn’t hear anything back at first, but I did hear that some very well respected people were recommending me to David. That led to us meeting in May of 2014 and basically having an audition where I did some playing for the pre-production on what became Whitesnake’s Purple Album [a re-imagining of songs from Coverdale’s era in Deep Purple]. We had dinner where we got along great, and then I went back on tour with Night Ranger to finish my obligation there. I came back to play some more on the new album and by November I was officially in the band,” he said.
“It had little to do with me wanting to leave Night Ranger as it was me wanting to join Whitesnake. I just thought it was a great opportunity. I mean, what a great catalogue, and the guitar riffs and solos are amazing. It’s an honour to be part of the lineage alongside guys like John Sykes and Steve Vai. Being in Whitesnake allows me to get out internationally more, because Night Ranger played almost always in North America and with the Trans-Siberian, I was always playing on their American runs, and the same with Rock of Ages. Whitesnake gives me the opportunity to get around quite a bit more and hopefully make some new fans and get paid to see the world and play guitar. That’s not such a bad thing is it?”
Hoekstra’s first guitar hero was Angus Young of AC/DC and he then latched on to Randy Rhoads’s work with Ozzy Osbourne, as well as classic metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and the Scorpions.
“But as I got older I was very much into melodic bands like Boston, Journey and Foreigner. I also got into Rush and Yes – bands that most people would call progressive rock. And I have always been fans of classic groups like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Doors. As I got more proficient on the guitar I started looking towards people like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Morse. So if you mix that all up, you get me,” he said with a chuckle.
With Whitesnake continuing to tour well into 2016, Hoekstra hopes he can find time to play some shows in support of Dying to Live at some point.
“I want to support this album any way I can. I have been hearing from concert promoters already, which is exciting, considering the album isn’t even out yet. Step one is getting the album out there and seeing what kind of support is there from people. I would love to figure out a situation that would make sense to do some shows. But it’s going to be difficult to get many of the guys who played on the album. And I would prefer to go that way because I am not interested in going out there and cheapening the project and the music by putting out a lesser product on a stage. So we’ll see what happens,” he said.
For more information on Joel Hoekstra’s 13, visit http://www.joelhoekstra.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
