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without much black influence, Motown funk or
something. But I happened to get friendly with a bass player from the
Jeff Beck Group, a guy called Clive Chaman. He was on Rough And Ready ,
and then the album just called Jeff Beck Group , in ’72. He was a West
Indian guy, lived in London, who was massively influenced by Jim Jamerson. An
extremely talented bass player. Much more advanced and musically capable than I
was and he became my kind of mentor. And he introduced me to an awful lot of black
music, and in particular Jamerson and Tower Of Power and all sorts of things.
    “I can trace my career back to knowing
him because he then was in Cozy’s own band called Hammer in ‘74 after Cozy had
some hit singles here in England —‘Dance With The Devil’ and ‘The Man In Black’—
and they toured around. Bernie was the guitarist in that, and I substituted for
Clive in that band at various times. And basically, because of knowing Bernie
from that band, that’s how I got into Whitesnake. And also because I’d already
played with Cozy in that situation, for then David to say in ‘82, ‘Well I’m not
sure you’re the right bass player to play with Cozy.’ And then
you see later on, I’m with him in Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Peter Green,
Splinter Group, lots and lots of other situations [ laughs ].”
    So, how did this consummate blues bass
player wind up playing hard rock?
    “Right at the beginning you’ve got The
Kinks and ‘You Really Got Me.’ Even to an extent The Troggs, ‘Wild Thing,’
picked up by Hendrix in an even heavier way. For me, the power of a band like
Cream was taking blues into a much more heavy intensity. Maybe it wasn’t very
heavy metal, but then Cream influenced Black Sabbath when they
were starting off. But for me the real power bands in the ‘60s were like
Mountain and Vanilla Fudge. For me, apart from Clive Chaman and the
Jamerson side of it and Jack Bruce, the other bass player that really
influenced me was Tim Bogert from Vanilla Fudge. He kind of took — and Billy
Sheehan was just saying this the other day when I saw him do a bass clinic — he
took Jamerson and made it heavier. A more distorted sound, but put it into a
rock context. But absolutely, Vanilla Fudge.”
    “Neil, I’ve known since 1974,” offers
Marsden. “We played together with Cozy Powell, and we’d known each other
for a long, long time. Neil is a great, great musician. He’s a good stand-up
guy, one of the nicest guys. Back in Whitesnake we all got on very well. We
weren’t in each other’s pockets. We worked together really well, and we played
together really hard. But outside of Whitesnake, we had very little in common.
And I think that’s a good thing.”
    “Neil is probably the best rock bassist I’ve
ever played with,” adds Moody. “He’s so consistent and so good, and he puts so
much effort into it. He really does, and it’s funny, because in the
early Whitesnake days, when we were together, I never realized how good he was.
Until later on, years later, when I would listen to the old Whitesnake stuff again,
and I’d just focus on the bass playing, and it’s like, it’s perfect! It’s just
everything he plays is just absolutely perfect, and he’s even better now. Just
a fantastic bass player. He really is. That’s all I can say, really. There’s other
bass players I’ve worked with, but Neil just has that something extra, the
right thing at the right time.”
    Finishing off the first line-up were
drummer Dave “Duck” Dowle and keyboardist Brian Johnson, who were collared from
Chapman and Whitney’s Streetwalkers. Dowle had replaced none other
than Nicko McBrain in that band. Johnson was soon replaced in Whitesnake by
Pete Solley – who had played in Paladin, Procol Harum, and most importantly, Snafu with Moody – within
a few months. Dowle was not David’s first choice, Coverdale having preferred
Graham Broad, then quite unknown but later a legendary sideman, and for
bassists,