Doug Aldrich: Lion, Burning Rain, Whitesnake

Why You Should Know Him

Doug Aldrich is a hard rock guitarist with a knack for playing in multiple rock bands through the years. He founded the band Burning Rain and has been a member of other famous groups over the years including Whitesnake, Dio, Lion, Hurricane, and House of Lords (to name just a few).

Most of what Aldrich is known for is his contribution and years with the bands Lion and Whitesnake. In 1984, Lion made their debut with the hit song "Love is a Lie," which was featured on the Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter soundtrack. The band then followed up in 1985 by releasing Power Love, a six-song EP released only in Japan.

After recording the title for the Transformers animated film, Lion released their first full-length album in 1987, Dangerous Attraction.

When the band disbanded in 1989, Aldrich went onto perform with other bands including Whitesnake and Hurricane.

The Gear

Aldrich used to play Jackson custom-shop Dinky and Soloist guitars and has played a variety of Gibson Les Paul guitars throughout his career including a Gibson Les Paul Standard Honeyburst, many Fender Strats (1966, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1975) as well as a few Fender Telecasters. In the ‘80s, he was mostly seen with his Jackson signature model instruments made by Jackson in Japan. The DA Professional guitars featured Seymour Duncan custom bridge pickups and SD Hot Rails at the neck. His DA Custom guitars had Grover Jackson J-DA humbucker pickups in the bridge and S-6F single coils in the neck.

He recorded most of the guitars for the House of Lords album, Sahara, using a “partscaster,” which featured a Fender body, Charvel neck, and Original Floyd Rose tremolo

His main amp at the time was a Marshall JCM 800 2203 head and Marshall 4x12 cabs with 25-Watt Greenback speakers. His other gear included a Roland SDE-3000 delay, Furman PQ3 parametric EQ, Boss Super Overdrive (the yellow one), and a Crybaby rack-mounted wah. He frequenty ran a wet/dry rig with a Mosvalve power amp for his effects.

Today, Aldrich plays signature humbucker pickups from Suhr Guitars, which are found in most of his instruments today. Many of his amps are Cameron and Suhr-modified Marshalls, including a Marshall Vintage Modern 2466 amplifier head and his classic Marshall JCM800.

Where Is He Now?

In early 2014, Aldrich joined the production show "Raiding the Rock Vault" at the New Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, where he performed six shows a week with other legends including Robin McAuley, John Payne, Howard Leese, and Andrew Freeman, among others.

2014 also saw the end of Aldrich's run with Whitesnake. He has stated on multiple occasions that while the decision was difficult, he wanted to focus more on family and spend time with his son.

During 2015, Aldrich joined the Glenn Hughes solo European tour as the guitarist along with Pontus Engborg on drums and Glenn Hughes on vocals and bass. This year also saw the release of the self-titled AOR album, Revolution Saints, a new supergroup featuring Jack Blades (Night Ranger) on bass and vocals and Deen Castronovo (Bad English, Journey) on drums and vocals. It's a shining example of Aldrich's playing today, and we recommend it if you're in the mood for some "modern retro" AOR with a Journey vibe.

As we were set to run this feature, it was just announced that the second Revolution Saints album, Light in the Dark, will be released October 13, 2017.

As if this isn't enough to keep one player busy, Aldrich has replaced Richard Fortus in The Dead Daisies and is touring with them, stating that they hope to release a follow-up album to their 2015 album, Revolucion, as well.

Check out Revolution Saints below!

Back to the Top 40 Under-Appreciated Guitarists of the 1980s.

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