BLABBERMOUTH.NET
WHITESNAKE has parted ways with longtime bassist
Michael Devin.
The
David Coverdale-fronted outfit shared the news of
Devin's departure in a social media post earlier today (Sunday, November 21).
The band wrote: "
WHITESNAKE & bassist
Michael Devin have decided to go their separate ways after an amazingly successful decade together…
"We all wish
Michael every success in his life & all his endeavours. Apart from numerous tours, Michael applied his talent to studio albums
'Forevermore'...
'The Purple Album' &
'Flesh & Blood'. We sincerely thank him for being part of our journey & for all his exceptional gifts he brought to
WHITESNAKE...
"God speed,
Michael... Know we love you & will miss you...& we wish you well. Once a snake...always a snake...
"
WHITESNAKE have secured a new bass player who will be announced very soon."
In a 2015 interview with
Heavy Metal Hill,
Michael spoke about how he landed the gig with
WHITESNAKE. "I became a member of
WHITESNAKE in 2010 while I was on tour with
LYNCH MOB," he said. "
Brian Tichy was the drummer and my good friend. He had already secured his position with
WHITESNAKE and they were already talking to another bass player — a friend of ours. And it looked very promising for this bass player and I just assumed that he was going to be the guy. I was also working toward going out with
Jason Bonham in the
LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE. I had two jobs going on. I was pretty happy with that. I never even imagined my name would be put in the hat with
WHITESNAKE. Long story short,
David Coverdale decided to keep looking for bass players and
Brian had mentioned he was out and about with
LYNCH MOB and
David asked him who was on bass.
Brian mentioned me, so I sent some video of me playing live and then one thing led to another and I found myself up in Tahoe auditioning for
David live. Then he called me while I was in Seattle and asked if I wanted to join the band. That was a great day… I had three jobs,
WHITESNAKE,
LYNCH MOB and the
LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE with
Jason [
Bonham]."
Coverdale, who turned 70 in September, recently confirmed that he plans to retire from touring after
WHITESNAKE's next batch of concerts around the world.
David discussed his plans to stop performing with
WHITESNAKE while accepting the inaugural "Rocks Honours" award as part of
The Rocks 2021 awards ceremony in June.
Speaking to
Planet Rock's
Wyatt about his five-decade-plus career, which included a stint with legendary British hard rockers
DEEP PURPLE,
Coverdale said: "I've been very passionate about what I do. I try not to let my audience down. We've got a really loyal hardcore fanbase around the world.
"Last year, we were supposed to do what was gonna be my farewell tour, and it was sold out; it was amazing. Of course, everything was canceled due to COVID. So, God willing, I'll be able to do it hopefully next year. I'm gonna show my appreciation and gratitude for the support that I've had, 'cause you can't do it without an audience supporting you — it's that simple. And they know — the hardcore [fans] who follow me know — I do my best, the best I can do at that time. And that's been my work philosophy for as long as I can remember."
After
Wyatt brought up other bands who previously announced "farewell" tours, only to change their minds,
David replied: "Mine's gonna be the farewell tour 'cause I'm knocking on 70. Are you kidding?! It's hard enough now to get into my jeans."
Although
Coverdale will no longer perform with
WHITESNAKE, he is still planning on writing and recording fresh material once he has retired from the road. "I'll be still involved in music," he said. "We've got a relatively long-term deal with
Warners. We have a poopload of projects to do under the
WHITESNAKE banner. It's just the touring. It's not the performing so much that is exhausting, it's the touring, and I can't tour any more comfortably than I do. So I spoke to my agent and said, 'I wanna do this [farewell tour] more than anything. It's after 50 years of incredible support for me.' Not to be able to say thank you to the U.K., not to be able to say thank you to Germany, to Japan, Brazil, it would be heartbreaking.
"I'm getting up there for this kind of stuff, and so it's gonna have to be an easier tour schedule for me to be able to handle and recharge the batteries so I'm not hobbling around or doing wheelies in a chair," he explained.
"I play guitar every day. The moment I start playing, I come up with ideas for songs. It's impossible for me not to [play music]. It's like my hobby. It's something that I'm supposed to do; otherwise, I think I wouldn't receive all these amazing ideas for melodies and naughty lyrics, including
'Slide It In', darling."
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 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.