Doug Aldrich

Doug Aldrich
Aldrich performing in 2022
Background information
Born	(1963-02-19) February 19, 1963 (age 61) Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Hard rock heavy metal
Occupation	Guitarist
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Geffen SPV Frontiers Spitfire Eagle Enigma Z
Website	dougaldrich.burningrain.net

Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1963) is an American hard rock guitarist. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St. John in 1998 and has played with Whitesnake, Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, Bad Moon Rising and Revolution Saints. He is currently a member of The Dead Daisies. He has also released several solo albums. Doug toured with former Deep Purple bassist and vocalist Glenn Hughes' band in 2015. It was announced in early 2016 that he would be replacing Richard Fortus as guitarist of The Dead Daisies.^[1]

Aldrich began playing guitar at age 11, inspired by his older sister's Jeff Beck albums. Aldrich's first guitar was a cheap Les Paul-copy purchased from a Sears catalog. Fresh out of high school, Aldrich met the girlfriend of Kiss drummer Eric Carr, who told him that he was the type of guitarist Kiss was looking for to replace Ace Frehley. He subsequently auditioned for Kiss in 1982 but the spot ultimately went to Vinnie Vincent.^[2] Aldrich said that although the members of Kiss treated him very well during the audition process, Gene Simmons told him to "lose this number" when Aldrich attempted to talk with him again months later.^[3]

Aldrich joined L.A. glam band Lion in 1983, recording two albums and one EP before the band broke up in 1989. He was briefly a member of Hurricane, replacing founding guitarist Robert Sarzo in 1989. He participated in the writing and recording of Slave to the Thrill (1990) before leaving the band.

In early 2014, Aldrich joined the critically acclaimed production show Raiding the Rock Vault at the Tropicana Las Vegas, where he performed six shows a week with other rock 'n' roll greats including Robin McAuley (formerly Survivor, MSG), John Payne (Asia), Howard Leese (Bad Company, Heart), Paul Shortino (Quiet Riot) and Andrew Freeman (Offspring, Last in Line), among others. As of late 2015 this collaboration was still on ongoing project.^[4]

During 2015, Aldrich joined the Glenn Hughes solo European tour as guitarist, along with drummer Pontus Engborg, to complete the power trio with Hughes on bass and vocals.^[5]

In late January 2016, it was announced that Aldrich was replacing Richard Fortus as guitarist in The Dead Daisies, as Fortus would be participating in the Guns N' Roses reunion.^[6] As of late January 2016 Aldrich was in Nashville with The Dead Daisies, working on a follow-up album to Revolución (2015). As a member of The Dead Daisies Aldrich is being reunited with bassist Marco Mendoza; the two previously performed together in Whitesnake. In November 2016, Aldrich performed with The Dead Daisies on the Kiss Kruise VI event.

Aldrich was previously endorsed by Jackson Guitars. He used their Dinky and Soloist Superstrats as well as his own signature model which has bridge and neck position humbucking pickups were "Full-shred" pickups which Seymour Duncan specially wired. California-based Suhr Guitars currently offers Aldrich signature humbucking pickups.^[7]

He plays various Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Stratocasters through Suhr/ Cameron hot-rodded Marshall JMPs and Vintage Modern amps. In 2016, Aldrich became an official endorsee of ESP Guitars.

Aldrich sums up his philosophy of playing this way, "I'm not one of those guys that follows whatever is trendy. I'd rather do what I do best and do it to the best of my ability."^[8]

• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Soundtrack (1984)
• The Wraith – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986)
• The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1986)
• Holiday Greetings From The Epic, Portrait And CBS Associated Families (1987)
• Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators (1995)
• Digital Pinball: Necronomicon (1996)
• Knights of Badassdom: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2014)
• Instruments of Destruction 1986 Transformers: The Movie 30th Anniversary (2016)
• Welcome to Daisyland: TV series soundtrack – The Dead Daisies (2019)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doug Aldrich.

• Official website
• Burning Rain official website
• Lion website
• Bad Moon Rising website