WHITESNAKE

July 4, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

WHITESNAKE

Granted, such an observation may seem obvious — even absurd — but when one is previewing a Whitesnake concert, talking to Coverdale makes the most sense.

That said, the long-maned frontman, cut from the same sexual-beast cloth as Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, wasn’t available. Perhaps he was waxing the sports car the actress Tawny Kitaen once famously used to show off her sexy gymnastic moves.

Instead of Coverdale, new Whitesnake guitarist Hoekstra stepped in for a recent quick chat from a tour stop in Milwaukee. The good news is Hoekstra, who follows a who’s who list of notable Whitesnake guitarists (Vivian Campbell, Adrian Vandenberg, Steve Vai, Doug Aldrich), is a veteran rock musician.

The Chicago native’s resume includes a long stint in Night Ranger, and is a current Trans-Siberian Orchestra touring guitarist.

It was roughly a year ago when Hoekstra heard from Aldrich that he was leaving the band. That set in motion the guitarist sending out feelers about joining Whitesnake, a band he saw as a teenager in 1987 when the group was supporting its eight-times platinum self-titled effort that included radio hits “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love.”

“I remember thinking they were amazing,” Hoekstra said. “As far as one day joining Whitesnake, that was probably beyond my wildest dreams at that point. Stuff like that sounds like fantasy when you go, ‘Someday I’m going to be in that band.’ My friends would have died laughing at me if I had said that.”

Getting the last laugh now, Hoekstra joined Whitesnake at an interesting time when Coverdale decided to explore his Deep Purple roots. The singer fronted the classic rock band for three years in the mid-’70s; however, when folks think of Deep Purple, it’s the music from the Ian Gillan era that they remember.

Still, Coverdale recorded three albums with Deep Purple. Wanting to return to the material, the singer enlisted Whitesnake with new addition Hoekstra to re-imagine the songs. This ended up being the band’s recent release “Purple.”

“For me, it felt a lot like making a Whitesnake record,” Hoekstra said. “The Deep Purple versions had one rhythm guitar part so I had to invent the second parts to these songs. I really felt like we flexed our creative muscles quite a bit making the record.

“And in the end, it really does sound a lot like Whitesnake. They are great proven songs. David likes to say it sounds like they could have been written yesterday. It’s great classic rock tracks and they sound just so great live because they were written for that.”

Fans attending Whitesnake’s Sunday show at the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park will hear Deep Purple tunes “Burn” and “Mistreated,” along with all of the group’s ’80s hits.

Considering Hoekstra’s history, he’s able to provide perspective on the difference between Whitesnake and TSO audiences. He laughed the former is more raucous. Also, Hoekstra confirmed that, unlike a TSO show, the upcoming Whitesnake gig won’t include any yuletide carols.

Hoekstra said, “No, we’re just going to play straight rock ’n’ roll, man.”