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The busiest man in rock music is about to get busier. Joel Hoekstra shares his talent in many different places, whether it’s playing and touring with Whitesnake, spending the Christmas season on stage with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, or touring with Cher, Hoekstra is always working. In addition to all that, his solo project, Joel Hoekstra’s 13 is about to release a new record on February 12 entitled Running Games and recently took some time to talk about it.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws Conversation with Joel Hoekstra –
On whether the pandemic break led to this project – No, it was being worked on (prior to the pandemic). It did give me the opportunity to finish it up. 2019 was just crazy., I was on the road 285 days out of the year, so it was challenging. The other guys too, I mean, you got really a line up of people who are in demand, so it gave everybody the opportunity to finish it up. So thrilled to have it finally seeing the light of day. 1:09

On working with his all-star band – I think having them (Russell Allen, vocals, Vinny Appice, drums, Tony Franklin, bass, Derek Sherinian, keys, Jeff Scott Soto, vocals) back for this record just gives the name, the project, a sound, which I’m happy about. I just wouldn’t want to put out a record that sounded completely different (and) have people guessing. I think it’s cool that people can kind of know what it is that I’m doing under that name and then really just being able to write for them. Just knowing what they play like. So I’d say the formula is the same as (2015’s) Dying To Live, but just maybe a little bit more focused this time around. 2:02
“Finish Line”
On the dynamic of the project – I consider it a project because it’s something that sounds like a band when you listen to it, but it’s different in the sense that I do all the writing. So I write the guitar riffs and the vocal melodies and lyrics and everything. So it’s very much my baby. But I wanna put out albums right now that sound like band music. That’s the scene I’m in, and I already have three instrumental albums out from past years. It would be a little weird to call it a solo album because somebody else is singing and it sounds like a band when you listen to it. So it fell somewhere in between the band and solo album. So I guess the “side project” name made the most sense in the end. 2:55
On the difference between writing for 13 and Whitesnake – It’s just different in that I carry more of the weight. With Whitesnake, I write some of the guitar riffs, so that’s kind of the way that works, at least on Flesh and Blood. So obviously (13) is my baby, so obviously I’m gonna get more input on it, and I get the call on the mixing and all that stuff, which is nice. I’m perfectly happy making albums as more of a collaborative thing and as part of a band as well, but every once in a while, it’s fun to be the big dog, I guess, be the boss. 3:49
“Hard To Say Goodbye”
On using the name 13 – (It’s) just a lucky number. And I thought it would be a cool little short thing to add to my name. I think if you added a two-word band name after that, it starts to get pretty lengthy. In a way, it’s a solo album because I’m doing all the writing and it’s really my thing. So it’s nice to have my name attached to it and then just something quick and short as the name. So that seemed to make sense. 5:15
On the possibility of new Whitesnake music – We just all wait for whatever David’s vision is. Obviously, I’d be thrilled if David wants to record new music, but we’ll see, I haven’t heard anything yet, So no news on that front. 6:50
Whitesnake “Shut Up & Kiss Me”
On putting together “Quarantine Videos” – It gives an opportunity, I think, for people to work together without it being a commercial endeavor. So it takes all the business out of it like, “Hey, is the record label gonna be cool with that? Etc, Etc.” I just try to look at the positive side of it, and I’m like, “Hey, it gives me an opportunity to work with people”. I have another one that I’m working on right now that should be out soon, and it gives me the opportunity to work with some people who normally I wouldn’t have an opportunity to do something with and just do it in a fun, harmless environment where it’s strictly just for fun. It’s almost as close as we can get to having people from various bands just jam and cover a quick song. It’s not a big deal because we’re not putting it out for money or anything like that, just for kicks. 10:00
Jelusick/Hoekstra/Donati/Franklin “Stormbringer”
On how he got involved with TSO – Alex (Skolnick) needed to take a year off to tour with his trio and I had a couple of friends in the band throw my name in as a guy that would be good. Just like anybody else I auditioned. I auditioned once with Al Pitrelli and then I auditioned the second time with Paul O’Neill down in Tampa, Paul O’Neill and Al Pitrelli, and they went well, and I was offered the job. It was a bit of a dilemma at the time because I went, “Well, I’ve got Night Ranger and Rock of Ages right now. If I take this, that means every November, December somehow (I have to make it work).” Rock of Ages wasn’t too stressful because you could sub out of that and whenever you wanted, without any risk of really losing your job. But then Night Ranger, that was weird, because I hadn’t subbed out from that band yet at that time. But I think in the end they understood they were very cool. It was a good opportunity for me to be headlining arena with something, they were cool and thankfully, I was able to juggle all three there for a long period of time. That lasted, doing all three of them, about four or five years, I would say. 11:00
Jelusick/Portnoy?Hoekstra “Jane”
On not touring in 2020 – That was probably the strangest thing about this year. Well, just because there have been sometimes where I haven’t been out consistently with Whitesnake. In 2017, David had knee surgery. That’s really what lead to me playing with Cher because I wasn’t really gonna tour with Whitesnake that year. So I just reached out to a bunch of people, seeing if anybody needed a fill-in, and ended up working with Cher there for a few years. It evolved into more than just “pop in for a couple of gigs”. But I just built that year up. So I guess my point would be that there were times where I was not with Whitesnake, but it was like clockwork every year (with TSO), the end of October, you go to Omaha to rehearse and head out for the most intense tour one could possibly imagine. It’s just that, for me, it’s such a tradition at this point so it was strange not to have that this year. 12:20
On working with Russ Allen in both TSO and 13 – It gives us an opportunity to get to know each other. So Russ and I become friends, we see each other every year and head on the road for two months together. So we’re friends when we’re doing these albums, which is different. I would say him joining TSO really is what brought him on my radar in the first place. To see everything that he could do. At that time, I was trying to find a singer for Dying to Live, and everything I checked out from him (I thought), “Well, this is the guy”. I mean, he can sing Dio, he can sing, Foreigner. There you go, that’s what I’m looking for. 13:40
“Anymore”
On whether he’s made post-pandemic tour plans – No. God, no. No, I’m going the opposite approach. I’m (approaching it like) it’s never coming back and so what do I do right now? In the moment? Make sure I’m moving forward. I think you’re making assumptions, and you don’t wanna jinx it, I wanna be pleasantly surprised, don’t get me wrong. I’m just moving forward with “what can I do today”, which is pretty much always my mental process in terms of staying productive. That’s my philosophy. Be productive every day. If you just keep doing that, things will be fine. It’s just I can’t afford to take time off and go, “I’ll just lay low for a year and a half”. I can’t roll with that type of mentality. I think there are a lot of people that are still just waiting for things to open back up. 14:40
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