New York guitarist Joel Hoekstra was part of the final lineup of Whitesnake prior to David Coverdale announcing his retirement. He regularly tours as part of the Trans Siberian Orchestra, is a former member of Night Ranger, and has been a go-to guy for both Foreigner and Accept when they each needed live guitarists at short notice. Most recently, he was the guest guitarist on the Hair Metal episode of America’s Dancing With The Stars and played with Cher at her Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction and the SNL 50 Homecoming Concert.
A workaholic, he has also been a frequent columnist for Guitar World Magazine and is now on his fourth solo project under the Joel Hoekstra’s 13 name. From The Fade is due 27th February through Frontiers Music Srl, with the latest single, ‘Lifeline’, out now.
“‘Lifeline’ is basically a straight ahead melodic rock song,” Hoekstra said. “Girish Pradhan delivers a gritty, powerful lead vocal, and Jeff Scott Soto complements him beautifully with his backing vocals. Vinny Appice and Tony Franklin provide a tasteful groove full of fun accents and hits, while Derek Sherinian provides a killer keyboard solo and the perfect sounds and parts for the song. Once again, with Girish being in India, we opted to have some green screen fun for the video! I hope you enjoy it!”
Featuring 10 brand new tracks said to combine soaring melodies and thunderous riffs with high-level musicianship, the guitarist commented: “The songs were built from the guitar riffs up. Most of the riffs were written during the time I was filling in with Accept, so there is a heavier edge to this album overall. That being said, the album still would be more accurately described as melodic hard rock, not straight-up metal.”
He continued: “As always with the Joel Hoekstra’s 13 albums, I wrote the style of music that inspired me to pick up the guitar and tried to focus on songs for you to enjoy, not overly self-indulgent guitar solos.”
From The Fade features the tracks: ‘You Can Give’, ‘The Fall’, ‘Lifeline’, ‘Will You Remember Me’, ‘Misunderstood’, ‘Start to Fight’, ‘All I’d Do’, ‘Free To Be’, ‘The End Of Me’ and ‘Quite The Ride’.
