Coverdale's Grand Design for Whitesnake

"I do agree [that the group is a true guitar-driven band] because that was the initial idea of Whitesnake�until Jon Lord asked to come on board," Coverdale told Guitar International. "There is no way that I could ignore that Jon's left hand with Deep Purple contributed to that huge (expletive) sound of Purple's identity. That's where I kind of backpedaled and made keyboards a featured instrument. It was never part of the original plan. The blueprint for Whitesnake was the Allman Brothers' first LP, where the organ is more of a rhythm part, and Duane Allman's immense guitar is upfront. That was to be the structure of Whitesnake, like an orchestral blues band."