Whitesnake drummer Brian Tichy‘s mind works at the speed of his drum sticks; his answers fly out almost in a constant unbroken stream. I got the distinct impression that everything he does is with 100 percent commitment or none. This was backed up by Tichy fending off a barrage of text messages from Whitesnake’s tour manager because he was running late for a band dinner so that he could finish our interview.

This man lives and breathes and talks rock and it’s impossible not to get taken in by his infectious energy and enthusiasm for being the drummer in one of his all-time favorite bands.

Geeks of Doom: The first thing I want to ask: officially is it Brian with one “˜i’ or two?

Brian Tichy: [laughs] It’s one. But I accidentally wrote two in an email and I looked at it”¦ I just thought it was funny and at the same time [of the email] I was doing a benefit show with Tracii Guns and we were kind of emailing about some stuff but this had nothing to do with him [the name]. I wrote to him and I”¦wrote Briian, two “˜i’s, not even thinking about it. This went on for a few days and I just kind of got used to signing with two “˜i’s just to see if anyone would notice and I go, “wait a second, I’m writing to Tracii, the original guy with two “˜i’s in his name!” Not even putting it together. At the same time Rudy Sarzo was emailing us about this benefit we were playing at and he starts signing his name r-u-d-i-i! [laughs] So it was pretty funny and then I just thought it was goofy, its funny.

But the cool thing is David [Coverdale], he likes it, so he put it on the record with two “˜i’s and I think it’s great because it’s just funny, it’s just a goof. So there’s my long-winded answer to that; it’s just a goof.