Aldrich began playing guitar at age 11, inspired by his older sister's
Jeff Beck albums. Aldrich's first guitar was a cheap
Les Paul-copy purchased from a
Sears catalog. Fresh out of high school, Aldrich met the girlfriend of Kiss drummer
Eric Carr, who told him that he was the type of guitarist Kiss was looking for to replace
Ace Frehley. He subsequently auditioned for
Kiss in 1982 but the spot ultimately went to
Vinnie Vincent. Aldrich said that although the members of Kiss treated him very well during the audition process,
Gene Simmons told him to "lose this number" when Aldrich attempted to talk with him again months later. Aldrich joined the L.A. glam band
Lion in 1983, recording two albums and one EP before the band broke up in 1989. When Aldrich was in
Lion recording their first album at Scotti Brothers' Recording Studio, he was invited to join the
Slaughter, but turned down the invite since the Lion project was just taking off. Nevertheless, Aldrich did play some guitar for
Slaughter during those early days. Aldrich was briefly a member of
Hurricane, replacing founding guitarist
Robert Sarzo in 1989. He participated in the writing and recording of
Slave to the Thrill (1990) before leaving the band. In early 2014, Aldrich joined the critically acclaimed production show
Raiding the Rock Vault at the
Tropicana Las Vegas, where he performed six shows a week with other rock 'n' roll artists including
Robin McAuley (formerly
Survivor,
MSG),
John Payne (
Asia),
Howard Leese (
Bad Company,
Heart),
Paul Shortino (
Quiet Riot) and
Andrew Freeman (
The Offspring,
Last in Line), among others. As of late 2015, this collaboration was still on ongoing project. During 2015, Aldrich joined the
Glenn Hughes solo European tour as guitarist, along with drummer Pontus Engborg, to complete the power trio with Hughes on bass and vocals. In late January 2016, it was announced that Aldrich was replacing
Richard Fortus as guitarist in
The Dead Daisies, as Fortus would be participating in the
Guns N' Roses reunion. As of late January 2016 Aldrich was in Nashville with The Dead Daisies, working on a follow-up album to
Revolución (2015). Aldrich joined bassist
Marco Mendoza in the band; the two previously performed together in
Whitesnake. In November 2016, The Dead Daisies performed on the Kiss Kruise VI event. == Equipment ==