DEEP PURPLE

DEEP PURPLE Guitarist STEVE MORSE - Summer Road Reports Available



DEEP PURPLE guitarist Steve Morse (DIXIE DREGS) has posted a two-part road report at his official website. Part I follows. Part II can be found here. http://www.stevemorse.com/smsays/august11_2006_2.html

"The whole summer tour has gone by so fast and furious that I haven't had even a moment to write, or when I did, the computer battery was dead. Lots of gigs, and lots of traveling. Beginning with the Monsters of Rock festival in England, we heard an immaculate set from JOURNEY, and had Neal Schon sit in with us. I've known Neal mainly through my best friend, Jeff Watson, who is a multi talented shredding guitarist from NIGHT RANGER. Also, we got to play some more shows with ALICE COOPER, and we just seemed to get along great and everyone enjoys their show so much, as much for the entertainment as the fact that they are all such cool people. On our last show with them, they invited me to sit in on their encore, which was fun, even if I didn't remember exactly when that weird chord came........but thanks for the great job of giving me the arrangement on the fly, Damien.

Along the way we had so many opening groups, also. They were universally good, as it should be. I was blown away with one of the groups doing perfect renditions of BEATLES songs. Obviously, it's an age thing, but that was the music that brought electric guitar to a lot of us in my baby boomer age group. Lots of great guitarists, and I didn't get, or couldn't remember all their names. Getting up on stage to open a show, often without a sound check, is surely a trial by fire for any group, anywhere, and I wish them all the best. Incidentally, almost everyone believes that the band members have some knowledge or influence over who opens the shows, and it's not quite like that. The local promoter, mostly, fills those slots. Sometimes the manager is given the courtesy of approving the choice, but I can't remember a time when the band members did any of that, as a group, anyway.

Everywhere in Europe was hot this summer. Since I live in Florida, we normally wear jackets when we go into a restaurant or movie theater in the summer. The reason is that our air conditioning is so good that most employees working there set it a little too cold for the comfort of the people that are just sitting there, but is fine for the employees who are running around working. No self respecting manager would let his air conditioning unit be undersized to the point where they couldn't hang meat inside. Not so in Europe. Yes, they are more energy conscious in many ways, but the air conditioning is, in general, nowhere near the arctic standard that I'm used to. As a result, the whole summer seemed very hot to me, and I spent the whole summer in shorts and sandals, I think.

We were at Montreux for the closing night, celebrating 40 years of the festival. As you know, Claude Nobs is mentioned in 'Smoke On The Water", since the song details the burning down of the Montreux casino as ZAPPA was playing there. Anyway, we ended our set this time with Claude playing harmonica and several other musicians joining us. I have to also relate the fact that one of the Dregs (or Dixie Dregs, at the time) albums, Night Of The Living Dregs" was made partly from the one take recordings that you get from playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Claude always had a knack for booking some unusual and varied groups, to which we were always grateful.

The biggest rush of the summer to me, was having my son, Kevin come out to join me on tour. I love his youthful exuberance and the fact that he is now playing guitar very well. For instance, I would groan at the prospect of a long bus journey, but having him there made it fun. He would say, 'Dad! I can't believe how cool this bus is! You're so lucky that you get to travel like this!' He's right, of course, but in the fourth decade of traveling, one is likely to need some reminding about how even typical, boring, ground trips are amazing. I love to fly, though, anytime. He grew up being flown in my plane, so it's totally typical and boring to him to fly! Kevin's stepbrother, Jasper and Mark, share his exuberance for bus travel, but I haven't gotten them over to meet me on tour yet. At the last show before Kevin left, our manager suggested that he get up and play Smoke with us. So we did just that. He and I did a few fast riffs together in harmony, then started out the song. He even took the first half of the solo. Very impressive to me, since this was the first time he had ever played with a bass player and a drummer together, and his first gig! The sort of thing you would like to be at, to see your boy's first gig, and I got to be there!

The only really bad part of the tour was concerning our last gig. An outdoor show near Beirut. As you know by now, the bombing started during our last leg of Europe in July, and we weren't sure if we were going or not. After all, SARS, State Dept. travel warnings, and those kinds of things don't stop DP from going other places that are not always frequented by touring bands, so we thought we would still go. When the bombing and war continued, the gig was cancelled. I hope they can put the pieces back together for the music fans that just want to enjoy a rock and roll show, as we are a non political music group that plays for all human beings. Best wishes for a positive resolution..."

DEEP PURPLE Frontman To Unveil Political Thriller Novel


According to Reuters, singer and songwriter Ian Gillan, the frontman of the rock band DEEP PURPLE, is trying his hand at a new form of writing - a novel. Gillan, 61, said he had already lined up a publisher for his novel, which is a political thriller titled Wessex.

"This is my one and only novel. This really is a labour of love. It's the only idea I have ever had for a book which has inspired me to write it," Gillan told Reuters in an interview on Monday while on a solo tour on North America called Smoke This!

"But writing is a hobby. I write every day. One of my greatest pleasures is writing on my Web site."

Gillan said he expected the book would be controversial.

"A lot of wrong things have become the law and this affects people very deeply," he said. "This book is based on my own philosophies."

Gillan said he also signed a deal last week with a British company to remaster and re-release the five solo albums that he produced during the 1970s and 1980s. This should happen later this year.

His latest solo album, Gillan's Inn, was released earlier this year to mark his 40-year career. Its title is consistent with the theme of Gillan's Inn being a roving pub band where others come out to jam with Gillan.

As part of this theme, Gillan launched an online contest in which people can record their own vocals and/or guitar for a new version of Deep Purple's song 'Smoke On The Water' which was first released in 1972. The winner gets a trip to Las Vegas to perform with Gillan.

"Am I sick of that song? I have never been fed up with it," said Gillan. "When you get a song that has become public property we just become the backing group for the audience."

DEEP PURPLE Drummer Confirms More Italian Appearances


DEEP PURPLE drummer Ian Paice is set to play three more Italian shows in early September. The dates are ass follows:

September 2nd: Giardino dei Tigli - Creazzo (Vicenza) 21:00 Show with the TERZO CAPITOLO BAND; Info: 0444-338244 / 333-9752076, www.tuttocreazzo.it .

September 8th: Thunder Road - Codevilla (Pavia) 18:00 Drum Clinic, 22:30 Show with the MATT FILIPPINI BAND; Info: 338-4959000 / 0383-373064 / 0383-373656, www.thunderroad.it .

September 15th: Sabbie Mobili - Loc. Bedeschi 24040 Madone (Bergamo), 22:30 Show with the Matt Filippini Band; Info: 393-9677929 www.sabbiemobili.it - Madone info@sabbiemobili.it .

(Thanks Deep-Purple.net )

DEEP PURPLE LIVE IN EUROPE 93 COFFRET 4 CD


En 1993 DEEP PURPLE est en tournée mondiale avec RITCHIE BLACKMORE .Les gens qui ont assistés aux concerts n'en reviennent pas :Le groupe a retrouvé sa magie et Ritchie est heureux de jouer et cela se voit ...Alerté les Maisons de disques se précipitent pour leur proposer d'enregister un album live :Du coup les concerts en Allemagne sont enregistrés et pour le dernier concert ,la Maison de disque leur propose de les filmer live pour une sortie vidéo -Le groupe est ok sauf RITCHIE BLACKMORE a qui le groupe n'en parle pas ,connaissant le peu d'intérêt de l'homme en noir pour la chose filmée...Tant pis pour Ritchie , le concert sera filmé sans lui en parler...La suite vous la connaissez :C'est La fameuse vidéo "COME HELL OR HIGH WATER" où l'on voit Ritchie refuser d'entrer sur scéne et finalement s'intégrer au show ,sans forcer ,en bouzillant le solo d'highway star ,exprés et envoyer son verre de biére à la gueule du caméraman plaçé devant lui...Furieux, Ritchie ne pardonnera jamais au groupe de lui avoir fait ça..Aprés CE dernier show ,il a quitté définitivement le groupe..Ce coffret 4 CD est une merveille :Ritchie,non filmé (!),déchire grave et le groupe est en osmose totale:OUBLIEZ le fadasse "Come hell or high water" en CD(Tiré du dernier show a birmingham où Ritchie massacre exprés les titres) et procurez vous ces shows à Stuttgart avec un Ritchie au sommet de sa forme ;jovial (ça s'entend)et un IAN GILLAN bien meilleur que sur le "come or..."

Former DEEP PURPLE Concerto Conductor "Welcomed The Melding Of Musical Genres"


As previously reported, Sir Malcolm Arnold, one of Britain's finest composers, passed away on Saturday, September 23rd. According to Deep-Purple.net, "he featured as a large personality in DEEP PURPLE's history. Back in 1969 courting long haired upstart youngsters was hardly the best way of endearing yourself to your contemporaries, however Malcolm Arnold appeared to welcome the melding of musical genres and welcomed Jon Lord (keyboardist) and the rest of Deep Purple into the strange and difficult world of the symphony orchestra. The way he managed the whole Concerto experience may well have been the difference between success and failure not only for that one night, but for the band's immediate future."

The DEEP PURPLE Concert Diary Delayed

According to Deep-Purple.net, Nigel Young's eagerly awaited DEEP PURPLE chronology Day By Night, covering the EMI years 1968 to 1976, is still running late. It was hoped to have this issued during 2006 but this now looks unlikely, so fingers crossed for 2007. The book's publisher comments:

"I have to say that having finished an initial browse through Nigel's first finished draft I am totally overwhelmed. It is an astonishing piece of work. I know I've seen sections of it as it has developed over the last couple of years, but even that didn't prepare me for the end result. Without a shadow of doubt this will be the ultimate reference work on the chronology of the classic era. Nothing is sensationalised; instead the day to day life of the band unfolds almost matter of factly, and it's left to the clever use of contemporary (and later) quotes from the band and those around them, as well as live reviews, to bring home the extraordinary nature of the band's story. The downside? Well the sheer size and scope of the work has forced us to rethink the publishing schedule. So rather than rush this to try and make a pre-Christmas deadline, we've decided to issue this early in the new year, and use the extra time to give it the high quality graphic presentation it fully deserves."

DEEP PURPLE Bassist Donates Painting, Tickets To Linda McCartney Centre Charity Auction

According to Deep-Purple.net, DEEP PURPLE bassist Roger Glover is one of a number of stars donating material for an upcoming charity auction in aid of the Linda McCartney Centre in Liverpool, UK. Roger has offered a one-off painting as well as tickets for the April UK tour. Ian Gillan has sent a signed copy of his new monograph Smoke This. The items will be shown on a special site where people can bid for them and we will forward details of this as soon as we have them. Other bits and pieces may surface as this is an ongoing fund raising event.

DEEP PURPLE - "Stormbringer Multi-Tracks Have Been Located"

Deep-Purple.net is reporting:

"DEEP PURPLE's Stormbringer (1974) multi-tracks have been located. The tapes are in excellent condition and contain amongst other things three different vocals for 'Soldier Of Fortune', a powerful instrumental version of 'Highball Shooter' and Coverdale's original backwards bit for the start of the title track. Glenn Hughes has asked to be involved in the remastered Stormbringer, and will hopefully be able to drop into the studios at the end of the new tour to work on one or two remix ideas. We would expect this to be out in Spring 2007."

Stormbringer featured the following lineup:
David Coverdale - vocals,
Ritchie Blackmore - guitar,
Glenn Hughes - bass,
Jon Lord - keyboards
Ian Paice - drums

(DPAS Archive photo - one of the original Stormbringer tape boxes)

DEEP PURPLE - GLENN HUGHES Drops In During Stormbringer Remastering Sessions

Deep-Purple.net has posted the following update regarding the clean-up/remastering process being done on DEEP PURPLE's Stormbringer (1974) album:

"A productive day at Abbey Road on October 30th saw GLENN HUGHES (in between the Dudley and Northampton shows) get stuck into the Stormbringer tapes as if he'd left the studio just the week before rather than thirty-plus years ago. The material sounded astonishing; the studio recording quality is a lot lot better than Burn, much more defined, and the one thing everyone who came into the studio said during the day is that it was hard to believe the material was from 1974 - it sounded so contemporary. Glenn really wanted to do Holy Man and started out on that, but he soon got into the vibe and in all five songs were done during a long session. The results sound really excellent and there will be a few surprises for fans of this particular album to pick up on, as Glenn brought up some new vocal lines and other unheard bits and bobs, as well as emphasising different aspects of the material. I left the engineer finishing the remaster of the original album, before copying the quad masters. We'll then have a look at timings and work out a final track list for the new edition. The photograph (click left) shows EMI's catalogue manager Nigel Reeve, Glenn, and Abbey Road's remastering engineer Peter Mew. Also shown is the original tape box for the quarter inch album production master for the album."