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More purple orange

British gear manufacturer Orange Amps is releasing a Glenn Hughes signature edition of their O Bass guitar. On the cursory view, this edition does not significantly differ from the stock guitars, apart from the cosmetics — the bass was previously available in orange and black, while the GH edition is purple. Oh, and about £150 […]

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Rose in Hell

A new version of the track Rose in Hell featuring Glenn Hughes and Ian Paice will be released on Turkish Delight III album, a project run by UK record label Escape Music. The song was originally featured on the first Moonstone Project album Time to Take a Stand, released back in 2006. The new version […]

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Little melodic pieces

Steve Morse plays a bespoke piece The Pledge written for him by Jason Sidwell and proceeds to explain what, how, and why.

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Chicken pickin’ counterpoint

Steve Morse talks to Rick Beato and plays some music. Dig in!

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Named after Glenn Miller

Louder Sound is reposting an interview with Glenn Hughes, first published in 2020. Flying away from the site of the California Jam, Glenn Hughes only twigged that he wasn’t actually under arrest when the ‘policewoman’ sharing his helicopter took off her hat, shook her hair loose and knelt down to unzip his white satin trousers. […]

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Space-truckin’ on a black night

An in-depth and well written review of the Deep Purple gig in Bengaluru, India, on December 17, 2023. Three days after British rockers Deep Purple enchanted the crowd at the Bandland rock festival in Bengaluru, the gooseflesh lingers like the whiff of cologne. For many, they have been college heroes, cocktail companions, the kings of […]

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Didn’t let the energy flag

A quick roundup of the local press coverage of Deep Purple’s appearance at the Bandland festival in Bengaluru. Rolling Stone India: With two stages at Bandland, one band started when the other was done and it was more or less the case with Deep Purple kicking off with their instantly recognizable “Highway Star” from 1972’s […]

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A lime green Arabian knight

BraveWords publishes a chapter from the 2008 Tommy Bolin biography by Greg Prato, called Touched by Magic. Quite possibly it is the same chapter that was released as a teaser at the time of publication, but it’s been 15 years, and it’s a chapter telling about Tommy joining Purple, so here we go. David Coverdale […]

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Maria Moita author passes away

Our contributor from Brazil Marcelo Soares writes: Legendary bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra has died today, December 16, 2023, at the age of 90. You may not be a bossa nova fan, but you definitely have heard of at least one of his songs, Maria Moita — the riff, originally written by Tom Jobim for […]

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Don to miss Bengaluru gig

Blabbermouth reports that Don Airey will sit out the upcoming Deep Purple gig in India on December 17 “due to unforeseen illness”. Adam Wakeman will fill in on the keyboards in his stead. The article quotes band’s statement on unspecified “social media”: Due to unforeseen illness, Don Airey is unable to perform at Bandland in […]

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Like a normal pub band

India’s Deccan Herald has a short interview with Simon McBride: The Irish singer-guitarist joined Deep Purple officially last year as a replacement for Steve Morse. He is set to perform in Bengaluru on Saturday and Sunday with members Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Roger Glover for BookMyShow Live’s newest IP, Bandland. McBride, who […]

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Flying in ever rising circles

Steve Morse, together with his son Kevin, has paid tribute to his friend and aerobatics instructor Nikolay Timofeev, who recently passed away.

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The good, the bad, and the ugly

What makes a good cover of a song? There are covers that strive to be as close to the original as possible. Personally, I don’t find them that interesting. It’s basically an exercise in futility: why listen to a copy, even a good one, when the original is just a couple of clicks away, right? […]

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A frustrated sitar player

Roger Glover was profiled by the Outlook India magazine. He was only 10 when he first heard rock music and it changed his life, says Deep Purple guitarist Roger Glover who went on to explore Indian music and even bought a sitar and tabla before he realised just how difficult they were to play. The […]

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Sound of a windmill going ’round

Since the possibility of the current lineup doing Soldier of Fortune for all practical purposes is nil, here’s a take on the track from the good ol’ Cov. It’s a string ensemble version that was a bonus track on various editions of his Purple Album.

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Not just Lars

Metallica’s guitarist Kirk Hammett spoke to Metal Mayhem ROC podcast and professed his love for Deep Purple: Lars and I love Deep Purple. I’ve always loved it; Ritchie Blackmore is one of my favorite guitar players. Ritchie Blackmore is also Lars’ favorite guitar player of all time. When I was 15 years old, and I […]

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The secret to keep going

Don Airey was interviewed for Times of India: Back in the 60s, the music industry was all about the singers and the songwriters. That has come back now with Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Madonna. You don’t really hear about a keyboard player doing anything great or a guitar player. It’s come back to the […]

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Big tourist in the mornings

Apparently, Deep Purple’s visit to India is making a splash in the local press. This time, Don Airey was interviewed by the Hindustan Times: Speaking to us about the current popular music, keyboardist Don Airey shares, “It’s slightly annoying. You listen to an artiste like Taylor Swift and it’s all about spamming; it never stops! […]

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Stay true to your heart

Deep Purple have a couple of dates booked in India in December (with one of them having been already cancelled). Ian Paice was interviewed by Times Now via Zoom, and this resulted in a long form conversation. Paicey is a fabulous storyteller and makes even the story of the gambling house burning down sound fascinating. […]

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Have seen the world but haven’t

Ahead of the gig on the island on December 3, Ian Paice was interviewed by the Times of Malta. For legendary drummer Ian Paice, performing now is just as enjoyable as it has always been. “Oh, it’s always fun,” he said, speaking from his hotel room in Poland while on the road with Purpendicular, the […]

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