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The R-word
Glenn Hughes was recently a guest on SiriusXM satellite radio show Trunk Nation. This is what he had to say when asked about his retirement:
The word retirement is something I don’t normally say. A good story for you there. In June, I went on a tour of Europe with Black Country Communion, and Joe and I were talking after two shows in that we were thinking before we started that tour that maybe this would be the end of BCC. Maybe we’ve done, and we’ve done and dusted what we started out to do. And funny enough, we felt on that tour of Europe that we were actually just getting started. You know, we made a live album, by the way, it’ll be coming out early next year. I think sometime early, early this year, I thought, you know, maybe I should slow it down. Maybe I should take it easy, you know, blah, blah, blah. But ever since I came home from the BCC tour, I’m reinvigorated. I’ve got new purpose. I’ve never felt so strong, and I’m really looking forward to doing more shows, both solo and with Black Country Communion.
You’ve heard me say this too many times over the last 15 years, but there’s more coming from BCC and maybe hasn’t happened, but we’re on a new beginning again with BCC in the summer saying to a lot of people. And the live album sounds damn good, and we are planning yet exclusively for you on doing album number six next year. So we are continuing our journey and as you well know if we could keep this thing together and tour more regularly, we are an arena band waiting to happen.
The show was on the air on August 12, 2025, and is available for replay on siriusxm.com for the subscribers of the service.
Thanks to BraveWords for the heads-up and quotes.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I think it‘s a bit late in the game for BCC to still emerge as the great white hope of arena rock, but let‘s not be too disparaging about it, should Joe be willing to put more time aside for the band, then I‘m happy for Glenn.
The problem with Glenn is that he is an excited little puppy with whatever he‘s currently doing – his obsession with the ‘ere and now I guess -, but then reality bites and longevity goes once again down the drain, while Glenn is already eyeing the next fabulous project. Didn’t he in more recent interviews mention how he wanted to do more orchestra shows now that the violin bug has bitten him on that Rock Meets Classic tour in Germany?
As always, we’ll see. Glenn keeps us on our toes.
August 14th, 2025 at 03:12I wish I could share in Glenn’s confidence and positivity, but I am not holding my breath any longer for JoBo to fully committing to BCC in the long run – Joe’s solo career is where his heart is and probably always will be.
August 14th, 2025 at 03:48Well, if one’s health is up for it, luckily you decide for yourself when you wanna retire!
Personally I am thrilled that Purple hasn’t retired!
August 14th, 2025 at 05:55The argument about Joe being to successful on his own to focus on BCC is a common one, and I guess a valid one. But in the long run, I don’t see GH as one to settle down in one band for the rest of his career either. I think BCC can go on as they have done so far. An album and a tour every now and then, making their appearances somewhat exclusive instead of becoming an arena machine churning out albums and huge tours all the time.
Joe works a lot! So I think there is space for BCC too. He also frequently do collaborations and projects where he finds himself in different size venues so I don’t think that is a problem for him. He works with Beth Hart every now and then in sort of the same way as with BCC, an album Here, a short tour here. I don’t think we should attiribute to much of an eventual demise of BCC on Joe alone.
As a side note, I have a hard time understanding why so many DP fans have a problem with Joe being too bluesy? I’m not the biggest fan of Joe, I think he should kill some darlings and not release every note he ever comes up with. But for me, DP and family bands always had a blues base in their music. The improvisation and general grooviness. WS in the old days was of course the most blues of them all. When Joe leans more to his rock side, still keeping the blues clearly visible, as he does on BCC, I think he stands up well in the DP family of guitarists.
August 14th, 2025 at 06:17In regard to BCC I do think as some others do, that it is a simple case of introvert and extrovert. Joe is a shy, quiet individual not seeking too much attention. Glenn is an outward socially active individual who enjoys that side of his activities. I do think that Joe just cannot handle Glenn for too long, or anyone else like that. He is trying to keep it to a smaller time frame and to limit his involvement in that band in a healthy way. He is a good blues /rock guitarist. Probably more blues from my observations of him over time. I am not a regular follower of his career though, the rock music he does well enough, all things considered. BCC is a side project for him, something to let his hair down too, occasionally. It does come back to the songwriting though and I don’t hear strong songs with BCC, or with Bonamassa solo or Hughes solo. There is something missing for me. That extra cherry on top isn’t there. Anyway, it is what it is. Cheers.
August 14th, 2025 at 09:36Look at Svante being true to his name and becoming an axe-backer for JoBo! 😂
But he’s actually right. Bonamassa might be releasing too much, but he’s a nicely fluid player with a great tone and sufficient dexterity to compare with the greats. His guitar playing is – within the limits of the genre – varied and thoughtful.
Sure there is a Blues influence in Purple – maybe not so much the sparse Delta Blues you hear more overtly with Led Zep, but still lots of swinging Chicago Blues (though Mistreated is quite a bit Delta). Ritchie, although he always refused to be relegated by it, can play the Blues very evocatively. Wring That Neck/Hard Road, Chasing Shadows, Why Didn’t Rosemary, Demon’s Eye, Maybe I’m A Leo, Lazy, When A Blind Man Cries and Place In Line would all be regarded as prime Blues songs had Eric Clapton, Ten Years After or early Fleetwood Mac played them. Mitzi Dupree, a song dear to my heart for its relentless engagement for a type of women’s sports where biological men for once cannot compete, a safe space so to say, just pops out as a representative of modern Chicago Blues. Same with Fire In The Basement.
And let’s not even talk about Jon’s influences. The Artwoods were a thoroughbred blues combo.
August 14th, 2025 at 10:26“Personally I am thrilled that Purple hasn’t retired!”
So am I, yet not to be a harbinger, we are talking of a relatively small remaining window of time:
– DC (74 this year) has already dropped out of the game, we will likely see him as a curator of his own work, but not on stage again I think.
– The ‘living breathing DP’ can end any day now – without any previous health announcements. If DP grinds to a halt due to biology, I think of the older members only Don (77) will still continue to release new music (we’ll get to Simon at the end).
-Blackmore (80) is, if you want to give it a positive spin, gently easing out of being a regular recording and performing artist anymore, the next BN album seems to take ages.
– Outside of the remaining core Deep Purple only Glenn (74 in a few days) and, to some extent, Joe Lynn Turner (74 already) are still regular recording and performing artists. And even Glenn seems to be thinking already how much longer he wants to do this.
– Nick Simper (80 this year) is irrelevant as a member of the family as far as recorded output goes – and has been for decades.
– Steve (71) is living off his past Dixie Dregs/SMB glories on live stages and continues his cottage industry touring even now that Janine is gone. Demand for his instrumental music will hardly ever finance a European tour. I wish he’d do something like Flying Colors again.
– That leaves us with Simon (barely out of kindergarten at 46). He’s the only guy we are likely to still hear something regularly from in, say, five years from now. One day he will be touring by himself and occasionally throw in a tune “from my time with Deep Purple” to keep old fans happy. The internet will be awash with profound questions like On which DP albums did Jon Lord and Simon McBride play together? 😎
It’s all good though. The Purple Family as a collective has had a vast and prolific output for more than half a century, I can see it when I look at my shelves 🤣 (by now I think Glenn is in the lead regarding sheer mass of output though he took such a long hiatus in the late 70s and 80s). Even among bands as old or older than Purple, you’re unlikely to find as large a legacy in numbers. Actually, I can’t think of a single one. A band like the Rolling Stones only has a minuscule output by ex-members, same is true of Status Quo, Black Sabbath (chiefly Ozzy), Zep (only Robert Plant really) – and what have “younger” bands such as Metallica really done outside of their day job?
Hope I haven’t caused collective depression now here … Lighten up everyone!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMZP8XcCfLo&list=RDSMZP8XcCfLo&start_radio=1
August 14th, 2025 at 12:20Glenn, cant you just be a good boy and retire for good…
August 14th, 2025 at 12:31May I insert the provocative statement here in passing that I believe that JoBo does rock a lot better than GaMo “every-note-I play-needs-to-be-even-mo(o)re intense-than-the-one-before” ever did the Blues?
https://cdn.artphotolimited.com/images/64e8c732bd40b83013471dde/1000×1000/pennywise-with-his-red-balloon.jpg
Sometimes, there is even a wee bit of Tommy Bolin in Joe’s soloing, I do like that.
August 14th, 2025 at 13:19@4 True. I guess there’s at least two kinds of DP followers, Svante. Those who like the many colours that band brought to the painting – and those who dig that hard hitting loud sound… I do identity myself as a admirer of that multi-coloured concept, it’s stuff like Malice in Wonderland, Play me out, White Snake, Sarabande, Butterfly Ball, Clear Air Turbulence, the range from April to In Rock to Come Taste the Band that I love so much…but for some it’s just Highway Star and SOTW…well, for most people I guess… thinking of the sales of, say, Elements.
August 14th, 2025 at 20:00Be nice to see BCC again.Maybe they’ll play UK next
August 14th, 2025 at 20:08@9: Yes, I agree! Gary Moore was the worst blues player in history.
August 14th, 2025 at 20:30Svante, we are twins, separated at birth! With controversial statements like that we will both have to soon seek refuge on an exotic island where we can listen to Born Again all day!!! 🤣
The core Mk II sound from 1970-73 was great and iconic, but it did follow a recipe after a while: a guitar riff written by Ritchie, doubled by Jon, solos by both of them with neo-classical flourishes or a bit of dueling, Gillan’s high tenor/falsetto/passaggio voice over the whole melee, Paicey overplays a bit in the background and does his entertaining little tricks plus Roger supplies a metronomic bass foundation to it all. Make no mistake, I loved and love that recipe too, but it did become a Masche. If you reduce Purple to just that, then they are not all that interesting. It’s very good musicians delivering a music whose creativity does not match the musician’s individual virtuosity – underselling their talent was a critique you heard a lot with Mk II at their 70s peak and Big Ian must have felt the same way.
Like Max, I’m happy for all the roots and branches. I remember my absolute glee when by sheer chance I stumbled across my first Artwoods vinyl compilation in the mid 70s – in a bargain bin for less than ten Deutsche Mark, I didn’t even know that album existed:
https://uk.rarevinyl.com/cdn/shop/products/the-artwoods-the-artwoods-uk-vinyl-lp-album-record-srlm2006-744448.jpg?v=1693330031
https://uk.rarevinyl.com/cdn/shop/products/the-artwoods-the-artwoods-uk-vinyl-lp-album-record-744448c_1000x1015.jpg?v=1693330031
Collecting Purple became kaleidoscopic to me. I found it amazing that Jon would a few years later let his Hammond rip and roar on In Rock (and that Paul Weller of all people would perform Artwoods tracks when he commemorated Jon at the RAH decades later) or that Bolin’s Echoplex sound effects on Come Taste The Band could already be heard on Billy Cobham’s Spectrum. Purple helped me discover all kinds of other music and if you are confronted as a young hard rock fan with IGB’s at first listen puzzling and alien music on CAT, you start to focus more closely on it and somewhere down the line end up buying Miles Davis, Weather Report and Return to Forever albums like I did. 🤯
It’s a wealth of music, that is what makes following this band that was – let’s face it – last sociological relevant some 53 years ago for a roughly a 24 month period so rewarding.
August 14th, 2025 at 21:57I had to play that boring ‘Still Got The Blues’ in a band in the 1992 era, plus a couple of others from that cursed album. See what us poor drummers have to put up with at times. Thanks ever so much for reminding me and now I have that ear worm to contend with for the rest of the day. Much appreciated and no doubt Uwe is the one to blame (again). His passion for Gary Moore holds no bounds it seems. And it looks like that passion has rubbed off on a few others here, he he he. We want Moore, we want Moore. That live double album I purchased and also the vhs way back in the 1980’s. I gave them away. I do still enjoy a few rock songs on his early 80’s studio albums, and a couple of fine ballads there too, Empty Rooms (Victims of the Future album version, not the other one) and the sublime and rather emotional Rest in Peace from the Dirty Fingers album.. But anything after the 1984 era, no thanks. Except for him and Phil Lynott’s ‘Out in the Field’s, a good rock song all things considered. Not to worry. Such is life. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eo2SacU5QA&t=1s
August 15th, 2025 at 00:11Simon McBride disagrees: “The two Still Got The Blues records [SGTB and After Hours] Gary Moore did were incredible. What he did with blues music, he kind of turned it upside down. He had this aggression when he played, but it was so beautiful the way he did it.”
August 15th, 2025 at 04:45@12 Big veto, Svante. Gary certainly sounded a bit over-enthusiastic on his first two blues albums, but at least since 1995 with the album “Blues for Greeny,” he had the (true) blues. As Joe Bonamassa once said about him: “Gary was like a thunderstorm coming over you live.” He still played with balls, there were no half measures for him, and he always gave 100 percent. Don Airey also considered him the best, and I certainly don’t need to tell you all the amazing guitarists Don has played with.
August 15th, 2025 at 08:14What a relief! Svante, Uwe…my heartfelt support here!
And Gary Moore is as blues as Taylor Swift is country.
August 15th, 2025 at 11:28@7
I know!
I know!
But there is something very satisfying in knowing that our musical heroes keep doing what they like.
And Uwe, even being a dumb blonde and everything, I can do the maths. But I enjoy every sec they have given us.
And I truly hope each member knows how much joy and happiness they have been giving us!
It’s with all my heart I say:
THANKS Ian G, Roger, Ian P, Ritchie, Jon, Simon, Don, Steve, and of course all the branches (none mentioned, none forgotten)
“Hope I haven’t caused collective depression now here … Lighten up everyone!”
August 15th, 2025 at 12:49– noooo! Not at all, or at least: not more than usual 😂