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Simper’s press conference in Moscow
Today, March 11, and tomorrow, March 12, Nick Simper and Don Airey will repeat their 2012 double bill appearance by sharing the stage in Russia. Yesterday Simper attended a press conference in Moscow (Airey didn’t make it as his plane wasn’t scheduled to land until midnight). Andrey Gusenkov shared the highlights on deep-purple.ru:
- Nick said that he never announced a “farewell tour” [as some reports suggested before his shows with Nasty Habits in 2013 — ed.];
- he is not in touch with any other Deep Purple members, past or present;
- he was not invited to take part in Jon Lord memorial show at the Royal Albert Hall last April;
- he has no idea of Rod Evans’ whereabouts.
On a more personal note, the local press also reported that he is living in Buckinghamshire, happily married, with four children (three daughters and a son), and five grandchildren.
[Update] Video from the press conference, with above points somewhat expanded and complete with the bits lost in double translation:
Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov (deep-purple.ru) and tass.ru for the info, and to News-w.org (via Vladimir Drybushchak) for the videos.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
JAMES ROYAL & FRIENDS (Rick Wakeman, Nick Simper, Terry Marshall, Peter Parks, Rick Hudson)
March 11th, 2015 at 15:59100 CLUB, LONDON, SATURDAY 20TH JUNE, 2015
https://www.wegottickets.com/100club/event/311733
http://records.telasource.netdna-cdn.com/uploads/monthly_03_2015/event-1662-0-72574400-1425299560.jpg
March 11th, 2015 at 16:09Wow!! It’s nice to see Nick with a current member of DP. Without Nick it’s safe to say there would be no DP. Warhorse and the first 3 DP albums are listened to by me quite often!!
March 12th, 2015 at 13:11Kind of sad to think of a 70 year old man who spent one year of those 70 years in a famous band. A band he helped start, then was unceremoniously fired from, after having been replaced behind his back. But that one year in that band gives him the opportunity to travel and play music live, even in his advanced years. But that one year is all anyone wants to know about or hear music from, other than the occasional Warhorse fan. I mean it’s cool he gets to do that, but sad at the same time. The Warhorse stuff was good, as was Fandango. I’m sure he’s written other music since then, but does anyone really care? I don’t know whether to feel good or bad for him….
March 13th, 2015 at 23:00metaljim, I see where your coming from but to me if he can still play at 70 he might as well play the entire MKI catalog at least he was there for 3 LP’s, not like JLT who was just a rental and is still riding the wave as ‘ex Deep Purple frontman’ Go for it Nick!!
March 14th, 2015 at 11:16metaljim@4- I know what you are saying, but at least he had something for that year or so that many would never have! Well, that is my way of looking at it & I would think Simper would also, with some regret no doubt. I was disappointed for Simper recently when he just missed out on reconnecting with Jon Lord not long before Lord’s passing! Weren’t they at the same event/venue & crossed paths by the smallest of time differences? I think Lord had to leave for some reason & Simper was really keen to bump into him! That was sad indeed as Lord talked about Simpers demise from Purple, also with some regret not that long ago. I think it was on that DP Mk4 documentary. Cheers.
March 14th, 2015 at 11:33To metaljim:
Feel good for him, he was part of something that turned out to be very special. Even though it did not last he will be remembered throughout the course of music history. That’s a lot more than most of us can ever say.
March 14th, 2015 at 13:03For me is sad he was not invited to the “Celebrating Jon Lord” concert.. He deserved as well (or maybe more) than others who were there. Is a shame Ian Paice or his wife didn’t include him in the list of artists invited. Can you imagine two or three DP MkI tunes played with Nick on bass ?
And as #4 said: Fandango, Warhorse (oh my god what a band!) are bands that also deserve full mention when people talk about Nick Simper.
A few years ago i had the chance to have a radio program (the name was “La hora Purpura”, in english “The Purple Hour”, although as stated, the program was 2 hours long ) and once i dedicated one hour to Nick Simper career, covering , among others DP MkI, Fandango, Warhorse, etc.. For me was amazing the number of calls and messages i got about WarHorse , the people was astonished , and many couldn’t believe that Nick was still ignored after producing such a wonderful kind of music in such a wonderful group.
Nick Simper is a great musician, and though I don’t know him in person, seems a very nice person as well , and of course is very good to see him with a current member of DP as #3 said above.
Nice to write here !
Errol
March 14th, 2015 at 16:13