![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice2.jpg)
This chord in his head
Don Airey appeared on the Sonic Perspectives podcast, promoting his upcoming solo album. The is also a fair bit of talk about his day job and the whole career.
The interview is accompanied by quite a long blurb that summarizes most of it:
Any musician with a legacy as rich and expansive as Don Airey’s would understandably want to slow things down after reaching 70. A true keyboard virtuoso, his fingerprints are all over some of rock’s most timeless records, from Ozzy Osbourne’s “Blizzard of Ozz” to Deep Purple’s modern era. Having contributed to over 300 albums, Airey’s unmistakable sound has become the backbone of hard rock and heavy metal for nearly five decades.
While his session and band work are legendary, Airey has also cultivated a remarkable solo career, showcasing his own vision and songwriting. Albums like “K2” (1988), “A Light in the Sky” (2008), “All Out” (2011), and “One of a Kind” (2018) have allowed him to explore a diverse range of sounds, blending hard rock, prog, classical, and jazz fusion into a unique musical identity.
Now, after another monumental year with Deep Purple, Airey is shifting gears to his own creative vision. On March 28, 2025, he will release “Pushed to the Edge”, a blistering hard rock statement featuring a lineup of elite musicians, including Carl Sentance (Nazareth), Mitchell Emms (The Voice UK), Simon McBride (Deep Purple), Jon Finnigan, and Dave Marks. The legendary keyboardist recently sat down for an interview with us, where he opened up about his new album, the changing landscape of touring, and why AI will never replace human creativity.
“Pushed to the Edge” had been in the works for several years, with recording sessions stretching from 2019 to 2023. Yet, when Airey finally got the call that a single was dropping, even he wasn’t prepared. “I kind of forgot about it, you know, handed it in. And the next thing I know, I get a phone call saying, ‘Oh, we’re releasing a single called Tell Me.’ And I said, ‘Oh, what’s that from?’ And they go, ‘Your album, man.’” Laughing at his own absentmindedness, he admitted, “I think I’d better listen to it!”
The album’s writing process, like much of Airey’s work, was a highly collaborative effort. “It’s always been a bit of a band thing. It’s not just me sitting at home at a grand piano, writing songs, you know?” He recalled how certain tracks evolved organically, like “They Keep on Running”, which took on a Spanish vibe by accident. “The bass player, John Finnegan, started playing this kind of Spanish thing, and I said, ‘Oh, that’d be great with the trumpet.’” Another standout track, “March of the Requiem”, was an old idea that transformed once guitarist Simon McBride got involved. “It suddenly sounded like something you’d hear on a Ritchie Blackmore album from 1973. It was like, ‘Oh, we gotta use this.’”
For many, his name is synonymous with Deep Purple, where he took on the near-impossible task of replacing the legendary Jon Lord in 2002. Not only did he step into the shoes of one of rock’s most revered keyboardists, but he also helped shape the band’s modern resurgence, contributing his signature virtuosity and classical influences to albums like Rapture of the Deep, Now What?!, and last year’s chart-topping =1.
Airey has now been with Deep Purple for over two decades — something even he hadn’t fully processed until recently. “That took me aback, actually. Somebody said, ‘You know, in a couple of years, you’ll have been in the band longer than Jon Lord.’ And I thought, ‘What? No, that can’t be right.’” Originally brought in for just three gigs, he never imagined he’d still be with the band 20 years later. “Well, I joined for three gigs… and here I am.”
He also reflected on how the band was revitalized by Simon McBride stepping in for Steve Morse. “It was like everybody woke up—like Rumpelstiltskin, you know, from their long sleep. And we all started rocking again.” While Morse’s departure was bittersweet, Airey praised McBride’s energy, suggesting it injected a new sense of purpose into the group.
Fans of Airey’s work may also be excited to learn that he’s been working on his autobiography—though finishing it has proven difficult. “I’m always writing a book, but it’s always halfway through because my career keeps going on.” He promises that when it does finally come out, it won’t be a heavy, self-serious rock memoir. “It’ll be lighthearted rather than doom and gloom.”
Looking back on his storied career, Airey remains humble and grounded. He fondly recalled playing on Judas Priest’s Painkiller, though he admits, “I played on Painkiller, but you can’t hear me. I think they did a remix, but I’m not sure what they did with it.” And when asked about performing at Ozzy Osbourne’s farewell show, he had a quick response: “No invitation as far as I’ve heard… and I think all the tickets are gone!”
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Never will I forget how sad I was when Jon Lord retired 😞
Couldn’t imagine anyone taking over and doing a good job.
But then came Don Airey 😊
What a fine choice he was!
He certainly is not Jon Lord, and I’m happy to say that I never saw him trying to be like Jon Lord, Don Airey was – and is – his very own person and has been from the start.
Not being a musician I can’t decide if he is at the same level as Jon Lord, but it sounds like to me.
Thank you Don for being you and for taking over the Hammond and doing such a wonderful job 💜
March 6th, 2025 at 06:10Don didn’t just play on the Painkiller album with Priest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW-6FKFnHx8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yyO_HozK0c
but also on their magnum opus Nostradamus, he’s very prominent on that 2008 concept work, Priest diehards have even called it “a Don Airey album with Judas Priest backing him”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SIDBeohY0w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMnNB2dseOI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGKrSFr9g2Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvM5Wzof0gk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiPSnK0EN1Q
March 6th, 2025 at 06:49Don has also collaborated with the Yugoslav hard rock band Wild Strawberries
The band Wild Strawberries, with its quality hard rock and heavy metal achievements, was chosen by producers as the best hard rock band from “the Iron Curtain”(Cold War 1947-1991) trying to enter the Western market with songs in english. The band is a classic four-member formation with drums, bass, guitar and vocals. Don was added as a keyboardist. At the end of 1985, they signed a contract with the London label Logo Records, the plan was to release 5 albums in 7 years. In the London studio Easy Hire during 1986, Wild Strawberries recorded songs for the British and European market. Eight old songs were recorded in the Yugoslav market.
The album was produced by Keith Woolve, who had produced Roger Waters’,Thin Lizzy albums. However, international ambitions were cut short by the singer’s sudden departure to a competing Yugoslav band. The album “Wild Strawberries” therefore appeared with a great delay only in 1987. The original edition of Metal Masters, Licensed Logo records, London was released in Sweden, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, but without a singer and proper concert promotion, the LP did not achieve the expected results and the band gave up on further attempts to build a world career.
There is an interesting story from the recording with Don
Whom the band leader, guitarist Sead Lipovača, met after a performance in Zagreb, in 1978, when he performed with the band Colloseum II, in which Gary Moore also played. Later, Don came to Wild Strawberries performance at The Marquee club in London and agreed. and an anecdote from that recording, a funny situation when music and politics…can sometimes mix
Namely, three guys from the Yugoslav embassy in London who spoke English helped the gang translate the old texts of Wild Strawberries into english . Three older communists translate songs that talk about….. devils, wild life, motorbikes, sex….
I said I know it’s only rock’n roll but I like it, like it, yes, I do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ij81OQVgU
March 6th, 2025 at 12:25“Not being a musician I can’t decide if he is at the same level as Jon Lord, but it sounds like to me.”
In terms of pure finger dexterity, Don is even superior to Jon. That probably has to do with the facts that during his career he has
– played finger-breaking sophisticated music like Colosseum II,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-4lm0w7mJQ
(Listener’s caution: you won’t like this, Karin, it’s jazz rock worse than IGB!)
– has overall played more piano than Jon (who was more a dedicated Hammond player which Don would only become with DP and it took him a while at first), also in a jazzier vein plus
– studied piano/music whereas Jon just had piano lessons as a child, but never studied music.
A lot of the great stuff Jon played wasn’t so technically difficult – he was neither a Keith Emerson in merciless technique nor a Rick Wakeman in floral embellishments (I think Jon would agree with that), but he played everything with panache (and just the right amount of devil-may-care sloppiness) and an extremely groovy feel. Jon was part of the ‘roll’ in DP’s ‘rock’n’roll’ and when the Hammond is not soloing within DP, then it is first and foremost a rhythm instrument (as Ritchie has repeatedly observed and lauded as a particular strength of Jon).
That is not so say that Jon was a lesser musician – far from it -, but as regards sheer instrumental chops on the ivories Don holds the crown.
Both Jon and Don are beautiful ROCK organists in their respective ways, but neither of them is a Barbara Dennerlein, that is a different league:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ut7yIuCEY
March 6th, 2025 at 16:25Not very complimentary about Steve, there.
March 6th, 2025 at 16:46@4
“you won’t like this, Karin, it’s jazz rock worse than IGB” -you’re completely right!
Who likes to listen to such music? Do you?
“Barbara Dennerlein” – awwww man she is GOOD, and beautiful 🤩
Thanks so much for the info Uwe 😊
Funny though, because I would have risked my neck that Jon was a classical trained pianist, but when you say he isn’t, I go with that 😊
I remember in Ian’s autobiography, he explained how Jon learned to play the riff to SOTW, so they could play that song, even when it didn’t suited the guitarist to show up!
I’m amazed they put up with RB for so long. I know he was (maybe still is) a FANTASTIC guitar player but with that personality he must have been weighing them down!
Uwe, I guess the bands you have been in, people have behaved like grownups, but wouldn’t you say ‘hasta la vista’ to such a primadonna?
March 6th, 2025 at 20:29Don was rightly avoiding certain topics in that interview and good on him for doing that. Regarding his playing of the keyboards, he was the correct choice because he was already ‘in the door’ so to speak. With Rainbow & other bands and musicians he has performed and recorded with over so many years, had him more than ‘available’ at the time. Plus he was never actually in a band for very long was he, as a permanent member? A couple of years at most from my memory, however I did not follow Don Airey that much, so I may be wrong on that. He is one of those ‘session’ sort of musicians who is on so many recordings etc that trying to nail him down was almost impossible, for want of a better description of his career. He, just like Steve Morse was probably looking or hoping to find a musical ‘home’ for a while. Plus he is British, that would also help I would think. Cheers.
March 6th, 2025 at 20:32@5
March 6th, 2025 at 21:23I know what you mean. I always felt that Don really didn’t care for Steve all that much. Maybe it was just a personality thing. Don was always too happy in every interview I’ve ever heard talking about how great it was that Simon joined the band. I’ve always thought Steve was Roger’s guy and the 2 Ian’s were ok with him. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but that’s the way it always seemed to me.
I noticed that too, John, but Don, for all his affable demeanor, can be incredibly blunt and unguarded, a bit like Francis Rossi of Status Quo where every interview is a major risk that Francis might “speak his mind” and has everyone in management and the touring entourage hold their breath. Women and children first …
I believe there are very few musicians with as much experience playing and even touring with top notch guitarists of the hard & heavy genre as Don has: Bernie Marsden, Gary Moore, Ritchie Blackmore, Michael Schenker, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, John Sykes, Uli Jon Roth, Glenn Tipton & KK Downing, Steve Morse, Simon McBride … He knows them all, you can’t really dismiss his opinions as not well-founded. He has said things anathema to this site of sites like that to him Ritchie is not as naturally gifted as Randy Rhoads, Gary Moore and Michael Schenker “because Ritchie overthinks stuff … but he has a great sound!”
It’s no secret that Don and Steve never gelled as well as Jon and Steve. Steve has said himself that reaching the same or similar musical understanding with Don as he had with Jon right from the start was hard work and took some time (he mentioned a year) and juggling of individual styles. I sometimes think that while Jon was very much a gutsy player with feel and empathy, Don and Steve were perhaps too similar as musicians to really gel: both music university educated, both jazzy/fusion influences, both impeccable technicians on their instrument. And maybe because that is so, Don looks for a guitarist that brings something to the table he can’t – enter Simon and his more fiery and choppy rhythm guitar-influenced approach (and his Gary Moore influence must bring a smile to Don’s face). I believe that Don wants to be entertained & surprised by a guitarist, he seems to find that more with Simon than Steve and I can sort of understand that. Just my two cents worth.
Speaking of Don: I found this here …
https://www.metaltalk.net/20166084.php
QUOTE
Joe (Lynn Turner) first came to prominence in the Southern Rock influenced pop rock band Fandango, with whom he recorded vocals and guitar on four albums between 1977 and 1980. It was then that he was noticed by Rainbow. As keyboard player Don Airey told me: “We were driving through New Jersey, me and Cozy, we heard a band called Fandango on the radio, local band, ‘Who’s That!!?’, so we checked them out, and their singer was Joe Linquito, before he changed his name.
“And it was in the back of our heads that Graham [Bonnet] wasn’t going to last, sooner or later. And he had a health issue, Graham, well he had a couple of health issues, we knew we’d have to look for someone at some stage and Joe was the obvious choice, a very good singer.”
UNQUOTE
That is first in a long time that I’ve heard an allusion to Graham’s past health condition that Michael Schenker once mentioned in an interview shortly after Bonnet’s forced departure from MSG. Surprisingly, the Germanic axeman did not name the “wagging-the-dick-on-stage”-incident as a reason, but more measuredly: “I think Graham was the best singer we ever had. But what we did not see is that as an epileptic he can’t really tour with us. So we had to let him go.” There were rumors at the time that Graham had suffered an epileptic fit a few days before the MSG gig and that the aftereffects were still lingering (in his own depictions of the incident, Graham always claimed a prior drinking binge, but I took that with a grain of salt). If you put that together with the fact that Graham never toured prior to Rainbow (strange for someone with as fabulous a voice as him), but was essentially a studio singer, and that, according to Roger Glover, he would do things with Rainbow like “forget to eat for a whole day” and then feel queasy, a picture manifests itself & it looks a little manic. Anyway, epilepsy medication in the late 70s/early 80s was not what it is today, so the condition might no longer be an issue/contained.
March 6th, 2025 at 22:27Jon Lord was my favorite. I don’t care how much experience anyone has; Lord had the most God-given talent to play the Hammond than anyone ever. Airey’s darn good, and certainly a great master on the piano.
March 6th, 2025 at 23:12@3 I must still have a cassette by Divlje Jagode somewhere. Nice stuff!
Motori, motori, mo-to-ri!))
March 7th, 2025 at 07:53I agree, Uwe. From the standpoint of manual dexterity. Don is a superior keyboardist. As you said, his classical training no doubt is a major reason for this, coupled with the talent God gave him. As a keyboardist of nearly 70 years, I appreciate the challenge and difficulty of much of what I hear him play. He is incredible.
Jon’s gift was his overall musicianship, his impeccable taste in knowing what to play when, and especially his improvisational acumen. His writing/compositional contributions for Purple were much more subtle than his forays into classical music, but no less important. He was definitely the leading pioneer of rock organ (Keith Emerson admitted as much), blazing a path on which Don is now travelling. I heard Purple (and ELP) live for the first time in 1971, and I can tell you – no one was even approaching Jon Lord as a rock organist at that time. Emerson was admittedly the pioneer in synths and technically overall more fluent – your “merciless technique” description is dead on. Keith was unmatched as a multi-keyboardist (Wakeman came close), but his organ playing, particularly his improvising, was not the equal of Jon’s.
As you say, both Don and Jon are fantastic rock organists. I will always have a special soft spot for Jon – he is a hero to me both as a musician and a true gentleman. But Don is a delight to hear and by all accounts a quite affable person as well. They both made Purple better. No reason not to enjoy them both!
March 7th, 2025 at 12:45Absolutely,John I agree with you.
March 7th, 2025 at 14:37It just occurred to me and since you were so desperate for male-channeled enlightenment in another thread, liebe Karin, looking and listening to Frau Dennerlein @4, I dare say that there is another thing where women beat men: playing the Hammond!
Noteworthy: Barbara never learned piano – unlike Jon or Don. So that might be a reason where her very organ-specific dexterity comes from, she played Hammond right from the start as a child. Vorsprung durch Technik.
Uwe
– 1st DEI Officer at the Highway Star –
March 7th, 2025 at 16:15@14
Ok, maybe that beautiful woman knows her way around a Hammond. But not me, noo no, and not normal women…. She is something special!
“1st DEI Officer at the Highway Star –“ <- please explain!
March 7th, 2025 at 17:31Guys, René came to my rescue!
He says that women are emphatic, kind, emotionally thinking, and they can do all kinds of practical work and artwork if they want to.
There is nothing a woman can’t do! (According to my man😍😍)
March 7th, 2025 at 17:35I prefer Jon to Don too, he was more – pun intended – organ-ic. But Jon wanted to leave (and sadly left us for good only 10 years later) and Don took up the baton and became over time as good a keyboarder as DP can possibly have if Jon is not there. Plus Don really worked at it. I never thought of him much as a Hammond player with Rainbow and he sounded stiff initially with Purple too, but that really changed over time. (To me, the only Rainbow keyboarder who was not stiff was self-tutored Tony Carey – and of course Mickey Lee Soule, who was however more of a – very good – rock pianist and didn’t really like organ).
Ohio George, absolute in agreement with you about Jon being in the Hammond vanguard in the early 70s. I once heard a rock keyboarder say: “You know, what Jon Lord plays on the Hammond isn’t so earth-shattering technically, but how he does it … And then there is his sound! You just cannot sound like him.”
***************************************************************************
Karin, even I have to be in the right mood for Colosseum II (and Edith has to be away or she gets “headaches” from it). 🤣
“Uwe, I guess the bands you have been in, people have behaved like grownups, but wouldn’t you say ‘hasta la vista’ to such a primadonna?”
I’ve had my share of primadonnas, believe me! They can be hugely inspirational and a joy to play with, but eventually they wear you down – until after years and years of holding your breath and trying to shrug it off, you exhaustedly go. “Why don’t you fuck off like you always threaten you will?!” It can get THAT tiresome, they suck you dry. I can exactly understand how DP felt when Blackers tore up his Japanese work permit before their eyes in 1993, holding the band ransom. They probably had the following thoughts:
(i) I really would like to stuff that torn up work visa down your scrawny neck …
(ii) Thank God!
Mind you, I’ve been accused of being a tasking band member too, things like
– “Uwe, the Duracell rehearsal robot …”,
– “Can’t you EVER play something EXACTLY THE SAME WAY TWICE?!”
or
– “Bassists are not meant to be funny and they are certainly not meant to incorporate hilarious little novelty melodies in their bass runs!” (Now where did I get THAT from?
https://64.media.tumblr.com/594019612eeca62e9c38d07f6d4dc317/tumblr_nlspdzyTgO1u3ebkdo1_1280.png
It’s amazing how little humor musicians can show if you throw in an ad hoc “Alle meine Entchen” or the JP “Breaking The Law”-riff into another piece of music.***)
have floated in rehearsal rooms over the years more than once!
*** True story: We were recording an Oasis cover (I think it was Live Forever) in the studio and our singer/guitarist listened to the rough mix and said: “I really like what you play there in the coda, Uwe.” And I said non-committally: “Courtesy of Glenn Tipton, it’s the “Breaking the Law”-melody!”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t9iy2IaayZg
And you could see his eyes (and the eyes of the other guys, all of them ardent Brit Poppers despising HM as uncool) widen as realization crept in. Oh man, they were really pissed off, Judas Priest was absolute anathema to their Ben Sherman shirt identities, but we couldn’t undo it anymore. 🤣
I was very proud of myself for having snuck that in, jawohl. 😎 They never noticed that CTTB-Love Child riff in another Oasis song either. 😈
March 7th, 2025 at 18:10“He says that women are emphatic, kind, emotionally thinking, and they can do all kinds of practical work and artwork if they want to.”
Absolutely true. If properly instructed and supervised by men that is.
(ducking to avoid thrown projectiles …)
March 7th, 2025 at 18:32@11
2003 New Version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0g9BkSNyYE
2017 support Deep Purple (The Long Goodbye Tour ) with surprise guest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8bZLWmh-SM
Zele & Tony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJg1I4xgVMQ
March 7th, 2025 at 18:32Karin, you don’t know what DEI is? Seriously? Look it up! I’m one of its greatest proponents here.
March 7th, 2025 at 18:36“There is nothing a woman can’t do!”
https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/lSHp6IZLs9wmVSwPGBemBONqb2Q=/750×0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-89594707-59069bbd5f9b5810dcb95781.jpg
I so agree with René, with wimmin nothing is unlikely, ihnen ist einfach alles zuzutrauen.
March 7th, 2025 at 20:48@16
“There is nothing a woman can’t do!” I’ll keep my mouth shut. Uwe, that’s your cue.
March 7th, 2025 at 22:39Russ, I wouldn’t want to jump to conclusions either or use tired tropes, but have we really given the issue of reverse parallel parking sufficient thought?
https://media.tenor.com/NvmQe1IeHkgAAAAC/parallel-parking-fail.gif
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4du48mqOQw
March 8th, 2025 at 00:23Ivica, do all Bar-B-Qs in Zagreb involve full-size cattle with horns? 😲
March 8th, 2025 at 00:34I immediately thought DEI could possibly stand for ‘Definitely Eccentric Informer’ or something along those lines. I could be wrong though…………….Cheers
March 8th, 2025 at 01:19Talking of ladies who can play the keyboards, what about Rachel Flowers, not too bad all things considered. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TZ2t09r0Ls
March 8th, 2025 at 05:47Sorry, this link is Rachel playing Keith Emerson: The Nice. America/Rondo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDLKbMWyDlE
March 8th, 2025 at 06:00This is the ELP cover of Karn Evil Nine, First Impression by Rachel Flowers that I knew of before I posted the other keyboard videos. This is Rachel playing the organ at home I would say about 11 years or so ago. Even if anyone isn’t a ELP or Keith Emerson fan, you would have to admit this is astonishing playing for a lady who has been blind since two years of age. God bless you Rachel, what a lady. Cheers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsjiEKVzkBA&t=847s
March 8th, 2025 at 07:44I remember seeing DP on the tour where Lynard Skynard supported and blew DP off the stage. It was obvious at that point that Don was not a good fit for DP and never has been in my opinion. Nobody could replace Jon of course but I have always felt that Dons playing lacks the gravitas needed for DPs live performances.
March 8th, 2025 at 09:19@21
“ihnen ist einfach alles zuzutrauen.” – well thinking of the date today, 8th of March, it ought not to be peculiar to anyone!
March 8th, 2025 at 14:53@17
“I was very proud of myself for having snuck that in, jawohl. 😎 They never noticed that CTTB-Love Child riff in another Oasis song either😈”
You’re a bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad ba’ bad boy!
March 8th, 2025 at 14:57😄
(taken aback) But Herr MacGregor, you can’t just refer to cherished Dutch contributors gradually turning the HS into a Gillan site as ‘Karin Evil’ – that is taking things too far!
Rachel otoh must have really good ears! And hands.
Andrew: I saw LS open for DP on the Bananas Tour too. DP played a lot of tracks from the new album, Lynyrd Skynyrd played their iconic One More From/For The Road live album front to back plus the hits from their post-disaster-released Street Survivors album. They went down great, as well as Purple, but not better. I heard that at other dates it went in Lynyrd Skynyrd’s favor. This actually led IG to hold a powwow with the band and argue for more 70s hits in their set. So in a way, the Southerners are to blame for the static DP sets that followed for many years. Don Airey was still a little angular in his Hammond playing on that tour, yes, but he has loosened up considerably since then. He will never be quite as groovy as Lordy though.
March 8th, 2025 at 15:59@ 5: I’m disappointed with the lads, in particular Don, for their recent comments regarding Steve and their over-praising of Simon.
Nothing against Simon: He’s a superb guitarist, and =1 has its moments. But it pales in comparison with just about everything from the Morse era.
I’m grateful to Steve and Don for helping Purple carry on for all these years, but Big Ian, Roger, and Don should have kept their recent comments to themselves or stuck to the original press release. The only one who hasn’t come across poorly is Ian Paice. No surprise there.
Regarding other comments here, Don is indeed the technically superior keyboardist, but he can’t make the Hammond sing the way Jon could. He’d probably admit to that.
March 8th, 2025 at 17:38@24
March 8th, 2025 at 19:35Yeah Herr,like from Wacken :)…also deep beer mugs
Oh yes, Karin, definitely, Weltfrauentag! Congrats, special discounts on all cleaning utensils, household appliances and detergents! 😎
March 8th, 2025 at 22:15In 32, “Dutch” should read “Danish”, sorry, I can just never wrap my head around where Amsterhagen and Copendam are exactly located. 😳
March 9th, 2025 at 01:55@28
That gal is awesome!
March 9th, 2025 at 03:11@32
“(taken aback) But Herr MacGregor, you can’t just refer to cherished Dutch contributors gradually turning the HS into a Gillan site as ‘Karin Evil’ – that is taking things too far!”
😆 sweetie, you need some serious sleep!
You’re babbling way too much now!
I need to have a nice chat with Edith, maybe she can sing you to sleep 🥰
https://youtu.be/a7_Sv7K533Y?si=HvgeSlDj76APk9vQ
😅😅
March 9th, 2025 at 10:02I love how Purple got a big shot in the arm, by McBride arriving and Steve Morse’s departure. What a load of crap, I said before in previous posts that I thought the Turning to Crime album was the best they had done since Bananas. Whatever Steve felt about the band’s touring and what was going on between him and the rest of the band, when it came time to play, he always delivered. He was the consummate professional when it came to playing guitar. I first saw Steve in 96 and the last time in 2019, and many times in between, and he never failed to deliver the goods. Hell, I don’t even think he played a wrong note in all those shows. I’ve seen Purple with McBride twice and he’s a good player, he sounds great, but I definitely don’t hear the improvisation that Steve had. I wish the band members would stop saying that with Steve, they needed a shot in the arm!
March 9th, 2025 at 11:37I saw/heard Steve play a bum note! ☝️ Once. He was visibly exasperated by it. 😂
If you guys think Steve is being badmouthed by the rest of the band then you have obviously never experienced what real bickering and badmouthing in a band can be. Anything with DP is extremely mild and gentlemanly. But the remaining members are not obliged to feign that they were still excited playing with Steve when they weren‘t. Mk VIII enjoyed 20 good years together, but they didn‘t have life sentences tying them to another.
March 9th, 2025 at 16:55@ 40 – ‘Anything with DP is extremely mild and gentlemanly.” Downplaying it there a little Uwe, I am surprised in that sense. It is Ian Gillan and his affection with lead guitarists, look how many he has gone through throughout his musical journey. If time was on their (DP) side, poor old McBride would be shown the door also me thinks. However as we are all aware of Father Time lurking, McBride will more than likely escape the WRATH of the Gillan MONSTER. Cheers.
March 10th, 2025 at 00:50@40 Uwe, I agree that “the remaining members are not obliged to feign that they were still excited playing with Steve when they weren’t.” But Gillan and Glover’s comments were unnecessary and Don’s subtle digs at Steve are unseemly. Music from the Morse era was more ambitious, interesting, and listenable than much of the music that was on =1. If they couldn’t get enthused playing with Morse then that’s their problem. I agree with Steve, and Jon before him: They should have spent more time in the studio and less time on the road. Surely they don’t need the money. Steve deserved to be awarded a Purple Ear medal for having to listen to Gillan croak out songs on stage for so many years. Simon is a technically superb guitarist who plays with feel as well, but I prefer Ritchie and Steve. They are unique.
March 10th, 2025 at 15:46Anyone from DP has so far not said anything more negative about Steve than
– in an organization founded on incessant worldwide touring, he didn’t want to tour anymore or a least considerably less so – to a degree as to not make it commercially viable anymore,
– he had a very cerebral approach to guitar playing,
– after almost 30 years it wasn’t quite as fun and exciting playing with him anymore as it was when he joined,
– when push came to shove we had to let him go.
Neither individually nor in the aggregate do any of these assertions qualify as character assassinations. They just state that people can develop into different directions and set different priorities for themselves. I remember post-Mk IV both Glenn Hughes and Tommy Bolin getting a lot more stick – and so did Joe Lynn Turner (what did he exactly do wrong in DP other than being what he is and apparently was right from the start plain for everyone to see?) and Ritchie when they had left.
March 10th, 2025 at 16:18“It was like everybody woke up—like Rumpelstiltskin, you know, from their long sleep. And we all started rocking again.”
Ouch. Never thought of the Ezrin LPs on which Steve played as soft rock.
The prosecution rests, Uwe. I enjoy reading your posts, by the way.
March 10th, 2025 at 20:00Thanks George, likewise! Re gigging vs the studio: In the last three decades or so, I dare say that the members of Mk VII, Mk VIII and IX who do not participate in the 70s catalog have earned a lot more money touring than with vinyl, CD and streaming sales! Steve Morse, Don Airey and Simon McBride are all likely economically saturated by now (or Simon at least soon will be), but – let’s be realistic – not from sales of albums from Purpendicular to =1.
Those world tours are what makes current DP still commercially viable. Album sales of new stuff are irrelevant except for artistic validation.
March 10th, 2025 at 22:44I agree, Uwe, regarding where the money’s coming from/came from. But I think from, say, Whoosh onward they could have/should put out one LP a year and tour for a total of six weeks — not consecutively — maybe the US one year, Europe the next. The young-un, Simon, could tour and record in his spare time. A week or so into the Purple tours, Gillan’s voice is shot. I think they do more damage to their reputation during lengthy tours than they would if they toured sparingly. I don’t go to their concerts anymore, but look forward to new albums.
March 11th, 2025 at 14:31Gillan’s vocal performance from gig to gig sometimes flutters like a wounded bird, but hasn’t it always been that way? He was never THAT consistent, even in the early 70s. The way he sings (and especially the way he used to sing as well as the environment where he did it) strain(ed) his voice. These days, he paces himself better mostly. By now, I could do completely without his screaming/falsetto, it stopped sounding effortless (as you would expect with a man his age) a long time ago.
March 12th, 2025 at 21:04