![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/paice3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse3.jpg)
Live from eagle’s nest
A couple of Steve Morse interviews from the recently concluded NAMM 2026.
Steve talks about his relationship with Ernie Ball and his latest album Triangulation:
Steve and Paul Gilbert talk chaos, sound, fighting the bear, hearing loss, and (what else?!) Ernie Ball:
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Paul Gilbert is a very kind person!
And I like his way of playing the guitar (and drums, singing etc…)😊
January 29th, 2026 at 06:47Improvisation thats the Point. Simon McBride listen to this…..todays guitarists have no balls anymore to play different solos live every night.
Steve Morse is the Man! 👍
January 29th, 2026 at 18:16A good little interview there with both guitarists. I wasn’t aware that Steve had a hearing issue with his right ear. Thanks for the video. Cheers.
January 29th, 2026 at 21:32Steve is starting to sound and look better – getting out after a period of grief is doing him good. While he might not be a committed international tourer, he needs exposure to and interaction with people – don’t we all.
January 30th, 2026 at 18:48@3
You are right! I think, Simon played the same solo when I was lucky to see DP live in Stuttgart two times. The first time was 14. October 2022, a gig that was postponed twice because of corona (but what are two years when you were waiting 50 years to see your heroes live after being a fan since 1972😉). I bought the ticket in 2020 after „Whoosh“ was released and hoped to see them with Steve, but so much had changed in the meantime☹️! I was very curious how Simon would play live and really was a little disappointed – compared to Steve‘s solos (which I only know from YT).
But by a strike of luck and some „connections“, I had the chance to meet Don and Roger backstage and will never forget that evening.
The second time was in July 2023 – the Stuttgart Jazz Open, when Ian Gillan stepped forward on stage and took a short shower to show his sympathy with us fans partly standing in the rain that evening.
I often watch DP‘s live gigs on YT and think Simon‘s solos don’t sound very different until today. But that’s what is called „style“, isn‘t it?
January 31st, 2026 at 10:30Sorry, my answer was to # 2!
January 31st, 2026 at 10:50Simon doesn’t improvise for the heck of it, true, but neither did Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody and all the WS-guitarists that came after them. I don’t hear too much improvisation with Joe Satriani or Steve Vai either.
I think it’s a generational thing: A lot of the 60s and 70s guitar heroes didn’t have a real rule book to learn from, after all rock music was relatively new and still fresh. By the 80s and even more so in the decades following (with the advent of new media), there was much more history and sheer tradition attached to rock music and new aspiring players concentrated on replicating their now very media-present heroes. Technically, they were often better than their heroes (or became better —> Yngwie Malmsteen), but they grew up in a world where “getting as close to the original as you can” was deemed as a mark of excellence – the weight of the ancestors so to say.
So if Simon, born ‘79, improvises less than Ritchie (born ‘45), Tommy (born ‘51) and Steve (born ‘54, needless to say during a time of apparently great textile dearth as T-shirts with sleeves go …), then it’s not so much ability, it’s a mindset. We live in an age where all coincidence is deemed as a grave risk and as a sign of insufficient preparation for the unexpected.
January 31st, 2026 at 14:55And there is another thing with Simon: Don’t forget how long he played in the Don Airey Band where part of his job was to mimic other guitar greats such as Blackmore, Morse, Moore, Schenker, Rhoads and Sykes. All within one gig. And while he never aped their solos note for note, he made adjustments to capture their style and feel from song to song (of course anything involving Gary Moore was second nature to him). I think that contributed to his more conservative attitude of not going out on a limb when soloing. His credo became: “stick with it if it works”.
January 31st, 2026 at 19:33@ 7- very true and well said Uwe. The other thing is the fact that elderly years have people much more careful and aware of their surroundings. The last thing the veteran DP guys need is for a guitar player going off big time etc. They are in the most careful phase of their lives, as we all move towards that ourselves. McBride suits that straighter approach while still providing a little gung-ho youthful vigour to the atmosphere of the ‘dinoasur’ band. I say dinosaur with respect, even they eventually slowed down with age. Cheers.
January 31st, 2026 at 21:37@7
February 1st, 2026 at 07:03Hello Uwe,
What about John Petrucci – a kind of master‘s apprentice to Steve?
I think he does not at all fit in your“generation thing“.
John Petrucci has breathtaking technique and zero feel, he’s an acrobat/athlete and he bores me to death. When my stepdaughter dragged me to a gig (she was a DT fan at the time, luckily she grew out of it and now prefers K-Pop, that is how evolution works), I spent half of the gig at the bar, the only time I have ever done that. It was that bad, like being locked up in a guitar clinic presentation booth at a NAMM show and you can‘t get out.
I find Steve‘s obsession with and adulation for the man odd and curiously age-un-adequate, Steve sounds like a 14-year-old when he talks about him. It‘s like athletes comparing their running times/results: “How many notes can you do per second, my personal record is …” – and I have always hated sports and the competition aspect of it, spare me! 🤣
Having now sufficiently endeared myself to the Dream Theater community at large, let‘s address your question: Yes, John Petrucci is an odd bird, but then Dream Theater is odd “music” for odd people. Seems like every generation brings forth someone like John. I assume that in the 70s he would have been drawn to the music of John McLaughlin and taken a similar career route as nothing like Dream Theater existed (oh, you fortunate 70s!). But if truth be told: McLaughlin is another guitarist that leaves me cold.
I prefer listening to Eric Clapton tuning his guitar, there is more musicality in that.
February 1st, 2026 at 11:37@ 11- whoa and more whoa and shock horror. I agree with Uwe’s first take on Dream Theatre (correct spelling he, he). I have two early albums Awake and Falling into Infinity. I don’t play them anymore, haven’t since that time. They just bored me after that period with anything I listened to online, too much emphasis on being ‘prog’ or ‘prog metal’ and the flash technical whizz bang stuff and not enough melody and clever arrangements, one way to look at them. I didn’t go to a Brisbane concert, a one hour drive up the road, simply because I would not have been able to put up with a similar situation as to what Uwe had to endure. That was about the 2012 era from my memory, maybe a little earlier, not the 90’s at all. However, spare the wrath indeed. John McLaughlin, please don’t put him into that abyss Uwe, show some respect. Are you talking the Mahavishnu Orchestra band from the early 70’s. It sure sounds like it and while I am not a big follower, there is plenty of respect there indeed. Plus they were innovators, not followers from the guitar clinic era of the 1980’s so called perfection. Superb musicians and plenty of free form playing with JM and his cohorts. His music isn’t in a typical song formation, as in what many of us listen to most of the time. I have witnessed JM in 1991 with the Que Alegria album tour, a three piece acoustic based band, a wonderful melodic performance of virtuosity and with an Indian percussionist drummer and a five string bass guitarist. Also the Fourth Dimension electric band in 2015. Both fascinating concerts. He isn’t a ‘standard’ or ‘normal’ rock guitarist though is he. So yes in a rock context is NOT the best way to look at his playing and the musical ensembles he is involved with. You may be taking about the Shakti band, the Indian ensemble, I don’t know. Anyway I agree with your bafflement as to Steve praising John Petrucci so much, it makes me wonder too. Is it that Steve is still wishing that he was that fast and technical as he was in his younger days? Or just a guitar fan admiration of his perhaps. Petrucci could do with a good listen to Steve’s approach to the guitar and music construction. There is probably too much melody or patience required. The fast whizz bang guitarists of later years always make we wonder about the patience and time aspect to their music. As if they are in a hurry all the time, going nowhere fast. Cheers.
February 1st, 2026 at 13:44Ok, lets give credit where credit’s due: Mahavishnu Orchestra were indeed innovators.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcQKjffxIOY
February 1st, 2026 at 21:55#2
My biggest admiration of Steve is of course his improvisations. To me the highlights of Mark 8 concerts are Lazy, Hush, topped by Black Night. With shouts to No One Came and Hard Lovin Man. At any video performance of those songs I’ve watched, Steve was really having the time of his life, tried different things
Another point, Steve was brave enough, more than willing to put his vocabularies into those old songs played by Blackmore and making different solos every night. There was a time where I visit YouTube just to check out his solos on Strange Kind of Woman, Space Truckin and Smoke on the Water from many different concerts.
There’s obvious reason why Hush and Black Night have been the encore staple for more than 20 years since Bananas Tour, because he and the band were having fun
I’m not a fan of Hush. But hearing Steve’s riff (which was filling in between the verses, then the guitar-keyboard duel in middle-section, with Roger and Paice also often took their turns (Roger’s solo segued into Black Night intro), is always a joy. I lost count how many times I’ve watched videos of it
Then there’s Black Night. While Hush was more keyboard-driven, Black Night is where Steve was on the top every night. I’m not sure if many old fans dislike his modification on the, but I like it, different nuance. And the solo, he nailed it different each night. But the biggest party was at the end, where he enjoyed his life trading the guitar licks with the audience’s participation. Man, I could be sure every one of the audiences had big smiles after the curtain was pulled.
I have to admit I dislike the original recording of Black Night, I felt it was too oldie/dated, same with Flight of the Rat.
February 2nd, 2026 at 05:30To me, the original Black Night was a dance number and I remember how it always got people dancing at the rock discos I frequented in the 70s. The production was curiously low-fi though, much duller than sound of In Rock. The first time you heard that song with a decent production was when a live version from the 1972 Japan gigs appeared on 24 Carat Purple in 1975.
I know that a lot of people have issues with Flight of the Rat, but along with Child in Time, that is my favorite In Rock track. It is really a bit of garage rock with its simplistic, yet hugely driving riff (always reminded me of MC5 or even The Stooges), but I very much liked the soaring vocal melody, the pace of the song, Ritchie’s percussive guitar in the middle and of course Paicey’s extended drum break. Pity they never played it live, apparently vetoed by Little Ian.
February 2nd, 2026 at 13:36Dance number indeed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ_SUMRBKH0
February 2nd, 2026 at 21:05What??????? Another band member of Deep Purple vetoed a song being played live??????????? Now I am in shock…………Seriously though, I was captivated as a youngster by Flight of The Rat, one of my favourites on In Rock. Please stayyyyyaaawwwwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyy, then a little drum cameo, what’s not to like. The song is a large part of the album and it fits in well no problem at all to my ears. These days it still gets a spin occasionally, unlike CIT. Cheers.
“Mystic demons fly
February 2nd, 2026 at 21:45All about the sky
With memories of a clown
The saddest show in town
When I was seventeen
Me mother said to me
Be careful what you touch
You shouldn’t take so much”
I mean this TV appearance just says it all, it was a song girls could move their butts too, a smooth shuffle, neither too slow nor too fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-VG7hhLDCs
February 2nd, 2026 at 22:12Now that our Scandinavian Dancing
QueenKing Svante has outed himself as an Easy Listening fan, I feel honor-bound to treat him with this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqawI1Wq54A
And ‘ere’s something for Herr MacGregor …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF2ODWluPlY
February 3rd, 2026 at 01:40@ 18 – Ian Gillan sleeveless and women moving their butts, too much Uwe, just too much ole son. Cheers
February 3rd, 2026 at 16:25James Last and you have to admire him for not having any snobbery to popular music at all. He was in my father’s record collection and he was one of many of my earliest connections to those male and female vocalists and performers from Europe and America of the 50’s, 60’s through to the 1970’s era. I remember his tv show too, from the 70’s. Thanks for those clips, some of them have appeared here before and for good reason. Cheers
February 3rd, 2026 at 19:46My dad dug James Last too. We had all these embarrassing Non Stop Dancing tapes …😂
James/Hans was a well-known German double bassist (even winning a National contest at one point) before he started his big band – he came from that generation of other later German big band leaders who had honed their jazz chops in US Army and British Forces clubs immediately after the war (in the Third Reich, jazz had of course been verboten). Hans was basically “drafted” by British officers to play in those clubs.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Last#/media/Datei:James_Last_Ausweis.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI_DPM_cQCs
Prior to playing American and British military clubs, Hans had received a marching band/military orchestra education with the Wehrmacht, beginning as a 14-year-old in 1943.
Vids of him playing (acoustic or electric) bass are rare, but they do exist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enDOdmZzizw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og30AkZXrMA
February 4th, 2026 at 17:53