![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/paice1.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse2.jpg)
And no religion too
Deep Purple appear on the cover of the Classic Rock magazine issue of Summer 26 a.k.a. #355:
They’ve sold more than 120 million albums and had a revolving door of official members. But in 2026, almost 60 years after their original incarnation, Deep Purple (Mark IX, if anyone really is counting) are back and firing on all cylinders. They’re about to unleash a brand new album – Splat! – on the world and have tour dates that’ll keep them busy for the rest of the year. It seems that rumours of their demise were very much exaggerated.
After all, it was back in 2016 that they announced their Long Goodbye tour, and since then, they’ve been nothing less than a hotbed of activity. And for that, we’re grateful!
This issue, we sit down with the Purps to discuss their current – pun unintended – purple patch of creativity, and to see what the future holds for them.
We’ve also created two Deep Purple X Classic Rock bundle editions, which pair the magazine with a collection of three postcards and a numbered (/250) art print. One edition also includes a copy of Splat! on yellow vinyl with limited edition cover art. They’re both available from the Louder Store.
The issue (sans the bundled embellishments) can also be purchased via Magazines Direct.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
“It seems that rumours of their demise were very much exaggerated.”
– and most of us in here knew that all along, didn’t we 😊
June 20th, 2026 at 03:49No politics?
Nonsense.
What is Gillan ranting about censorship from powers that be in song lyrics anything but politics?
To say the band isn’t political is a load of hogwash…
Gillan has always been a political lyricist when it suits him, I feel he has trouble admitting it, for what reason, I’ll never know!
June 21st, 2026 at 01:47#2 Mike:
because Purple has always been a band that loves discretion and doesn’t like to vomit in songs….
then I’m also fine with the fact that there are politicized bands like Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot, Sex Pistols and all the others, but objectively punk or alternative rock are by definition politicized genres, they were born just like that
June 21st, 2026 at 21:38If the band wish to make known to be a political they should not revoke their meeting with Medvevev.
It was fun to see the Japanese MP coming out as a crazy fan of Paice and the song BURN.
Owwwww, Ian, what have you done, writing that letter in aug 72?
June 25th, 2026 at 14:31#4: MP or PM?
June 26th, 2026 at 01:22