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Three-quarters of one percent
Ian and Ian have appeared on the Rockonteurs podcast talking to Gary Kemp (of Spandau Ballet fame). It was a long conversation, and a very interesting one. Some stories we’ve heard before, others are new. Enjoy!
Thanks to Uwe, Robin Haddon, and steve4422 for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
A good one hour conversation between the 3 guys, the only thing that annoyed me was that Gary had no clue when “Made in Japan” came out, if it had been a 25 years old podcaster doing the interview I would have thought nothing of it but Gary should have known, always check your facts!
Cheers!
June 22nd, 2026 at 09:42Well who wudda thunk that Kempie was a fan!,great interview,both Ian’s totally relaxed,,the hour flew by
June 22nd, 2026 at 10:42I love the Rockontours series, but I never SAW it before! I love to listen to Gary and Guy on streaming service (that a few might know), they are a more than few moons brilliant at getting their guests not only talking, but ENOJOYING telling stories. They both seamlessly join being the interviewers and being happy boyfans talking to musucians and producers. And I see it here, after 20 minutes. With ig biting off his nails skins when Paicey elaborates (in a snarly demon Gillan voice “hee-ho, hee-ho”). Once again he’s almost human.
This jut gets a big, wide, loving grin on my face, it really does. As good as it gets. Thank you Gary Kemp for having them, despite Senor Pratt’s unlucky absence! Guy, get well soon, Sir!
June 22nd, 2026 at 10:46Too funny ! 🤣
June 22nd, 2026 at 11:55Sheer joy this one, despite Gary’s horrendous flub over not knowing the albums sequence from 1972, I mean…………. – this really sounded silly and got both Ian’s to the point of almost losing the track of chronology. Still, the chatter flows and is filled with laughter and interesting pieces… So happy that Jon Lord was brought up sweetly in the conversation, too. And now we know that actually a typo made a bra get a prominence in Deep Purple story in their 58th year! (A paradise) bar would be too obvious, wouldn’t it? Paradise bra…. It’s a completely different beast! (gotta make you chuckle at least) 😀
June 22nd, 2026 at 12:12@5
Kemp is a massive fan of Bowie and glam rock in general so he is a bit out of his depth with DP lore. Is he even aware that Pratt played in Whitesnake for a short while?
By the way Thorsun, thanks very much for your Bandcamp message, which the platform does NOT allow me to reply! (hence the impolite silence)
All the best, J.- 🙂
June 22nd, 2026 at 13:05@6
Dear J., that’s sad to hear that this communication channel is one-sided, although I think I understand the practical background of this. Quite few middle-to-high profile artists use this platform and I would assume that it’s the attempt to protect them from the flood of messages that carry rather little value or ability (as it often is the case with YT comments and all socials, etc.) I see your Bandcamp comments for me though – if you can hand me your e-mail there – we can keep in touch easy. For now, I’m still low to no profile there, real life and regular daily job ensure this!
June 22nd, 2026 at 17:35Brilliant interview and great to see that Gary is a big fan ( well ..almost ) …plus one of our favourite actors over here ” John Simm ” incidentally, a series he was in ” life on Mars ” some 20 years ago, featured a lot of Purples music .
BUT …here we go again …the slagging off of poor old Steve Morse ! Why oh why …what’s the point ? ..ill tell you what the point is …its to try and sell more tickets and more albums by telling us how hot the band is with Simon in it …although looking on you tube and the comments is telling a rather different story …Gillan is actually talking through the verses now rather then sing them !
Did it really take them 20 years to find out that Steve was a bad fit ? All the hype from previous tours and albums …and now suddenly…he’s not right !?
I was there at Bournemouth when Gillan put his arm on Steve’s shoulder and said ” Steve, you might not have been there at the beginning…but you’ll be there at the end ! ” lol …what bollocks …come on Purps, show some dignity …we don’t hear any bitchiness from Steve’s side .
June 22nd, 2026 at 18:10=1 was instantly forgettable….and I fear this Gillan, Glovers and friends …with very special guest , Ian Paice …will be the same
The new “single”, better: the 3rd song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G_OQYvuXzs
Olé Olé olèeee deeeeepuuur puuuupleee
June 22nd, 2026 at 19:07@6 JffA,
Gary Kemp is aware of Guy Pratt’s WS tenure, they had David Coverdale I think 3 times on their show, DC was one of the most demanded storytellers for their podcast, he went down the storm there. And was indeed very lively and funny. People can throw different things at him, but he surely can’t be denied sharp tongue and humour.
June 22nd, 2026 at 19:54#8 Thanks, it’s nice to read something right every now and then
June 22nd, 2026 at 19:56No8 Steve, I agree with a lot of what you say, Steve and then with Don dragged the band through the late 90’s and the 2000s and Mk Morse was my Purple. Reactions to Gillan’s live performance are awww he is nearly 81 but the talking through the verses and moke on the water are getting tiresome, get some backing singers. The criticism of Steve is disgusting and they could have waited for him during his mourning. Bob Ezrin has got too friendly with the band and the quality control has gone by the wayside =1 was pretty average and does not come close to Now What and the best of infinite but maybe the band had run out of quality prog anthems and a back to basics was needed. I do hope the new album is great but they are not my Purple.
June 22nd, 2026 at 21:56Big mistake by Purple to do these interviews with hosts who don’t even know the history of the band. A lot of time wasted regurgitating why any hard-core fan already knows.
June 22nd, 2026 at 22:43Julio, you severely underestimate Gary’s Purple Family knowledge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NfNn_6woFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv-3tqcEzH4
You’re right about him liking Glam Rock, but not to the exclusion of everything else.
I told everyone I liked Bowie, but I secretly bought Genesis and listened to Yes. I attended a grammar school that was a mixture of working class kids and middle class kids. I wanted to be in that little corner of the playground where they were talking about Yes or Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and then I wanted to be over there where they were talking about Rod Stewart and The Faces. My collection is super eclectic.
https://tapeop.com/interviews/145/gary-kemp
So the poor guy doesn’t know when Made in Japan was released, big effing deal! 😱 Judging from the sleeve pics it was very long ago, circa 15th century?
https://www.stripes.com/news/migrated.image.36559_417221518.jpg/alternates/LANDSCAPE_910/Deep%20Purple%20in%20the%20medieval%20spirit%20at%20Frankenstei
June 22nd, 2026 at 22:50Those guys getting involved with Nick Mason, you think they would know a little about ‘classic’ rock eh? Really poor interview and fanboy hype. Had to keep skipping bits and pieces. Ian Gillan looked absolutely bored to pieces so much of the time, as well as Ian Paice. Probably a good thing Guy Pratt wasn’t there then, not meaning him being ill, just less unnecessary hype and bollocks. I don’t mind Guy Pratt by himself though, an amusing guy and a fine musician who has stood by David Gilmour all these years.
June 22nd, 2026 at 23:32“It even sounds a bit like Bowie” yeah right. These ‘modern’ day interviews, social media hype, anyone can say anything, ho hum, such is life. Cheers.
@8: Right you are, Steve. It’s gotten to the point now that one has to believe there is animosity between Gillan and Morse. Why not just praise Simon and say nothing about Steve Morse? “Southern American rock, laid back style.” C’mon, Ian. Steve Morse was/is much more than that. I’ve lost a lot of respect for IG because he can’t resist disparaging the man who revivified my favorite band all those years ago. Some of DP’s finest moments came when Steve was on guitar. Ian, you’re an octogenarian. Time to grow up.
June 23rd, 2026 at 00:12Well I guess it’s not the first time in the history of mankind that relations can get a little strained. What started as a honeymoon can turn a bit stale some twenty years down the road. I believed that to be common knowledge. Especially among people our age. And as I said before I don’t detect disrespect regarding Steve.
After all it is a business, so why not praise the new line up? And does anyone really believe someone by his senses would stop a whole organisation because one of the members has to take care of his family for maybe some years time? I beg your pardon.
Talking about the music I did not forget = 1 instantly. In fact I prefer it to some SM era DP albums. And this is no disrespect to Steve either.
June 23rd, 2026 at 07:45I agree #8 Steve! They seem to want to give a dig to Steve in just about every interview. As I, and a lot of people on YouTube also seem to think, this line up isn’t that great!! If the band really didn’t like Steve, why was he in the band 28 years?? Oh well, I’m waiting to see if the new album is any better than =1, which I thought stunk!!!
June 23rd, 2026 at 11:36I’m glad I’m not alone in picking up this resentment towards Steve and yes , I’m also thinking that there is something niggly between Steve and Ian ( or rather should I say , Ian towards Steve )
I don’t want to sound weird or out of order but I wonder if it’s something to do with both their wives being ill at the same time ? Gillan carried on …but Steve had to be by his wife’s side ( each to their own )
Incidentally, I’m going into that very same hospital in Exeter, imminently, for my heart operations.
I don’t hold it against Gary for not knowing the date MIJ came out …we’re all super fans , so we’re bound to know everything about the band !
June 23rd, 2026 at 11:54I personally like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Floyd etc …but I couldn’t tell you the chronology of their albums exactly ( I know Born Again was 1983 ..lol )
@17
“What started as a honeymoon can turn a bit stale some twenty years down the road. I believed that to be common knowledge.”
– I beg to differ!
Or at least not for every person alive 😊 but besides that, I totally agree with you.
I just don’t get this ☺️ is it that hard to imagine that Ian will secure SMcB?
Let’s take a couple, 20 or maybe even 30 years together, they split, find a new love, would it be so weird if they wanted to ‘secure’ the new love? Instead of going on about how lovely the former spouse was?
I know Purple isn’t a loving relationship, but I guess the same dynamics applies as when it is between two persons.
Speaking about the roles we as individuals have in a group dynamic, it isn’t that uncommon that we strengthen each other. Or at least we do that if we are decent people.
I am sure SM and Purple are amicable.
And yes, you are of course right, SM needed to take care of his wife (I highly praise him for that) and regarding the rest of the band-members age, they could not wait for him to be ready to join forces with Purple again.
Had it been me who lost the love of my life, as I believe she was to Steve, I would need a lot of time to put myself together again. And maybe not just wanted to pick up my old life as if nothing had happened in between.
And I have to agree with IG: they did get their mojo back! SM is a good, great guitarist, but come on! SMcB is a rock’n’roller…
June 23rd, 2026 at 12:15@ 15, Dear McG
Gary Kemp did stumble there a bit, but he wasn’t blowing up every topic during the conversation with no proper fact-check. He himself called out “Hallelujah”, which the mid-regular journalist would probably not know a toss about in 2026.
Putting a person with our sort of Purple knowledge as an interviewer not necessarily would pump up the guys’ experience – I suppose they find the level of eagerness by a fan even more off-putting than from a guy who knows their bio “more-less”. They fear to be exposed to people like us, because they know we might be calling some bold shots in the conversation. Paicey at least would be frank about those, I suppose, but IG would wool every answer into sort of “got my snake in a bamboo stick, you see the stick – don’t ask about snake.”, so… it isn’t all that bad – as some of you are trying to smudge it on Kemp. And Guy Pratt is truly a guy who knows a thing or two, too. He’s been everywhere in the business since 1984, with the obvious people you already know – and some you actually might not know, too – from Madonna and Michael Jackson – to Gary Moore.
June 23rd, 2026 at 12:24@8
Seems like flacking Steve off a bit here, and a bit there has become a sort of fav after hours go-to sport for Gillan and Airey. If you look carefully – Simon praises Steve and Roger and Paicey are silent – they just don’t mention him (so they choose a most diplomatic thing to do, should it be that they ever were dissatisfied with Steven). It really gets me to think that it’s something that hit Ian G and Don after the tour they did together in 2016 under IG banner. Suddenly Steve became “passe” to them both – after they played some shows and had fun with SiMcB. New lover is definitely raising the dead better than your current wife… Still, if so, have the balls to send the wife away, for cunning linguist sake! And not keep her for next 5 years, before dissolving services on the first available occasion….
There is a lack of dignity in those two guys regarding that, which I find a tad disturbing, really… Keep quiet, if you don’t have nothing good to say, or if you can’t stand up and tell things straight to the eyes of a man you seem to despise so much.
Still, it’s nothing new in the business – there are many more like that than them – never having enough balls to confront the discomfort in a honest conversation. Tony Iommi was like that all his life, reportedly – he’d never throw anyone out of Sabbath directly, always via white gloved hands of his manager. There is either a class in what you do, or there is just a lack of it. I would expect more of the first, from both aforementioned grumps. Or just stop yapping about it. Praise the present, and praise the past – if the latter is not feasible, be British enough to gulp the quibbles in.
June 23rd, 2026 at 12:49@10 and @14
Wow I did not know that!
I stand corrected then 🙂
So now Nick Beggs and Gary Kemp…two new romantics grown into real rockers, I did not see that coming.
Personally I distrust people who don’t know what historical event took place in East Asia between 15 and 17th August, 1972, but hey that’s just me.
On another topic: Uwe, Thomann has just sued Fender, what side are you working for, you high-end legal warrior? 😀
Best, J.-
June 23rd, 2026 at 13:08I think it is very naiive to think you can stop a big business machine like DP because one member has to take care of family affairs. DP have employees on their pay roll. Should all those people sit around and scratch their, well, heads while waiting for one man to return? Or not. Or maybe next year?
BTW: I remember it was SM (when he was still in the band) who said some things in interviews about IG that could be seen as not too friendly towards the singer, dealing with IG being the boss now and that he insisted on doing long tours whereas Steve wanted to do much shorter ones et al. So it looks like Steve did want to bow out anyway.
June 23rd, 2026 at 13:45When exactly did the SMDC (Steve Morse Deification Cult) take over here?
The band was originally called Roundabout, people were to hop on and hop off. And this they did through all its existence. And every departure and every new arrival had an effect. Steve’s ride with the band was longer than Jon’s (if you subtract the Purple hiatus from 1977 to 1983), he did great, lasting work, but towards the end the sex in the marriage wasn’t quite as riotously good as in the first couple of years. Personally, I do not hink that is especially surprising or even noteworthy.
The Steve Morse disciples here close their eyes to the fact that Steve’s enthusiasm had waned over the decades too, towards the end of his tenure with Purple I saw him with Flying Colors and you could again witness the Steve Morse of the early 90s and noughties on stage. He wasn’t like that with Purple anymore and I saw him probably 20 times or more with them.
The tragic illness of Steve’s wife certainly triggered a sequence of events and decisions , but – even if Janine had won her battle – just like that astronaut on the cover of Whoosh!, Steve had been slowly disintegrating from DP for a while. I don’t think his push for the Long Goodbye Tour to be the last one would have happened had he thought that he still had lots of things to say within the context of the band (for the avoidance of doubt, I like Whoosh! as an album, it is a great swan song for Steve).
So now Ian Gillan shares in interviews how great the sex with the new wife is and also makes a note of how marital life with Steve had gradually worn down a little. I cannot be up in arms about that, it is only too human.
And just like the Blackmoristas would not admit to his decline as a contributor to DP in 1993. and then proceeded to denounce every subsequent release with Steve, history repeats itself as a farce some 30 years later and it is now the Morsites that think putting down the albums with Simon somehow strengthens their point that Steve should have not been let go from the band. But Steve’s body of work with Purple speaks for itself and is not in need of elevation by putting Simon’s contributions down.
That said, and this is strictly on a personal note, Simon does dress better, the muscle shirt era within DP has thankfully come to a close, occasional glitches by Roger here ignored for sake of argument. 🙈
PS: No quality control with Bob Ezrin, Terry? You mean like the communal quality control that permeated the band when they released TBRO aka The Train Wreck Careers On where
(i) the guitarist didn’t want the singer to sing to his riffs,
(ii) the singer did not want to sing to the guitarist’s music,
(iii) one producer (Thom Panunzio) jumped ship in frustration about where the project was going and
(iv) the other producer (Roger) had to wade through what was recorded to salvage some sort of barely presentable Frankenstein product from the inorganic artistic debris? 😂
No way Ezrin would have allowed that to come out.
June 23rd, 2026 at 14:04When hardcore fans see an interview with their favorite artist somewhere they complain that the interviewers ask the wrong questions. Guess what, people? Most articles, podcasts etc. are not made to satisfy the fans of the band. They are done with the general public in mind. It should be entertaining even for people who don’t know the band, people who would turn off if our nerdy questions to the band came up.
That must be the best form of promotion, right? To make new people discover the band, not us old farts that buy anything the band spits out anyway.
June 23rd, 2026 at 14:12Julio, thankfully I never did intellectual property work! The firm acting for Fender are Bird & Bird though who have an emphasis on this type of stuff in their market share. They’re good at it.
The enforcement of IP rights often looks nasty from the outside, yet there is a school of thought that says that the creation of intellectual property as a concept and its effective protection via laws was the one thing that explains why eventually the Western World overtook the Islamic World in terms of progress. There was no way to protect intellectual property in the latter so few resources were channeled into research and development. If it cannot be monetized, there is less incentive, simple as that. Never forget that there was time when the Islamic Sphere was the more
developed part of the world, but the radically different treatment of emerging intellectual property is seen as a crucial turning point on the roadmaps of Western and Islamic culture.
Max, Steve had been alienated in DP for some time. I never forget a long feature in Classic Rock about the band in the Infinite era where a journo was embedded with them for a few days – they had a gig in the Mideast I think – and he spoke to every member at length, spending a day or two with him and saving Steve to be the last. And the article stated, I’m citing this from
memory, something like this:
“By the time I get to speak to Steve Morse (something I had intended to do all along), not only he himself, but apparently also the Purple management and all his bandmates have formed the opinion that I would NOT interview him as the only band member. So he is genuinely surprised when I actually do.”
When I read that I thought, my, oh my, the guy’s been with the band for more than 20 years now, maybe not everything is as hunk dory as it seems?
June 23rd, 2026 at 14:42What Svante says!
I’m happy for any type of media attention DP enjoy and if it were paparazzi shots of Big Ian’s used underwear. If he wears any at all that is, he might “go commando” all the time … Karin, do you know by any chance? 🤗
June 23rd, 2026 at 14:51@25, Uwe
Your narration is almost spot on, and I could agree with most of it BUT… One thing that makes me wonder – if Janine’s tragedy did not happen – how would the band handle the shift of the line-up? They were gifted a circumstances to go for it, but my poke in their eye is – how do you handle such things?. Would they carry on looking at Steve like an elephant in the room for years to come? I just don’t get the fact that they don’t have the balls to go out and say: your engagement has waned, things are happening to you – all that makes it that we don’t want you here anymore. Neither Airey or Gillan had the courage to have done that, and now the are snapping at SM in almost every interview. That is the core of my irk. The only person that saw the paranoia of it was actually Roger, who openly admitted to have reached out to Steve and talk with him of what they needed to do and why. So I’m not putting up a SMDC here, but If I should – then Glover is a hero and a man with balls here. And it completely aligns with how I perceive him. The most cohesive and ethic personality in Deep Purple, ever. So, RGDC then rather it should be, and I’m fine with it. 😀 You just gotta adore this man.
June 23rd, 2026 at 16:39@26, Svante
Spot on – I still refuse to get under the banner of ‘old fart’, just because of being a hardcore DP fan! 😀 They turn our bio-clocks backwards in more ways than one, which is great – and they do that, despite the fact that we are very badly aligned to the concept of “satisfying mainly the general public with the promo activities” . Still, I’m pretty sure, they live off us fans being engaged in them so much more than they ever would if only general public would be a target for them to satisfy.
June 23rd, 2026 at 16:46Yes indeed, someone has to do some sort of promotion for the ‘fans’. No one more than the artists themselves are well aware of all that, as boring and repetitive as it would be for them, cue Ian Gillan attending to his finger at one point, he he he. Let’s put Gary’s excitement into the proverbial ‘kid in the candy store’ box. He did ok, for a ‘young rocker’ from that era. The interview had a few interesting bits, the Episode Six stories from big Ian the most interesting to my ears. I am well aware of Guy Pratt’s background. Being a Floyd geek and attending the 1988 concert, I read up about him all those decades ago. @ 25- “No way Ezrin would have allowed that to come out.” Yes and we fans would have been deprived of some stonking classic Deep Purple rock ‘ roll. As I have said before, there is no way Ritchie and I would also say Jon Lord would put up with Ezrin’s frigging around all the time changing an artist’s music. As we know, some producers can do justice and steer an artist in a better direction, some just get in the way and stuff things up and then get shafted, for good reason. Cheers
June 23rd, 2026 at 19:06I love the fact that both Ian and Stewart Copeland love Ringo, and both quote Come Together as the classic drum part – Stewart did it on Radio 4.
June 23rd, 2026 at 19:13Uwe, Du erinnerst mich ans ZDF. Just tell the your very questionable version of the truth until people get tired to put things straight. Might be a déformation professionelle in your case. Though it really isn’t without respect I marvel at your ability to get a word in about TBRO no matter what the actual subject is.
June 23rd, 2026 at 19:39And while I enjoyed that gem in the car big time just the other day…windows down and all…I agree with all the rest you commented above. I just wished the band would carry on til they wore out another guitar slinger in the distant future.
Well, I do ve a certain sympathy for Mister Morse.
Its just…….UMHO his noodling often was non pleasant, to say the least.
The Purps incl Glover, Lord and Paice have a trackrecord of immoral outings,backstabbings,flipflopping and meandering tru the decades.
In the end every person does things I find a dissappointment.
It is what it is.
Gillan lost Bron which to me would ve been the final nail but not for him.
At first sight it appears he took a softer blow in comparison with Steve.
Gillan seems to ve come back stronger.
Maybe its not Blackmore being a vampire,maybe its Gillan.
I always had a soft spot for Spandau Ballet, good guitars, great singer.
It was a long time ago but letting hear Guinevere,who had inherited the taste in music from her hippie parents, Gillans Jesus Christ edition,
She thought of Bowie.
I was shocked cause Bowie, Reed, Iggy Pop ,,, that wasnt my scene but she had 60 s albums by David so yes, so I could get her association.
Years later asked Fripp to play Blackmoresque on Heroes.
June 23rd, 2026 at 21:48I really like Gary Kemp’s interviewer approach, I’d describe it as “benevolent curiosity”, he doesn’t have to be a a diehard Purplite for me, I’m already trainspotterish enough myself, thank you. He also has a nice collegial muso stance to him and creates a convivial atmosphere. And he approaches things in an unorthodox way: I think it’s an interesting take that Gary calls the lyrics of SOTW “exotic” to him as a teenage punter, because “no one travelled back then” and he had never heard of ‘Montreux’ or ‘Lake Geneva’ before, but now imagined how “smoke on the water’ must look.
Frankly, I find it more compelling to watch the guy from Spandau Ballet taking an interest in DP than some adoring fan, I can slot in the date of MiJ’s recording myself. (That said, I actually think that the memory of the two Ians as to when they recorded Made in Japan is more wobbly than any assumptions by poor Gary! 😂)
“Volcanoes and earthquakes thru me“, DID YOU HEAR THAT KARIN? You see colors when you hear Ian, he had geological phenomena occurring within him when he heard Elvis’ Heartbreak Hotel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYwMq1VPV7I
June 24th, 2026 at 01:20Musical tastes changes. So does the appetite to make the music and how to perform them
I think Steve himself confirmed several weeks after he exited, how the band were just more about making music, then going to the stage and have fun as many times as they can do it. Which as he concluded, less challenging. Not his taste.
He’s a musician’s musician. He wants depth, exploration, more diverse songwriting-styles, creativity to the bones, challenges. That’s why he really loved Jimmy Page, a guitarist with huge guitar ‘vocabularies’ that kept surprising everyone in every Zeppelin’s album. With this attitude, regardless of his personal situation, I think his time is up with the band creatively. Whoosh with its remarkable chart performances was a fantastic album to close his chapter with Purple.
What I complained (and perhaps some others here) is how HOW these old folks can’t stop their mouths from keep speaking about this musical difference constantly and making – while not negative, but unnecessary – remarks about Morse’ era in PUBLIC. It’s low-level disrespects, I’m sure they never meant to make insults, but they just can’t find a way to explain themselves about it and just put the words in interviews for the sake of Mark 9 marketing.
Personally, I see them differently in the last 3 years, paying attention more about Simon’s guitar playing than the rest of the band. I still don’t care much about =1, but Diablo and Guilt Trippin are enjoyable, Simon has shown more fantastic chops lately.
June 24th, 2026 at 05:27@ 35- meh, Kemp is about 14 year younger than big Ian, I don’t cut a lot of slack to someone who states that MIJ was his go to album as a youngster and then he is not sure what album tour it was. He is the one more than likely wanting the interview, he should know that the Fireball album was not the MIJ tour. And he also should know when Gillan is taking about Episode Six and NOT Deep Purple. Are some of us splitting hairs about poor Gary’s exuberance? Probably, but we might as well put the knife in when we can eh? Is he any different to anyone else getting it wrong? No, he isn’t. Bring out the guillotine quickly and let’s have him for toast. Sorry, that is the other ‘lynching’ act with all that flame and heat. I can let the older DP guys go with their memory lapses. Chances are that is going to happen more regularly at their age than Kemp’s age. Not to mention how many cursed times the Purple guys have had to endure those questions, comments and recollections during their adult lives. They would be switching off in many ways, at least at certain times, it happens. Cheers.
June 24th, 2026 at 08:11Ok, I’ve listened to the entire thing now and how can you people get the idea that they are mean to Morse? When talking about Jon, IG also said that “Don is broader” and goes on about how inventive he is. Do you see that as him being mean to Jon?
I thought IG was remarkably soft in his approach this time. Even praising RB a couple of times and making sure Roger gets credits for some of those riffs that people automatically think came from RB.
June 24th, 2026 at 09:24Re: #34, exactly. I started to follow the band with the release of Now What?! and I never liked Steve’s playing on the old songs from the bonus live disc, and other contemporary live recordings I heard. He did come up with some great and unusual sounding stuff for the new songs, especially on the wonderfully atmospheric Whoosh! (but also uninspired soloing such as on “Johnny’s Band”).
Imagine my surprise listening to the older live recordings from the 90s and early 2000s. Steve sounds a lot more purposeful there, and you can sense how he has reinvigorated the band much like Simon is doing now. I don’t know what exactly went wrong but at some point, it seems they didn’t gel anymore as a live band. Maybe if they had left the Blackmore material behind and focused on playing the songs from 1996 onward, that wouldn’t have happened, but then again that would’ve been hard to do with their history.
Often enough in the later years, Don had to carry most of the “weight” alone – the difference between “Into the Fire” from Wacken with Steve and the version with Simon I saw two years ago is just very clear. That dual attack is back and I can’t blame the guys for being happy about it.
June 24th, 2026 at 09:30Svante @38:
> how can you people get the idea that they are mean to Morse?
Because people hear what they want to hear, not what Ians say. This phenomenon is called confirmation bias.
June 24th, 2026 at 13:10@ 27
Uwe, thanks for the insight!
Had never thought of it that way…we’ll see how this whole drama pans out…
Best regards, J.-
June 24th, 2026 at 13:48Ringo was always a very musical drummer, he has incredible groove and can really think outside the box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9188EPdLI
Brilliant.
Thorsun, I’ve written this a dozen times: DP’s dismissal culture has at all times been awful and unprofessional. And cast a not so great light not only on the usual suspects, but also on Little Ian and Jon who in the spring 1976 couldn’t even bring themselves to pick up the phone and tell Glenn Hughes and Tommy personally that the band was no more (Tommy only found out via the public statement months later). And Jon was a turncoat on Roger when Mk II folded (as well as chickening out when confronted by Nick Simper), no two ways about it. And while Roger is mostly a saint, he stood by and said nothing when Blackmore rowed IG out in the late 80s in a coup to get the band under his iron grip. Not great either.
There are those among us who think that the current DP are not allowed to give reasons why Simon’s advent was such a positive jolt to them or reveal that working with Steve had lost some of its luster. From a historian’s point of view, I disagree: I find all that interesting and helpful in understanding Purple as an organism, without taking sides. Had Janine recovered quickly and Steve committed himself again, none of us know how another album and another world tour with him would have turned out – I refuse to believe it would have been crap. I think Whoosh! is one of the stronger Morse era albums, but I liked =1 too.
Steve did not overpromise to DP when he joined. His first question was “Do I have to wear leather?” And in hindsight that was not just a declaration on sartorial style, it meant something more, Steve did not want to project a hard rock guitar god image, visually or musically. That was perfectly ok. It was however also perfectly ok for the rest of DP to say after more than twenty years that maybe, just maybe they would – figuratively speaking – like a little leather in the bedroom now and then?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByPTCxlgV_k
Tastes and desires are not static, you know.
Speaking of Janine. And Bron. I’ve given this a lot of thought, the way Steve and Big Ian handled those two incredibly tragic situations so differently. Steve switched into savior mode, IG took solace on the road. I believe Steve saw Janine’s passing as his personal defeat, he has that American DNA that refuses to accept the inevitable (that’s not a criticism, it is a trait that has contributed greatly to America being what it is, American perseverance against all odds, from Pearl Harbour to Hiroshima). IG otoh is a worldweary laconic geezer, he doesn’t bank on miracles happening and he doesn’t see it within his means to conjure them either. In that way his reaction to Bron’s death (and the path leading to it) was very British.
Uwe’s psychology half-hour over!
June 24th, 2026 at 19:59“Because people hear what they want to hear, not what Ians say. This phenomenon is called confirmation bias.”
Very true. Same thing with Glenn being accused of rdiculing Roger in his acceptance speech at the RRHoF when he was actually bowing to him and thanking him for the opportunity he had created for Glenn with his prior work. Standing on the shoulders of giants so to say. Yet even here and all across the net there is people claiming that Glenn was disrespectful which makes me wonder: Did people ever listen to what he actually said?
“I wanna thank Roger Glover … actually … for getting me into the RRHoF***, I replaced him …”
*** It’s slightly inaudible, he might have also said “for getting me even in here“.
June 24th, 2026 at 20:54#42 Uwe:
I absolutely agree with your point about BigIan’s view of grief following Bron’s passing..
for the rest I can only bless the day Purple replaced Steve with Simon because with Steve the flame had inexorably died out and compositional boredom reigned, while with =1 the compositional quality has risen a lot!
June 24th, 2026 at 22:17I didn‘t understand the Ritchie vs Tommy schism and not the Ritchie vs Steve one and now I am faced as an old man with a Steve vs Simon schism and still don‘t get it. 😂 The battle rages on indeed, tribalism in full display. Sheesh, and I always avoided football games like the plague for exactly that same reason. I find mindless rooting and cheering for a team intellectually degrading.
But welcome to the Fankurve!
https://bilder.deutschlandfunk.de/37/bf/2e/4a/37bf2e4a-5ba8-4ca1-934c-cd5067bff3ce/dfb-pokal-158-1920×1080.jpg
Ritchie was great on MH and Burn. And even on S&M.
Tommy astounded and mesmerized on CTTB.
Steve excelled on Purpendicular and Now What?!
And I have as yet heard nothing from Simon to make me regret that he is the new banjo player with Purple. =1 wasn‘t Machine Head, but – wait for it, Max, here it comes! – it thankfully wasn‘t The Rabble Aches On either. SPLAT! sounds so far promising as albums by 80-year-olds go, let’s not get carried away.
Why do I have to choose sides? Or be horrified about a few potentially callous quotes about Steve in a band that has mostly had a terrible track record in treating the dismissals of various members professionally – over a period of nearly 60 years! Purple would have badly needed an HR Department long ago. Compared to the RRHoF debacle, the current US-Iran negotiations or non-negotiations are carefully planned and meticulously executed highlights of international event management, diplomacy and hospitality culture. 🤣
June 25th, 2026 at 22:59@42
“Steve switched into savior mode, IG took solace on the road.”
– oh but Uwe, their deaths were also different, weren’t they?
Steve’s wife died of cancer, took a while as cancer often does.
Whereas Bron died of a heart failure, which normally is quite abrupt.
“In that way his reaction to Bron’s death (and the path leading to it) was very British.”
– he waited a while before he spoke in public about her death, and I guess it is completely normal and a private matter how a person tackles such a serious hardship.
This is what he said about it:
“My darling wife, Bron, died of heart failure on Saturday 19 November, 2022, in Exeter Hospital.
It’s taken some weeks until I could find the words to dignify her publicly.
Publicly, because our life together, (forty. wonderful, happy years), was mainly private.”
So it was an abrupt situation. I’m. Of surprised he needed some time to get used to that awful situation.
However Steve needed time to take care of his wife and I guess he hoped of some cure.
I really don’t think Ian had left Bron alone to fight cancer, do you?
June 26th, 2026 at 05:12Or maybe I’m just a hopeless romantic soul…
Karin, I might be wrong on this but didn’t Bron’s heart give up as an after effect of a long terminal disease? It was only the final chapter as opposed to a sudden heart attack out of the blue? But you might know more than I do. The way he handled gave me the impression that Ian had come to terms with the imminent passing of his wife – he knew what was coming – as opposed to being surprised by it. But I’m not alleging this as fact, I haven’t read Bron’s medical file.
Jon didn’t die of pancreatic cancer cells killing him either, he died in the end of pulmonary embolism – a blood clot in his lungs – which is unfortunately a very common side effect/danger of pancreatic cancer and its treatment. I even believe most pancreatic cancer patients have their life ended like that.
June 26th, 2026 at 12:42Am I the only one who feels uneasy when people start talking about the cause of death of the band members’ relatives? Jon might be one thing, he was a celebrity, but none of the wives discussed here was any kind of celebrity, except to die hard Purple fans.
Just for one second think about how you would feel if someone discussed whether you or your friend grieved the most when your partners died, or compared the partners illness against each other to see which one was worst and deserved the most mourning.
June 26th, 2026 at 12:53@ 47 & 48
Svante:
It isn’t too nosey I think, when we talk about things they themselves have said and merely are quoting them, is it? 😊
I mean, it says a lot about people how they handle all kinds of things in life. And when they don’t mind talking about it, I can’t see the big mistake in talking respectfully about it in here ☺️
Uwe:
June 26th, 2026 at 13:53That I don’t know! I just know what I quoted Ian has said about it.
I get that Svante and I certainly have no intention in wallowing in medical details, but a lot of the postings here deal with how DP members conduct themselves personally in certain situations. It obviously speaks to people or the friends of Steve wouldn‘t be up in arms about a few comments by the two Ians and Don which they deem disrespectful.
As for the mourning theme my view is that everybody grieves in different ways and should be allowed to do just that. I remember seeing Ian Gillan with Purple three days after his mother died. He sang well, but was very withdrawn that night, not one single pun or joke. He was doing grief work and I found it touching.
June 26th, 2026 at 15:08I agree Svante, in today’s world of social media, some think it is ok to delve into other peoples lives and talk about it as if they are talking about the weather etc. Deplorable and utterly disrespectful. What ever happened to privacy and respect. Cheers.
June 26th, 2026 at 22:33I just heard this beautiful interview now.
It was nice to hear nice words for Ritchie and John from the guys.
The consideration on the importance of the history of Montreux for those who were young and could not travel at the time is also beautiful, as for the same reason Made in Japan was also, in reverse, something that had never happened before in Japan.
I didn’t know the anecdote about the surprise keyboard player swap on SOTW between Don & Jon at the time of Bananas on the stage at the Japan!
With Mr. Udo in tears of joy…. for the audience it must have been an incredible and exciting surprise!… how envious!
I’m happy that in the hearts of the Purples the PS Reunion is always something special and unforgettable for them.
finally let’s listen carefully to the Rider because LittleIan had his drum line in mind for 4 years, and this song must be really bomb (also with BigIan’s incredible lyrics!)
June 28th, 2026 at 22:37Happy Birthday LittleIan!!
June 29th, 2026 at 23:43