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Never any animosity at all
In an interview done by Daniele Purrone for the Italian magazine Rock Hard, Don Airey addresses rumours originating from this site’s comment section that he didn’t get along with Steve Morse.
I’ve read that recently, and I think it comes out of nowhere from somebody on The Highway Star. It’s just rubbish. No, Steve and I always got on very well. I must say, I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a guitarist that had more ideas than Steve. They just seemed to pour out of him. And that was a bit of a problem because you’d just get one sort of, and then he got, “Hang on, what about this?” If there was a conflict, it was just me trying to, “Hey, slow down, slow down. Let’s sort this bit out first.” “Oh, okay.” But no, there was never any animosity at all. And Steve’s one of the friendliest, nicest people you’ll ever meet in your life, you know?
Thanks to Daniele Purrone.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Thanks to Don Airey and thanks to Daniele, who I read about 20/30 years ago, for giving us the confirmation that there are people who make mental movies about alleged feuds within the DP, when in fact they are all suppositions and the truth is much simpler than one believes: when there are no stimuli and no one looks in the same direction there is no more love, and it is better to divorce.
July 17th, 2026 at 18:13I am so happy!
Thank you ever so much 😃
Now can we put a sock in this 😄😁
And I’m a bit nervous knowing that someone like him is reading in here 😱
July 17th, 2026 at 18:44Purple might want to bring Morse back and have two guitarists. I think it could work. Maybe not. But yeah, Don Airey and Steve Morse (obviously) are two of the nicest guys on the planet. I think everyone knows that.
July 17th, 2026 at 23:12I don’t really think that there is really such a thing as “not getting along with Don” or “Don not getting along with you”. He has a track record of being harmonious in band situations. The same is true of Steve.
That doesn’t mean you cannot have differing musical tastes, preferences and visions of what is right for the band.
July 18th, 2026 at 00:15Yes, someone on here was saying that. Wonderful to hear.
July 18th, 2026 at 02:08@3
July 18th, 2026 at 10:06I think you might be on to something. I certainly don’t have a problem with the second guitar on Diablo, and Lord, Marsden and Moody used to work pretty darn well! (It’ll never happen though.)
Lord having to fit in with Whitesnake came at a price. He himself has said that his role with DP was being the oil to Ritchie’s vinegar, while in WS it was “creating a halo for the two guitars to shine”.
And while Jon and John (Sykes) probably didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things musically, Jon did apparently find his last few gigs with WS as a five-piece (after Mel Galley broke his arm in drunken stupor) sonically liberating.
Sonic space is finite, a second lead guitarist – especially one as busy as Steve – would automatically force Don to reduce his role which is key (no pun intended) in Mk IX.
July 18th, 2026 at 14:23I see absolutely no need for a second guitar player in DP – and I don’t think SM and SMcB were a perfect fit …
July 18th, 2026 at 14:50DP never had room for another guitar slinger because the keyboards take a lit of space and are dominant as a second lead instrument. Simon himself has said so when asked by Hard Rock magazine about the idea (question inspired by that Urban solo). Plus: Why pay one more?
With WS it was a whole different thing. JL.was never very dominant in the band – plus Marsden & Moody were non ego teamplayers – plus DC wanted something with twin guitars like in Thin Lizzy or Wishbone Ash. As far as I am.concerned DP is the last band where a second giitarist would make any sense.
It would be great to have Steve for a guest appearance on one of the upcoming US Shows
July 18th, 2026 at 16:01Agree with Uwe. After Steve revealed that he thought two members of DP were glad to see him go, and members veered from the original script regarding Morse’s departure from the band, a few of us — my hand is raised — did some guessing and posted our thoughts on this website. I believe Don was one of my choices, along with Gillan. I’ve found Gillan’s recent comments to be dismissive of Steve so I’m all but certain he’s one of the Purps to whom Steve was referring. I guessed Don not because I thought there was any animosity between Don and Steve — they both have reputations of being team players and good blokes — but because Don, unlike Steve, probably wasn’t ready for Purple to soon call it a day. He wasn’t in Mark II and surely knows he’d make a lot more dough as a member of DP rather than the Don Airey Band. Knowing that his solo band’s guitarist was a viable alternative might have swayed him as well. Who knows? It’s just a guess. Anyway, Don, if you’re reading this, thanks for playing a big role in keeping Deep Purple relevant for more than two decades. It’s clear you’ve contributed quite a bit to the songwriting and you are a superb musician.
As for the new LP, I find it about as exciting as =1: not bad but not as consistently interesting as the Morse-era LPs. There are a handful of standout tracks — Arrogant Boy, The Rider, The Beating of Wings, Guilt Trippin’ and Splat! — and a bunch of fillers. I wish they had expanded the good ideas into longer pieces and had fewer fillers. On a positive note, the standout tracks are more musically interesting than =1’s best tracks.
July 18th, 2026 at 20:43I don’t have any inside info, but I guess there’s never been a problem with Steve and the other members of the band. Maybe there was a sort of urge or longing for getting back to more rock inspired material and thinking Steve wasn’t the man to get them there. As we all know, Steve left (for various reasons I would take it), and apart from his wife being tragically ill, the band was in waiting, and perhaps Simon had them thinking there’s a way out of the noose? Only speculating here…
July 18th, 2026 at 23:27@9
I still have that dream: Steve playing with DP „sometimes I feel like screaming“in Clearwater or Miami to show him the proper farewell that he has more than deserved!
One can always dream…
And I still regret not having asked Don about the difference between playing (and writing songs) with Steve and playing with Simon when I was so very lucky to meet him in 2022 in Stuttgart – I was too nervous.
July 19th, 2026 at 12:45I‘v always said this, compared to what goes on in other bands DP have been a herd of good-natured sheep in the last three decades.
Steve was and is a master guitarist, but that is not a guarantee against creative juices drying up after nearly thirty years. Nor does superior ability on an instrument automatically make you the better band member compared to someone who is not quite as technically advanced as you (or Billy Cobham and not Charlie Watts would have been drumming for the Stones).
I personally think that as regards creation of new music Don is meanwhile the central source of DP and that is perfectly alright by me. He‘s a gifted keyboarder, bubbles with ideas, yet doesn‘t suppress other people‘s creativity. DP are as lucky to have him as he is happy to play there. Relatively late in his career as a musician he has finally found a permanent home. He is good for the band and the band is good for him.
July 19th, 2026 at 13:40@10. I felt it was possibly the two Ian’s, the language Steve used sounded like something they might say. I think Gillan may have said that some of Steve’s writing didn’t sound like Purple and Paicey might have said it was ‘fancy crap’ (during the interviews on the infamous Birmingham ’93 gig Paicey talked about ‘rap crap,’ so perhaps he was the other to comment on Steve’s material). I do remember Steve saying that although he wasn’t the band’s first guitarist he would like to be their last, and a shame circumstances conspired to prevent that. I would love Steve to join the band on stage for a few numbers when they tour The States. Be lovely for the fans and I can’t imagine Simon would particularly mind getting to play with Steve. Fingers crossed.
July 19th, 2026 at 14:17Yes, a guest appearance of SM on stage would be nice.
July 19th, 2026 at 21:38I‘m pretty sure a guest appearance of Steve will happen in the not so distant future. And why not, it will be a good closure.
July 19th, 2026 at 23:01I can imagine Steve joining them somewhere in Florida in 3 weeks or so and it would be a dream to hear Speed King, but this time dueled by two guitarists in the middle. Now that would be emotional and quite big.
July 20th, 2026 at 10:25Blackmore, Satch, Steve and Simon could play a version of “Wring Those (Guitar) Necks”!
July 21st, 2026 at 01:07I really love Steve as a guitarist and I think he was a great fit for Purple. Of course I’ll always prefer Ritchie, but Steve is pretty close to c0-king in my book. I’m not sure why, but the Ezrin albums always sounded awkward to me. There are great songs for sure, but sonically, it just wasn’t right to me ears, so when Steve left, I thought it wasn’t necessarily a bad outcome, but I was still bummed. Steve was in the band for a long time, and we should celebrate that and accept that band members may need a change of personnel to stay fresh. Whether Ian or Don or Ian wanted to move on is not my business as a fan, at least I don’t see it that way. I was sad to see Steve go, but I’m very glad he’s still making music. I would love one more Dregs album. I would also love for Roger to produce one more DP album.
July 21st, 2026 at 19:33There are three obvious facts we should take into consideration regarding what Don said:
July 27th, 2026 at 18:24– the saddest one – as Roger admitted in Classic Rock interview for =1, Steve did not leave, he was forced to go against his wish. It was decision of other guys. And actually – it was done in pretty awful way to be honest. Steve was told by band management and after telling him, Roger was the one who called him AFTER he was forced to leave.
– its Steve who openly said that two band members were glad he was forced to go. Its obvious it led to speculation and discussion.
– current interviews with band members are interesting to… sometimes you could feel a little weird statement about Simon bringing a new energy etc…. and now, actually Don´s statement about Steve being most creative guitar player he ever worked with can be interpreted various ways…. Dont forget – according to Don, Ian Gillan made specific request for upcoming tour regarding setlist, he wants to play couple of Steve´s era songs in specific part of set as tribute to Steve. Roger basically confirmed this, when he said he is going to suggest rarely or never played songs from Purpendicular or Abandon for upcoming tour.
Anyone reading what Steve said over the years leading up to him leaving the band to look after his wife, will be aware that he felt Purple toured too much. Steve’s personality and stellar talent was an incredible asset to the band.
Steve helped to transformed Purple’s output, steering it away from, for me what was becoming a bit formulaic with Ritchie,
Ritchie, understandably and lest we forget, had had it with rock music, possibly a few years before he actually left. Why, well he certainly had done it all .. and more than once. He appeared to not be enjoying the role of 🎩 🎸 “riff finder general” .. Retreading the past? I love his acoustic playing/music.
He was unhappy and so were the band.
One would need to be a “Purple whisperer” 🐎 to an extent but I’m picking up from what the band have said latterly that they felt a need to get back to a more straight ahead rock and roll rooted feel to the music and when Simon stepped in in Steve’s absence, it just felt right for them as players.
My own feeling is that that incarnation of Purple had run its course and I did wonder if Steve wanted to play more of his own music with his band/other musicians.
It seems things have worked out well for both Steve and Purple and in the scheme of things also for Ritchie and Simon.
As a result we have possibly the best most varied back catalogue of any hard rock band. I’ve really enjoyed the new album . It gets 5 stars from me. Something I’m sure they are going to build on next year some time .. They are on a .. rockin’ .. ROLL.
August 5th, 2026 at 11:42riff finder general
😂
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcyW6S3cAfYQyhGoj_lpBZVTwFUww_NhKi6Kgwe_Q01B5q-vZM8mfSRKQ&s=10
I agree, both Ritchie and Steve were essentially done with their respective roles in DP. Honorable discharge in both cases, they had done enough.
August 6th, 2026 at 01:49