Louder Sound has a few quotes from the Classic Rock feature on Turning to Crime.

Steve Morse, talking about covering Ozzy songs with Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake for the Living Loud project:

We tried out some different things with the songs, which Bob really liked, and ended up with something a little bit different. And my God, the floodgates of Hell opened up! Some people absolutely lost their minds, and we received all manner of abuse.

So, having been through that once, I’m prepared for some backlash again. But there‘s always the possibility that some people might like it, I suppose.

Ian Gillan is, as usual, fairly upbeat about the release:

I really love this record. You can always tell if you feel proud of a record if you play it a few times afterwards and really listen to it, which isn’t that case with all the records that I’ve made! But I have played this one, and I’ve played it to my pals, and I played it in a bar, and I’m very happy with it. It’s harking back to why we do what we.

Thanks to Louder Sound for the info.

Tonight (Dec 5, 2021) show of Ian Paice and Neil Murray with Purpendicular in Kehl, Germany, will be the last one for a while. The remaining dates of the December leg have been cancelled with a possibility of further rescheduling. Yes, due to the damn pandemic.

Thanks to Robert Walsh for the info.

Ian Gillan was interviewed by a US radio station KSHE 95. He endured the slightly clueless DJs who are more interested in Smoke and Jesus Christ Superstar than the new Purple album. At least they didn’t call him Gillian. 😉

Thanks to Ultimate Guitar for the heads up.

Louder Sound has excerpts from an interview Ian Gillan did for a book called Minds Behind The Music. The book is a collection of interviews with prominent musicians, where they are asked about everything and anything but the music itself.

What was the happiest day of your life and why?

Nice timing, I’ve been scribbling anecdotes and I’d like to share one which answers this question.

I’m an eight year old boy at a large family gathering in Calne, Wiltshire 1953.

Christmas dinner was memorable. We kids were seated in the parlour adjoining the crowded dining room where every seat was taken by the adults. After a real feast with all the trimmings we lined up again when dessert was delivered ceremonially to the table. The lights were turned off to better see the Christmas pudding soaked with brandy and all aflame that was set down next to a huge bowl of hot custard adorned with a sprig of holly.

Directly above, sellotaped to the ceiling, was a bunch of balloons. I looked up to see the sellotape drying and curling away because of the heat from the flaming pudding. The balloons became detached and floated down as I watched in awe. Nothing could be done as one of the balloons landed directly upon the holly and exploded with a spectacular result. The contents erupted from the bowl and scattered outwards, splattering everyone with custard. Excellent.

The seating arrangements were the same for breakfast on Boxing Day. As we lined up again to have our plates filled, my Uncle Ivor picked up the ketchup and failed to notice that the lid was not screwed on properly when he began to shake the bottle vigorously, setting up a repeat version of the day before. The outcome was identical in every way except red not yellow. Brilliant.

It was the happiest day of my life; never surpassed.

Read more in Louder Sound.

Other people interviewed for the book include Francis Rossi, Suzi Quatro, Don McLean, Kenney Jones, Marcella Detroit, Simon Kirke and many more. Over eighty music stars in total. The book has been published by Wymer and is available through their web store.

Glenn Hughes got himself new favourite bass guitars — he is now playing instruments from a British company called Ashdown. Two models in particular caught his attention: The Low Rider and a P-style The Arc (pictured above).

He first spotted these basses at the 2020 NAMM, and they made their live debut at the Dead Daisies London gig on November 10.

“Glenn instantly fell in love with the look and playability of our Low Rider bass at the show,” the company said in a statement. “After sitting and playing it for quite some time we were asked if it came in gold, and could it have a tortoise shell pick guard?”

Hughes was also on the lookout for a P-style bass, which, – with its single custom wound split humbucker, vintage-style string-through bridge with brass saddles and optional gold finish – fit the description of the Arc.

Thanks to Guitar World for the info.

Casino du Montreux is holding a little celebration this Saturday, December 4, 2021, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of said gambling house burning to the ground, immortalizing itself in the process by means of a certain song. Attractions start at 11am, last all day long, and include a telethon, a vintage fire truck exhibition, firefighting demonstration at the Casino swimming pool, a conference titled Celebrities who made Montreux, fireworks, and live music at the bar.

Thanks to BraveWords for the heads up.

On November 26 the professional Purple tribute band Purpendicular played a gig at La Traverse in Cléon, France. Paicey once again joined them on drums, and the lineup featured another Purple family veteran — Neil Murray on bass. The setlist, quite understandably for the occasion, included several Whitesnake numbers:

1. Highway Star
2. Walking in the Shadow of the Blues
3. Hush
4. Somebody Done It
5. Lazy
6. Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City
7. Black Night
8. Carry On Jon
9. Perfect Strangers
10. Space Truckin’
11. Smoke on the Water
12. Stormbringer
13. Ready an’ Willing

Thanks to MrRogerRocks2 for the clips and to BraveWords for the heads up.

Roger Glover answered some questions from an outfit called Radio Bob! Among the things related to the Turning to Crime and in one form or another already covered elsewhere, he mentioned that he has made a lot of progress on his memoirs (which have been nearly 20 years in the making). The manuscript is now up to 50,000 words, and he secured services of the Illustrated Biography author Chris Charlesworth as his book editor.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

HMP Woodworm Scrubs inmate #185273, one Roger Glover, talked to the Forbes magazine about Turning to Crime.

“Oh Well” and [Huey “Piano” Smith’s] “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu.” Plus some Freddie King in the closing medley. There’s definitely some bluesy moments on this record. Was there a concerted effort to sort of flex that muscle, showcase that element of the band?

RG: The blues is definitely there. Rock and roll is based on it. You can’t get away from it. But, no, we didn’t think of anything like that. We just picked songs that were close to us or that we liked very much. There’s some emotional moments. There’s some moments from our history.

We were all born in the 40s and 50s. So the early part of rock and roll is all a great part of it. And what happened after that, from The Beatles and Stones to west coast music, there was a huge kind of fantastic glut of brilliant songs coming out. And they get to you. Once you hear something like that, they get stuck in you – they’re in your bloodstream.

Things like [Little Feat’s] “Dixie Chicken.” And “Rockin’ Pneumonia.” All of those Love songs. I used to play Love songs before I joined Purple. Very into Love. And there’s a skiffle song there. I know in America it was by someone else, but I had heard it by Lonnie Donegan – “The Battle of New Orleans.” Which is maybe an odd pick for a rock band to play but it’s fun. Why not?

Continue reading in Forbes.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Deep Purple performing 7 And 7 Is live^* on a German TV show Das Erste am Morgen. Continue Reading »