Adrian Smith, one half of the classic Iron Maiden’s signature twin guitars, is doing interviews promoting a book of memoirs about his other passion — fishing (with a good measure of musical anecdotage thrown in). He recently guested on Blue Fish Radio to discuss the book and his career. Here’s how he describes that crucial moment in his life when he figured out that he doesn’t really want to become a fisherman:

When I was about 14 or 15, I was kind of a clueless, your usual type of teenager and I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life. And I sort of wandered into my older sister’s bedroom to check out her albums, which were normally soul records — The Temptations and [other] Motown [artists]. And then I noticed she had some new records, and one of them was a Deep Purple record called ‘Machine Head’. So I put the album on a little record player, and I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. That was it, really. It sort of changed my life. I thought, ‘Well, I’d love to be out doing that one day.’ The fishing had kind of tapered off. In those days, I couldn’t imagine my heroes, like Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple, and people like that going fishing. So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll give it up and I’ll give all my time to try and make it as a professional musician.’ So that’s what I did.

Adrian’s book is called Monsters Of River & Rock and is out since September via Virgin Books.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Classic Rock magazine has a feature on the brief life of Tommy Bolin. Albeit most of us know the story, it is well researched and well written, with plenty of quotes from the contemporaries.

Having relocated to California, Bolin finally received what he had really wanted all along – the offer of a solo recording deal. But it didn’t stop there. Bolin received a phone call out of the blue, asking if he’d be interested in trying out for the job of guitarist with Deep Purple, which had just been vacated by Ritchie Blackmore.

Ex-Purple bassist Glenn Hughes recalls that Purple drummer Ian Paice “was a big Billy Cobham fan. I think he came up with [Tommy’s name]. He’d heard Spectrum, came over my house and played it for me, and Coverdale also heard it. We were blown away. I’ve always been interested in newer, cutting-edge artists, and I was also always into ‘the look’ as well – and Tommy looked bizarre.”

Bolin agreed to a tryout, which Hughes remembers fondly: “The first day, we were rehearsing at Pirate Sound. We only auditioned two people, Clem Clempson and Tommy. Clem didn’t get the gig, but not because of his ability as a guitar player. It was because to fill Ritchie Blackmore’s boots you have to be a character. When Tommy walked in and I saw him, I shouted across the room: ‘Whatever happens, you’re coming home with me!’ We were just peas in the pod together.”

Read more in louder.com.

Thanks to Gary Poronovich for the info.

David Coverdale talks to the Rhino Podcast. Amidst promoting the latest Whitesnake compilation Love Songs, he mentioned that with the things being what they are, he might not be able to tour again until 2022-ish. Continue Reading »

In the latest installment of Tales From the Bar Paicey reminisces about his stay in Hamburg in 1967 with The Maze and the shenanigans that ensued. Continue Reading »

And here’s Glenn Hughes performing a bass playthrough for the Dead Daisies single Unspoken. Continue Reading »

David Coverdale spoke to Rock Classics Radio on Apple Music Hits, and among more recent things, shed the light on his writing in th Purple days:

It’s the old cliché of they’re all your children. One of the questions I was asked at the management meeting for DEEP PURPLE was do I write. And I could honestly say yes, because I’d been encouraged by local musicians. We never announced them as written by me; we’d say, ‘This is a song by STEPPENWOLF.’

So the first thing I had to do was go down to Ritchie Blackmore’s house and see if we connected. And it was mindblowing to work with this guy who was like a Hendrix. I mean, Hendrix was my muse, and Ritchie had all of these elements there. And I was so enthusiastic, I wrote six lyrics for the song ‘Burn’. I actually used one of the lyrics not many years ago on a different song, which wasn’t used a more bluesy song. But that’s how enthusiastic I was. And ‘Stormbringer’ I wrote for him, ’cause he loved that mix of sci-fi. It really didn’t float my boat — I was much more of an emotional, physical theme, relationship scenario, search for direction…

But, yeah, so probably ‘Burn’. And then ‘Mistreated’, which came from me just making words up on the spot. That’s when my muse was just coming straight in. And I think maybe I flushed out a lyric here or there. But in essence, it was just an improvised lyric, and that song still has legs nearly 50 years later.

Apart from the snippets posted here, we have no idea if and how the rest of the interview can be accessed outside the Apple’s walled garden. Please enlighten us if you know.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info and transcription.

For all your November caroling needs, Blackmore’s Night have released a lyric video from their upcoming EP. Continue Reading »

Don Airey spoke to the Antihero Magazine about his illustrious career, his itch for the country music, the insecurities of greats, the late Gary Moore and the narrow miss with Still Got the Blues, and his bass parts on Judas Priest’s Painkiller, among other things.

ANTIHERO: Of course, you came into the band following the sad demise of the legendary Jon Lord. Given Jon’s legacy, how did you approach it? Particularly in playing his iconic songs live.

Don Airey: I never seemed to have a problem with that side of things. I never heard anybody shouting for Jon, not even on the first tour I did where I stood in on 24-hours’ notice. Obviously, it’s very difficult. On the first gig I said to myself, “If I try to be like Jon, I’ll come a cropper. I’ve just got to be myself.” I’ve really tried to honour his legacy. The Hammond has become very central again to the Deep Purple sound of late. I mean, he was an incredible person, an incredible player, and somebody I looked up to. I counted him as a friend. I’m glad to be carrying the torch.

ANTIHERO: Your influence on the band has increased with each album that you’ve recorded and it’s particularly prominent on Whoosh! I just wondered are the other band members listening to you more these days, or have they embraced your creative input more compared to when you first started?

Don Airey: It’s a question of when you’re a keyboard player in a rock band, there’s not many of us about and you have to keep quite quiet. These guitar players and these singers, they have massive personalities. I took a cue from Ian Paice, he kind of leads the band from behind. If you know what I mean? You’ve got to be a diplomat and it took me a bit to learn how Deep Purple works. It only works one way and to get in their way of thinking takes time. I think of it that I now provide 20%, my full 20% of the input. 25 on a good day.

Don also mentions that he spends his pandemic downtime working on a book of memoirs that he has to deliver to the publisher at the beginning of January.

Read more in the Antihero Magazine.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Ken Hensley — multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, producer, and founder of Uriah Heep — has passed away on November 4. Glenn Hughes pays him a tribute on social media:

So deeply saddened to hear that my long time friend & Brother, for five decades, Ken Hensley @uriahheepofficial ,has passed. An incredible songwriter, guitarist and keyboard player, and more importantly, – a beautiful kind human being. Your music will live on Ken. Honored to have sung a song called ‘Last Dance’ on your solo album, Blood on the Highway. All my Love …
G

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

The second part of Jon Lord’s feature originally published in New Musical Express on March 13, 1971.

Before then he had been proving the perfect interviewee by just talking, making good points, raising sensible arguments and leading me through his career very carefully. I asked him what method the group adopted when it came to recording, expecting some highly involved answer. But it all sounds remarkably simple.
“One or two people come up with ideas for numbers at rehearsals and we work on them and try to get them into some sort of form to take them on to the studio,” Jon replied. “There’s the usual scene of putting backing tracks down first, then solos, then voices if there are any.
“‘Black Night’ just happened when we were mucking about — the riff came, then the song. We leave the number for a few days and come back to it to see if it sounds as good as it did when we left it.

Studio techniques

“Ian Paice and Roger are getting very interested in studio techniques and they know all about the control boards and such things which I don’t, I haven’t the faintest idea. We like to go down to see the tape to disc transfer because that’s where a lot of tapes get messed up, in the cutting room.
“We don`t like to farm the covers out without having some say in it, but having superimposed our faces on Mount Rushmore for the last album we’re running a bit short of ideas. “We did fall into the trap of making an album that didn’t sound anything like we did on stage but Deep Purple In Rock’ was very much as we are on stage and the next one is going to be an extension of that. I’m quite proud of some of our old albums, you look back at them with affection, but some of them make me cringe.”

Read more in Geir Myklebust’s blog. Part 1 is here.