Happy birthday to our favourite bass player! Besides playing bass in a band most of us might have heard of, Roger is a man of many talents — he is a songwriter, producer, an artist, photographer, father, grandfather, and most importantly — just a wonderful human being.

Cheers to the next three quarters!

There is a petition on change.org in support of preserving Malcolm Arnold’s archives, which are apparently slated to be destroyed by a court order:

Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was one of the most important British composers of classical music in the 20th century. From 1979 to 1986 he was in the care of the Court of Protection, and for the remainder of his life the Court of Protection and the Office of the Public Guardian played a significant role in his protection as a vulnerable person. Over this period the court accumulated a considerable archive of records, papers and personal correspondence. This collection is of great importance to researchers, biographers and musicologists. Until recently it had been the stated intention of the Court of Protection that these records would be preserved. However, it has now stated that it intends to destroy the entire collection as it believes that all possible options for preserving the records have been exhausted. We urge the government to intervene to prevent the destruction of the records relating to this significant British artist and to ensure that they are lodged in the National Archives.

Being British citizen or resident does not appear to be a requirement to sign the petition. At the time of this writing, it had 4,905 signatures.

Thanks to Darker than Blue for the heads up.

Ronnie Romero is doing interviews promoting the latest release of his other band Lords of Black Alchemy of Souls Pt. I. During the chat with Italian Linea Rock, he was asked whether Rainbow is still an active band:

Well, we are locked down. We will see. Obviously, nothing’s gonna happen next year. And Ritchie and Candice, they’re really focused on the new Blackmore’s Night record. So probably if everything comes back to normality in the next few years, probably we’ll do some more shows. But at the moment, everything is on standby.

You can watch the interview on youtube.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the quote.

Paicey continues his Tales from the bar with a new batch of tall tales of one nascent band that eventually became known as Deep Purple. Continue Reading »

Fore more of your caroling needs, Blackmore’s Night have released a lyric video for another track from their upcoming Xmas EP Here We Come A-Caroling. Continue Reading »

Geir Myklebust has a new old article reprinted in his blog — a New Musical Express feature on (then) upcoming Fireball that was originally published on March 27, 1971.

Deep Purple – commercial without compromise

By Richard Green

FOR Deep Purple fans the end of an era is approaching. After late April or May, familiar numbers like “Speed King,” “Child In Time” and “Wring That Neck” will almost certainly disappear from the group’s repertoire, to be replaced by new additions. And the new additions will be taken from the highly important project on which Purple is now working – the heir to “Deep Purple In Rock.”
This week is the album’s fortieth consecutive week in the NME Chart and sales are almost as healthy now as they were in the balmy days at the beginning of last summer. “In Rock,” you will remember, is the album that pulled the group together collectively after the individual depressions that were a result of the concerto.
“The next album would have been ready by now but we had to hold it back a bit because of Richie’s operation,” Ian Gillan revealed. “It should be ready for the mixing stage and the art work by mid-April. Five tracks are done and there will be seven or eight included.”
Does Ian see it as an extension on “In Rock”?
“Well, yes, quite simply,” he replied and laughed at the brevity of his answer. Then he went on: “The tracks would have been out of place on `In Rock` but they seem to be a natural extension. The only common ingredient in both albums is earthiness.”
We touched on the subject of Deep Purple’s act which Ian agreed is based on the current album.
“I think audiences now are hearing us as we want them to, they’re seeing and hearing us playing our sort of music,” Ian began. “I used to go and see someone purely because I knew they would be doing certain numbers and I think it is nice for an audience to go and hear certain numbers.
“We could have been doing new numbers three or four months ago but on the British tour we decided to give In Rock a last fling. We’ll probably retain some of the numbers we’re doing now, some seem to follow on more naturally than others. You need to play numbers to give people a lift and others to bring them down to another level. People need to go through a series of ups and downs, they need to go through certain emotions. If you play the same thing all the time people start shuffling round on their backsides.”

Continue reading in Geir’s blog.

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 »