Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash wrote on his band’s facebook today, May 14, 2020:
With great sadness, I have just received news from friend and journalist Dave Ling, that our old friend and the architect of our first 3 albums, including the wonderful Argus album, Derek Lawrence, has passed away. Derek left us yesterday at age 78.
As the original record producer for Deep Purple, Derek was the connector, the catalyst if you will, after my onstage jam with Ritchie Blackmore at the Dunstable Civic Auditoreum. Ritchie made the call to Derek and from there we got to speak with Don Shane at Universal City, which led to the launch of our recording career.
Here is the man himself, sharing anecdotage about the nascent Deep Purple and Jethro Tull:
Thanks to Nigel Young for the heads up and to UKRockHistory for the video.
Last, but not least, Classic Rock magazine has a 6 page Bernie Marsden feature in the April 2020 issue (#274). That’s the one with Rush: The making of Permanent Waves as the cover story. Bernie talks about his career, starting with the dayjob as a hairdresser to placate his parents, his days in UFO, PAL, Whitesnake, etc.
Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page and our editor emeritus Benny Holmström for the heads up.
Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, has passed away from cancer at the age of 87. He was one of the pioneers of Rock’n’Roll music and his influence on many subsequent rock musicians, including our own boys, can not be underestimated.
Right in time for the global quarantine, Paicey has launched his own Youtube channel: Ian Paice Drum Tribe. Without further adieu, straight from the horse’s mouth — what, when and why: Continue Reading »
There are two things Steve Morse can talk about enthusiastically no end — guitars and airplanes. Here is an example of him doing mostly the latter. However, when the conversation slips to music at around the 11 minute mark, he mentions that the whole 2020 Deep Purple tour is in the process of being moved to 2021 and the only gig that took place in 2020 might be that’s it for the band. For the non-fliers, there’s also some mildly amusing anecdotage towards the end of him piloting an ancient Tu-154 while on tour in Russia.
We’re not sure where this is from and we don’t know who did the interview, but here it is — Jon Lord talking about the original performance of Concerto for Group and Orchestra.
Another interview with David Coverdale, in which he talks Slide It In remasters, his health issues, and offers his view of the post-pandemic world.
When I got back from Asia [in March]… I started off in Australia, and the first show was in Melbourne. The second song is ‘Slide It In’, and there’s a big vocal, physical projection. I had this awful sensation of popping, and it was, like, ‘Oh my God! What the hell is that?’ And it was very painful. And I knew it was something physical. So I had to be very careful. And then it was a very, very sparse schedule [for the rest of the tour], so I had plenty of chance to recover. The moment I got back, I saw my doctor. He had discovered a cyst on the vocal cord, which has vanished over time. But he said, ‘You should have these’ — they’re called bilateral inguinal hernias — he said, ‘These are dangerous. We’ve gotta get you in.’ But literally within 12 hours of him calling the surgeon general of Reno, the government closed down anything that wasn’t life-threatening at the hospital. So I’m still unable to work out properly, and I can’t strain myself, which actually works if you’re my age.
I can’t see anything happening this year; I really can’t. Because number one, not only do we have to get rid of this completely and utterly, but all the venues are gonna have to be sprayed down and disinfected, and people are gonna have to be temperature checked… I was reading articles about how it’s gonna be in hotels. And this is past 9/11. 9/11 changed our lives, and all the inconvenience other than the tragedy — but all the inconvenience it caused to those of us who are regular travelers… We’ve gotta be prepared for an entirely new game.
German promoter KBK has announced that all Deep Purple shows organized by them and scheduled for 2020 in the country — and that includes even the three October dates — have been postponed until further notice due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The promoter is currently working on the catch-up dates for which already purchased tickets will be valid. For what it’s worth, they have already rescheduled May 2020 Yes dates for April/May 2021 at the same venues and likewise June 2020 Brian Wilson ones for June 2021.
Update (May 3): German dates scheduled for October (Berlin on the 13th, Stuttgart on the 16th, and Oberhausen on the 17th) are not in fact postponed or cancelled yet, but are listed as being under consideration if they can take place as scheduled.
Thanks to Nigel Young for the info, to anonymous for the graphic chuckle, and to Qbert for October dates clarification.
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