Ian Gillan was interviewed by The Guardian. The interesting tidbits (among the old anecdotes previously seen elsewhere) are that he is in touch with Blackmore:

Ritchie has nothing electronic in his house – no computers, no telephones, nothing like that. So he’s completely unreachable. But we do pass messages, and the atmosphere is quite good.

…and how he spends his time after a show these (pre-pandemic) days:

Bed and a book. I realised some years ago I had to radically change my lifestyle, because you can’t sustain it as you get older. When they stopped smoking in bars, that’s what did it for me, because I enjoyed a cigarette with my drink, just calming down and having a chat after the show with the guys. And then suddenly you couldn’t smoke, and I thought, ‘Good time to bin it, really.’ So I stopped going to the pub and I stopped drinking after the shows. Now I carry a kettle, a little mobile kettle, and I come back and have a cup of tea.

Read more in The Guardian.

Thanks to Hein Bierman for the info.

David Coverdale recently spoke to The Cassius Morris Show podcast, and they’ve discussed how fast the bears move, ostrich eggs, box of tissues, changing wallpaper, revolving doors, baking, common sense of Yorkshiremen, Linda Lovelace, bastard children, and, occasionally, music. Continue Reading »

Joe Bonamassa recently appeared on Guitar magazine live podcast showing several axes from his collection. Among them was the American Flag Les Paul that once belonged to Tommy Bolin.

It’s my job not only as a collector, but as a player to keep the legacy going, and make this guitar make music again. It’d been dormant for almost 44 years when I got it, and it’s a working guitar – just played it the other day on stage at the Ryman [Auditorium in Nashville, TN], in front of cardboard cutouts, and the cutouts loved it.

…And the other cool thing about it is — because Tommy was hanging out with a bunch of Brits, [his guitar tech] David painted this American flag on the pickguard. This is the original pickguard, and I rarely play it live with the original pickguard because this is folk art and this is indelibly linked to the guitar.

Thanks to Jim Collins for the info and to Ultimate Guitar for the transcription.

Paicey’s Drumtribe is back after a brief hiatus with the next installment of Tales from the Bar — the early morning edition. Continue Reading »

Eddie Van Halen passed away on Tuesday, October 6, from complications due to cancer.

Ritchie Blackmore paid tribute to the fellow guitar wizard:

Eddie Van Halen was a brilliant guitarist who started a technique of guitar playing which was emulated by a whole generation of guitarists. He was one of the nicest musicians I ever met in the music business. Very shy and not at all conceited about his ability as a guitar player.

Frank Zappa said [Eddie] reinvented the guitar. I agree.

He will be sadly missed but his brilliant legacy will always be remembered. The ultimate guitar hero.

David Coverdale twitted earlier:

Omg…RIP, Edward…Our Thoughts Are Prayers Are With Your Family, Friends & Fans…What An Incredible Loss…Truly An Astonishing Musician…💔💔💔
Eddie Van Halen Dead at 65 from Cancer https://t.co/oA0P9VrnGp

— David Coverdale (@davidcoverdale) October 6, 2020

Guitarist, producer, composer, and pilot Steve Morse spoke to Nashville’s WZTV FOX 17 and resulting interview was posted online a few days ago. Continue Reading »

Glenn Hughes spoke to his local radio station 95.5 KLOS. Amidst promoting the new Dead Daisies single and album, he sounds to be pretty open to make another album with Black Country Communion as well.

We are gonna do another record. It’s really hard to say when, but I do speak to Joe about this. We’ve been talking about this. We missed the window this year, of course, so we’re looking — I don’t know — 18 months from now. Whatever window opens for us to make that next record, we’re all looking forward to it.

Listen to the chat here (or at omny.fm):

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Metal For Kids! United is a charity project that raises money is support of Peter Pan Association, a voluntary association helping children with cancer and their families since 1994 through free hospitality in Rome, Italy, during treatment at Child Jesus Hospital. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual benefit show has been cancelled and instead 25 metal artists took part in a virtual jam over one of the Purple classics — Burn.

This extended version of Burn was performed by:

Vocals:
Brian O’Connor — Vicious Rumors, Deadlands, Consfearacy
Roberto Tiranti — Labyrinth, Wonderworld, Ken Hensley Live Fire
Rafael Bittencourt — Angra
Ralf Scheepers — Primal Fear, Gamma Ray
Morby — Domine
Tiziano Spigno — Extrema, Kings Of Broadway
Fabio Dessi — Arthemis, Hollow Haze
Gianluca Mastrangelo — De La Muerte

Guitars:
Scott Ian — Anthrax, SOD
Luigi Schiavone — Enrico Ruggeri band, solo artist
Rafael Bittencourt — Angra
Syu — Galneryus
Jens Ludwig — Edguy
Tommy Massara — Extrema
Andy Martongelli — Ellefson, Altitudes & Attitude, Arthemis
Luca Princiotta — DORO
Olaf Thorsen — Labyrinth, Vision Divine
Aldo Lonobile — Secret Sphere, Arkon Angel, Kings Of Broadway
Luca Venturelli — Trick Or Treat
Leonardo Porcheddu — Vivaldi Metal Project
Fabrizio “Faber Troy” Troiano — Timestorm

Bass:
David Ellefson — Megadeth, Ellefson, Altitudes & Attitude, Metal Allegiance

Keyboards:
Alessio Lucatti — Vision Divine, Deathless Legacy
Mistheria — Vivaldi Metal Project, Bruce Dickinson, Rob Rock
Paolo Campitelli — Kaledon, Timestorm, ScreaMachine

Drums:
Thomas “Thomen” Stauch — Blind Guardian, Mentalist, Dawn Of Amber, Serious Black

Donations are accepted via GoFundMe.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

The Music Legends magazine has put out in September a Deep Purple special. The writeup would probably be nothing new to any THS regular, and it’s riddled with wrong dates (California Jam ostensibly took place in 1971, and Gillan was arguing with Blackmore on their US tour of 1974). It is also far from coherent history of the band as it jumps from the departure of Chris Curtis straight to the demise of Mark II. Of a mild interest can be the pictures — particularly, that bongo player the band recruited, as displayed on page 8.

Check it out online, if you wish, but don’t spend your money on it.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Trouser Press was a music magazine published in New York during the late 70s to early 80s. Their entire magazine archive is now available online, and issue 30 from July 1978 has a very interesting interview with Ritchie Blackmore. Where, for once, he is serious for the most part, and provides his thoughts at the time on the contemporary music business, his peers (from Beatles to Fleetwood Mac, spoiler: he’s not fond of either), the creative process in Deep Purple and reasons for leaving the band and forming Rainbow. He is also highly critical of his songwriting, citing that he thinks his improvisational abilities are superb, and he can write riffs, but not very good at “putting a song together”.

Read the interview in Trouser Press #30, pp. 28-30. Bonus: there’s an ad for Long Live Rock’n’Roll on page 13.

Other Purple family mentions in the magazine include:

• Issue 21, page 22: a feature called Heavy Metal: Down but not out and subtitled A survey of survivors gives an overview of Purple spin-off bands as of 1977: IGB, P/A/L, Rainbow, and DC solo effort.
• Issue 34, page 21: Blackmore gets a mention of the list of best 100 guitarists;
• ibid., page 48: a scathing review of the brainchild of record company accounting department — When we rock, we rock, and when we roll, we roll Purple compilation.
• Issue 29, page 46: a short and not terribly favourable review of the just released Long Live Rock’n’Roll.
• Issue 43, page 43: also not terribly favourable review of Down to Earth.
• Issue 63, page 37: mostly favourable (for a change) review of Difficult to Cure.
• Issue 33, page 9: a brief review of a Rainbow gig in New York City, during which the guitar player walked off the stage 20 minutes into the set; refunds were offered.
• Issue 40, page 2: a short note on post-LLRnR Rainbow lineup changes.