And we’ll leave you to contemplate your Sol Invictus with this little gem from Finnish hillbillies Steve’n’Seagulls:
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A picture of the band from what appears to be a photo session for the new album has popped up a couple of days ago on the Instagram of a German photographer Ben Wolf.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the band embracing the Elwood Blues aesthetics.

The way we look together presents a uniform image of strength and organization. Don’t say anything. Look mean. No smiling.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page blog for the heads up.

In The Studio with Redbeard celebrated the 35th anniversary of Deep Purple reunion and release of Perfect Strangers by repackaging some contemporary interviews with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover.

Thanks to BraveWords for the heads up.

Dead Daisies are at the studio again for a second round, and an old friend dropped by — Oskar ‘Ossy’ Hoppe, who was a Purple roadie back in the 70s. A few years back trade magazine IQ did a profile on the occasion of Ossy’s 65th birthday (issue 59, May 2015, pp. 34-48), including some anecdotage of him starting in the Purple universe in 1973 as Ian Gillan’s personal assistant, eventually being promoted to the band’s tour manager, then looking after the spinoff bands — Rainbow, PAL, Whitesnake, IGB — before settling back in his native Germany and becoming a successful promoter there. Check it out.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

The Deep Purple Art and History Exhibition that was held in Spring 2018 in Cologne, Germany, came to a conclusion of sorts. The exhibition netted 1500 euros, and while Roger Glover was in the neighbourhood recently, these proceeds were donated to charities. On Roger’s suggestion a children cancer initiative and a homeless initiative in Cologne got 750 euros each. Both cheques list the artists who participated in the exhibition, with Roger personally signing the cheques (nice touch!)

Thanks to Ralf Schmidt for the info.

Ian Gillan, in his own whimsically cryptic way, confirms that the band has finished the new album to be released probably some time in spring 2020 and followed by a tour:

[…] now we gird our lions (yes, I know, but I’m in Africa) for a year of febrile activity into which a rare amount of planning has been invested; obviously not by us.

I sense the grinding of campaign wheels, the oiling of creaky roadies, rumours of itineraries and ripples of creativity in Hamburg. Quite plainly something is in the air; but I have no idea what it could be.

Perhaps, after another brief hibernation, all will become clear, in the spring of 2020.

More of his cryptic whimsies on the official site.

The tour in question keeps materializing from the thin air, with another batch of European dates posted today. These run in late September through late October, and include Sweden, UK, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Netherlands. Tickets go on sale in the coming days. Check our calendar for further details.

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the info.

An outfit called Sonicbond Publishing has a new-ish book in their ‘every album, every song’ series — Deep Purple & Rainbow 1968–1979 – Every album, every song. It came out in June 2019, but slipped completely under our radar. Now there’s even a Czech language edition available. An Amazon review by Short person (yeah, right) reads:

This song-by-song guide is unusual in that it crosses bands, from the inception of Deep Purple mk.1 in 1968, through to Rainbow’s 1979 album Down To Earth. Author Steve Pilkington, a music journalist and rock magazine editor, includes content from actual conversations he has had with members of the bands about incidents and anecdotes recorded in the book, as well as historical facts gleaned from extensive research. Each chapter features a section on the album’s background and a paragraph about the sleeve design, followed by a description and analysis of every track. If there are any known B-sides or other associated material that didn’t make the album cut, these are also given attention, all handled with light-hearted humour, making it an easy read and giving rise to several genuine laugh-out-loud moments! Any book of this nature inevitably includes a fair whack of personal opinion of course, but as it happens I found myself agreeing with most of it. There is an in-depth description of the dramatic background to Smoke On The Water and a stonking section on Highway Star, in which the author has done a good job of capturing the breathless excitement of the track itself. He’s obviously a fan but is candidly honest about the lowlights as well as the highlights. I really enjoyed this book! Go on, you know you want to …

The book is available from your nearest Amazon outlet, or from Book Depository with free worldwide delivery. ISBN: 9781789520026.

Bernie Marsden’s book Where’s My Guitar? that was financed via pledgemusic.com a couple of years ago, has now been released by a “proper” publisher. Publicity blitz ensued, with excerpts being published by GQ and Mirror. The GQ story deals with recording of Come and Get It at the Tittenhurst Park, a stately house and studio at one time owned by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

There were still light switches embossed with “John” and “Yoko”, among a fair few other little touches that had been retained by Ringo Starr, who had not lived much in the house since he bought it in 1973. As I explored, I found what I called the “Imagine” room, which had featured in the video of the song and retained the famous white piano and a jukebox. It looked just as it had on screen, with its lovely bay windows and shutters. I felt a tremendous vibe and I had to pinch myself a couple of times. I came back and sat down at the piano one afternoon, attempting a version of “Let It Be”. Jon Lord walked in to find me ham-fistedly attempting to play the legendary instrument. Finding myself on the end of an appraising stare, I slowly removed my hands from the hallowed keys.

“Get away from that piano, Mr M.”

“Yes, sir, sorry, Mr Lord, sir,” I replied. I knew my place.

You could walk for 40 minutes or more in the gardens, alongside gigantic trees and exotic flowerbeds to a man-made lake – the man being John Lennon. I took out the same boat that you can see John and Yoko in Gimme Some Truth. Moody, who couldn’t swim, refused my offer to row him, even though the water was less than a metre deep. He missed his chance to be my Yoko. There was a two-seater wooden bench by the lake and we used Moody’s penknife to carve “J loves Y” in one of the arms. BBC Radio 1 DJ at the time, Nicky Horne spotted the graffiti when he interviewed David by the lake for Newsbeat and the discovery of John and Yoko’s simple love token was much discussed live on the air. Oops. Micky also half-buried an old coffee mug that he inscribed with “John”, hoping it would be unearthed years hence as an object of great reverence.

Read more at GQ.

The Mirror story focuses on Bernie being recruited circa 1989 to ‘harden up’ Cliff Richard’s sound.

The book is available from your nearest Amazon, with the UK store currently listing it as #1 bestseller in ‘Musical Philosophy & Social Aspects’ and ‘Guitars’ categories, and #5 in (i kid you not) ‘Philosopher Biographies’:

Thanks to Viktor Steinbach and BraveWords for the info.

Glenn Hughes is on the cover of the latest (December 2019/January 2020) issue of British magazine Candy Rock. Inside is a 14-page article based around an interview with the man. BraveWords has quotes of him praising Gary Moore:

I’ve played with the greatest guitar players of them all – people like Tony Iommi, Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Brian May – the list is endless. But for me Gary Moore was the jewel in the crown. To sit next to him on my couch and to see him play with those insane fingers and come up with those insane melodies, well it was out of this world. I’ve sat with a lot of guitar players, but this man spoke to me directly.

What’s a shame is that Gary was close to me in the ’80s when I wasn’t at my best. I worked with him on his Run For Cover album in 1985, but he had to let me go.

Gary was Gary. When he decided he was going to do something then he did it. He was compassionate and sensitive, but at the same time you didn’t want to mess with him. But what I never, ever heard Gary say was, ‘I’m so much better than that guy’ or ‘I’m the best.’

Individual issues of the magazine are available for purchase online.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Raised On Radio youtube channel has a 1993 BBC interview with Ian Gillan discussing his youthful naiveté, his comings and goings, and the Spinal Tap moments, among other things. This was done before the start of the tour, when things were still looking up.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

A Cozy Powell biography is being prepared for publication by Wymer. It is called Dance With The Devil – The Cozy Powell Story and is scheduled for March 20, 2020. The book is authored by Laura Shenton, who has a Masters degree in “Music Since 1900” from Liverpool Hope University.

What: Dance With The Devil – The Cozy Powell Story
When: March 20, 2020
Where: Wymer Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-912782-33-8
Price: £14.99
Format: soft cover, 224 pages, 8 page photo section

The book can be preordered from the publisher.