The Fireworks magazine, hailing from the UK, has Deep Purple as the cover story of their issue #108:

The evergreen Deep Purple are our cover stars, providing us with an amazing three-page interview courtesy of the great Ian Gillan – as interviews go, it’s an unmissable one covering album names, band members and producers!

The issue can be ordered through the publisher or via newsstand.co.uk.

Thanks to Benny Holmström for the info.

Lazy Sod from the latest album =1 will be released as a physical single on October 11, 2024 (it was previously available only virtually). The new physical formats include digisleeve CD and 12″ maxi single vinyl. The track will be backed by live versions of Highway Star and Lazy, both recorded at an unspecified date in 2022. Previous physical single Pictures of You was backed by a couple of tracks from Milan 2022.

This release can be pre-ordered through the official store.

Thanks to our editor emeritus Benny Holmström for the info.

Deep Purple live at PNC Bank Arts Center (Holmdel, USA 2024-08-31)

Since I was going to 2 shows, I figured I’d kill 2 birds with one stone. I’ll keep it brief. There was one set list difference, at Holmdel they played Show Me and at Scranton they changed it to When a Blind Man Cries. I guess most of you know that by now. It did not make a difference to me, both were very good. The sound at Scranton was better but the sound at Holmdel is never really great for any band but I expected that. Anyone that’s ever been to the Arts center at Holmdel knows exactly what I mean. Both nights were what you would expect, great songs played by great musicians and Gillan’s voice also was top notch. I know there have recently been some interviews out there but during the meet and greets both Roger and Paicey said after touring is done for this year they will be back in the studio and recording a new album for next year. According to them, so far no tour dates have been booked for next year yet. I asked about a live album maybe before the end of this year from this years touring and they said they have no clue about any. That’s really not up to them. Hopefully things will go as planned. If nothing ever happens again after this year I may have not seen the last Deep Purple concert but I will have been at the last one ever in the US. Let’s hope this continues for as long as possible.
George Martin

review by George Martin

Ritchie Blackmore recalls the story of how Child in Time (née Bombay Calling) came into being. Continue Reading »

Ultimate Guitar has a short interview with Simon McBride, where he explains modifications he made to his sound for it to blend better with Don Airey’s Hammond organ.

Is it tough for a guitar player to “compete” with the sound of a Hammond organ in the band?

Yes, because Don is so frickin’ loud. He keeps saying to me, ‘Am I too loud?’ ‘Yeah!’ Because the Hammond and the guitar are on a similar frequency range, which is one of the things I got ENGL to tweak for me and my amps.

I wanted a bit more of the lower mids. Because that was different to the Hammond. The Hammond, there’s a lot more high mids than the guitar. But they’re all in there. It’s similar. So I just want something that would cut through a bit more.

Continue reading in the Ultimate Guitar

Johnnie Bolin, Tommy’s brother, has passed away on September 5, 2024. He was known as a musician in his own right (played drums for Black Oak Arkansas since the mid-1980s), and an enthusiastic supporter of keeping his brother’s memory alive. A funeral service will be held at 2:00pm Saturday, September 14, 2024, at the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre. In lieu of flowers, his family requests that donations be sent to the Siouxland Community Foundation to help support the Bolin Family Scholarship, given each year to a local musician.

Thanks to Darker Than Blue for the heads-up.

Deep Purple live at Jiffy Lube Live (Bristow, USA 2024-09-07)

I almost didn’t buy tickets as the last time I saw Deep Purple in 2017 it was just OK and going all the way to Bristow for a show is a pain. (Live about 3 hours away)

Plus Steve Morse was out and I wa leery of the new guy and singer Ian Gillan is 79 and the worst part of the last show was his voice…seven years ago. But I broke down and bought the cheapest tickets just out of loyalty and curiosity. And then = 1 came out and the tour was getting rave reviews and I wished I had better tickets.

I packed up the Mrs and we had a nice day trip of winery hopping (Virginia is a hot bed for wineries)

For some reason (probably to make it look full for pics-videos) they comped us better tickets. That was cool. A harbinger of good things to come. Yes was good. Steve Howe still plays well and his band was solid. Definitely a treat if you like the classic 70s Yes catalog.

Deep Purple came on. They’ve upped the production with the video screens….i was sitting right next the to the board so the sound was perfect.

What was really cool was how great they were…I mean just absolutely on fire. I’ve seen them 5 times and this was one of the best shows I’ve seen in person (someone might own dozens of live performance videos but that hardly counts 😇) They play the 4 songs from their new record, that went over great. Bleeding Obvious and Lazy Sod both were particularly good live.

Not sure how Ian Gillan is accomplishing this but suddenly his voice (grading on a bit of a curve as he is 79) was downright amazing. A couple of times the guy next to me shared a “damnnnnnnn” look at some really good vocal moments. They slipped in WABMC and his ending vocals were the best I ever heard. Into the Fire was so good I didn’t need the grading curve. His banter was especially cheeky he even sang a bit of Goodnight Irene on his way off stage. He was great all night and it made my heart happy to see him so joyful.

Simon McBride is fantastic. He adds a heavier tone to the mix and it worked splendidly. Whole band just ripped things up. Roger and little Ian were their usual amazing selves. Roger was up a little higher in the mix and sometimes it’s easy to forget what a good player he is…Don was great as usual. Lots of smiles lots of band interplay…it looked like they were having as much fun as we were. It strikes me every time how they never half ass a song like SOTW they’ve play a million times.

Walking out people were talking and universally just amazed at what we saw. People were just gushing about the performance. And I just smiled widely as my favorite band absolutely crushed.

Same set list (plus WABMC)

See them…it was worth every penny.

review by Chip Tarbutton

Here’s a complete Glenn Hughes’ show in Dallas, TX, from September 6. Continue Reading »

Metal-Rules.com has a review of the Purple gig in Montreal from August 27. It’s well written and may put a smile on your face, even if the author doesn’t quite get all the facts straight.

But to the Purple at hand! And don’t come at me with the “Deep Purple was better when they extended Space Truckin’ to a 25 minute jam that included a feedback-laden Ritchie Blackmore hissyfit, exploding amps, velvet bell bottoms, a damaged TV camera, destroyed guitars, and several lives lost in the process” rhetoric, either. They’re not that band anymore. They’re septuagenarians. And also, they’re in their 70s. Let ‘em play 15 five-minute songs instead of four half-hour wankfests. We want to hear Ian Gillan sing, not watch him play his damn congas all night. And honestly, they haven’t put out a bad record in at least 20 years. Their newest, the abysmally titled =1, is a very fun, energetic slice of heavy blues rock, and it’s clear the boys are mighty proud of the record, because they would wind up playing five tracks from it. Which I thoroughly enjoyed. New guitarist Simon Ferguson has brought a lot of energy to the band, a much different dynamic than when Steve Morse was a member. There’s more bite to Deep Purple now, and a lot less jam-band smoothness.

Read more in Metal-Rules.com.

Meanwhile, MetalTalk.net reviews the gig in Bridgeport, CT, from September 3, with better pictures, but significantly less insight:

I was highly anticipating this show, as the last time I saw Deep Purple was at Giants Stadium in New Jersey in 1988, where Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith were playing when I was 17 years old. Having been formed in 1968 and still performing is an amazing feat.

They kicked off the night with the powerful, make-you-drive-fast song Highway Star. This song brings back memories of cruising the strip at night with my high school friends.

Read more and check out the photo gallery at MetalTalk.net.

Louder Sound presents a lengthy and very well put together feature on the current Deep Purple lineup, arrival of Simon McBride, the new album, and tour. With input from Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, and Simon McBride. The article also sheds some new light on the circumstances of Steve Morse’s departure from the band.

Except Morse himself is no longer a member of Deep Purple. The reason is complicated and emotive, and while his former bandmates are respectful and sensitive about the circumstances, they’re honest too. According to Glover, Morse had never been happy with Purple’s touring schedule.

“Steve really wanted to end the band around the Infinity album: ‘We’re back on top, we’re doing something great, let’s end now with a bang,’” says the bassist. “That didn’t go down too well with me or anybody else, really. First of all, I don’t want to stop. Second of all, going out with a bang is not the way this band does things. [Adopts hokey showman’s voice] ‘The last, final gig of Deep Purple – where’s it gonna be?’”

On July 31, 2022, it was announced that Steve Morse was leaving Deep Purple to concentrate on caring for his wife, who was suffering from stage four cancer. Today, Glover admits that it was the band’s decision to part ways with him.

“It was really tough,” he says. “We talked about it, we discussed it back and forth: ‘What are we going to do?’ We couldn’t take no action, something had to happen. He got [the news that he was being let go] from the management, but I called him and we talked. He was not happy, either. It was hard and it was sad, and after twenty-eight years of making some great music with Steve, it was… for me it was a tough decision. But that’s life sometimes.”

Glover says he’s talked to Morse since he left the band. “I’ve spoken to Steve several times. He was my choice in the band in the first place. There’s a connection between us that the others don’t have. So yeah, it’s difficult. But we talk, and we laugh. He’s a survivor.”

Has [McBride] spoken to Morse about it?

“Only over email. He was lovely at the start – whatever I needed, gear-wise, he said to use his. I spoke to him recently over email when his wife passed away [Janine Morse died in February 2024]. I get on fine with Steve. There’s no sour grapes there. It just is what it is.”

Has he had any grief from the more dug-in factions of Purple’s fan base?

“Steve got grief, Satriani got grief, Tommy Bolin got grief,” he says. “But strangely, when I joined it was more positive than anything. I could see people slagging me off, but the management were going: ‘It’s very minimal – it’s ninety-nine per cent positive.’ You’re always going to get the hard-core Ritchie fans who stopped listening to Deep Purple after he left. But Ritchie hasn’t been in the band for thirty-odd years. Times move on.”

Go read the whole thing. Seriously. There’s a lot more to dig in.