Joe Lynn Turner recently gave an interview on Eddie Trunk’s satellite radio show, and Blabbermouth has big chunks of it transcribed. And what is transcribed is mostly JLT taking pot shots at Blackmore for excluding him from the Rainbow comeback, and insisting that he’s not feeling sour grapes at all.

I thought it was a classless thing to do that Ritchie by announcing in [the French newspaper] Le Parisien [that he was going out and playing RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE songs with a new singer]. I had to laugh. [Ritchie] said [to Le Parisien], ‘[Joe Lynn Turner] doesn’t know it yet.’ And the first thing I said was, ‘Well, I think he’s making a mistake, but he doesn’t know it yet.’ What I mean by that is, Ritchie’s allowed to do whatever he wants to do, and he always does. I have no sour grapes about this, so let that be told. But I think a man of his status, an icon, really deserves a lot more. And what we were trying to put together, and we had a turnkey operation with Live Nation, the biggest festivals of the summer; we had UMG — that’s Universal Music Group, for those out there that don’t know — we had Universal [express an interest in releasing] box sets; we also had Rock Fuel Media, a huge video company, going to put out a DVD and the whole thing. I wanted to do a new album — at least four cuts — and maybe redo some other, older cuts in a new way, sort of update them. So this was a huge package and it was gonna be a big deal. And apparently he didn’t wanna do that. So it was a shock to me that somebody would turn down not only an incredible way to, sort of, go out in style, but also to make a whole bunch of money for himself, because he was set to make quite a bit of money on this one. So I wish him well. Like I said, I’ve got no sour grapes. I’m very busy and very fortunate and blessed, and I thank everyone out there for that love and support all these years that keeps me going. But I really wish he had done it a different way for the fans. I think the fans deserve better than a cover band.

Read more in Blabbermouth.

In the third side of the story that has blown up today, we have the Hall of Fame position as voiced by their president and CEO Joel Peresman. Turns out, he was trying to engineer a reunion of sorts and reached out to both Bruce Payne and Carole Stevens:

Deep Purple’s manager Bruce Payne told me they were unwilling to perform with Ritchie. We’ve had many situations like this in the past and many times these things get worked out for one night, and then they go back to their neutral corners the next day.

He realyed the band’s position to Carole:

I said to her, ‘Maybe you can take the high road and reach out to them and see if something can be worked out as far as the performance goes’.

At which point the statement from Blackmore’s camp appeared in public, which started said tempest.

Peresman also emphasized that definitely nobody has banned Blackmore from attending the ceremony:

[…] There is no way he is banned from the ceremony. That notion we would ever do that is patently untrue. We’ve never banned any inductee. He is invited to come enjoy the evening and accept the award.

And elaborated on their decision to let the current lineup perform:

There are three inductees that have kept on as Deep Purple, including some of the early original members still in the band. It’s just fair that there’s three of them and one of Ritch. We want to have [a performance] that represented Deep Purple’s music.

Surely, ain’t no such thing as bad publicity!

Thanks to Rolling Stone for the info.

A statement from the band (signed by Ian Gillan), undoubtedly in response to Blackmore camp, has appeared on the official site:

With respect to all:

We were faced with a hard decision when we heard about the Hall of Fame inductions. It was shocking to us that Steve Morse and Don Airey – who have been with us for 22 years and 14 years respectively – had been excluded, according to HoF ‘rules’.

Ian G. Ian P. and Roger G. – decided upon the offer of a compromise which has been agreed with the HoF and enables us to turn up on the night.

DP Inductees will accept the awards and then the living breathing Deep Purple will perform. Inevitably, this will mean excluding Ritchie, David and Glen from the live performance, but, given the circumstances, there is no other acceptable option.

It should be stressed that there is no slight intended nor any desire to upset anyone regarding this decision; it is purely a mark of respect to Steve and Don.

I spoke with David Coverdale last week and he expressed complete understanding of the way it was being handled; thanks David you’re a Gent.

Outside of this event there are no circumstances under which a ‘reunion’ could or would take place and so it is unconscionable that our guitarist and keyboard player should be pushed aside after all those years (on the road and six studio albums) of total personal commitment and musical contribution to the band, just to satisfy pressure that has been, in the past, easily resisted.

So, let’s all get up there, shake hands, smile for the cameras and get it done with dignity and respect for all the existing and past members of a very special family.

ig

We are sorry for being too optimistic about dirty laundry for today.

Update (Feb 21): there seems to be different revisions of Gillan’s statement floating around on the ‘net, with one on deeppurple.com dropping the whole “excluding Ritchie, David and Glen from the live performance” sentence, and one on Caramba extending an open invitation to all past members of the band to join for a jam:

In fact, we would love to perform with Ritchie, David, Glen et al on Smoke on the Water in the encore jam.

Why do these revisions differ? — We don’t know. It could be anything. It could be as simple as an oversight of the respective webmasters. Or it could also be that what is published on deeppurple.com reflects consensus within the band, while what is published on Caramba reflects only IG’s personal view of the matter. Or it could be something else entirely. We. Just. Don’t. Know.

Blackmore’s management issued the following statement via his Facebook page:

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame update
Ritchie was honored by the offer of induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was discussing the possibility of attending, until we received correspondence from the President of the Rock Hall of Fame, who said that Bruce Payne, management for the current Deep Purple Touring Band, had said “No”……….!!!!!”
Therefore Ritchie will not be attending the ceremony. He sincerely thanks all the fans that voted for him for their support.

Couple of editorial observations:

1. Blackmore has previously stated in rather no-nonsense terms that he will not be attending no matter what.
2. Assuming both managements are just doing their jobs, i.e. conveying the wishes of their respective clients, what we have is (a) current band does not want to see Ritchie at the ceremony, and (b) Ritchie decided to let the whole world know about that.

And this concludes our airing of the dirty laundry for today (we hope).

Thanks to Georgi Zbirchev and Classic Rock for the info.

Glenn Hughes US tour dates for march this year had to be rescheduled for August / early September due to his slow recovery from a recent double knee replacement surgery. Most of the dates have been successfully moved, with a handful that had to be cancelled. We can only presume that original tickets will be honoured for the rescheduled dates and cancelled ones will be refunded. The tour will now start on August 9th in Annapolis, MD, and finish on September 3 in Los Angeles. Further details in our calendar.

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Ronnie Romero, the singer in the latest incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow, has spoken to Metal Shock Finland about his appointment and first impressions of working with the legend Ritchie is:

We had some jamming sessions and some new ideas for the songs. Ritchie is different from what the people think – it’s very easy because Ritchie is a very very nice guy and he’s a legend, he knew everything about rock and roll. So all you can do is learn about it, his history and the way he sees the scene. He always teaches me, he’s like a mentor for me.

Read more in Metal Shock Finland.

Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.

Graham Bonnet is currently touring UK with his band, and they are posting a tour documentary called All Day and All Night Long as they go along.

Part 1:

Part 2 (including Graham claiming that the infamous story of him sneaking out the fire escape to get a haircut during his Rainbow days is, ahem, slightly exaggerated):

Further installments will be posted to The Metal Voice Youtube channel.

Thanks to the film producer Jimmy Kay for the heads up.

Four fifths of the Mark 2 (Gillan, Glover, Paice, and Jon Lord’s estate) issued an official response to the news that their former management companies DP(O) and HEC went into administration:

1. It has come to our attention that two companies, Deep Purple (Overseas) Ltd (“DPO”) and HEC Enterprises Ltd (“HEC”) have recently gone into administration and that ReSolve Partners Limited (“ReSolve”) have been appointed as administrators for both companies. We believe ReSolve are inviting offers from third parties for the business and assets of the two companies.
2. We, (Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Roger Glover, being continuing members of Deep Purple and Victoria Lord, representing Jon Lord, who was a member of the group until his death) commenced legal proceedings against both DPO and HEC and in particular those proceedings concern the ownership of various Deep Purple sound recording and song copyrights and the income generated thereby.

In short our position is that neither HEC nor DPO can, if it is their intention, dispose of or deal with those copyrights as between themselves and unidentified third parties. Our lawyers are, notwithstanding the two companies going into administration, instructed to progress and enforce our rights in relation to those copyrights (amongst other matters).

This statement is to put you on notice of our claims/ rights/ interests. If further information is required please address your enquiries to our lawyers, Russells (Tel: 02074398692 Ref: SMT) or our royalty managers, The Royalty Consultancy (Tel: 01908 568800 Ref: MC).

We have no expertise to properly interpret legalese, so we’ll refrain from further comments (and probably so should you too).

Thanks to Music Business Worldwide for the info.

In a new episode of Banger TV, David Coverdale is discussing bear population of Yorkshire:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

HEC Enterprises and its successor Deep Purple (Overseas) are essentially bankrupt. Details are pretty scarce as to how and why did this happen, but both companies have been administered since January 19 by a firm called ReSolve Partners Limited with the goal of offering their business assets for sale.

HEC Enterprises and Deep Purple (Overseas) are the companies that managed the band between 1968 and 1976 (everything that happened post-reunion was managed by Thames Talent, who eventually acquired rights to the name Deep Purple circa 1987). Both HEC and DP(O) were owned 50/50 by Tony Edwards and John Coletta, with ownership after their deaths passing to their family members.

Both companies were sued in 2003 by Gillan, Glover, Lord and Paice for unpaid royalties. The resulting settlement didn’t include Blackmore, who made a separate claim that could be worth £710,000 for royalties not paid between 2007 and 2013 alone. So there’s a big hint as to what may have happened.

Thanks to Blabbermouth and Daniel Falaschi for the info.