Purple music is prominently featured in the new installment of the Evil Dead horror comedy franchise — TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead. The first episode theme was Space Truckin’, with Highway Star featured in the second.

For all the wrong reasons. Creator Sam Raimi explains:

When my brother Ivan and I were writing the character, and asking where he’d been for the last 30-35 years, we realized he had not grown. He stopped his development. My brother said the music should reflect the last time he was engaged in society, and living. My brother and editor chose those different pieces to reflect his lack of growth.

By that time frame they might as well use Perfect Strangers next…

A photo documentary by THS editor emeritus Trond J. Strøm Jon Lord in the Nidaros Cathedral is now available as a photo book. The book contains 58 photographs on 46 pages documenting Jon’s rehearsals at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway, before his gig on May 23, 2010. You can preview the material at the author’s website, through which you can also order the book in any of the 4 formats. All profits from the project will be donated to the Norwegian Cancer Society.

Thanks to Trond for the info.

A lengthy interview with Ian Gillan that may or may not have stemmed from his gardening activities. It is also kind of curious due to slightly unorthodox questions and even more unorthodox answers.

How do you deal with line up changes?

How about your songwriting?

Was it harder or easier to start in the music industry when you did?

How do you deal with any anticipation before going on stage?

Can you tell us about your charity projects?

What about any other on going projects?

Deep Purple gig in London in December 2015

Who would you invite to a dinner party and why?

Thanks to Rabbit Attack PR for the info.

A 2002 vintage interview with Roger Glover done by Eric Blair was recently posted on YouTube:

Thanks to Yvonne for the info.

Blackmore’s hard rock band, or the 2016 incarnation of Rainbow (if you prefer), will be comprised of Ronnie Romero on vocals, Jens Johansson on keyboards, David Keith (a.k.a. Troubadour of Aberdeen from Blackmore’s Night) on drums, and Bob ‘Nouveau’ Curiano (a.k.a. Sir Robert of Normandie) on bass.

Given Blackmore’s track record of picking (relatively) unknown vocalists and turning them onto stardom, let’s pause for a moment on Ronnie Romero. He is Chilean born, now living in Spain, where he is involved in several Rainbow, Dio and Queen tribute bands, as well as Lords of Black — a band that plays original music.

With Rainbow tribute band Rising:

Doing Dio’s Rainbow in the Dark in the studio:

Stormbringer cover:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

A third show for Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow has been announced for June 25 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham, UK. And according to his booking agent, the 3 already announced gigs — two in Germany and this one in the UK — will be it for Blackmore’s foray into rock in 2016. Tickets are £52.83 to £58.95 and go on sale this Friday, November 6, at 10:00 am GMT.

Goldmine magazine has interviewed Roger Glover on the occasion of Wacken/Budokan release. A lot has been covered — from differences between German metalheads and Japanese audiences, to getting not tired playing Smoke every night, to producing Judas Priest, to being snubbed by a certain Hall of Fame. Roger also confirmed his view on bootlegs, which is markedly different from some other members of the band:

GM: With Deep Purple performances, no one concert is alike. There is improvisation in every Deep Purple concert. And fans collect these live performances like Deadheads collect Grateful Dead jams. Deep Purple fans seem to be very in tune to the catalog of live performances whether it’s a official releases or bootleg. You once told Goldmine that you had mixed opinions about bootlegs — and other band members themselves had mixed opinions — but even the bootlegs serve a purpose. You made the quote: “When I listened to some of the bootlegs I realized what a dangerous band we were.”

RG: It’s true. When you’re in a band you really don’t know what you are, what you represent to fans. We know what we are between us. And bootlegs in the early days were definitely frowned upon. It was illegal and they didn’t sound that great. But I remember when I was considering reforming Deep Purple for “Perfect Strangers,” whether it was a good idea or not, and that was when I started listening to some older recordings and thinking, “Actually, we were a lot better than I thought we were.” (laughs) I was all for it then. And as soon as we started playing I knew that it was right. We jammed together and it felt so good. We’ve always been a live band. The whole point was live. Back when I first started with the band, you know, we didn’t get played on the radio. We didn’t have any kind of coverage or anything. It was just the audience that was there that night. Actually, nothing much has changed in that respect. Music is a kind of a strange and wonderful art form. You can’t touch it or smell it or see it. The moment you hear it it’s gone. With a museum you can look at things, with books you can read them and so forth but music’s just here and gone. And the only way you can actually capture that is by recording something live, which is not the same experience as being there of course. Being there is everything.

Read more in Goldmine.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

From the new songs that are not for the people who are staying at home, to reverse engineering the Universe — when Big Ian digs, he certainly digs deep. An interview he gave before the concert in Łódź on October 25:

And the new track in question is apparently called Got My Hip Boots On or the whereabouts (it’s a work in progress anyway). Here it is as performed in Ostrava on October 27:

Thanks to RockOtheque and Luke1916 R’N’R for the videos Lutz Reinert for bringing them to your attention.

The new track premiered live this Sunday in Łódź is called Hip Boots. And judging from the setlist, the new guitar instrumental was an impromptu thing thrown in at the last moment in lieu of Contact Lost.

Thanks to Francesco (Deep Purple Italia) for the info.

Glenn Hughes recently spoke to Metal Express Radio on the occasion of his upcoming UK tour. Among other thins, he revealed how the much touted Mark 3 reunion never came to life:

There was talk by David of working with Ritchie Blackmore again but it didn`t quite work out. If it had, would you have been part of that?

I have to be really careful here but I can tell you what you already probably know. About 6 years ago David and I along with Jon Lord were talking about doing something together as Deep Purple Mark III. We were talking about who was going to call Ritchie. Jon said he`d call Ritchie but he couldn`t get through to him. Then Jon got sick and died so it didn`t happen. After Jon died me, David and Ritchie did try to get something together but it never materialised. I can`t say why it didn`t but it just didn`t happen. I can say to you now that I don`t think it`ll ever materialise. David is so busy and I am so busy that I can`t lend my face to something that is not real. Yes, it would be great if Mark III could get together but we`ve missed that opportunity now. I said my goodbyes to Jon Lord at the Albert Hall last year and that is it. I`m still friends with Ian Paice and everybody`s good but I can`t live in that past. It is something that has gone. I only want to wish Ritchie the very best in what he does and long may the legacy of Deep Purple live on.

Read more on Metal Express Radio.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.