Edel will be re-releasing Rapture of the Deep, Now What?! and Live Tapes as a 3CD box set on June 26. This box contains no new material, so perhaps the only redeeming feature is price: under 19 Euros. Yep, you’ll be able to pick up 3 albums on the cheap if you happen to have been in a coma for the last 10 years.

Thanks to Lutz Reinert for the heads up.

Yesterday, June 9, Whitesnake played a gig in Glenn Hughes’ neghbourhood — Beverly Hills, California. You can guess what happened.

And before you start speculating — no, Whitesnake is not making a stop in Long Island on this tour. you-know-whom will be in Munich when Whitesnake plays in Long Island. Still ain’t happening.

Nick Simper has a new CD out. It’s called De La Frog Conspiracy and he recorded it togethre with his long time collaborators, the Austrian band Nasty Habits. The CD contains 11 tracks of original music. These are not Mark 1 covers. It can be ordered by contacting the band through their website.

Thanks to Robert Löhr for the info.

Bob Daisley tells quite a few amusing anecdotes from his days in Rainbow:

Thanks to the Official Deep Purple YouTube channel for the video.

Mike Eriksson has a story in his blog of how back in the day Deep Purple have ended up with one half of a gold record.

Glenn Hughes gave an interview to myRockworld, in which he talked about California Breed demise, his new solo album (which he swears will be ready before the end of this year), his new guitar player, and his collaboration with Billy Ray Cyrus and Bryan Adams, of all people.

Listen to it below, or, if less that perfect phone connection bothers you, Blabbermouth has transcribed highlights from the interview.

Whitesnake live at Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (Santa Rosa, USA 2015-06-02)

(Not sure about my title but oh well!) I must say that the venue was easily the best I have
ever watched a show at. Plush mint condition seats and as the venue website says:
” The design of the theater makes all seats no more than 75 feet/yards? from the stage”.
I used to look at the ‘Made In Europe’ LP cover and wish I could see a show at a venue like
that. This was it! Opening act Diamante was really good to look at but as the guitars were
mixed out it spoiled the sound. Diamante herself is smokin hot and looks like she modeled
herself on Lita Fords ‘Kiss me Deadly’ video. Writhing around in her black catsuit I thought
about running up there and stuffing a dollar bill somewhere. Her vocals were very one
dimensional though, no dynamics. Most memorable was the fact that the bass player actually
fell down 2 or 3 times. She was the least hot and looked very uncomfortable up there. She
tripped and: ‘Oof, BLANG!’ the bass strap came off and the guitar hit the floor along with her!
Then as Diamante introduced her during a small solo spot she tried to jump up to a platform
and fell again! As an opening act it was hard to judge them as the guitars were turned down
but, as the men whistled catcalls, nice to look at!
Setlist for the Snakes:
Burn
Slide It In
Love Ain’t No Stranger
Gypsy
Give Me All Your Love
You Keep On Moving
Forevermore
Guitar solo’s
Mistreated
You Fool No One
Drum solo
Is This Love
Stormbringer
Here I Go Again
Still Of The Night

Going off the setlist for the first show on May 28th, it is clear to see that both Burn album
tracks “Lay Down, Stay Down” and “Soldier Of Fortune” have been dropped. (Time contraints
or fans(?) lack of interest perhaps?) Burn being a great opener as we know from the DP days,
got everyone excited. But then again, I have never seen lukewarm response to a opening
song by pretty much any band as the crowd is just glad the show has started! It became quite
apparent that I was in the minority of ‘fans’ that came to this show tonight as when DP songs
were played, you could tell that 80% of the crowd was not familiar with them. I was in heaven
hearing (probably for the last time live) DP MKIII/IV tracks and my personal faves being ‘Gypsy’
and ‘You Keep On Moving’. I love what Tommy does with the latter song as he really locks into
the groove with heavier than hell quarter notes as opposed to eighth notes and really does
make the song his own. Tommy must weigh 120 pounds soaking wet (with sweat) but hits
his kit SO fucking hard consistently all night long, (being a drummer myself) you have got to
admire his stamina! David held the audiences attention well all night long and sounded really
powerful at this early point of the tour. Hopefully he can keep it up as he will be touring thru
August. I wonder how many more DP songs will be dropped by then? Hopefully none, but if he
plays to standard american audiences who just want to hear ‘Is This Love’ and ‘Here I Go
Again’ (believe me, it’s 80% of the crowd) then us long time Coverdale fan’s will get short
changed setlist wise. I had high hopes for Joel H. when I saw him on ‘That Metal Show” a few
months back as he is quite good. (anybody notice how much he looks like Tommy Bolin? the
hair, his features even). That said, he spent WAY too much time posing and making faces.
I swear he looked like he was having an orgasm. So, Reb Beach to me was the better of the
two, at least on this night. (well he’s been in the band alot longer..8 to 10 years now.)
I personally enjoyed this concert more than the last two I have seen (MSG and DP) mainly
because I have never heard these songs performed live before. How great to have seen MKIII
in their day…David was his usual charming self…(someone recently called him “The Roger
Moore of Rock”!.. not too far off LOL)! My main regret was when I picked up my will call ticket
earlier in the day there were signs everywhere and on the tickets themselves that there were
to be “Absolutely NO cameras or recording devices allowed into the theater”. I, like a dumbass
left my small handheld (but very good) camcorder in the motel room. I could have got some
really good footage! Everyone there was holding up their devices so maybe someone got some
good footage that they will post on YTube. I hope so as the lighting and sound was top notch
all night. I recommend catching the WS Purple Album show wholeheartedly!

review by Scott W.

The Classic Rock magazine is devoting its weekly Thursday Death Match feature to pitting Deep Purple against, well, Deep Purple. That is Mark 2 against Mark 3. And while there’s nothing new, it’s an entertaining read and you get to vote at the end after surrendering another bit of your privacy.

Geoff Barton puts forward a stellar case for the Mk2:

Today’s Death Match is so hopelessly mismatched, it’s the equivalent of Floyd Mayweather taking to the ring for a boxing rout with Pee-wee Herman. One flick of Floyd’s little pinkie and that would be it – poor ol’ Pee-wee splayed out gormlessly on the canvas, nose-broken and comatose, game over.

Even in the category marked ‘implosion’ Deep Purple Mk II win handsomely. Look, how many times did the Mk III line-up implode? Answer: just the once, in 1975, after the ill-judged, so-called “shoeshine music” of the Stormbringer album. Whereas Mk II imploded in 1973 after Who Do We Think We Are, in 1989 after The House Of Blue Light, and in 1993 after The Cattle Grazes On. Hell, we’re 3-1 up already!

Dave Ling retorts for the Mk3:

“Shoeshine music” – that’s what Blackmore famously called it whilst heading disdainfully for the door upon completion of Deep Purple’s 1974 album, Stormbringer, bringing the band’s Mk III line-up came to an ignominious end as he did so.

With just two albums to their name, the line-up comprising The Man In Black, plus frontman David Coverdale, bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes, keyboard player Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice burned brightly and for a short space of time – less than 18 months.

Read more in Classic Rock.

And the big news is that Doug Aldrich is about to acquire another family tree chevron on his sleeve: Glenn Hughes has tapped him as the guitar player for his European tour that starts this September. Swedish drummer Pontus Engborg will round up the trio.

The announcement is accompanied by quotes from Hughes:

My friendship with Doug started when he was playing with my dear friend, Ronnie Dio. Ronnie would always introduce me to his bandmates who were always family.

So, on a fateful night in May 2010, I was playing at a festival in Bologna, Italy. I asked Doug if he would like to join me to play a couple of Deep Purple songs. We went into my dressing room and went over the arrangements of the songs, and we were good to go. I introduced Doug to the stage, and we performed for the audience. It felt natural & full of energy. Doug is a world class guitar player and bona fide Rock Star.

I was impressed with Doug’s demeanor, both on and off the stage, hard-working, kind and loving, all the qualities that one needs to fulfill a fruitful life.

Our friendship continued as Doug joined Whitesnake, and I was happy knowing that my brother David Coverdale, would nurture Doug’s talent, and give him the love to share with ROCK fans globally.

On the fifth anniversary of Ronnie’s passing, I connected with Doug again, and we chose to talk and remember how much we loved and missed him. We both asked what we were doing musically, and then out of the blue I asked him if he would like to come and play with me and do some Shows.

The answer was… I’m in!

We are both very excited to bring the love to ROCK fans, and carry the message that ROCK is alive. For me, it’s time to get back onstage, it’s where I belong… see you soon!

Aldrich adds:

Glenn and I have been friends for years. I met him through the Dio camp as we were both very close to Ronnie.

We had played live together several times, first in Bologna, Italy for the Ultimate Guitar Festival, and most recently at the Jim Marshall 50 Year Memorial Concert at Wembley Arena in London.

I’ve had a huge respect for what he has accomplished, but to play with him was astonishingly cool.

So cut to a few days ago.

I was remembering Ronnie James Dio on the anniversary of his passing and posted on my Facebook Page about that night 5 years earlier in Bologna. I remember Glenn dedicating “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll“, to Ronnie. It was right out of the blue and little did we know RJD would pass the next day.

Glenn and I were both pallbearers at the funeral.

Glenn heard about the Facebook post and gave me a call, also asking if I was up for a little jamming… I said YES for sure I was!!

We both agreed, it was long overdue to do a run of dates together.

Glenn had dates and I signed on!

I’m very excited about it all. If you hear of Glenn in town… GO see him cause I’ll be there too!!

The tour will start on September 15 in Milan, Italy, and continue through October 16, also visiting Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and France.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Another date has been added to the Deep Purple US tour this summer: August 8 at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, KS (near Wichita). The arena is located on the premises of Kansas Star Casino. Ticket presale for the Lucky Star Players Club started today, with on sale to general public on June 6. Quite reasonably priced ranging from $45.20 to $66.20 (but perhaps as with many of these places you’d have to navigate the maze of gambling floors to get in or out).