Steve Morse was a featured guest on the latest episode of Guit Cast. The interview opens with promoting the recent Flying Colors’ live DVDSecond Flight: Live at the Z7. Then, this being a guitar podcast, conversation shifted to Steve’s gear (which part would probably only be of interest to those our readers who can tell a tune-o-matic bridge from a lipstick pickup). It wraps up with Steve’s announcement that Purple are going back to the studio in the middle of January to work on a new album with Bob Ezrin once again at the helm.
The interview segment starts at 40:45 mark into the podcast and continues till 1:10:45. Listen here or head over to GuitCast.com if this does not work for any reason:
Darker Than Blue has an article with recollections of one Rob Munton. In the 60s he was a guitar player in a semi-pro English band called Force Five, and in 1966 they happened to open for Neil Christian and the Crusaders. At the time, Ritchie Blackmore was the Crusaders’ guitar player:
The guitarist sounded pretty good as well. They did a second run through number, an instrumental, which was pretty unusual in the mid ‘60’s. The Shadows were definitely not cool any more, but this Dude was playing a piece I recognised as Rimsky Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee. Ritchie had the 335 feed-backing on high gain and he played the whole piece with left hand only, using hammer-ons and pull-offs. His technique was awe inspiring, the fastest playing I had ever seen, and note perfect. I remember feeling very deflated when we went on a few minutes later to do our sound check.
Polish AntyRadio has posted a new an interview with Don Airey. Some of his answers are available as the original audio, while the transcribed bits are in reverse translation and as so are only meant to convey the gist of what he said.
Why did you decide to record performances in Wacken and Japan?
Why there was an 8 year gap between the last two studio albums?
Are Deep Purple already working on a new album?
(Yes. It should be out next year.)
What do you think about Jon Lord’s style?
(Jon had a big influence on me, but not as much as Keith Emerson or Jimmy Smith, when it comes to Hammond. As for synthesizers, my greates influences were Jan Hammer from Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Chick Corea’s “Return To Forever” album.)
How did you start playing rock music? Are you attracted to classical or jazz?
What do you think is the greatest masterpiece you’ve ever done?
Would you ever compose a movie soundtrack?
(I wrote for television and documentaries, but no one ever asked me to write music for a feature film. If could pick from films of the past, for which I would have happily composed something, it would be any movie with Clint Eastwood, or the “Interview” with Gene Hackman.)
Modern pop music is using a lot of keyboards. What’s your attitude to this?
Video recording of the Glenn Hughes’ Q&A ‘storyteller’ session in April 2013 in Australia. Prepare yourself for an hour plus of stories about booze, drugs, more drugs, then even more drugs, and, occasionally, music.
I’ve got a lovely story to tell you – I’ve been coming from Black Country to California Breed and saying to myself earlier this year with my new management company, okay what do we do now? Do we form another band, do we make a record, do we film a documentary or do we go solo? My manager said ‘I think we should go solo’, then within a week we had so many offers coming in around the globe that we are now (which I haven’t really spoke to anyone about it yet), we’re now extending my tour through all of next year. I mean, I haven’t done a cycle of touring like this since Deep Purple. I think for me, if I had my choice right now to make a record or continue touring, I have to say that the appeal for me at this moment in time in my life, working with the people I’m working with, behind the scenes and on stage, is the appropriate time for me to sing and play my music live.
Among other things, he revealed that he’ll be going back to Indonesia to heal the past:
I haven’t spoken about this so I’ll tell you – December 4th 1975 my bodyguard was killed in Jakarta, Indonesia. It’s a well known fact, they’re making a film about it actually. So, on December the 4th this year, forty years after his death, I’m going to play in that city again.
Billy Joe Royal, the original performer of Deep Purple’s first hit single — Hush — has passed away. He unexpectedly died in his sleep yesterday, October 6, at his home in North Carolina. He was 73 years old.
Glenn Hughes has announced a 16 date tour of the United States in March 2016. Just like in the other parts of the world recently, he will be performing in a power trio format with Doug Aldrich on guitar and Pontus Engborg on drums. Supporting him on this tour will be Joanne Shaw Taylor and (once again) Jared James Nichols.
A new promo clip from the upcoming Flying Colors’ Second Flight: Live At The Z7 DVD. This one is in fabulous 2160p resolution (a.k.a. 4K). You’ll have to toggle it fullscreen to see the difference (if you have the equipment to see the difference, that is).
Mask Machine:
Second Flight: Live At The Z7 is due out on November 13, 2015.
Stowe Guide & Magazine has a short feature on the band’s 1980s stay in town in their Summer/Fall 2015 issue. Why this small resort town seemingly in the middle of nowhere, one may ask? The article quotes Roger Glover from a 1985 interview in Boston Globe:
In Stowe, people accepted us as a just of long-haired idiots that rented the house up the road. Stowe is a small town and most people didn’t give a damn who we were.
Colin Hart was interviewed for the occasion, as well as some locals:
They were good guys, not pompous or superior. They were just guys who were in a band, they liked to play soccer, have a drink, and party. We were not allowed to hang out when they worked, but they always said they’d see us for a drink later.
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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride3.jpg)
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