Deep Purple have won in the Comeback of the Year category at the Golden Gods 2014, an awards show organized by the Revolver magazine. The awards are based on the results of online fan voting, and the comeback in question apparently refers to the excellent last year album Now what?! The band came on top of stiff competition in the face of Black Sabbath (they’ve won Album of the Year instead), Carcass, Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and Suicidal Tendencies.
The awards were presented on April 24 at the Nokia Club in Los Angeles. The band did not attend, opting for a prerecorded video appearance to a largely indifferent crowd:
For his efforts in rebuilding the musical school in Armenia, Ian Gillan has been named Friend of the Armenians 2014 by the Eastern Diocese of Armenian Church in America.
He will be presented with the award at the 112th Diocesan Assembly in New York City. The presentation will be made during the assembly’s gala banquet on Friday evening, May 2, starting at 7 p.m., at Haik and Alice Kavookjian Auditorium of the Diocesan Complex. For information on the banquet, contact Lorraine Marootian at (201) 560-1482.
An author going simply by the name Pozzo has published an account of his personal quest to find Rod Evans. And while it contains many digressions (or maybe because of them), it’s quite an amusing read. Joanna’s call for arms here gets a name check, along with DPAS and Simon.
… I handed over my two pounds and took the album home. My parents’ stereo (old enough to merit the archaism, “gramophone”) was not the greatest sound system in the world, but it was better than nothing and I carefully placed my booty on the turntable, positioned the needle, sat back and listened. The music was heavy, complex, involving but – er – bluesy and there was even a hint of something calypso-like on one track. It was wonderful, sure, but not quite what I expected. Most seriously of all – what was wrong with Ian Gillan? There were two singers, apparently, one screechy, one souly, but neither sounding remotely like the guy I’d heard on “24 Carat Purple”. It was only then that I checked the names of the band’s membership. There was no Ian Gillan, no Roger Glover, but someone called Glenn Hughes (never heard of him!) and David Coverdale of whom I had heard, but only as the lead singer of the then-currently-popular Whitesnake.
This was an epiphany. It was the realisation that there had not merely been one Deep Purple, but many, different incarnations of the band – or different “Marks” as they preferred to call them – each with their own distinctive sound. It was like the moment I realised that there had been more than one Doctor Who. I discovered that “Burn” was by Mark III and that Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had belonged to Mark II. This begged a question: what had Mark I been like? My investigations began…
Read the whole book at autonomy.com. Word of caution: while not quite a novel in size, at 25,000+ words it’s a lengthy read. But it’s worth it. If you’re a regular on our site, you’ll probably find yourself chuckling once or twice, recognizing certain feelings and trepidations.
California Breed’s record company apparently decided to inundate us with hype about their first album by posting a new promo clip every week. This one is supposed to be behind the scenes from recording, while in reality is just talking heads.
Subsequent episodes will premiere every Tuesday until the album is released on may 20 on Guitar World
We have a whole bunch of tour dates for The Good Old Boys, the band that features Nick Simper on bass and Pete Parks (of Fandango and Warhorse fame) on guitar. The lineup also includes Alan Barratt singing, Simon Bishop on guitar, and Richard Hudson on drums. They continue to gig quite extensively in local clubs and pubs around London. These dates come directly from the band, and are confirmed to the best of our knowledge. That being said, due to the low key nature of the band it is always a good idea to double check with the venue before heading out.
Deep Purple with friends and family perform an extended version of Hush at the conclusion of Celebrating Jon Lord event at the Royal Albert Hall on April 4:
Roger Glover posted this on the band’s official Facebook page. As Facebook does not seem to provide permalinks, we take the liberty to reproduce it in full here:
A whirlwind two weeks; from great gigs in Luxembourg to Antwerp to the emotion, tears of joy and sadness at London’s Royal Albert Hall and the next morning, as if anticipating the rising sun, flying to Kleine Scheidegg at the crack of dawn to perform before a partying crowd up a snowy Swiss mountainside.
Then suddenly, the following morning, we were on a thirteen hour flight to Japan – time to catch a little sleep. It doesn’t always work out that way, I didn’t sleep much on the plane; the events of the last few days buzzing round my head, especially the Albert Hall Concert for Jon. It was a most memorable evening, meeting tons of old friends, making new ones, and seeing great performances… a fitting tribute to a great man, whose music, especially the song Pictured Within, never fails to touch my soul.
Fighting jet-lag, or maybe life-lag, or probably both, we started the Japanese dates in Nagoya. We were moved to see the officially seated crowd stand for the entire show and give us a lovely welcome. A wonderful start to the tour. Osaka was just the same. We’re on a roll.
A day off in Tokyo. Our dear friend and promoter, the legendary Mr. Udo, was his usual gracious self, a true gentleman. After a delicious dinner with him, some of us joined the crew at the Hard Rock to celebrate Mickey Lee Soule’s retirement. He’s been my bass tech for many years but I’ve known him since working with Elf (Ronnie and Mickey Lee wrote all the songs) in 1972, when we all lived on a different planet.
So to the final concert at the Budokan, a special place. The audience knocked me out. o stand on stage, to see and feel the electricity coming from the crowd, is a rare privilege. All three concerts were superb and I left Japan flying higher than the plane. The Tokyo concert was filmed and will be released one day, no date yet.
And now what, you might ask? At this point in life I don’t want to wait another eight years before the next album, none of us do. The good experience that came from the recording of NW?! is something that has whetted our appetites for doing another one with Bob Ezrin. We will have a writing/jamming session very soon.
Big thanks go out to Udo Artists, earMUSIC, JVC, our Japanese record company, and all the people that came to our shows.
David Baranowski, a.k.a. Bard David, keyboard player for Blackmores’s Night for some 11 years, was interviewed by his local Connecticut e-paper. This provides a rare glimpse of the band’s inner workings from a perspective slightly different from the titular couple.
Q: How did you end up playing with Blackmore?
A: There was a guy that was touring with them as a violinist that I went to college with and the keyboard player before me left for some reason or another, and they usually replace the members by word of mouth. So this guy suggested me, which was surprising because I didn’t really know him that well. I went down and did three auditions and then that was it, we went on tour.
Q: How do you mix the different lifestyles of church organist and rock ‘n’ roll musician?
A: Very carefully. As rock tours go, it fits into my schedule pretty well because it’s mostly summertime, which is really a down season for church.
Deep Purple live at Nippon Budokan (Tokyo, Japan 2014-04-12)
After more than 40 years of worshipping all things Purple, I finally made my pilgrimage to The Budokan in Tokyo to hear Deep Purple play at this storied arena, the place where my favourite album of all time, Made in Japan, was created.
I got to Tokyo last Monday to learn that all seats were already sold out….I was lucky enough just to pick up one of the few remaining standing room only slots. And yes the place was full, jam packed. Capacity is normally 14,000+ without a stage, with the stage it is about 10,000. So there were about 10,000 souls there to witness Purple bring its Now What?! show to Tokyo.
First song was “Apres Vous”, and Ian Gillan wearing a mock tuxedo was in fine voice. Next up was “Into the Fire” with some good screams by Ian. Roger led the riff into a powerful “Hard Lovin’ Man”. Then came “Strange Kind of Woman”. Gillan’s voice is strong and clear in the lower range and playing to those strengths, did a great jazz scat during the call-and-response with Steve Morse.
Gillan then said “that was the end of the jazz part of the show” and with that the band launched into “Vincent Price”. A very nice guitar solo by Steve in the same vein as on the album but with a bit more edge and improvisation. And a very good scream at the end of it all by Ian G.
Steve then played “Contact Lost” and segued into a nice solo which when joined by Don Airey morphed into “Uncommon Man”. Very nice work by Steve and Don, they have certainly put their own personal stamp on this band. At the end of that song Steve carried into another blistering solo which led into “Well Dressed Guitar”.
More strong voice and good screams by Big Ian on “The Mule”, and a very energetic drum solo by Little Ian Paice. The man is in his mid 60’s but is still able to bash those drums harder and faster than many men half his age.
Ian Gillan introduced the next song as “dedicated to our beloved Jon Lord” and the band started into “Above and Beyond” with a very nice key solo by Don, which then eased seamlessly into “Lazy”. Next up was “Hell to Pay” with another wonderful keyboard solo by Don which then segued into “Perfect Strangers”.
Next up were the old familiar chestnuts of “Space Truckin” and the finale “Smoke on the Water”. The band came out for one encore which included “Hush”, a fine bass solo by Roger, and the closer “Black Night”.
A very fine show by a band that is tight to the ‘n’th degree and very polished. Almost a third of their show encompassed tunes from Now What?! This band in not a nostalgia act, it is a living breathing vital entity that has a lot more to bring us in future. Long Live Purple!
Gary H. In Tokyo, Japan – April 13th, 2014
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing