TonePrints created by Steve Morse and Roger Glover are now available from TC Electronics. TonePrint technology is essentially a set of presets stored in a computer file that one can upload to the company’s effect boxes via USB to recreate particular sound. Toneprint sounds can be downloaded from TC Electronics’ web site for free, you just need to buy their hardware to use them.

Steve contributed three different TonePrints: his own take on echo (for Flashback Delay and the Flashback X4 Delay), and Beautiful Reverb and Spring for Hall of Fame Reverb pedal.

Steve having too much fun with the gadgets:

Roger’s contribution are both reverb TonePrints or the Hall of Fame pedal: Spare Room inspired by the sound of Jaco Pastorius, and Fun at Home, designed to give users the sound of a big concert hall in home or studio environment.

Roger creating Fun at Home:

Thanks to Noisecreep for the info.

Earlier this month MyGlobalMind magazine spoke to ian Gillan. The interview now appears online.

What has been the biggest lesson that being in the rock and roll business for so long has taught you?

Well one of the most important things, that I enjoy because we love performing live, is the touring and the travelling. I was just talking about different cultures, and the effect that has had. We have been lucky people. I remember absorbing all these things and thinking “my god we don’t do this back home like this..”These people believe in doing it that way and this way. You learn very quickly first of all to try not to offend people by behaving in a crass way. Just because you don’t know about it ,is no excuse. There are a lot of things that are offensive to other people that we take for granted., that is just normal behavior. You learn about the more subtle things too, like humility and respect and those sort of things. Just a quick example, you know what people think about bowing. I have heard people saying I would not bow to any man. I have heard Americans say that and I have heard English people say that. Yet when you understand what bowing means to Japanese people. It’s not a question of subservience, or anything to do with that its all about personal dignity and self respect. The fact that you bow to somebody develops your own sense of humility. I have found that to be an absolutely fantastic quality to develop. If you put humility into your life it takes away so many of the other things, I have been struggling with through meditation and other things. I used to be a pretty wild kid before I got into music, and I realized that I could not continue that way if I wanted to be a musician. My early attempts to break free from my rage and my anger was meditation and that worked to a certain extent. When I saw a lot of these other cultures, I realized what humility could bring to you in terms of equilibrium and balance. It was just a fantastic thing. I would say travel and absorbing other cultures. That is just one in a long list of influences that has affected me over my life. I would say that the travel has been the single most important aspect of rock and roll life.

Read more in MyGlobalMind.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Not to be outdone by boutique labels, Warner will be releasing in the US its own box set, via Rhino records. The 10-CD set is titled The Complete Albums: 1970-1976 and contains all studio albums from In Rock to Come Taste the Band, plus Concerto for Group and Orchestra, Made in Japan and Made in Europe. There is no word on bonus tracks (if any) or the (re)mastering job, which makes us believe it is safe to assume that this is just a repackaging job. The box set is due on October 8.

Thanks to Music Tap and BraveWords for the info.

A couple of vintage interviews with Ian Gillan.

Mike Eriksson has posted in his blog an interview he did with Big Ian during the Born Again tour in August 1983. They talked about dissolution of Gillan band, how he ended up in Black Sabbath, and the then circulating rumours of a Deep Purple reunion:

There were rumours of a Deep Purple reunion this spring…

– Well, I actually went over to America this January to meet with Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover for talks about Deep Purple. Jon Lord and Ian Paice were ready to do it. But somebody changed their mind so it fell through. I thought it could happen for a little while. As the situation is today it really can´t happen for the obvious reasons, but you never know.

Read more in the Trinkelbonker.

Official DP Youtube channel posted an interview for German TV done some time during the Naked Thunder tour (sadly, his answers are obscured by German voiceover):

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

P.S. We are being told that for one bizzare reason or another, the latter video is being blocked in Germany. Learn how to deal with such nonsense here.

Karolina Karbownik and Jakub Michalski did an interview with Ian Gillan for the Polish magazine Rock Axxess:

Your last album, Now What?!, is really great, I love it. However, it seems like you were not in a hurry to record new songs.

It’s true. We weren’t in a hurry at all. In fact, we would meet in a bar from time to time and somebody would say, “what about the new album?” And somebody else would say, “well, yeah, maybe next year”. That was the way we looked at it because we were having such a great time on the road and the main thing for us is the live performance. And then we had a meeting with Bob Ezrin, our producer. It was quite fascinating what came out of that. I think we remembered a lot of things we might have forgotten, particularly that Deep Purple is primarily an instrumental band. We make music and put the songs on top. I know that sounds strange but I’ve never done that with anyone before – other writers or other bands. And another thing is, he said: “Don’t worry about the length of the stuff, don’t think about it. Let the ideas develop naturally and do what you do on stage every night.” So that really got us interested and of course we went into the studio with an added bonus of Bob being not only a great music producer, but also a guy that’s been around for a long time, so we respect his wisdom and judgment, and he became almost a sixth member of the band. So yeah, it was a long time but it was worth waiting and we enjoyed it.

The interview appears in Rock Axxess issue 15-16, which you can read online here and here (try the other link if one does not work for you) or download a PDF file (67.3 MB). The Polish version of the interview appears starting on page 6 with English one on page 15.

Thanks to Jakub Michalski for the info.

Audio Fidelity will be re-releasing the four remastered Mark II studio albums as a box set this December. These are not the anniversary remasters, but the ones done by Steve Hoffman exclusively for the label. They contain no bonus tracks, just the same material as the original albums. The target audience are audiophiles not satisfied with the audio quality of the anniversary remasters, completis collectors, and the lovers of shiny things 😉

The four albums have already been previously released by Audio Fidelity separately as limited editions, and fetch a pretty penny at secondary markets. Priced at $130, this is a reasonable opportunity to pick up all four of their remasters for those who don’t have them.

Thanks to Vladimir Drybushchak for the info.

Back in 1998 Glenn Hughes appeared as a guest vocalist at three shows of the Marc Bonilla & Friends project, which also featured guest appearances of Keith Emerson. Now Varese Records is releasing a double CD set from these concerts billed as Keith Emerson, Glenn Hughes, & Marc Bonilla — The Boys Club: Live From California, The Complete Concert, which is due on September 3.

Track list

Disc 1

1. Afterburner
2. Long Journey Home
3. Hoedown
4. Whiter Shade Of Pale *
5. Cover Me *
6. Close To Home
7. Creole Dance
8. Honky Tonk Train Blues
9. White Noise
10. Nutrocker

Disc 2

1. Tarkus
2. Fanfare For The Common Man / Rondo
3. Dreams *
4. Middle Of A Dream *

Keith Emerson: keyboards
Glenn Hughes: vocals (*)
Marc Bonilla: guitar

Mark Bonilla’s band:
Mick Mahan: bass
Joe Travers: drums
Ed Roth: keyboards
Mike Wallace: guitar

Bob Birch: bass

The press release does not mention when exactly this was recorded, but Glenn’s tourography states that the three concerts in question (albeit with none of the setlists matching the tracklisting exactly) took place on:

• January 17, 1998 — Billboard Live, West Hollywood, CA
• May 14, 1998 — Palookaville, Santa Cruz, CA
• May 15, 1998 — Maritime Hall, San Francisco, CA

Most likely, this is the West Hollywood performance on January 17 (sans Black Box, Town Without Pity and Rock Candy with Ronnie Montrose guesting) as it was the only one where Middle Of A Dream was performed.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

The Sunflower Jam is releasing a double DVD with highlights of the 2011 and 2012 events. The DVD will be released on September 16 with preorders open starting August 20.

Track list

Disc 1 — The Sunflower Superjam 2012

1. Ain’t No Telling – The Temperance Movement
2. Behind Blue Eyes – Bruce Dickinson
3. Black Night – Bruce Dickinson
4. Elected – Alice Cooper
5. Emerald – Bruce Dickinson
6. I Want To Know What Love Is – Alfie Boe
7. Lessons In Love – Mark King
8. Pictured Within – Steve Balsamo
9. Rock n’ Roll – Alfie Boe
10. Sails of Charon – Uli Jon Roth
11. School’s Out – Alice Cooper
12. Since You’ve Been Gone – Brian May & Kerry Ellis
13. Smoke On The Water – Ensemble
14. Something About You – Mark King
15. This Wheel’s On Fire – Sandi Thom

Disc 2 — The Sunflower Superjam 2011

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Newton Faulkner
2. Born To Run – Danny Bowes
3. Bourée – Jon Lord
4. Eleanor Rigby – Rick Wakeman
5. Good Golly Miss Molly – Gary Brooker
6. I Just Want To Make Love To You – Margo Buchanan
7. It’s Not As Big As It Was – Jon Lord & Rick Wakeman
8. Life on Mars – Newton Faulkner
9. Midnight Blues – Joe Bonamassa
10. Pictured Within – Steve Balsamo
11. Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple feat. Bill Bailey
12. The Ballad of John Henry – Joe Bonamassa
13. The Thrill Is Gone – Joe Bonamassa
14. Whiter Shade of Pale – Gary Brooker
15. Freedom Jazz Dance – Brian Auger
16. Born Free – Brian May & Kerry Ellis *
17. I Loved A Butterfly – Brian May & Kerry Ellis *
18. Substitute – Margo Buchanan *
19. Help Me – Sandi Thom *
20. November Rain – Sandi Thom *
21. Only Friend – The Temperance Movement *

* — bonus tracks from the 2012 Superjam

Preorder PAL or NTSC versions.

Two months after earMUSIC re-released the Copenhagen show on CD, a DVD re-release of the same show is in the pipeline.

The DVD offers the same music content as the CD release, including the three live tracks (“Strange Kind Of Woman” / “Smoke On The Water” / “Space Truckin’”) from Hofstra University 1973 and is basically a re-issue of the “Live in Concert 1972/73″ DVD.

The Copenhagen show was filmed by Danmark Radio, Denmark’s national radio and television station in black and white and offers a good picture quality, missing a few details which is fine regarding the age of the recording. It shows a young and energetic DEEP PURPLE that could be visually compaired to the DEEP PURPLE performing on “Doing their thing”, with a long haired Ian Gillan in an incredible sweater (Would be great to see THAT in colour!). During the bands perormance it’s clearly visible that the camera crew wasn’t sure what to expect, showing the “wrong” musicians during several solo spots.

The Hofstra clips are filmed in colour and show an optically changed and grown up band – especially Ian Gillan looks very different with cut hair and beard. The highlight of these bonus tracks is “Smoke On The Water”, the only known video recording of this song performed by the original MK II lineup.

The DVD leaves out the ”Live in Concert 1972/73″ bonus “Burn” (which would be somehow misplaced on a MK II recording), but adds “Deep Purple & The Music Revolution”, a stunning 11-minute gem as additional bonus: a very serious documentation about pop culture, taken from an unknown source (likely Swiss TV) featuring the young Claude Nobs and some band members of DEEP PURPLE not willing to discuss thoughts like if their music is consumated like Coca Cola. Overall – as Ian Gillan summarizes – “Music is fun”.

Goldmine magazine has inducted Deep Purple into their own private Hall of Fame (no relation to the snubby one). Noting that “there have been 14 different members of Deep Purple, including four different lead singers, […] members coming in and out more than once…”, by means of a rather convoluted process the 14 have been reduced to 9 actual inductees: Ritchie Blackmore & Steve Morse (guitar); Jon Lord & Don Airey (keyboards); Ian Paice (drums); Ian Gillan & David Coverdale (vocals); Roger Glover & Glenn Hughes (bass). That leaves out Nick Simper, Rod Evans, Tommy Bolin, JLT, and Joe Satriani.

[Update Oct 1] Nick Simper and Rod Evans have been uncluded as well.