The Emirates’ Khaleej Times has a brief interview with Don Airey. Reflecting on the differences in the music scene between now and ‘back then’, he says:

I hear some good things, but I don’t hear anything like I used to in the ‘70s. I don’t hear the guitar players anymore. You don’t have the raw sound or primeval feeling which used to tumble out of the Marshall amps.

From around 1963 to 1975, there was just a succession of amazing guitar players: Hendrix, Clapton, Ritchie. I don’t think we’ll ever experience it again. I often think it’s like the Elizabethan age of literature when you had Marlowe and Shakespeare and Ben Jonson – the most wonderful plays that have ever been written – and it really has never happened again.

Regarding the mystery of the new album title:

Well…I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s under wraps. Apparently there is a title and I’ve been told that I know what it is – I don’t know if it’s something I suggested.

Read more in Khaleej Times.

Roger Glover has posted a new batch of historical photographs and memorabilia from his collection ranging from his childhood to circa mid-late 90s. They feature Episode Six, Down to Earth Rainbow lineup, Gillan/Glover, Purpendicular sessions, and other assorted bits and pieces. Check it out.

It looks like “smoke and mirrors” is the theme of the record company promotion campaign for the new Deep Purple album. After unveiling the new mysterious web site about a month ago, we were left with (literally) a big question mark for the album title. In what might possibly be the biggest prank in Purple history, one online retailer now lists the album titled simply as ?. Or it could quite possibly be the actual title of the album. Smoke and mirrors, man. Smoke and mirrors…

The only thing known more or less for sure right now are the release dates as confirmed by the label:

• Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Spain: April 26
• UK, France, Benelux, Poland, Czech, Norway, Denmark: April 29
• USA, Italy: April 30
• Sweden: May 1

According to the very preliminary information from Soyuz Music, which will be releasing the album in Russia, 3 release formats are being planned:

• Standard Edition: 11 Songs on 1 CD
• Deluxe Edition: 13 songs + c.a. 30 min. EPK on 1 CD + 1 DVD (digipak)
• Vinyl: 1LP

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the format info.

In anticipation of the kickoff of the world tour (as festival appearance in India has been cancelled) TimeOut Dubai publishes an interview with Roger Glover, where he displays quite a bit of humility:

I don’t believe we sold 100 million records. People make things up because it goes down well with the press. I’m a musician, not an accountant. But I can’t imagine we’ve sold anywhere near 100 million.

I was talking to a taxi driver and he said “Deep Purple? Are they still around?” We get a lot of that. People think we’re dead and buried. I don’t care. It’s not their fault.

Yet this bit of journalism raised some eyebrows in our headquarters as there was a strong feeling that Roger was the one pressing for making another album:

The public’s lack of awareness isn’t helped by the fact Deep Purple have all but given up as recording artists. Their last album, Rapture of the Deep, was released in 2005; instead the band have morphed into a touring tribute to their glory days. ‘There was a discussion about whether we should release more albums – something I opposed,’ says Glover. The band are currently putting the finishing touches on a new LP, and the bassist admits it’s likely to be the last. ‘We’re all in our mid-60s,’ he adds. ‘You never know which will be a last album.’

We took the liberty of getting in touch with our favourite bass player and he sets the record straight:

The journalist has the wrong end of the stick. There was a discussion some years ago as to when, where, with whom, or even whether to record the next album but I never said that I was against recording an album – quite the opposite. We’re an ‘album band’, whether it’s out of favour or a losing proposition or whatever – I believe we should be who we are. An album is a state-of-the-union statement and for a band like us, that’s important, if only to me. :-]

I’m annoyed, though not entirely surprised, that the journalist got it wrong. I also never said that this will be our last album.

Thanks to Rich Shailor for the info and to Roger for clarification.

Whitesnake will be releasing a new live album on April 3 titled — wait for it — Made in Japan. It is a recording of Coverdale & Co. at the Loud Park Festival in Tokyo on October 15, 2011. The usual these days selection of formats (2CD, DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD+DVD, and 2CD+Blu-ray) will be available.

2CD Track list:

Disc 1

1. Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love Tonight
3. Love Ain’t No Stranger
4. Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Forevermore
7. Six Strings Showdown
8. Love Will Set You Free
9. Drum Solo
10. Fool For Your Loving
11. Here I Go Again
12. Still Of The Night

Disc 2 (soundcheck and demos)

1. Love Will Set Your Free
2. Steal Your Heart Away
3. Lay Down Your Love
4. Fare Thee Well (Acoustic Version)
5. One Of These Days (Acoustic Version)
6. Good To Be Bad (Acoustic Version)
7. Tell Me How (Acoustic Version)
8. Evil Ways
9. Best Years *
10. The Badger (Demo Session) *

* Bonus Track for Japan only

Tracklist of the DVD and Blu-ray will be identical to the contents of the first CD, plus photo slide show and fan filmed videos.

According to Ticketline tickets go on sale for a Blackmore’s Night tour of the UK on Friday, with a presale starting tomorrow.

More information here : www.ticketline.co.uk.

Update (Feb 12): the tourdates have been confirmed by BN management. The tour will kick off in Dumfermline, Scotland, on June 26th, and proceed South to Guildford (July 5th) via Newcastle (June 28th), Wolverhampton (July 1st), and Salisbury (July 3rd).

After the fantastic success with the Lego Blackmore, other toy companies want a piece of the pie. Above is Playmobil’s version.

It’s all change on the web front again in time for the launch of the new Deep Purple album in April 2013.

As well as a new album launch site, http://www.deeppurple2013.com there are also new Facebook pages, and a new Twitter feed which promises the funniest and silliest tweets from the band along with exclusive competitions and possibly advance info about the new album.

Say Fender :
For more than 40 years now, Blackmore’s famously forceful G minor blues riff in the 1972 Deep Purple classic “Smoke on the Water” has served as the quintessential heavy rock guitar riff and a metal-melody primer for burgeoning rock guitarists everywhere. Its place in rock history is as solid as the stature of the guitarist who played it.

The Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster takes you back in time and back to the shores of Switzerland’s Lake Geneva, where the smoke from the burning Montreux Casino drifted over the waters on Dec. 4, 1971, as the building was destroyed. That night, the members of Deep Purple watched the “fire in the sky” from their hotel and drew inspiration for a timeless rock classic. Blackmore played the song’s powerful double-stop riff on a black 1968 Stratocaster, not knowing at the time that he was creating an archetypal guitar figure that would be eagerly imitated by legions of guitarists.

More details here

“it never started with a successful television appearance or a front page on a newspaper. It started in the clubs in the back streets of a local town somewhere, whether that was Liverpool or Manchester or Seattle or Sydney.”

Australian site the Brag conducted an interview with Ian Gillan last November which has now been published here

Also appearing recently was this audio interview with Roger Glover for the 4BC Drive show.

thanks to Yvonne Osthausen and the Official Ian Gillan Facebook page….