Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited interviewed Glenn Hughes in an attempt to shed the light on comings and goings of the band known as BCC:

[…]Now you know why I became frustrated and went into this, “God damn it, I just wish we could take this on the road” rant. Jason, Derek and I really wanted to go all the way with this band.

As a recording band, we’ve done everything possible to build a foundation. With Afterglow, and the other albums, we’ve set the blueprint of what Black Country Communion is. The future is unknown.

I get excited by the music of this band and I want this band to do more. I can’t be in a band that only makes albums. I am 61; I’ve got to make records that I can promote live. This is not 1988. If we had made these albums in 1988 we would have sold ten million albums. The only way to move forward in 2012 is to play live.

Going back to Joe’s template, it has always been that way, but it has been unspoken as of late. You must understand that in the heat of the moment people can say things. It has been very obvious to people this band needs to play live and these questions become rather tedious. I have learned it is better to just punt or say nothing. Whatever I say to you, or what Joe said to you, people will be taking potshots at us.

Black Country Communion is one of the great loves of my life. I have been on the playing field with this band and I can walk off the playing field with this band knowing that it was something wonderful for me in my golden years. I’ve got gold and platinum albums all over my walls and I’ve gotten all of the accolades that I could ever want. I’ve got a nice comfortable lifestyle. The most important thing for me has been the great love of Black Country Communion. I want it to grow but it is not really in my hands.

I’m not pointing fingers at anyone here. You can hear in my voice how much I love this band. If you spoke to Jason or Derek then they feel the same way.

I won’t die for Black Country Communion. I won’t hang myself on the cross and die for this band, I won’t do it. Everybody has given their all here. I have put things on hold and I’ve lost income to do this thing because I really believe in this band, period. The fans, literally, thousands upon thousands, want to see this band live. I am not manning the controls of the good ship Black Country Communion, so I don’t know where we will go.

Jeb: Is Joe irreplaceable in Black Country Communion?

Glenn: I won’t go there. This band started with just me and Joe for six months. We would just get together and jam at each other’s houses and we didn’t even know we were going to be in a rock band. The idea of replacing one of the members does not appeal to me. The album has just come out and we are talking about replacing people. I won’t go there. I want Black Country to survive. I think if you asked any member of this band the same question they would say we are all joined at the hip.

Continue reading in Classic Rock Revisited.

Remember the “Bogus Deep Purple” tour that Rod Evans tried to undertake in 1980? We did a special on it a while back, with eyewitness accounts and contemporary press clippings. A set of photographs taken at the Quebec City show has surfaced recently. You can view the photo gallery together with translation of an article from Pop Rock magazine here.

Thanks to Larry Toering for the info.

On December 14 Ian Paice did another drum clinic and played a gig in Forli, Italy, of which we unfortunately learned about only post factum. He spoke about all things drumming, answered questions from the public, and played a few tunes (some of which he doesn’t do any more on his day job) with the local musicians. For the benefit of all of us who are not yet in the habit of spending the cold time of the year in warmer climates, here’s a video report of the proceedings.
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Back in 2010 Exclusive Magazine did an interview with Jon Lord on the occasion of his release To Notice Such Things. They spoke about Romantic composers, Jimmy Hendrix, spirituality, English Literature, and party tricks. And a little about a couple of bands that Jon had been with.

Let’s kick things off by talking about your newest record. What is the significance to the title – ‘To Notice Such Things?’

The title comes from a poem by Thomas Hardy, the English poet and novelist. In the poem, he’s asking the question “What will people think about me when I’m gone?” And he’s talking about a love of the countryside, what he calls “The things that matter.” You know, the rising of the sun, the setting of the same, the birds, the animals, the way we react with nature, and so on.

And he wonders in the poem if they’ll say that he was a man who noticed such things. And my dear friend John Mortimer used to do a stage show in which he would talk about his life and read bits of prose and poetry that had taken his fancy over the years, and this was the poem with which he would finish. And that is the last line of the poem. He was a man who used to notice such things. And when I wrote this music to celebrate his life, and try to describe some of his life, this seemed like the right title.

Continue reading in the Exclusive Magazine.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

The season is upon us and Steve Morse sends his thoughts:

Holiday Time is here. The reason I know that is that I’m home and can see all the traffic in town. Before any greetings, let me voice all of our sorrow for the tragic murder of all of those children and staff in Connecticut.

Deep Purple’s new album is officially in April. I’ve just listened to some of the mixes and it’s a great sounding album. Flying Colors will be doing a live DVD and apparently, CD of the same performance around that same time, but no official date that I’ve heard.

Read more on SteveMorse.com

Roger Glover sends his traditional end-of-the-year message to the world:

From winter in Canada to another winter in France. In all, three months of touring, several hot months spent recording a new album, get the laundry done and that’s it; a year slips by. A bittersweet year.

It was in the studio in Nashville that we heard about Jon. It was a real blow to the body, even though we expected it. Stories and thoughts of him flooded the following weeks as the enormity of the loss sank in. Back in England we said goodbye to Jon with great dignity, the service was sadness made beautiful with music. When Jon first gave me Pictured Within, I wept at the beauty of it. At his funeral I wept again at the sadness of it. Such moving music. Music that has the power to stir emotions that run deep. He changed my life. I am a lucky man.

Read more on RogerGlover.com

For some reason or another, one of my favourite Deep Purple shows of the last 20 years — Basel 2003 — has made it to Youtube, complete broadcast (which is, sadly, just 60 minutes), and in decent quality. So, if you have nothing better to do on a Sunday night, feed it to your big screen, crank up the volume and enjoy:

Thanks to TheSmokeDP2 for uploading the video.

While being in Berlin right after the last tour leg, Ian Gillan spoke to ABC Brisbane’s radio show Evenings With Rebecca Levingston. A very entertaining interview covered a lot of subjects, including the parallax effect on long hair, that first Elvis record, being a naughty boy, the birth of rock music a s we know it, and the importance of breathing.

You can listen to the interview online (MP3, 6.3 MB) courtesy of ABC Queensland.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Well, it’s official: Deep Purple have been snubbed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Again. After being nominated earlier this year, the band is conspicuously absent from the final list of inductees.

Thanks to Kevin Dixon for the info.

Just a few words about Deep Purple’s Toulouse show last Thursday.

Having been to Nantes in November, I must say this was perhaps a bit weary overall, although quite nice — well, maybe it was the sunday schedule, and a lame audience — I don’t know, but some of the band members (NOT Ian Gillan) seemed a bit uninspired, although the show was professional and enjoyable as always.

In Toulouse, the band were in high spirits, the audience quite hot (about 5000 people, aged 8 — my daughter ! her first concert — to 68).

Ian Gillan (68 — well no, 67 actually) could be my father, but in my opinion, has never been better before: he sounds amazing, especially in the upper middle range. OK, he doesn’t scream around that much any more, but as soon as he started off the scream to Fireball, you could tell that this was gonna be a grand Ian Gillan. And so it was, from Fireball to Black Night.

I love the guy, I love the voice, but I had to say a few 75% positive, 25 % negative things about his voice a few years ago (Toulouse 2009)– earning bitter angry comments from fanatic “praise-the-lord-or-die-by-our-sword, you traitor ” kind of fans. But the fact is, the guy keeps getting better and better (anything to do with lifestyle ? seems obvious). 67 !!!!! Keep on rockin, Ian !

A few highlights, in no particular order:

– The opener, well in fact the openers ! These 5 songs, without any breathing space, really get it on.
– Ian Gillan. Oh — have I said that allready ?
– Steve Morse. Much better than in Nantes, and doing some great interaction with Don. Their playing on Lazy was amazing, as was yhe jam in Hush.
– The Mule: I love that song from the riff to the outro, not forgetting the gorgeous melody line and Paicey’s drum solo.
– Gillan’s singing.
– The total adrenaline rush on Into the Fire and Space Truckin !
– Gillan’s voice.

Setlist as usual (Wasted Sunsets during the Steve-Morse-phase), no Speed King, unfortunately … Well,that was the only thing one could say: the last “greatest hits” part of the show has remained unchanged for years now, except on special occasions. I think this could be rethought, maybe for the 2013 tour, which will figure some more Steve-Morse-era songs (only the 2 instrumentals in Nantes and Toulouse — be proud of your recent history, gentlemen !) And I miss Highway Star a bit … Well, this is just a minor footnote, cause it has to be said once again:

Deep Purple are brilliant !