Sheffield online newspaper The Star has an illuminating piece on DPAS founder Simon Robinson and how on Earth he came to possession of the Deep Purple archives:

“Things were a bit more lax back then,” shrugs Simon Robinson, who has since stored the tapes at the renovated Aizlewood Business Centre in Nursery Street.

“Before I was given responsibility they were being kept in this leaking warehouse where the door was left unlocked all day. I couldn’t believe it. You wouldn’t leave The Beatles master tapes like that – and Deep Purple are just as important to rock fans.

“I said ‘Let me look after them properly’, and the management company agreed. Simple as that really.

Read more in The Star.

European tribute band Demon’s Eye has teamed up with Doogie White and performed a tribute to Jon Lord in Balver Höhle, Germany. This is how Concerto for Group and Orchestra sounds like …without the orchestra:

Keyboardist Florian Prtisch and guitar player Mark Zyk were definitely inspired that night.

Thanks to Karl-Heinz Baier and Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Glenn Hughes is doing promotions for the upcoming BCC album Afterglow. On September 7 he gave an interview to Pete Feenstra for Get Ready To Rock:
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Glenn “I don’t wanna live in the past” Hughes raised the issue of Mk.3 reunion once again in an interview to the Cleveland CBS affiliate radio WCNX. And he is pointing finger at Blackmore’s camp for it not happening:

Jon, David and I were trying to get it together. […] We couldn’t get ahold of [Ritchie]. We sent carrier pigeons, and the Pony Express. But nobody at ‘Castle Blackmore’ answered the door. It wasn’t meant to be.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we did something, David and I. Something might pop its head in the next two years.

Is there a specific project in mind?

No! (But) David and I have talked about this weekly since Jon died. How we can do something to keep the flame burning. But we don’t want to hinder the heritage of the band, some bands get back together and sound bloody awful. It’s the 40th anniversary of Burn next year. I’m not giving you a hint to something that’s gonna happen, but you just never know.

Thanks to Vintage Vinyl News for the info.

A rather interesting interview with Jon Lord (which needs some proofreading, badly). This one was conducted in 2009 and published now after Jon’s death:

Hush was the first single wasn’t it?

Yeah. And just an instant hit. Well again Nick Simper had said when we started rehearsing and said what should we do? You know to do it slowly (Yeah) that was my idea I just thought it was a great song. But Hush I think was Nick Simper’s idea. He had heard it around the clubs, I think it was a Joe South song and a guy called Billy Joel Royal had recorded it . It had this slight ‘Bo Diddlyish’ samba sort of beat thing going (yeah) which we translated into a more rocky thing and off we went. We did it just because it seemed like fun but the American record company leapt on it and said It’s a hit and indeed it was.

Read more in The Classic Post.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info and investigative work.

P.S. The author of Hush, Joe South, has passed away on September 5 this year.

Glenn Hughes will appear on Planet Rock radio during Darren Redick’s show on Wednesday September 12th at 2:00PM (UK time). A new song Confessor from the upcoming album Afterglow will see the world premiere during the show.

Planet Rock broadcasts online, worldwide withous restrictions.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Don Airey & Friends hit the road the week of 13th September playing 14 shows in Europe promoting Don’s latest solo album All Out (full details in our calendar).

There have been some lineup changes in the touring band. The band now consists of Don on Hammond and keyboards, Rob Harris (Jamiroquai) on guitar, bass duties are taken by Alex Meadows (Tom Jones, Electrasy), and Carl Sentance (Persian Risk, Krokus) is on vocals. The new face is Tim Brown (Aynsley Lister band), who handles the drums and BVs.

They’ll be playing a selection of tracks from All Out plus a sprinkling of classics from Don’s career.

Thanks to Nathan Sage for the info.

WhoCares charity compilation was released stateside on August 28. After selling just 700 copies in the first week of release, it nevertheless managed to land on the Top New Artist (a.k.a. Heartseekers) Albums chart at No. 52. The chart lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200 (which in case of messrs. Gillan and Iommi release under WhoCares moniker is a pure technicality).

The pitiful number of 700 copies (and a place in the charts after that) just highlights the abysmal state of the recording industry today. You can improve this number (and help a good cause) by getting your copy.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

On August 26 David Coverdale received “The Voice of Rock” award from the Vegas Rocks! magazine. Here’s a red carpet video report of the event:
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The upcoming Black Country Communion’s new album might be the band’s afterglow indeed. Glenn Hughes has voiced his dissatisfaction with the state of affairs in an interview to ABC News Radio:

This may be the [band’s] last album. I hate to break it to you, but it just may be, because I need to be in a band that tours on a regular basis.

He went on to explain that due to Bonamassa’s own heavy solo touring commitments, BCC has no solid plans to hit the road in support of Afterglow:

If I had a magic wand, I would wave it over everybody’s head and go, ‘Hey, you guys, we’re gonna go and do 200 shows [in 2013] and we’re gonna be a huge rock ‘n’ roll band globally. It’s not gonna happen.

I figured that if this was to be the last album…then I need to come in with some pretty wild and epic tracks. So, I’m really proud of this album.

Apparently, Glenn sees his post-BCC future in connection with the Kings of Chaos project — Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) on vocals; with Duff McKagan on bass and Matt Sorum on drums (both of the Guns N’ Roses fame); and Steve Stevens (Billy Idol) on guitar. They have contributed Never Before to the ReMachined tribute album (albeit separately from Glenn) and have toured together with him in the Rock’N’Roll AllStars package:

[Kings of Chaos will] tour pockets of the world — the exotics, if you will, and the tropics and even America.

We’re gonna do a series of EPs. On those EPs there will be three covers and one original song. And…the lineups with the Kings of Chaos, vocally, will change. The core band will be the same. So, it’s gonna be always moving and changing.

Joe Bonamassa responded with a message posted on his forum (registration required to view the original):

I think this is unnecessary drama and a wind up by the Voice of Rock… I also think the conversation should be redirected to the band’s history as well as its the future that includes a record release in October.. I have said it here before I do not appreciate being cited as the reason of the bands lack of touring or the bands lack of future in this manner. I am 1/5th of this entity that is all. Kevin is family to me, Jason is a dear friend of mine, so is Derek as is Glenn.. Glenn is free and with MY FULL BLESSING to ring up one or all of his famous guitar player friends and take it out on the road BB King style.. Chickenfoot does it with Chad Smith while he is out with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I hope for everyones sake that as Glenn embarks on the press tour for “AfterGlow” that he doesn’t taint in his own words ” His Masterpiece” by dragging us all into a TMZ moment..
What more can I say other at this point..

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.