As temperatures are reaching to world record highs in Australia, The Bureau of Meteorology’s interactive weather forecasting chart needs to be updated with new colours and one of them was decided to be Deep Purple. Especially fitting since Deep Purple themselves will be doing their best to raise temperatures down under next month.
On a more serious note, we of course hope the best for everyone suffering from this heat wave and that everyone looking forward to the shows will be able to enjoy them. Our thoughts are with you.
A new teaser video clip has appeared on the Ear Music official video channel on youtube which offers the first chance to hear a sample of the upcoming album.
Posted in News by The Spanish Archer on 2013-01-08 88 Comments
“Funky” Claude Nobs has been injured in a skiing accident during the Christmas break.
“The Montreux Jazz Festival communicates that during the Christmas holidays Claude Nobs fell while practicing cross-country skiing. As a direct consequence of this accident, Mr. Claude Nobs underwent surgery at the CHUV (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne). He has remained to date in a state of unconsciousness. His condition requires further additional tests, the results of which are not known yet.
All necessary measures have been taken to currently ensure the perfect management of the Festival in accordance with a planification in place for a long time. The Secretary General of the Festival, Mathieu Jaton, assumes all of Claude Nobs’ responsibilities. The Festival shall not fail to further inform on Claude Nobs’ condition when receiving more information.
Meanwhile, there will be no further comments in order to protect the private sphere of Mr. Nobs and his close family. The entire team of the Montreux Jazz Festival wishes a full recovery to its boss.
The Foundation Board.”
The Highway Star sends our best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.
Posted in News by The Spanish Archer on 2013-01-07 17 Comments
Ian Gillan’s four concerts were not simply a major music event in 1990 in Yerevan. The concerts proved that the world was changing and “iron curtain” was about to disappear.
One can hardly imagine how difficult the logistics of such concerts was in Yerevan of 1990. It would be no exaggeration to say that the organizers, Vahan Karapetyan and his friends, were real heroes. In March 2010, when organizing Ian Gillan’s concert with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia, Mediamax had to deal with numerous major and minor issues. Just imagine what it might have been like back in 1990. These people should be paid tribute to. Without their effort, Ian Gillan would never call Armenia his “spiritual home”.
“The courage and resourcefulness of a band of enthusiasts has made possible the success of the concert at the Odeon theater in Canicattì, writing an indelible page of music in the province of Agrigento and environs.
The evening ‘already started’ from 19.00 to sixty lucky drummers who participated to Paicey’s drum clinic.
The boys, as well as listen to the voice of Ian Paice direct the secrets of his technique were able to talk with him and answered all the questions of the drummers. There were moments of emotion when Ian Paice told the illness and death of Jon Lord, keyboardist and his brother passed away recently.
To 22.00 everything was ready for the 1000 spectators Odeon, warmed by the “No Code”, a band that has opened the concert very well.
After a moment of emotion with a tribute to Jon Lord with a great video commemorating the great Hammondist, scream presenter Silvia La Monaca “… and the story begins,” the audience has exploded on notes of the first track, Bach On To This by Jon Lord, performed by the band Rapture(Salvo D’Addeo, Armando Cacciato, Simona Malandrino, Gaspare De Caro, Peppe Sferrazza and Leonardo Bruccoleri).
At the end of the song start the unmistakable rhythmic sequence of the snare drum of Highway Star on which’ joined Ian Paice … and was ROCK LEGEND. Fifteen tracks played at the highest level by Ian Paice and the band in its wake, including the inevitable Strange Kind a Woman, Black Night and Smoke on the water, a song that ended the ladder and saw the audience standing closer to the stage and embrace virtually the performers on stage.
Setlist was articulated and never predictable, which has dusted less famous songs is arousing interest among the fans at the same Ian Paice, who has the pleasure of playing yet. The manager Paolo Sburlati, manager and expert in drums, has spared no praise for the band and the organization, considering the show perfect from every point of view, both organizational and music. The same Ian Paice wanted to compliment you personally with the band, deeming flawless execution and interpretation of the songs, both musically and vocally. Ian also particularly liked the local wine, offered by the guitarist of No Code, Totò Ferraguto. Pure Rock ‘n’ Wine!
An evening that will leave ‘a lasting impression in the memory of those present”.
In his new interview with 100% Rock (out of Perth, Australia), Ian Gillan talks about the late Jon Lord, the upcoming Down Under tour, having his first joint at the tender age of 38, being pigeonholed, Tony Iommi’s health, and the new album:
So you’ve recently finished work on a new studio album. What can you tell us about that?
Well not a lot. It’s being mixed as we speak. We’ve finished recording. It’s a new tone, it’s a new direction, it’s fresh stuff. I think it was all written and recorded in Nashville, and the reason we went there – not to make a country record, but because Bob Ezrin, our producer, lives in Nashville and so it made a lot of sense because he had all the studio facilities and back up and everything else. So it made it really easy.
It was a great environment to record in and yeah, there’s a bit of diversity on the record. There’s some sort of… defining music is just so hard; it’s just really… it’s hard to define. If you think of a solo artist, you normally know them by their name; you don’t normally describe their kind of music, you just say, “It’s so-and-so or it’s so-and-so.” But with bands everyone feels an obligation to categorise then. I think when you’ve been around the block as many years as Purple has and a lot of other bands, you just listen to see what comes out. It’s not the same at all. So it’s kind of hard for me to describe it. I can’t compare it with any other album either, as far as I know. It will obviously find a niche somewhere when it comes out in April, so I’m looking forward to hearing it. [laughs]
He also hints that no new material will be performed live at least until the album is released:
And will you be playing some of the new stuff on the tour?
No. Christ, you can’t, can you? You play one song, it’s out on YouTube in five minutes, so you can’t do it. And that’s the whole bit that spoils it for everyone. But no we won’t…
David Coverdale’s version of Christmas greetings includes the best of Whitesnake TV for the 2012, complete with some blues unlugged and personal memories of Jon Lord recalled: Continue Reading »
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.
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.
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. Continue Reading »
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Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing