Coverage of the “top of the mountain” gig in Ischgl on April 30 from Austrian TV channel ORF. Watch it on their website.

More video coverage from MomentumSki:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CER1rmMWLg4

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Metak Shrine has a rather interesting interview with Joe Lynn Turner:

Looking back on your career, do you feel there´s one album or a specific song where you feel you really nailed it?

JLT: According to most people… for a singer or songwriter to say “This is the one.”… it´s like my children. They´re all my children and even the little funny ones, the ones that didn´t come out right, but there is one that always comes to mind. Ricky Medlocke from Lynyrd Skynyrd said “There´s no greater song or vocal performance in rock and roll than “Street of dreams” and I think Richie (Blackmore) agreed and quite a few other people. I don´t why? Everybody says the music is just right and the lyrics are just metaphysically romantic. It´s just a moment in time that was captured and it doesn´t sound like anyone else, ever or ever will. I don´t know. For me, I can´t say, but I can say that other people think it´s “Street of dreams”. I have many stories on different songs. “Jealous lover” was a great moment when Richie just threw this riff at me and said “You´ve got 10 minutes to write the song!”. I had a fight with my girlfriend, who then became my first wife and I just banged it right out. The first verse was about her and my situation and then the second verse was about her and the third verse was about the audience being jealous lovers, because they all are you know! (laughs) Love me or hate me, love me or hate me. (laughs) There are so many cornerstones.

Read more in Metal Shrine

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

It’s not that often that you read a reveiew of an album (any album) that is so eloquent that it makes you wipe that grin off your face, put everything aside and listen to the said album again.

Cory Frye’s review of Now what?! in Albany Democrat-Herald is just like that:

Which brings us to “Now What?!,” a palpable question for any group in its 45th year: What do you do when you’ve done it all? It also acknowledges the 2012 passing of Jon Lord, to whom this collection is dedicated. The band’s debt to him is immeasurable. ‘Twas his rumble that announced 1968’s “Hush,” a Top 5 U.S. hit; had he not fed his Hammond through a Leslie speaker and plumped its bulk with Marshall heft, the Deep Purple sound would never have existed.

Wherever he resides in the by-and-by, he must be immensely pleased. Airey dominates in aggressive tribute, his vamps and swerves sending his partners down rabbit holes they either haven’t explored in decades or never visited, period. As a result, “Now What?!” isn’t the continuation of “Bananas” or “Rapture of the Deep” but a refreshingly inventive journey that manages to be both bold and comfortable.

Read the whole thing in Albany Democrat-Herald.

Don Airey was interviewed by Classic Rock Revisited. he talked about Now What?!, Bob Ezrin, the spirit of Jon Lord, Wurlitzers, and the great guitar players he worked with.

Don Airey had the seemingly impossible task of replacing the amazing Jon Lord when he joined Deep Purple eleven years ago. To say he’s done okay is a huge understatement. While he had been with the band for over a decade, he is still considered the ‘new guy’ in the group.

Iconic producer Bob Ezrin, who was brought into to lead the charge for Deep Purple’s latest album Now What?! had this to say about working with Airey, “I was most impressed with Don Airey, who I had never worked with before and I didn’t know. He is one of the best keyboard players I have ever seen in my life. He is beyond amazing; he’s a genius.”

His bandmate and other DP newbie, twenty year member Steve Morse, also had praise for Airey, “Between Jon Lord and Don Airey I have really been blessed to work with two of the very best rock keyboardists in history.” Stalwart Roger Glover, who has been with Purple since 1969, added this “It is very difficult with Don Airey and Steve Morse, who are such great musicians, to play anything simple. They come up with ideas that I would have never thought of.”

Continue reading in Classic Rock Revisited

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

The Armenian music school saga nears its successful completion. After WhoCares project had donated money for the school reconstruction, the donation was tripled by another charity and Armenian government, with Millbank Music from Canada donating on top of that more than $20,000 worth of music instruments to the school in memory of Jon Lord. The Azat Shirinyan Octet School of Music opening is now scheduled for September with Ian Gillan as a guest of honour. The school was completely destroyed by an earthquake in December 1988.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Roger Glover chats with Vintage Rock about Now what?! from his home in Switzerland (this was done probably before the album was released):

This is your fifth record with Steve Morse and your third with Don Airey and I have to say, these two guys really come to the fore. With Don Airey, it’s like you let an animal out of the cage and he’s channeling Jon Lord. I mean, where did that come from? It sounds like he’s really come into his own.

I think he has, especially on this record. He’s found his mark; he’s found his place. He’s had a great career working with many, many people and been in a few bands, but never in a band like this. I think he really enjoys it and he feels privileged to be in it. He was a huge fan of Jon’s all his life and he’s very reverent towards Jon and has a great deal of respect. But Don has to be Don. An organ is an organ. It sounds like a Hammond organ. It doesn’t sound like anything else. But it’s all in the playing. He couldn’t ever replace Jon, but he has to be himself. And he, himself, is a completely different player and there’s a whole different sensibility about him, which is right. But I think he’s confident enough now to really shine with it. And I think he does on this record.

There’s this idea that’s floating around that all of the living members, past and present, of Deep Purple should get together and perform the ultimate Deep Purple concert. I actually talked to Ian Gillan about this a few years ago and he told me someone in Russia had proposed that idea. Do you have any opinion about that either way?

Yes, I do. First of all, impossible. Second of all, improbable. And third of all, why the hell? (laughs). We’re here now; we do what we do now. Fans live in the past, I understand that. I’m a fan myself. I love some old recordings. My first encounter with Little Feat, for example, changed my life. I’ll always love that. But you can’t expect Little Feat to be that now, because they can’t. They’re different people.

Read more in Vintage Rock.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Steve Morse remembers Jon Lord:

Music Radar has an interview with Roger Glover presented in the form of a monologue. Interestingly enough, Now what?! gets a fairly brief mention, with the bulk dedicated to Roger’s illustrious career with Purple, solo, Rainbow, as a songwriter, and as a producer.

We’re not very good at planning things to be honest. We’re a democratic band and it’s difficult to get an agreement going. After [2005 album] Raptures of the Deep, which came out eight years ago…the thing is we tour all the tour whether we have an album out or not, so it wasn’t the Rapture of the Deep tour, it was just another tour.

Doing an album didn’t really surface until three or four years after that one. We couldn’t figure out where, when, who with or even if to do a new album, because albums aren’t what they used to be, they used to be real signposts, but then maybe this album is another signpost. Albums seem to be old fashioned though, but then again we’ve never been in fashion.

Continue reading on Music Radar

Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

“Somebody tell me why I’m talking to myself, I never listen to a word I sing, nor does anyone else.”

The opening lines of First Sign of Madness set the tone for a straight forward rock’n’roll track complete with boogie piano.

This Deep Purple song is available exclusively to German fans as a download from Media Markt’s website – either for free with a voucher from NOW What?! purchased at one of their stores, or for €0.99. They do however only accept German credit cards…

The track itself is a bit of up-tempo fun, possibly a little more light hearted than the rest of NOW What?! – and thus works wonderfully as a bonus feature.

More than just a throw away jam session, it features intense breaks, a storming piano solo from Don Airey and one of Steve Morse’s signature guitar solos.

“Rambling on again, no one’s listening, all in all again, don’t believe a single word,” sings Ian Gillan in the chorus.

Word from earMUSIC is that the track will surely be made available outside Germany in some shape or form – details will be revealed soon.

If in Germany, download/buy First Sign of Madness here.

Now what?! is featured in the latest podcast of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle lifestyle show Euromaxx. It is rather bizzare to see the band covered in a show that features such things as luxury real estate on Mallorca, a Bouroullec retrospective in Paris, and eating raw cuisine. They also offer a free CD signed by Roger Glover and Ian Gillan at the end of the segment if you get in touch before May 10. Watch it on dw.de: in English and in German.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.