Before this year Sunflower Jam, Jackie and Ian Paice were interviewed for ExclusiveTV. They talk about the event, it’s origins, and how raised money is being spent. You can watch the interview on ExclusiveTV.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson and to lioness from GH fan forum for the info.

An interesting chat with rather rarely interviewed Don Airey have appeared on Hungarian ekultura.hu before the start of current Don’s solo tour.

On his solo career:

ekultura.hu: What happened after your second album with Deep Purple? What prompted you to launch a new solo career?

Don Airey: Ed van Zijl from Mascot Records offered me a record deal – I think he was fed up with just signing guitar players to his label. There was a gap in Purple’s schedule so I wrote some songs around the theme of astronomy, (a hobby of mine), booked studio time and musicians and went and made a record (Light in the Sky).

On Jon Lord and Deep Purple:

ekultura.hu: On a totally different note, how did the death of Jon Lord affect you personally?

Don Airey: I lost someone whose playing and quintessential Englishness I admired immensely, and who over the last ten years had been kindness itself to my tech son Mike, and myself. We were in the middle of recording the new DP album in Nashville when the awful news about Jon came through. It was difficult to get anything done for the next couple of days.

ekultura.hu: How does your solo project relate to what Deep Purple is doing now? Will it in any way have an impact on the music of the new album of the band?

Don Airey: It is separate – a whole different vibe! There is nothing in the world quite like Deep Purple I have to say.

Read more on ekultura.hu.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

An extensive interview with Glenn Hughes is featured in the latest (#092) podcast from Brazilian site Wikimetal:

Or download the interview audio file (MP3, 28MB).

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

On September 21, 2012, a very special double header happened at the Reigen in Vienna, Austria — Nick Simper & Nasty Habits and Don Airey Band were performing on the same stage.

Nick Simper opened the night with Nasty Habits. Their setlist:

1. And The Address
2. The Painter
3. Mandrake Root
4. Emmaretta/Drum Solo
5. Chasing Shadows
6. Lalena
7. Wring That Neck
8. The Bird Has Flown
9. Slinky
10. Why Didn`t Rosemary
11. Roadhouse Blues
12. Please Don`t Go
13. Hush

The Nasty Habits are:
Peter Brkusic – Drums
Christian Heissenberger – Guitar
Christian Schmid – Vocals
Helmut Puschacher – Keyboards

Don Airey Band setlist:

1. Spotlight Kid
2. People In Your Head
3. Shooting Star
4. Still Of The Night
5. Weissheim
6. The Way I Feel Inside
7. Tribute To Jon Lord & Gary Moore
8. Fire
9. Wrath Of Thor
10. Tobruk
11. Is This Love
12. Over The Rainbow
13. All Night Long
14. Lost In Hollywood
15. Since You’ve Been Gone
16. Black Night

Don Airey Band:
Don Airey – Keyboards
Carl Sentance – Vocals
Rob Harris – Guitar
Tim Brown – Drums
Alex Meadows – Bass

Thanks to Christian Schoen for the info and pictures.

Marshall Amplification’s 50th anniversary event 50 Years Of Loud took place at Wembley Arena in London this Saturday, September 22. The event featured performances of number of guest musicians, with Glenn Hughes, Joe Satriani and several members of extended family among them. Glenn performed Black Country, Mr. Big (by Free), Mistreated (with Malmsteen on guitar). Smoke on the Water was performed for the grand finale, with Hughes, Satriani, Malmsteen, Ripper Owens, Phil Campbell, Paul Gilbert, Doug Aldrich, Soren Andersen, Nick McBrain, Jaz Lochrie, Chris George, Brian Tichy, and Adam Wakeman.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson and BraveWords for the info.

Andreas Thul has written a review of the studio recording of Jon Lord’s Concerto For Group and Orchestra which will be released on September 28. The review is in German. If you understand the language, you can read it in his blog. And if you don’t, you can always try your luck with the automated translation to get the gist (in short: it’s rather good).

Ian Paice’s drum kit is for sale on the Pearl forum. Apparently this is the actual kit Ian played for the last couple of years, not a replica. Apparently it is being sold by the son of Steve Morse’s guitar tech, to whom Paicey gave the kit. As we have no reasonable means to verify validity of these claims, interested parties are advised to proceed strictly at their own peril.

Thanks to Marcel for the info.

While in Nashville working on the new Purple album, Ian Gillan spoke to Guitar International. The interview mostly evolved around the WhoCares project, with briefly touching Jon Lord’s memory at the end:

Robert: With so many years of working with tremendous bands and creating great material was it difficult to pick the songs that would make up the [WhoCares’] 2 CD set?

Ian Gillan: Yes, it was quite a task. I had to turn my studio upside down for old tapes and cassettes but with the help of Max Vaccarro at Edel Records in Hamburg I think we have ended up with an intriguing collection. My favourite today is ‘Dick Pimple’ a perfect example of Deep Purple at work in the studio.

Robert: Can you share a favorite memory about Jon Lord as a remembrance to him?

Ian Gillan: Unfortunately my fondest and most hilarious memory of Jon is something I couldn’t possibly make public [Laughing]. However, he was a wonderful man, a great musician and an avuncular source of inspiration to me and many others. I wrote a line which is included in one of the new songs, ‘…souls having touched are forever entwined’.

Robert: What can people do to help your cause?

Ian Gillan: Buying the record would be most helpful.

Read more in Guitar International.

Thanks to BraveWords and Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Apparently Glenn Hughes may be now banned from visiting the entire country of Azerbaijan. Glenn was in the neighbouring Armenia with Derek Sherinian earlier this month to perform with a local band called The Dorians. After the concert in Yerevan, they went to the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is disputed between the two countries, and played another gig there on September 13. They even met with the local authorities. It is the official policy of Azerbaijan government that any foreign nationals who visit Nagorono-Karabakh without their permission automatically become personae non gratae in their country.

Thanks to Kevin Dixon for the info.

Rumours of a new supergroup comprising Joe Lynn Turner, Michael Anthony, and Carmine Appice started flying over ’em old interwebs a couple of days ago. JLT has issued a press release denying this:

Both Appice and Turner have officially dismissed this news as a rumor.

The musicians said that there was never any press release sent out by either of their media representatives or their record companies. While both of them agree that they have had casual conversations about musicians they would like to work with, including Michael Anthony, this news of the formation of a “supergroup” is not official or confirmed.

Turner admits, “Carmine and I are longtime friends and we have talked over the years about working together on future projects. These are conversations musicians like us often have all the time. These conversations are not ‘official news’; it is just casual talk. Like many artists, we exchange ideas about people we would like to work with if given the chance. Names like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Michael Anthony are all musicians we both admire but we never released any official news stating that we were planning to launch this so-called supergroup.”

Turner and Appice would like to specifically apologize to bassist Michael Anthony (Van Halen, Chickenfoot) and his fans for any confusion this rumor or any casual conversations might have caused.

Appice confirms, “We had nothing to do with the publishing of any of this news about this project and neither of us talked to any journalists or media people ‘on the record’ about a possible supergroup. Having said all this, Joe and I have worked together in the past and can’t rule out the possibility of working together in the future.”

Thanks to Lisa Walker for the info.