The Gettin’ Tighter companion app for iPad has been released a couple of days ago (we’re being assured that releases for other platforms will follow). The app is really an ebook with previews from the upcoming Phoenix Rising documentary, articles and pictures. Browsing tabs for deep-purple.net and thehighwaystar.com, as well as Twitter and Facebook clients are thrown in for a good measure.

Video clips included are:

Introduction
Friction within the band
Sunbury 1
Sunbury 2
Drug issues
Tommy Bolin
CTTB
Glenn Hughes
Australasian tour
Jakarta
Jakarta nightmare
Tokyo
Hughes problems
Implosion

The app is available at the Apple app store for $4.99/€3.99/£2.99. We were not able to preview it, so please post you comments below.

US release date for the Phoenix Rising has been set for June 28.

This is the first in a series of Purple-related apps. Other titles in the works are Deep Purple Sunbury 1975 and Rainbow 1976 Australian Tour.

Please note that this app – although it offers THS browsing capabilities – is not related to The Highway Star in any way.

The title pretty much says it all. Here it is:

If the video above does not work for you, try this one.

Order the single from a store near you
Audio CD:

7" vinyl:

There will be a launch event in London for Glenn’s book Deep Purple & Beyond: Scenes from the Life of a Rock Star on the evening of Thursday, 12th May. The publisher Foruli will be inviting everybody who has pre-ordered a copy of the book and record package, but would also like to extend an invitation to Glenn’s wider fanbase.

The evening will feature a solo acoustic set by Glenn, a preview of the book packages, and the opportunity to meet Glenn, co-author Joel McIver and the team at Foruli.

Anybody who would like to enter a draw to receive an invitation to the event should email their name and the title of the first track on the first Black Country Communion album to glennlaunch@foruli.co.uk — all entries will be entered into a draw to receive one of twenty invitations.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

When Whitesnake was confirmed for Sweden Rock Festival 2011 it came with the announcement that the show would feature, “certain very special guest performers”.

According to a post on the Deep Purple Fan Forum, former Whitesnake member Bernie Marsden recently announced at a show in Glasgow that he is one of the special guests and that there was a possibility of him guesting at some of the UK Whitesnake shows as well.

Thanks to Big J @ the Deep Purple Fan Forum.

Guitar International has an interview that David Coverdale recently gave them. He talks (mostly) about the new album and about-to-be-started world tour, delving into history from time to time.

Rob: What songs from the new CD are you going to do live?

David Coverdale: I’m not telling you! Not telling you! I actually gave you a few giveways [Laughing]. The big stuff for Whitesnake was Slide It in and beyond. Interestingly, in the past my American shows would be vastly different than the Asia or Europe shows. Now I’m going “fuck it, we’re going to do Aint No Lovin and Heart of the City and Walking in the Shadow of the Blues. All of the things I want to do.”

Rob: With so many ‘70’s bands being nostalgia acts, why do you continue to make CDs?

David Coverdale: If I didn’t put out new CDs, I’d be on American Idol. I would rather go home and be a house husband and take up knitting. That’s why I work with such inspirational musicians. Another incredible thing is when we put the word out that we’re looking for new snakes, people line up. The guitarist can’t wait to do Still of the Night the big penis song for guitar. All of that delights me!

Rob: Looking back on your career was there ever a song that you wrote that you were confident would not be a hit and it was or vice versa?

David Coverdale: I have no regrets. I’m not the type of person who says “if only this” or “if only that.” I do remember having a stand up argument with my management, Geffen records, and executives at MTV that I wanted Judgment Day from Slip of the Tongue to be the song out of the box. They all wanted the redo of the older song “Fool For Your Loving. I though the original version was fine. I think this came from John Kalodner doing his behind the scenes manipulations. Fuck it. I wouldn’t change anything. It’s good being me!

Ah, the typically humble David.

Read more on Guitar International.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

University of Leicester has announced that it is awarding a honorary Doctor of Music degree to Jon Lord. This year, nine people will be honoured for their services in international, national and local fields. Besides Jon, the honorary doctorates will be awarded to South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, head of the RAF Air Chief Marshall Sir Stephen Dalton, British historian and TV presenter Michael Wood, and several local personalities.

Jon’s Degree Congregations ceremony will be held on Friday 15 July, 11am, at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester.

Here is a new installment of the “hot air and wild speculation” saga of the Mk.3 reunion.

A couple of days ago Blabbermouth posted a story in which they referred to two interviews given to VH1 Radio Networks by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes respectively.

WHITESNAKE/ex-DEEP PURPLE frontman David Coverdale recently told VH1 Radio Networks’ Dave Basner that he would reunite with his former DEEP PURPLE bandmates Jon Lord (keyboards), Ian Paice (drums), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar) and Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals) for the right opportunity, like a benefit concert.

In other words, nothing new here. Coverdale has already went on record saying exactly that: he would do a one off show but not a full blown reunion.

Glenn Hughes:

Yeah, absolutely, for the simple task of this purpose: When I was in the band in the ’70s, let’s just say I joined the band a very bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Northern chap like David and I left the band, very sort of, let’s just say I was overserved at the bar. And I’ve made my amends with everybody but I’d like to have a jam with the guys again as a sober man and somebody who knows how to deal with his life on a daily basis. That’s the way I’d like to do it.

And the fans, I think Purple Mk. III is the last reunion of the iconic bands from the ’70s. You know, The Who have come back and even Zeppelin did one show. So Mk. III would be a huge… for the fans it would be monumental. And you know, I like to please the fans, they’ve been great.

It all depends on if we can get Ritchie to the table and I’m not sure if that’s possible. But David and I, we chew the fat over it from time to time. We had a big thing about four years ago where we tried to put it together but we couldn’t get everybody to the table and we didn’t want to have that weight on our shoulders, it’s just too big of a weight. And there’s lots of people involved and lots of employment and stuff so we just decided we’d move on because we were spending a lot of time trying to get it together and it didn’t sort of pan out.

Before the rumours start spreading around, note that he never said that a Mk.3 reunion is in the works any more.

Mind you, the last time the beaten dead horse has floated to the surface, all the parties involved in the speculation went on record with the statements that “it’s not happening”. And as recently as last fall Jon Lord reiterated this in a Classic Rock interview:

I think it’s a dream too far, I know a lot of people would like it to happen, but it would have to have Ian Paice involved, and right now he’s committed to the current Purple lineup. And I know they are planning a new studio album, as well as more touring.

I got an email from David recently, and it seems Glenn and Ritchie might be into it, although I don’t know how Glenn feels now, with Black Country Communion happening.

Yes, I would love to play with Ritchie again, but don’t read anything into that as far as Mk. III is concerned.

I must admit I’d also have a concern or two about David’s voice.

And if you still had any doubts, on May 2nd Glenn responded to the story on his Twitter:

I get asked the same Q in every int. about MK3 reunion. (2day on Blabbermouth). I’m all about the present… I don’t wanna live in the past… GH

BCC is NOW! + David is the only member of MK3 who has remained a real true brother all thru the years, and stood by me… GH

So there you have it.

Thanks to Blabbermouth and Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

According to Neal Morse’s website, Steve will guest on his forthcoming album Testimony 2. His guitar solo will appear on an epic 26 minute track called Seeds of Gold. The album is due on May 23 on Radiant Records. Drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist Randy George also appear on the record.

Earlier this year Steve already did a collaboration with Neil Morse when he went into the sudio to work on a yet unnamed project with Dave LaRue, Portnoy and Casey McPherson also taking part. We’ve covered that.

Thanks to Alwin Bastiaansen for the info.

The San Francisco Bay Area show on June 25 has been moved from Mountain View to the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord. Tickets presale started today, with the sale to general public starting tomorrow, April 29.

Joe Satriani is listed as a support act. And we all know how this might play.

The Mk.4 release Phoenix Rising which is due on May 20 in Europe will be released in the following package formats:

• DVD+CD in DVD-style digipak
• CD+DVD in CD-style jewel case
• Blue-ray
• 2LP+DVD
• Audio CD separately (not confirmed by the label, but listed on Amazon)

Now let’s sort out what contains what.

CD track listing

1. Burn — Long Beach
2. Gettin’ Tighter — Japan
3. Love Child — Japan
4. Smoke On The Water / Georgia On My Mind — Japan
5. Lazy — Long Beach
6. Homeward Strut — Long Beach
7. You Keep On Moving — Japan
8. Stormbringer — Long Beach

The double LP content will be identical to the CD.

DVD contents

Deep Purple Rises Over Japan

30 minutes
Recorded live at the Budokan Hall, Japan, on December 15, 1975

1. Burn
2. Love Child
3. Smoke On The Water
4. You Keep On Moving
5. Highway Star

Sound: remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1

Getting Tighter

80 minutes documentary

1. Introduction
2. The Demise Of Deep Purple MK II
3. The Birth Of MK III
4. The Making Of Burn
5. The California Jam 1974
6. Stormbringer
7. Sunbury Music Festival 1975
8. Glenn Hughes — Troubled Times
9. Drugs Become An Issue
10. Ritchie Blackmore Leaves The Band
11. Tommy Bolin
12. Come Taste The Band
13. Drugs Become A Problem
14. Glenn Hughes In Rehabilitation
15. Mk IV On Tour
16. Indonesian Nightmare
17. Rising Over Japan
18. The Final MK IV shows
19. Credits

Subtitles: English, French, German, Spanish

Extras

1. Jakarta, December 1975 –- Interview with Jon Lord & Glenn Hughes
2. Come Taste The Band –- Electronic Press Kit

The DVD will be region coded 2. We are being assured that US, Japanese and Australian releases are “on track”.

Blue-ray

The blue-ray disc will contain everything that is on the DVD and CD. Video will be in 1080/23.976 16:9 format. The disc will be region coded A, B, C (i.e. the whole world). If you live outside Europe and do not want to wait for a local release, this is the format to go for.

Artwork

16 page booklet with liner notes by Simon Robinson and Jerry Bloom.

The DVD+CD package (the one in digipak) will include two bonus “collectors’ booklets”:

1. miniature reproduction of an original Deep Purple 1976 magazine (28 pages)
2. 36 pages of rare photos, original vintage Deep Purple articles and never before seen pictures

The 28 page booklet is exclusive for the DVD+CD digipak package. Contents of the 36 page booklet will be printed on the inner sleeves of the double LP. The CD+DVD jewel case and blue-ray packages will include only the regular 16-page booklet.