The latest issue (No. 6/2011) of Teraz Rock, a Polish hard rock magazine, has just appeared and contains lots of Purple related stuff:

• It’s the 100th anniversary issue of the magazine, and it publishes a list of 100 the greatest albums of all time. Three Deep Purple ones are mentioned: In Rock, Machine Head and Made in Japan (pages 22-32).
• Michal Kirmuc interviews Dough Aldrich, who talks about two of Whitesnake’s latest albums on pages 49-51.
• Editor-in-chief Wieslaw Weiss interviews Ian Gillan, who talks about WhoCares, Armenia, Tony Iommi, Steve Morris, and Born Again. He also remembers his friend Tomasz Dziubinski (pages 60-61).
• Wieslaw Weiss interviews Glenn Hughes who talks about Black Country Communion albums on pages 66-67.
• Wieslaw Weiss interviews BCC guitarist Joe Bonamassa, who talks about Glenn Hughes, Black Country Communion, his concerts in Poland and his own album Dust Bowl (pages 68-69).

Teraz Rock also invites fans to the Deep Purple concert in Slupsk at the Dolina Charlotty festival on July 24, 2011.

Thanks to Joasia Ostrowiecka for the info.

Yiannis Dolas of RockPages.gr did a lengthy interview with Ian Gillan regarding the WhoCares project:

Rockpages.gr: You performed in front of the crowd in Armenia, both just after the earthquake in 1990, as well as now, 20 years later. What was the reaction you got, now, and twenty years ago?

Ian Gillan: Well, times are different, people behave differently. Everyone thinks that in ‘69 and the ‘70s the crowd used to go crazy… well the didn’t actually, they were very quite! They used to applaud politely, and clap, and dance, and whatever… it wasn’t the complete mayhem that it is today. When I was in Armenia I played four nights at the Sports Hall in Yeodrum with the Gillan band and I was there with Deep Purple, we played the same venue. And, the audience, generally speaking on the Deep Purple gig was 18year old kids, so that was very strange… an entirely different generation enjoying the music. And should I say different generation? Yeah, they behaved differently…

Read more on RockPages.gr.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Glenn Hughes recently spoke to Jeb Wright and his interview now appears on Classic Rock Revisited:

Jeb: I think Derek is the band’s secret weapon. His solo albums have great guitar players on them like Zakk Wylde. He is amazing.

Glenn: Derek’s role is very, very important to our band. He is like Jon Lord was in Deep Purple. He is featured more on 2 because he is simply brilliant. Musicians are a weird breed, as is Derek, but he brings something very special to this band. With Joe, Jason and myself, what you see is what you get. Derek is really the glue that holds us all together.

Jeb: How does Black Country Communion, in terms of a band feel, compare to the version of Deep Purple you played in?

Glenn: It is very simple, around 1973, before all the shit started, things were great in Deep Purple. Being in the room with these guys is very much like being with Deep Purple at their peak. The musicianship in this band is of the highest quality and you’ve got to be very strong to be in this band.

Jeb: At what point will the business interfere with the music?

Glenn: I know what you’re referring too. The elephant in the room is that there is no such thing as record sales anymore. There are no CDs and everyone just downloads music. Young people growing up will not even know what CDs were. Now, we are looking at the 3D performance and we are looking at Blu-rays and the visual aspects of the performers. People want to look at, and try to touch, the live aspect of the band. This band, BCC, is embracing this. We are shooting a Blu-ray in July in Germany that will come out around Christmas. We are looking at the visual side of our band. I am very involved in the marketing of the band. Joe is not too involved with that as all he wants to do is play guitar. Kevin Shirley and I are the ones who are dealing with where this band, visually, will go in the future.

Read more on Classic Rock Revisited.

Black Country Communion tour starts on June 9 in San Diego, California, and will continue until early August throughout United States and Europe. Their new album, simply called 2 is due out on June 14.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Prior to the beginning of this North American tour Roger Glover spoke to Boston Herald. His interview now appears online:

It’s a Deep Purple gig. There’s no concession to the fact there’s an orchestra there, and it’s not really even an orchestra. It’s some strings, some horns and it’s as much jazz as it is orchestral-classical stuff. It’s a rock concert with added heft. We don’t quite know how it’s going to sound.

Do you have new material in the works?

We do actually. We had a writing session in March. We did manage to get together and agree to do an album. People were saying the business has changed, people don’t buy albums anymore. I’m not of that belief. We’re an album band. We were born and should die that way. An album is almost like a school report of a particular era, a great tradition.

Read more in Boston Herald.

The picture above is from Quebec City on June 4. There’s more where it came from.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

In anticipation of the June 11 gig in Atlantic City, NJ.com has an interview with Steve Morse:

Steve Morse’s idea of a week off from touring as part of the rock band Deep Purple?

Putting in 18-hour days at his Florida hay farm.

“I am arranging to do a little cutting” of the hay, Morse offered. “I have to fix the flatbed dump” truck and there are assorted parts to order for some of the farm machinery.

“I go to work (with Deep Purple) to relax.”

Regarding (lack of) a new album:

“We are sort of set up for it,” Morse said of a new recording, one he offered would “keep to the band’s roots” of blues-influenced heavy rock. But no recording dates have been set up.

“A (new) recording for a band like Deep Purple is like charity,” Morse suggested. “There is no compelling business reason.”

Factor in the cost of a new album and the marketing costs with the return and “it is a wash,” he said.

What about slipping in a new song here and there on tour?

“We used to do that. You Tube has derailed that concept. The first time you do a new song, it’s immediately pushed out on You Tube.”

Read more at NJ.com.

As we hear from reliable sources, long time THS contributor Axel D. has managed to make his dream come true. He talked Jon Lord into performing Concerto at his hometown of Wiesbaden, Germany. The papers have been signed and the show will take place on November 6th, 2011. They chose the beautiful historic Kurhaus of Wiesbaden, a world-wide known landmark which delivers the appropriate class and atmosphere for this outstanding piece of music.

Since Jon’s scheduled German shows in May had to be canceled, and the remainder of the year he is performing with his Blues Project, this seems to be the only opportunity to hear Concerto performed live in the foreseeable future. The Friedrich von Thiersch Saal in Kurhaus is of rather intimate capacity of approximately 1,200, with many seats reserved for seasonal pass holders. So if you’re in the neighbourhood in November, we suggest you better hurry in to grab yours. Tickets will go on sale next week at eventim.de.

An interesting interview with Roger Glover in Toronto Sun:

Why an orchestral tour?

Well, it’s good to have a new hook to hang your coat on. We’ve toured so much and so many people have seen us. So we thought this was a different kind of challenge. We’re best known for the old songs, so it’s about time to try something a little different.

It’s been six years since your last record — your longest break between albums when you weren’t on hiatus. Is that because nobody buys albums anymore?

There’s an element of that. There’s been disagreement in the band about whether to do another album. They really don’t make money any more. My opinion is that we are an album band and should make them even if it costs us money, because that’s what we do. Maybe I’m a traditionalist, but I believe we should stay what we are. We can progress with our music, but the way we do it should be the way we’ve always done it. There’s nothing wrong with that. An album is like capturing a moment in time. And in a band with a history like ours, those moments mean a lot.

Read more in Toronto Sun (and never mind rather bizzare Photoshop job).

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Release date for Roger Glover’s new solo album If Life Was Easy has been finalized. It is due to be released on July 11 on Edel’s imprint earMUSIC.

Preorder the album from a store near you:

Continue Reading »

Roger Glover explains why he was absent from he latest leg of the tour:

Circumstances. You can’t smell them, touch or see them, but we all have them. We sink or swim with them. Mine have been rather chaotic of late; the recent Deep Purple Mediterranean Tour not-so-neatly coincided with family commitments and I found myself in somewhat of a quandary – should I stay or should I go?

Continue reading on RogerGlover.com

Our sincerest congratulations to Roger, Myriam and Melody.

Colin Hart’s book of memoirs A Hart Life is due to be published by Wymer on September 26, 2011. The book first saw the light of day in Japan a couple of years ago, and now will be finally available in English. This edition is co-authored by Dick Allix with forewords by Roger Glover and Paul Mann.

ISBN: 978-0-9557542-7-2 (Deluxe slipcase with bonus book)*
ISBN: 978-0-9557542-8-9 (hardback)

*) Bonus book: Hart’s Life 1971-2001, 80 pages of photos and memorabilia from Colin’s collection including reproduction of tour itineraries, faxes, letters and more.

Colin Hart has spent over 30 years working for Deep Purple and Rainbow, retiring in 2001 as their tour manager. He has stories to tell.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.