The new Black Country Communion live DVD Live Over Europe was recorded during their summer tour and will be released on October 24 with Blu-ray to follow on November 15th. Watch the trailer:
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In July 1971 Colin Hart, a Geordie lad from South Shields, was on his first tour of America as a roadie for Matthew’s Southern Comfort. The group was part of a three-band bill with The Faces and Deep Purple. Following the tour he joined Deep Purple’s road crew. Ian Gillan just knew Colin had to join the Purple entourage after seeing him pour a pint of beer over Rod Stewart!

Colin devoted over thirty years of his life to these great rock musicians. This is his story and indeed theirs. A tale of excess in terms of greed, petulance, anger and devotion. It is counter balanced by extremes of pure talent, showmanship and, of course musicianship. He was the constant ‘man in the middle’ through all of the break ups, make-ups and revolving door line-up changes. Joining them at twenty-four years old and leaving thirty years later, he was there every step of their rock ‘n’ roll way. A story of two of the most innovative, often copied, rock bands; seen through the eyes, ears and emotions of their ‘mother hen’ (as Jon Lord described him). He was their minder, chauffeur, carer, provider, protector, father confessor & confidant. In truth he is the only one who can tell this tale of both bands as he was the only one there on the road throughout the life of, not one, but both gigantic bands.

Hart endured a roller coaster ride, working for Purple, during the band’s most successful period. He was there when the casino burnt down in Montreux, and witnessed Smoke On The Water being born; the legendary concerts in Japan; the break-up of the Gillan / Glover line-up; the auditions that saw David Coverdale join the band, and the California Jam performance in front of 400,000.

When Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple in early 1975 and formed Rainbow, Colin went with him and continued as Rainbow’s tour manager through the ever-revolving line-ups. He was invariably the man who had to break the news to many of the hopefuls that auditioned for the band: “We’ll get back to you” being the stock reply!

In 1984 when Blackmore disbanded Rainbow for the Deep Purple reunion, Colin naturally resumed his role with these rock giants as they embarked on a world tour that included the hugely successful 1985 US leg – the second biggest grossing US tour that year after Bruce Springsteen. A déjà vu situation occurred as Colin was in the middle of yet more band break-ups as first, Gillan departed, Turner joined, Gillan returned and Blackmore departed, while Steve Morse emerged to take the band into the new millennium, although for Colin his thirty years on the road with two of the biggest bands in rock history came to an end in 2001.

A Hart Life is written with life-long friend Dick Allix, former drummer with sixties band Vanity Fare. Hart tells the story of his life from humble beginnings in South Shields, to setting up home in California with Rainbow, and eventually settling in Florida, where he still lives today: Of touring the world several times over with two of Britain’s greatest bands Deep Purple and Rainbow; a story that also crosses paths with Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Def Leppard, The Scorpions and Iron Maiden to mention just a few! A truly fascinating insight into the world of rock ‘n’ roll from the other side of the stage.

A Hart Life

The life story of Deep Purple and Rainbow’s tour manager

Colin Hart with Dick Allix

Includes forewords by Deep Purple and Rainbow bassist Roger Glover & Colin’s nephew Paul Mann.

ISBN: 978-0-9557542-7-2 (Hardback) / 978-0-9557542-8-9 (Deluxe slipcase with bonus book)
Format: Hardback (234 x 156 mm)
Pages: 272 (including 16 photo pages, 15 b/w, 73 colour images)
Price: £19.95 (Hardback) / £35.00 (Deluxe edition)
Publication date: 3rd October 2011

Deluxe edition is limited to 300 copies. Includes a bonus book Hart’s Life 1971-2001: 80 pages of photos and memorabilia from Colin’s collection including tour itineraries, faxes and letters, unavailable elsewhere, plus a reproduction of Deep Purple’s 1974 Burn tour programme, all housed in a slipcase. N.B: This edition is not available to the trade and can only be ordered directly from Wymer.

Don Airey’s new solo album All Out is now available on Music Theory/Mascot.

Besides Don himself, who handled all the keyboards, musicians on the album are: Bernie Marsden (Guitar), Carl Sentance (Vocals), Darrin Mooney (Drums), Keith Airey (Guitar), Laurence Cottle (Bass), Joe Bonamassa (Guitar), and Rob Harris (Guitar).

Track list:

1. The Way I Feel Inside (feat. Bernie Marsden)
2. Estancia
3. People in Your Head (feat. Joe Bonamassa)
4. B’cos (feat. Rob Harris)
5. Running from the Shadows (feat. Bernie Marsden)
6. Right Arm Overture
7. Fire (feat. Rob Harris)
8. Long Road (feat. Keith Airey)
9. Wrath of Thor (feat. Rob Harris)
10. Tobruk

The album was recorded and mixed by Ewan Davies at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire, UK.

Order it from a store near you:

Thanks to Nathan Sage for the info.

In view of the recent news, Jon Lord’s live appearances have been cancelled for the remainder of this year. Attempts are being made (with Jon’s blessings) to salvage the situation and proceed with the shows whenever possible.

Concerto for Group and Orchestra performance in Wiesbaden on November 6 will go ahead with a local keyboard player. This is Jon’s clearly expressed wish and he and his people are still very helpful in the background to make it possible. Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska will be performing Jon’s music as originally planned.

Update (Aug 25): We have been informed that Wiesbaden performance on November 6 has been cancelled as well.

Out of the Blues Project dates, Regensrauf on November 15, Bochum on November 20 and Stuttgart on November 23 will proceed with Brian Auger taking the Hammond duties. Berlin on November 17, Hamburg on November 18, Iserhagen on November 19, Aschaffenburg on November 22 and Uden on November 25 had to be cancelled.

We would like to encourage you to attend the concerts that will proceed to show Jon your support. And if you’re hesitating about Brian Auger’s abilities, here are a couple of clips that should convince you.

Tony Iommi was a featured guest on the last episode of VH1’s That Metal Show, but despite of that most of the show revolved around Purple. Or maybe not even ‘despite’, given the rather incestious relationship between the two bands.

Iommi discussed past experience with Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes as singers in Sabbath. He also discussed the WhoCares recording and working with Gillan again. They talk about Black Country Communion. He actually shares that his favorite “replacement” singer for Sabbath was Gillan. Then there was a ‘Whatever Happened to Ritchie Blackmore’ segment, when the hosts of the show discuss the fact about Ritchie being involved with Blackmore’s Night and Renaissance Music for the past decade and then they, along with Tony Iommi remark loudly “Ritchie, Come Back to ROCK!”

This episode will be airing throughout the next month and beyond.

Thanks to Tracy Heyder and Daniel Bengtsson for the info, and to shireanharrison for the video.

Deep Purple will spend this October touring Latin America. We have confirmed dates starting October 5 in Belem, Brazil, and finishing in Panama on the 27th. Full details in our calendar.

Jam Magazine has a new in-depth retrospective interview with David Coverdale. David talks about what went wrong with Slip of the Tongue, how the Coverdale/Page project came about, and why it didn’t last long.

The Coverdale / Page project would revitalize the spirits of both musicians. Though the album was mostly overlooked by the grunge buying public at large, for those fans longing for the good ol’ rock and roll days of the ’70s, this album was an instant classic. Jimmy Page rediscovered his inner Led Zeppelin, and was musically brilliant. Coverdale wrote some of the smartest lyrics of his career. Unfortunately, the one thing that would have the won public over – a world tour – would never see the light of day, (outside of a handful of select dates in Japan).

For Whitesnake fans the world over, the following interview with David Coverdale fills in a missing piece of a very large puzzle often speculated about, but never actually discussed, until now.

Read the interview in Jam Magazine.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.

Steve Morse has contributed a solo for the track called Pilgrim’s Wake on the new album of Kerry Livgren’s pre-Kansas band Proto-Kaw (now reformed for the third time). The album is called Forth and was released earlier this month. You can order the album here.

Thanks to Alwin Bastiaansen for the info.

Glenn Hughes was in Berlin earlier this summer and gave an interview to More-Classic-Rock.com:

Live performance, July 5, 2011, Zitadelle Spandau, Berlin, Germany.
Beggarman:

Burn:

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

After some months of preparation, Jon Lord has released a new live album titled simply LIVE. Listen to the exclusive teaser below.

Recorded in Bucharest, Romania in 2009 with a full symphony orchestra, the album includes a selection of orchestral pieces that represent Jon Lord’s touring repetoire since leaving Deep Purple in 2002.

The album includes three completely reworked Deep Purple classics with full orchestral arrangement by Jon Lord; Pictures of Home, Soldier of Fortune and an immense Child in Time.

Also featured are Pictured Within (voted everybody’s no. 1 favourite Jon Lord track on JonLord.org); The Telemann Experiment; two pieces from the Sarabande Suite and the female voice delights Wait a While and The Sun Will Shine Again.

Steve Balsamo and Kasia Laska handle vocals throughout. The Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra is conducted by Nayden Tadorov with Darin Vasilev (guitar), Ivaylo Zvezdomirov (bass) and Venko Poromanski (drums) completing the line-up.

Listen here to snippets of Bouree, The Sun Will Shine Again, Soldier of Fortune and The Telemann Experiment:

Jon Lord Live CD teaser by JonLord.org

For all you good people who have expressed words of support and encouragement to Jon in his fight against cancer, please go and check out the album. After all, there is no better way to show you appreciation to the artist than to admire his music.

Watch a clip of Child in Time filmed at the Bucharest concert: