New York based Artisan News Service did a short interview with Ian Gillan about the current orchestral tour:
Continue Reading »

Both of Martin Popoff’s Deep Purple books — Gettin’ Tighter: Deep Purple ’68 – ’76 and A Castle Full Of Rascals: Deep Purple ’83 – ’09 are now available in electronic form. The ebooks have been published in PDF format, which is probably not the best option for pocket size readers, but are DRM free and readable worldwide. At 182 MB each, both are rather hefty downloads. The size is said to “maintain the layout of the original book, and provide images at the highest quality”.

The ebooks are available through zunior.com for $8.88 each: Gettin’ Tighter and A Castle Full Of Rascals.

Automobile magazine reports that Nissan is introducing a new minivan to the Japanese market:

Chances are when Deep Purple wrote the song “Highway Star” back in 1971, the “driving power” they sang about wasn’t a family-friendly minivan. Nevertheless, Nissan’s used the same title on its latest minivan, the Lafesta Highway Star — which, for all intents and purposes, is simply a Mazda5.

Our automotively inclined readers are directed to Automobile magazine for further insights.

In anticipation of the June 11 show in Atlantic City, another interview with Steve Morse appeared in the local press:

I love being part of this. Musically this has been the easiest group I’ve been a part of. It’s a relaxed atmosphere.The songs are simply structured. I play with a band that has lots of intensity. It’s fun and perhaps the best thing is that you can do what you want.

We’ve been seeing a lot more teens and people in their 20s at shows. It’s a funny thing because people that age couldn’t have seen Richie Blackmore as the Deep Purple guitarist. They could have only seen me. That’s a cool thing. I want to make sure that they get the best possible experience. They need to leave the venue knowing that they have just witnessed one of the best hard rock bands ever. We have a reputation to protect every night we step on that stage.

Read more in Atlantic City Weekly.

After the show, a pretty much glowing review appeared in Press of Atlantic City:

Few bands have successfully gone through major lineup changes – particularly the replacement of its lead singer and lead guitarist – and remain together as long and stay as successful as Deep Purple.

More than 40 years after the band formed and eventually became British rock royalty, Deep Purple proved Saturday night that it still has a few tricks up its sleeve, performing to a packed Tropicana Casino and Resort showroom backed by a nearly 30-piece orchestra.

Read the rest at pressofAtlanticCity.com.

Thanks to Andrey Barabanshchikov for the info.

A fairly in depth interview with David Coverdale in the Goldmine magazine:

Now you produced and co-produced with Doug Aldridge and Michael Macintyre?

DC: Well we are “The Brutal Brothers.” It started way back when. I did a deal with an European independent company for a live greatest hits. And then I said ‘well, I don’t want to just keep re-working the old stuff. What about if we included a couple of songs?’ And I didn’t want to get myself too overwrought by writing a whole record because when I revamped Whitesnake I didn’t intend to make another record. That just unfolded that way. Thank God.

So we did four songs. Michael Macintyre has worked with me for years. He’s a fabulous Pro-Tools engineer and a dear friend. He’s my right hand guy. Michael, as I say, he’s recorded my voice for the last bunch of projects, and he has my total trust.

Doug, of course, came in as a guitar hotshot. We developed a great friendship and discovered we could write simply as an extension of our friendship. I’ve been in relationships that have been the equivalent of 12 root canals writing songs. Whereas this is more or less natural. You know, it’s a marriage made in heaven in other words. So we did these songs and it went very, very well. And then f**k it, the next album unfolded.
But we are really hard on each other to get the best out of each other. I turned around and I made a remark one day and Doug went ‘DC, man, that’s brutal.’ I said, ‘We’re the f**king brutal brothers, what do you expect!’ The way there’s the Glimmer Twins or the Toxic Twins, it’s just fun. But the three of us work together extraordinarily well. It’s just worked out really, really well for us.

Read more in Goldmine.

Back in 1990s Joe Lynn Turner was a member of project called Mother’s Army. Jeff Watson was playing guitar, Bob Daisley was on the bass and Carmine Appice on drums, later replaced by Aynsley Dunbar. The band managed to put out 3 albums: self titled (1993), Planet Earth (1997) and Fire On The Moon (1998), all of which were now only available as expensive Japanese imports, or so we’re told.

In early May Edel/earMUSIC without much fanfare reissued the three albums in one package called Mother’s Army — The Complete Discography. These appear to be straight reissues, no bonus tracks or anything, but at €15/£12 it might be worth picking up if that’s your thing.

Steve Morse gave a brief interview to the New Jersey’s Star-Ledger:

This one isn’t going to be orchestra-based so much as: It’s the rock band Deep Purple playing, with strings and horns being added for some color textures.

We’re not going to change the songs — I mean, there’ll be a few little cameos and features — but the basic idea of the show is: We’re doing what we do, and having more texture where it’s appropriate.

Read more in The Star-Ledger.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

The Mk.4 DVD Phoenix Rising was released in Europe on May 20 and went into the charts in several countries:

• #4 Finland Album charts
• #2 Sweden DVD charts
• #38 Norway general charts
• #50 Austria Album and DVD charts
• #25 UK Indie charts
• #22 Germany General Music Charts

This release came out in several packages, which we detailed earlier. You can still order it from a store near you:

DVD+CD

CD+DVD

Blue-ray

2LP+DVD

Bernie Marsden (right) and Arian Vandenberg (background) performed onstage with Whitesnake at Sweden Rock Festival tonight.

This is the news fresh in from The Highway Star’s on-site reporter Svante Axbacke, tweeting from the festival site.

‘He helped me start this band,’ David Coverdale said about Bernie Marsden, and the two hugged and played Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City with Marsden taking the second solo after Reb Beach took the first.

Marsden also performed Fool For Your Loving with Whitesnake – though without trying to upstage Coverdale’s young guns at the edge of the stage.

‘Please say hello to my Dutch brother,’ said David Coverdale to welcome Adrian Vandenberg to the stage. With four guitarists – current players Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach with both guests, Whitesnake closed their main set with Here I Go Again.

For the encores both guests came back onstage and did Still Of The Night.

Follow The Highway Star’s tweets live on twitter.com/highwaystarcom

This hodgepodge collection of songs reveals or obscures a range of emotions over a turbulent decade; separation, divorce, injustice, uncertainty, new love, escape, fatherhood, grand-fatherhood, emigration, touring and losing my mother are some of the extreme highs and lows during this storm-tossed period. All were written wherever I was living – on a MacPro with ProTools and a few instruments and gadgets – extra musicians were added in the studio as needed. By the way, I know that it should be If Life Were Easy – it’s a subtle irony.

I am most grateful to The Guilty Party, my collaborators, whose patience and alent has graced these humble efforts; Joe Bonadio – musical director, Randall Bramblett, Oz Noy, Nicky Moroch, Joe Mennonna. My guests; Gillian Glover, Dan Cafferty, Pete Agnew, Walther Gallay, Mickey Lee Soule, Sahaj Ticotin, Sim Jones, Don Airey, Eliot Denenberg, Harvey Jones.

~ Roger Glover, Mai 2011

Tracklist:

• DON’T LOOK NOW [EVERYTHING HAS CHANGED] (Roger Glover/Randall Bramblett)
  Randall Bramblett – vocals, keyboards, saxophone
  Gillian Glover – vocals
  Roger Glover – bass, baglama, guitar, piano
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – guitars
  Harvey Jones – synthesizers
• BOX OF TRICKS (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – Vocals, bass, guitar, programming
  Eliot Denenberg – drums, guitar atmosphere
• MOONLIGHT (Roger Glover)
  Gillian Glover – vocals
  Roger Glover – Godin fretless bass
  Randall Bramblett – keyboards
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – guitars
  Joe Mennonna – horns, horn arrangement
• THE CAR WON‘T START (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, guitar, harmonica, Godin fretless bass, keyboards, percussion, programming.
  Nicky Moroch – guitar
• THE DREAM I HAD (Roger Glover)
  Dan McCafferty and Pete Agnew – vocals
  Roger Glover – guitar, bass, percussion
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – slide, guitar
• STAND TOGETHER (Roger Glover/Randall Bramblett)
  Randall Bramblett – vocals, keyboards
  Gillian Glover – vocals
  Roger Glover – bass, keyboards, programming
  Don Airey – pianet
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – guitars
• IF LIFE WAS EASY (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, Spanish and electric guitars, Godin fretless bass, percussion
• WELCOME TO THE MOON (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, programming
• SET YOUR IMAGINATION FREE (Roger Glover/Gillian Glover)
  Gillian Glover – vocals
  Roger Glover – bass, guitar, strings
  Randall Bramblett – keyboards
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – sitar guitars
• WHEN LIFE GETS TO THE BONE (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, guitar, bass, percussion
• WHEN THE DAY IS DONE (Roger Glover)
  Walther Galley – vocals
  Roger Glover – guitar, keyboards, percussion, programming
  Sim Jones – strings, string arrangement
• STARING INTO SPACE (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, bass, guitar, synthesizer, percussion, programming
• GET AWAY (CAN’T LET YOU) (Roger Glover /Gillian Glover)
  Gillian Glover – vocals
  Randall Bramblett – piano
  Roger Glover – bass
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion, electric drill
  Oz Noy – guitar
  Nicky Moroch – guitar
  Joe Mennonna – horns, horn arrangement
• THE GHOST OF YOUR SMILE (Roger Glover)
  Mickey Lee Soule – vocals
  Randall Bramblett – keyboards
  Roger Glover – Godin fretless bass, keyboards, percussion
  Oz Noy – acoustic guitar
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Nicky Moroch – lead guitar
• CRUEL WORLD (Roger Glover)
  Roger Glover – vocals, bass, acoustic and ‘Tin–Tone’ guitars, percussion, programming
  Randall Bramblett – keyboards
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Oz Noy – sitar guitar
• FEEL LIKE A KING (Roger Glover)
  Sahaj Ticotin – vocals
  Roger Glover – vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, bass, programming
  Joe Bonadio – drums, percussion
  Nicky Moroch – guitar

The album will be published by earMusic/edel on July 08, 2011.