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Recording engineer Dave Rideau recently sat down with producer Kevin “The Caveman” Shirley at his studio, The Cave, in Malibu, California. The interview was done for mixing console manufacturer Solid State Logic and Shirley talks about his work, among them his work on Black Country Communion’s debut album.

I booked the studio down the road, and we just booked two days, and I had everyone come into the studio … Shangri-La, just down the road here. And they came in for two days, and … Joe and Glenn had written nuggets of ideas, so we cut it all in bits and pieces … And then, they all went away, and in the evenings I cut it all up together when I was working on an Iron Maiden album in the Bahamas and I had time to spare. I put the headphones on and my laptop and I edited it all up, and that’s how this [debut] record came about …

It’s interesting… to see like 10,000 reviews that [say] you can hear that these guys are all playing live. Well, they are playing live. It’s just, they weren’t playing quite as you hear.

Thanks to Lemon Squeezings: Led Zeppelin News.

U.S. nationally syndicated radio show Rockline will broadcast two episodes dedicated to Whitesnake in March. The first — scheduled for Wednesday, March 9 — is part of the Notes On Music series where artists are asked to discuss their greatest hits. The second, which will air on Wednesday, March 30, is the premiere of their new album Forevermore.

Rockline airs at 8:30 PM (PT) / 11:30 PM (ET). Fans are encouraged to speak with the guests by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). The show is picked up by lots of radio stations across the US, many of which also broadcast on the Internet.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Steve Morse and Glenn Hughes both have contributed to an upcoming Tommy Bolin tribute album. The album, yet unnamed, is being put together by producer Greg Hampton of the Tommy Bolin Whips and Roses fame. Fabrizio Grossi (Whips & Roses I & II, Glenn Hughes) is also on board as Associate Producer/Mix Engineer. Other musicians who already recorded their parts are:

• Steve Lukather (Toto, solo)
• Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers)
• Brad Whitford (Aerosmith)
• Nels Cline (Wilco, solo)
• Oz Noy (Roger Glover, Nile Rodgers, solo)
• John Scofield (Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Jaco Pastorius, solo)
• Prairie Prince (The Tubes, drums on Savannah Woman and Wild Dogs)
• Peter Frampton (Humble Pie, solo)
• Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge)
• Joe Bonamassa (Black Country Communion, solo)

Also in negotiation or committed to the project are Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Tom Morello and Derek Trucks.

Thanks to Tommy Bolin Archives and Blabbermouth for the info.

Jon Lord will deliver a lecture on improvisation and musicianship at the University of the West of Scotland on Thursday, 24 February 2011. The lecture will take place at 2pm in the Brough Hall, Paisley Campus. The lecture is free and open to all UWS students as well as members of the public but seats are limited so please apply quickly to book your place.

The lecture will cover Jon’s career and especially focus on improvisation and musicianship which was a key part of his position in Deep Purple and something that is still at the centre of his performances today.

Those wishing to attend the lecture should complete the online registration form and will be notified by email if have been given a place.

Thanks to Michael McMillan for the info.

Here’s a snippet of a press conference the band attended in Mexico. Questions are in Spanish only, but are not difficult to restore from the context and the answers.
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German band Demon’s Eye, better known as a Purple tribute act who have performed with many members of the family, is putting out an album of their original (albeit heavily influenced) material aptly called The Stranger Within. Why aptly? Well, Doogie White is singing and from the snippets I’ve heard it sounds like a followup to Stranger in Us All. And I mean this as a compliment.

You might want to switch the video to fullscreen if the subtitles are difficult to read.

If you like what you hear, the album can be preordered from the band’s webstite. Release date is set to March 18, after which Demon’s Eye featuring Doogie White will embark on a short promotional tour:

• Apr 7: BE-3600, Genk, Belgium
• Apr 8: Dortmund, Germany
• Apr 9: Siegen, Germany
• Apr 14: Bonn, Germany
• Apr 15: Solingen, Germany
• Apr 16: Torgau, Germany

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

While being on tour in Indonesia with Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson spoke to the local edition of the Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview he revealed his top 5 favourite albums of all time. We list them here so that you can commend him on his music tastes. “In no particular order”, here it is:

• Deep Purple – Made in Japan
• Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II
• Jethro Tull – Aqualung
• The Crazy World of Arthur Brown – The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
• Rainbow – Rising

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

We all like to moan and groan about unimaginative/poorly designed merchandise that can often be found online or at the shows. Now we have a chance to do something about it.

The new online Deep Purple store will be launched in the coming weeks. The Highway Star has been asked what kind of interesting merchandising ideas would fans like to see pertaining to the classical era of the band (1968-1976)? Apart from the usual t-shirts? What would you like to see in the store? What would you buy? We are being told that the management will be happy to review all your ideas.

Let’s have a brainstorm. Leave a comment below.

Perhaps no other property so distinctly epitomized the excesses of 1970s rock’n’roll lifestyle as the infamous Starship plane. Back in 2003 the New York Times has run an article about it’s history. Bruce Payne, who was band’s US booking agent at the time, and Ian Paice were interviewed for the feature:

Ian Paice, of Deep Purple, fondly recalls being in Miami and, on a whim, flying to Boston for a lobster dinner. ”It was a time when everything was doable,” he says. ”And we weren’t shy about spending the money.” Groans Bruce Payne, the band’s manager, ”That probably cost $11,000.”

For the members of Deep Purple and their roadies, it was more about watching X-rated movies on the high-tech video monitor and using the Starship to entice groupies. ”The girls would get on the plane and fly to wherever the next show was,” recalls Bruce Payne, the group’s manager. ”Fathers two states over were calling the cops.” But Deep Purple’s drummer, Ian Paice, has no regrets. ”The Starship was a great place to join the mile-high club,” he says.

If you have missed it first time around, read more on NYTimes.com (that is, if you manage to get through their paywall). Also, check out pictures by Fin Costello of the band aboard the Starship.

Thanks to Yvonne Osthausen for the info.