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.

A promo video from Roger Glover’s 2002 Snapshot has surfaced on YouTube. Very laid back.
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WhoCares charity single will get a North American release on June 27th via Eagle Rock. This is the release date for a physical CD. European CD release date is now set for May 24th (although Amazon.co.uk lists it as May 9th). Download release for both markets is still set for May 6th. Confused? Me too.

Lineup for the ‘b-side’ Holy Water has been unveiled as well, and (mostly) it’s all familiar faces from the Gillan’s Inn band:

• Vocals: Ian Gillan
• Guitars: Tony Iommi , Steve Morris, Michael Lee Jackson
• Drums: Randy Clarke
• Bass: Rodney Appleby
• Hammond organ: Jesse O’Brien
• Duduk solo: Arshak Sahakyan
• Underlying duduk intro music & keys: Ara Gevorgyan

Preorder the single from a store near you
Audio CD:

7" vinyl:

US and Canadian stores so far only list them as expensive imports. Watch this space for further announcements.

Thanks to Black-Sabbath.com and BraveWords for the info.

While on tour in Krasnodar in Southern Russia earlier this month, Jon Lord gave a wonderful interview where he does not shy away from discussing that other band he was in.

Part 1
What do you think of Russian audiences?
What’s the difference between playing rock and playing classical music?
Would you do a reunion with Deep Purple?

Part 2
What do you think of the Russian classical musicians?
What do you think of Russian classical music?
What do you think of the modern rock music?
Why Deep Purple are so popular in Russia?

Part 3
What were the most creative times for Deep Purple?
And what about Mk.3 and 4?
Are you staying in touch with other Purple people?
What do you think about President Medvedev’s affection for Deep Purple?
About the ‘golden generation’ of rock musicians.
General impressions of Russia.

Jon Lord – keyboards, Anna Phoebe – violin, Kasia Laska and Steve Balsamo – vocals, Cry Free (the band), and Kuban Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ponkin.

Thanks to ufokultura for the video and to Yvonne Osthausen for bringing it to your attention.

Deep Purple have finally broken silence about the upcoming tour with an orchestra when Steve Morse spoke to Examiner about it:

So Deep Purple is touring with a symphony orchestra?

Yeah. It’s not exactly like the symphonic tour that we did where we’re actually playing symphonic music that Don [Airey, Deep Purple keyboardist] had written and some Deep Purple songs. We’re going to play our set, basically, and have accompaniment on some songs, sort of like if you imagine some of the old Motown songs where they added strings and horns to a song to spice it up. And that’s the approach [the band] want[s] to take on this tour. So we’re arranging things as we speak.

He also spoke about what it is to be the only Yank in the band, Gillan’s barefoot habits, Japan, and (as if straight from the ‘don’t give them ideas‘ department) his touring plans:

Is there any place that you haven’t played yet that you’re looking forward to?

Oh, yeah. I’d like to see — and this is not a joke — Antarctica. Because I’m fascinated with technology and how people cope with things. Since I’m a member of Deep Purple, and have played outside in the snow on top of a mountain, in a desert (laughs) and in a monsoon in Korea, I think, outside, getting drenched, it seems like if we can play anywhere, we might as well go to the most extreme gig possible, and that would be Antarctica. Maybe even the North Pole, I don’t know. But there’s some parts of Africa that we haven’t been to, and that would be interesting, especially if they were able to accommodate all the power and logistics for the band. The adventure never stops.

Any other messages about the tour?

If anybody hasn’t seen the band, we don’t get to the U.S. very often, so I would suggest this is the time. And the band is a live group; It’s all about the energy vibe. We have one of the best keyboard players in the world [Don Airey], and just a fantastic rhythm section. You know, the icons of rock and roll. So check it out if you’re ever kicking yourself for not seeing the classic artists when they come around. Deep Purple doesn’t hit the States very often.

Read the whole interview on examiner.com.

In anticipation of the May 6 release of the WhoCares single, Ian Gillan spoke to Armenia’s Mediamax:

– You wrote the song “Out of My Mind” right after visiting Armenia in October 2009. Can you please tell – how it happen? Who was “responsible” for what when writing this song?

– Well, normally…people like us who work with bands write the bits that we play.

In this case with “Out of My Mind” Tony presented the entire musical idea and I wrote what I sing over the top or along with it if you prefer. The second track of the WhoCares single “Holy Water” was a bit different as I wrote that with Steve Morris and Tony was gracious enough to play guitar on it.

Read more on mediamax.am.

Thanks to Ara Tadevosyan for the info.

The still-yet-to-be-released WhoCares single has already entered the Amazon.co.uk charts. It’s been at #2 position in singles for two days now and yesterday was even spotted at reaching #1. You all now have a chance to contribute to it’s continuing success. It’s great music by outstanding musicians. And it’s all for a good cause.

Thanks to Steve Campbell for the info.

Glenn Hughes will be co-hosting with Duff McKagan That Metal Show on a US cable/satellite channel VH1. The episode will air this Saturday, April 16, at 11 PM EDT/PDT and will be repeated in the following days. Check your local listings for further details.

Thanks to Tracy Heyder for the info.