Ian Gillan did an interview with UltimateGuitar.com and by all accounts he was as baffled as we are that a guitar site wants to interview him. Besides the obligatory talk of his new album, some insights into Big Ian’s reading habits, early music influences, and mildly amusing anecdotage have floated:
Two to three weeks ago, I took part in a photograph session in Milan. It was quite weird, actually. Quite a few girls were present, such as my personal assistant, the hairdresser girl, the makeup girl, the translator, etcetera etcetera. Quietly in the background, they gave ‘One Eye to Morocco’ a spin.. They chattered over the album, and no-one really listened. I saw something in the corner of my eyes though; I tried to concentrate on having my photograph taken, and noticed all their bums moving. I thought “Ahh. Mission accomplished here”. That’s exactly what I wanted. As opposed to Deep Purple type material, you might describe ‘One Eye to Morocco’ as more thrusting. The album is much more intimate, and seductive.
And as for the plans of Purple’s next album, the answer is not encouraging at all:
Could you provide an update regarding Deep Purple’s plans for the next several months?
Well, we have shows booked up until January 2010.. I’m just home for a day or two to do some laundry. We’ll be performing little one nighters in Brussels, Berlin and Dubai, and then we’ll perform dates in Japan, Russia, and a batch of European concerts. We have shows booked in South Africa and North America, as well as a UK tour in November. We’ll then tour France over Christmas and January, and on it goes. Are there plans to record Deep Purple’s nineteenth studio album?
There are no plans, no. It’s like everything, I guess. We don’t make plans – it’ll just happen.
Wolfgang’s Vault has posted an entire recording of the much bootlegged radio broadcast of the 1981 Rainbow show at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, Mass. We are not sure how long it will stay there as previously Wolfgang’s Vault had to pull off some material because of licensing issues, but enjoy while it lasts. Continue Reading »
One of the biggest and most prestigious rock festivals in Europe — Sweden Rock Festival — has booked Over The Rainbow to play at the festival this year. The exact date has not been released yet. Sweden Rock 2009 will run June 3rd to 6th at their usual location near Solvesborg in Sweden.
Rick has been pre-recording a new music talk show called Rick Wakeman – Face To Face. One of the episodes features an interview with Jon Lord:
Update: Jon Lord’s official website features a longer trailer for the interview – watch it at JonLord.org.
The complete episode is 52 minutes long and can be purchased for $6 via rockondigital.com. You’ll have to go through a rather convoluted process of registering with them, purchasing “credits” through PayPal, and then exchanging credits for the download.
Unfortunately, Wednesday Gillan’s appearance on Rockline radio show didn’t happen. Big Ian was supposed to appear on the show via a link between London and Los Angeles, but there appeared to be technical difficulties with the link. The host of the show, Bruce Coburn, first played a couple of tunes off One Eye To Morocco trying to buy some time, but eventually said that Gillan’s appearance will have to be rescheduled and a recording of the 2006 promoting Gillan’s Inn was put on the air. We will let you know of the new date (if any).
Since printed word does not have such limitations (especially when published online), Martin Popoff interview with Gillan have appeared on BraveWords without further delay:
“Brilliant, amazing, best thing they’ve ever heard; of course, this is only from the first 200 journalists I’ve spoken to,” laughs the mischievous but always charming leader of the greatest hard rock band ever (Gillan) and also the fourth (Purple), on his new rock-lite solo album One Eye To Morocco.
One Eye To Morocco is out now on Eagle Records. Touring it is unlikely, as Ian and his celebrated graybeards are pumped and primed to enter the studio soon to at least consider the idea of a next Deep Purple studio album.
Needless to say, Nick Simper and The Nasty Habits playd an unforgettable show – powerful, rousing, I wish they do it one more time.
On March 14th 2009 Mr. Simper played his third concert here and the Nasty Habits were once again much more than faithful accompanists. Together they celebrated the beloved, but seldom heard Deep Purple hits from the early years.
The Reigen Club in Vienna is a well known location for people who haves an interest in highbrow music.
It is permanent venue of the Blues Spring and the Jazz Festival Vienna and a lot of famous musicians
like Al Di Meola or Brian Auger for example performed there.
The Nasty Habits are a powerful Viennese rock band, specialized to support rock stars in Austria.
The first part of the show contained a couple of usual Nasty Habits songs to warm up. For the second part, Nick Simper came on stage to came true a dream.
I met fans from all over Europe – Poland, Croatia, UK, Germany, Switzerland and of course, from the high moutains of Austria.
Setlist:
And The Address
The Painter
Mandrake Root
Emmaretta
Chasing Shadows
Lalena
Wring That Neck
Why Didn’t Rosemary
Roadhouse Blues
Kentucky Woman
Hush
Gimme Some Lovin`
What really impressed me about the concert was how tight the band was. These guys are one of the best live acts around. The other thing that was great to see was the smiles, laughter and respect for each other. They were having a great time on stage. The crowd were more into this concert than the previous 3 I’d seen. I think they need to visit the Middle East more often.
I’ve been a great fan of DP for many years and have been fortunate enough to see them 4 times 1984, 1993, 2003 and most recently last weekend in Dubai.
Having read recent comments about Gillan’s voice in Agentina I was a bit concerned before the concert but I am very pleased to report he came through with flying colours!! He sounded great and had plenty of punch when required!
As for the set list it had the usual minus – Wrong Man, Pictures of Home, Mary Long. Highway Star kicked it off then Things I Never Said, SKOW, Into the Fire… Ted the Mechanic and Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming were there as was Contact Lost.
A great heavy version of Space Truckin lead by Roger Glover with a heavy base sound. Smoke on the Water was followed by an encore of Hush and Black Night!!
We have a whole lot of new and confirmed European tour dates. Deep Purple’s itinerary now looks like this: end of August / Early September they play a couple of open air festivals in Switzerland, then Fête de l’Humanité near Paris, followed by arenas in Barcelona and Madrid. Then off until the British dates in November (second gig at Hammersmith has been confirmed as well). After the UK, they are heading to the continent once again, first to Antwerp and Amsterdam, then Scandinavia. The band will round off the year 2009 by playing 6 dates in brand spanking new French arenas (in fact, so spanking new that half of them still feature as construction sites on satellite maps).
Full details in our Purple Calendar. As usual, please mail any additions, corrections and ticket info to the tourdates editor.
Blackmore has issued a statement through his lawyers in reply to Gillan’s interview to Rockpages.gr which was published in October:
In an interview he gave to a music website recently, Ian Gillan made a number of comments about Ritchie Blackmore that twisted facts and which require setting the record straight.