Steve Morse recently spoke to the Classic Rock magazine. His short interview appeared online:

We are in the sort of position where we don’t have any pressure on us. We’re not a pop act, so nobody these days expects us to sell a lot of records. So, as long as we come up with a good album to satisfy our core fans, then that’s all that matters.

Read the interview on ClassicRockMagazine.com.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.

Ten days ago I was in Chicago to see Blackmore’s Night with a couple of my friends. We drove 2,600 km (that’s 1,600 miles in medieval units) for that gig and to catch Steve Morse Band in Toronto on the way back next day. Was it worth it? Absolutely. On both counts.

You see, lots of people come to a Blackmore’s Night gig waiting for only one thing — those 15 minutes when he picks up his Strat. And then they expect to hear Rainbow or Deep Purple. And then they go home frustrated and disappointed. Because it ain’t Rainbow or Deep Purple. It ain’t rawk.

It’s something different. And it has been so for 12 years.

Thanks to wodnik35 for uploading the videos, to Daniel Bengtsson for bringing it up, and to James the Mechanic for his heroic driving.

Polish label Metal Mind is releasing remastered versions of the selected albums from Ian Gillan’s discography: Naked Thunder, Toolbox, Cherkazoo & Other Stories, Clear Air Turbulence, Scarabus and Accidentally on Purpose (Gillan/Glover). All albums will be released in a new digipak edition each limited to 1000 copies. Digitally remastered using 24-Bit process, released on a golden disc. The release date is scheduled for November 2, 2009.

Ian Gillan — Naked Thunder (remastered)

[cid:C5AF2DC43B0145E3844EB3C6CE8E1256@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1344 DG
Barcode: 5907785035720
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: hard rock
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Gut Reaction
2. Talking To You
3. No Good Luck
4. Nothing But The Best
5. Loving On Borrowed Time
6. Sweet Lolita
7. Nothing To Lose
8. Moonshine
9. Long And lonely Ride
10. Love Gun
11. No More Cane On The Brazos

Ian Gillan — Toolbox (remastered)

[cid:80FC8B3B2764422A9FDB111153424FA5@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1345 DG
Barcode: 5907785035737
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: hard rock
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Hang Me Out To Dry
2. Toolbox
3. Dirty Dog
4. Candy Horizon
5. Don’t Hold Me Back
6. Pictures Of Hell
7. Dancing Nylon Shirt Part1
8. Bed Of Nails
9. Gassed Up
10. Everything I Need
11. Dancing Nylon Shirt Part2

Ian Gillan — Cherkazoo & Other Stories (remastered)

[cid:2A37BBAEDAEB4296AD3C54BD1C48F637@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1346 DG
Barcode: 5907785035744
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: hard rock
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Cherkazoo
3. Monster In Paradise
4. The Bull Of Birantis
5. Intro
6. Hogwash
7. Driving Me Wild (Take One)
8. Donkey Ride Dream
9. Trying To Get To You
10. Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby
11. Driving Me Wild (Fast Take)
12. Music In My Head
13. You Make Me Feel So Good
14. She Called Me Softly
15. Driving Me Wild (Take Three)
16. You Led My Heart Astray
17. A Little Share Of Plenty
18. Night And Day
19. Hidden Track

Ian Gillan Band — Clear Air Turbulence (remastered)

[cid:CB9B67955B524ABA8C2133C09B54657C@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1348 DG
Barcode: 5907785035768
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: Jazz Rock/Fusion
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Clear Air Turbulence
2. Five Moons
3. Money Lender
4. Over The Hill
5. Goodhand Liza
6. Angel Manchenio

Ian Gillan Band — Scarabus (remastered)

[cid:3E7C6C9D31034152A362E58A83DE2ABE@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1347 DG
Barcode: 5907785035751
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: Jazz Rock/Fusion
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Scarabus
2. Twin Exhausted
3. Poor Boy Hero
4. Mercury High
5. Pre-Release
6. Slags To Bitches
7. Apathy
8. Mad Elaine
9. Country Lights
10. Fool’s Mate
11. My Baby Loves Me

Gillan/Glover — Accidentally on Purpose (remastered + bonus tracks)

[cid:F312CF85752E46F99D1E0C5B3DCA047A@Agapromo]
Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1343 DG
Barcode: 5907785035713
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numbered copies)
Genre: pop / rock
Release date: 02.11.2009

Tracklist:

1. Clouds And Rain
2. Evil Eye
3. She Took My Breath Away
4. Dislocated
5. Via Miami
6. I Can’t Dance To That
7. Can’t Believe You Wanna Leave
8. Lonely Avenue
9. Telephone Box
10. I Thought No

Bonus tracks:
11. Cayman Island
12. The Purple People Eater
13. Chet

Thanks to Agnieszka Świątnicka-Kulpińska for the info.

This is an interview that Gillan and Glover did circa 1987 for the German TV. Make all you want out of it, but I’ve found it, ahem, entertaining 😉
Continue Reading »

Martin Popoff has a follow-up volume to his book Gettin’ Tighter. A Castle Full Of Rascals: Deep Purple ’83 – ’09 follows the tradition of Gettin’ Tighter and Rainbow: English Castle Magic by narrating the band’s history “in their own words”, through extensive original interviews. Which makes for a very entertaining reading, if maybe slightly less historically accurate (we all know how human memory works). The new book is promised (I haven’t seen it myself yet) to cover the history of the band from just before the reunion to present time, and have “bits about side-projects, the intro necessities about Gillan, Rainbow, Sabbath and Whitesnake, plus cool trivia from Nick Blagona, Tom Panunzio, Candice Night, Frank Morgan, and Stuart Smith”.

The book can be ordered directly from Martin’s website.

Promoting his band’s US tour, Blackmore gave to Fender one of his rare interviews. He talked about his writing process these days, castles and ghosts (what else!), why he started to play guitar and not trumpet, ticket prices, and many other things:

FN: Could you talk about your evolution as a guitar player, from those early classical lessons to Deep Purple and Rainbow bassist and producer Roger Glover helping you to recognize that while playing with speed can look flashy, that slowing down and holding a note is also a true art?

RB: I realized when I first started playing the guitar I wanted to be very fast. Then I realized, when that wore off, that playing slower and with more feeling and emoting was much harder. It took me a few years to get used to playing slowly. Now I find it harder to play fast.

Read the interview at Fender.com.

On a related note, still photography is now officially permitted at Blackmore’s Night gigs during the first 2 songs, but not video or audio recording. At least that’s what what announced from stage before the start of Chicago show this weekend.

Thanks to Kevin Dixon for bringing the interview to your attention.

Last night at House of Blues, Ritchie Blackmore again showed Chicago why he is considered among the greatest guitar players on earth.
Ritchie, Candice and the rest of the lords and ladies of Blackmore’s Night turned in a spectaular two and a half hour show whose duration was only limited by Chicago’s youth curfew. In fact, there was not even time left for an encore.
The setlist was very similar to other Blackmore’s Night shows this year highlighted by “Locked Within the Crystal Ball”, “Under a Violet Moon”, “Soldier of Fortune”, and “Ghost of a Rose”.
Most of the instrumental portions resulted in the rest of the band carrying on the riff until Ritchie was done soloing (fine with me!).
As expected, the excitement level picked up when the Stratocaster finally made an appearance on Ritchie (and hour and fourty five minutes into the show). Not long after this the man in black launched into the most extensive Deep Purple medley I’ve ever witnessed from Blackmore’s Night.
Beginning with “Woman from Tokyo”, moving into “Smoke on the Water” and ending with “Black Night” the Purple detour was a searing 15 minutes highlighted by some amazing solos from Ritchie.
As a younger Purple family fan, this was the first time I had ever heard Ritchie play these timeless riffs live and something I will never forget.

Hate to say this but the Blackmore’s Night show in Cleveland was one of the most boring shows I have ever seen.
Candice seemed to lose her enthusiasm half way thru the show. If you have insomnia, this show would have cured it.RB was non-existent, very unenthusiastic playing.
Could it be because it was the first show of the tour? I don’t know. I have seen them 8 times, this show was the worst. Very disappointing.

Doctoral dissertation on the music of Deep Purple (Helsinki University, Finland):
“Theory and Analysis of Classic Heavy Metal Harmony” by Esa Lilja.
The thesis was published 17 October 2009.

ABSTRACT:
The study looks into heavy metal harmony from the point of view of music theory and analysis; the main focal point is the era that has been called “classic” or “traditional.” This era ranges roughly from the late 1960s to the mid 1980s, including bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden. The study illuminates characteristics – from the elementary to the complex – which may be considered central to the harmonic language of heavy metal in that time period. Meanwhile, the applicability of traditional theories and methods of music analysis are discussed in the context of this music.

The thesis explores melodic and harmonic features of heavy metal, and while doing so, explores various methods of music analysis; their applicability and limitations regarding the study of heavy metal music. The study is built on three general hypotheses according to which 1) acoustic characteristics play a significant role for chord constructing in heavy metal, 2) heavy metal has strong ties and similarities with other Western musical styles, and 3) theories and analytical methods of Western art music may be applied to heavy metal.

It seems evident that in heavy metal some chord structures appear far more frequently than others. It is suggested here that the fundamental reason for this is the use of guitar distortion effect. Subsequently, theories as to how and under what principles heavy metal is constructed need to be put under discussion; analytical models regarding the classification of consonance and dissonance and chord categorization are here revised to meet the common practices of this music.

It is evident that heavy metal is not an isolated style of music; it is seen here as a cultural fusion of various musical styles. Moreover, it is suggested that the theoretical background to the construction of Western music and its analysis can offer invaluable insights to heavy metal. However, the analytical methods need to be reformed to some extent to meet the characteristics of the music. This reformation includes an accommodation of linear and functional theories that has been found rather rarely in music theory and musicology.

A Swedish promotor in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been fined by the local authorities for not being able to keep sound levels at legal limits. One of the shows this summer that reached an illegal level was the Deep Purple show at Trädgår’n in Gothenburg where the band played at an average of 102 dB. The allowed decibel level for concerts held in Sweden and much of Europe is an average of 100 dB with peaks at 115 dB. Lower volumes are allowed for concerts where children under 13 are present (97 dB and 110 dB respectively).

Sources: Swedish, English