A Russian court has fined Deep Purple for “illegally” performing their own songs, according to russiatoday.com.

The concert in question took place on October 19, 2008 in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
According to the court’s ruling, the musicians – Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Roger Glover – should have obtained a license from the all-Russian NGO, “Russian Authors’ Society” for the public performance of any of their songs. The organization represents the rights of foreign performers in Russia – even without these performers giving the NGO permission to represent them.
For every “unlicensed” song, the court imposed a penalty of 30,000 roubles (about 1,000 dollars) on the organizers of the concert for payment to the “Russian Authors’ Society” which, in its turn, is supposed to make payments to the authors – Gillan, Paice and Glover.
Lawyers say the real reason for the suit might be that the “Russian Authors’ Society” receives revenues from those royalties received.

Blogger peplov points out that the judge misinterpreted the Articles of Association of the “Russian Authors’ Society”. It clearly says that the organization was created by authors for protecting their rights in their field of intellectual activities. “The Society is based upon the principle of free will, equal membership rights and democratic self-management,” peplov said, quoting the document. “Can’t the judge read?” the perplexed blogger asked.

Professional lawyers say the court’s ruling sticks to the letter of the law, noting that case law – which could help avoid such confusing situations – is not used in Russia.

thanks to George Kikonishvili for the news.

Blabbermouth reports that Steve Morse has been interviewed on Rocknation TV. The interview is featured in episode 46 and can be viewed online at www.rocknation.us/tv.

Rocknation TV is a weekly 30-minute metal program featuring metal videos and interviews. It is available online and airs in the USA on Time Warner, Comcast, Service Electric and Charter Communications. Some of the cities airing the show are New York City, Houston, Anaheim, Chicago, Austin, Denver, Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas and Sacramento.

Keyboard player Tony Carey has left Over The Rainbow and has been replaced by Paul Morris.

Here is Over The Rainbow’s own press release:

After he received a great reception from over 12,000 fans at the Sweden Rock Festival, Over The Rainbow has officially added keyboardist Paul Morris to the band’s roster for several USA concert dates in July. Like all members of OVER THE RAINBOW (with the exception of guitarist Jurgen “J.R.” Blackmore), Morris was also part of RAINBOW as he recorded and toured with the band from 1994 through 1997.

Confirmed dates:

Bridgeview, IL
July 3
Toyota Park

El Paso, TX
July 4
Downtown Street Festival

Ocean City, NJ
July 6
Ocean City Music Pier

Auburn Hills, MI
July 8
DTE Energy Music Theatre/Palace Sports and Entertainment

Allentown, PA
July 10
Crocodile Rock Cafe

Asbury Park, NJ
July 11
The Stone Pony

Keyboardist Tony Carey has left the band and all of the members of Over The Rainbow, its management and staff wish Tony much success in all of his future endeavors. They emphasize that there is no ill will toward Tony and they all respect his decision.

Over The Rainbow would like to take the time to thank all of their fans for their incredible and loyal support and look forward to bringing the great music of all eras of Rainbow to the USA next month and to Russia and Europe in the fall.

Over The Rainbow is:
Vocals: Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow 1980-1984)
Drums: Bobby Rondinelli (Rainbow 1980-1983)
Bass: Greg Smith (Rainbow 1994-1997)
Guitar: Jurgen (“J.R.”) Blackmore

Another interview with Ian Gillan, this time at KNAC.com (Big Ian is certainly getting his money’s worth from the PR agents). Amid the familiar by now story behind One Eye To Morocco, he made some interesting remarks, particularly about his songwriting process:

I never write the lyrics first, but I do make a lot of notes every day. I’ve got hundreds of books. I use the composition books, like the ones the American schools use. I’ve got hundreds of them. If I see anything over the course of the day that either makes me start growling or makes me roll on the floor laughing or touches me emotionally, then it gets written down. Names, places, times, clothes, weather — all those little bits of color that take you right back to the moment when you want to use it in a song or in an essay or something like that. So those ideas are kept and logged for later use. But normally speaking, if I’m writing with Steve Morris, for example, he comes up with some backing track demo-type things and then I write the tunes and put the words on top. I do what I do — the singing bit and all the connected parts. But generally it’s the tune that comes first. You can hear the beginning of the words when I do what I call “my gibberish,” which is when I sing and I first hear the ideas and the music with a guitar or a more developed piece. I just start singing the most natural thing, without having to worry about the words. But more important at that stage than the meaning of the words is the sound of the words. So I’m pretty careful with the vowel sounds and the percussive value of the consonants. When you’re hitting the high note, you don’t want an “ooo” sound, you want a more open vowel sound because singers don’t like that. So it’s the working on the craft of it, really. Then once you’ve got that in shape, you can think more about the words. But very often, a phrase or a sentence or a word will come spontaneously whilst I’m doing this gibberish, and very often that will lead to the development of the rest of the lyrics.

Read the rest of the interview at KNAC.com.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.

Gary Moore Band with Ian Paice, Don Airey and Neil Murray performing Hurricane at the Westfalenhalle, Dortmund in 1982: Continue Reading »

German record company SPV has filed for bankruptcy protection on May 25 in the District Court of Hanover. On May 27 the court has appointed a provisional insolvency administrator. This does not mean that the company will cease operations immediately, but may affect musicians to whom it owes money.

SPV is the current record label for Whitesnake, Blackmore’s Night, and both Dio and Heaven & Hell, among many other artists. Several Glenn Hughes’ albums between 1995 and 2005 were also released by SPV.

Thanks to Blabbermouth and Billboard for the info.

Update [May 31]: Heaven & Hell are currently signed to Roadrunner. Only Live from Radio City Music Hall was released in Europe on SPV.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the correction.

Jerry Bloom of More Black Than Purple fame has written a new book — Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll Story — which covers history of the Rainbow album.

This book, the first in a planned series on ‘landmark’ rock albums focuses on Rainbow’s 1978 release Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll, a pivotal album within the band’s roster.

Upon its release in April 1978 Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll fans considered it a more commercial album than the previous two releases with indications that band leader Ritchie Blackmore was trying to steer the music towards obtaining greater commercial recognition within the world’s biggest record market; America.

Having recorded the previous two albums in a combined period of barely over a month, Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow’s third studio album took almost a year to make. Recorded at the Strawberry Studios in the haunted Chateau d’Herouville near Paris, it was the last album to feature singer Ronnie James Dio, and saw the band struggle to cope with in-wranglings, sackings, sudden departures and intervention from the spiritual world!

Along with recollections from the band and crew, Ritchie Blackmore biographer Jerry Bloom details the full story behind the making of this ‘landmark’ album that included the classic songs Kill The King, Gates Of Babylon and Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll.

With Blackmore steering Rainbow towards a much more commercial approach with the albums that followed, to many fans Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll was the last Rainbow record to truly represent the style that the band originally set out to produce, with its blend of renaissance inspired chord progressions, and mystical, and medieval inspired lyrics. Includes a track by track analysis, selected discography & 8-page colour section, all combined in a ‘CD size’ book designed to sit on your shelf, alongside the album as its perfect companion.

An essential read for all fans of Rainbow and classic rock music in general.

Rainbow’s Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll Story by Jerry Bloom
Wymer Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9557542-2-7
Format: paperback (125x140mm), 64 pp
Price: £7.99
Publication date: 5th June 2009
Category: Non-fiction

The book can be ordered directly from the publisher.

Thanks to Dima Zykov and Wymer Publishing for the info.

Monday night’s ChildLine Rocks charity show in London (June 1) is to be released on a socalled Instant Live CD.

The 3CD set will feature Jon Lord, Glenn Hughes, Uriah Heep, Thunder and more on a limited edition release with 2 audio CDs and a photo disc with exclusive photos from the night’s performances.

The cost is £20, and all profits go directly to ChildLine – a free, 24-hour helpline for children in distress or danger in the UK.

Order your Instant Live ChildLine Rocks CD.

As the Whitesnake’s 2009 tour kicked off in Norway, the local public broadcaster NRK has published an interview they did with David Coverdale:

OSE: On our weekly radio show «Radio Rock», the one song by Deep Purple people want to hear over and over again, is «Soldier Of Fortune».

COVERDALE: Yeah, there’s an interesting story to that song. Ritchie and I really enjoyed the song. But the musicians in Deep Purple were very reluctant. They didn’t buy the song at all. So Ritchie and I made a demo to present the idea. With just the two of us standing there, performing the song, they didn’t get it. So we made a demo, and they went: «Oh, OK. Let’s do it.» But that was something that was very difficult for Ritchie. He said: «That’s the last time we’re ever gonna do anything like that». And I think that was the big seed of him wanting to leave. I love the song, and it’s another one that’s developed a life of its own.

Read the interview at NRK.no.

Thanks to Roy Hilmar Svendsen for the info.

Dream Theater are releasing their new studio album called Black Clouds & Silver Linings on June 23. The special edition of the album will include a bonus CD of covers, with Rainbow’s Stargazer and Dixie Dregs’ Odyssey among them.

Drummer Mike Portnoy talks about the decision to cover Rainbow:

The album is given an elaborate promotional campaign treatment by the Roadrunner Records, during which tracks are being released for online download via iTunes to build anticipation in advance of release date. Stargazer was released for download (US only) on May 19th.

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson and DreamTheater.net for the info.