More Black Than Purple will be hosting a Purple convention on May 3rd in Bedford, UK:

Wymer UK is pleased to announce a Deep Purple convention celebrating the momentous occasion of forty years since the inception of this classic hard rock band with a 12-hour marathon of all things Purple.

The event will be held on Saturday 3rd May at Esquires Club in Bedford, just 40 minutes from London St Pancras railway station.

Unlike most conventions we are also pleased to announce that there will be appearances from two former band members:

• Glenn Hughes will be making a personal appearance with a Q and A session as well as doing a unique acoustic performance of classic MKIII and IV songs.
• Original Purple bassist Nick Simper will be performing with his band the Good Old Boys.
• Rounding off the live music will be a set of Purple classics performed by Burn, with Nick Simper joining them for some MKI numbers!

In addition to this there will be guest speakers including Ian Hansford (Purple roadie from 1968-73) and Ritchie Blackmore’s former personal assistant, Rob Fodder.

During the day there will be video screenings of rare material, plus competitions, trade stalls and of course topping it all off the live music (as listed above) in the evening, finishing around midnight.

A splendid day is guaranteed for all Purple fans so come along, meet other like-minded fans and join in the fun. The Esquires club is an intimate venue and tickets are limited so order now to avoid disappointment.

Tickets can be ordered online from the MBTP Store.

For more information on the event check out the following link:
http://moreblackthanpurple.co.uk/convention.htm

More details will also be published in the forthcoming issue of More Black than Purple, which has been slightly delayed so all the latest on the convention can be included.

Thanks to Rob Fodder for the info.

Ian Gillan’s article about his experiences in Moscow Kremlin appeared today in online edition of The Sunday Times:

The Kremlin gig wasn’t as straight as all that. The younger guys and more junior staff were all up on their feet, although they were looking nervously over at their bosses to see whether they could loosen their ties. It was as if they were asking, “How much fun are we allowed to have?”

When we met Medvedev he had this stupid grin on his face because he was meeting his favourite band. We had a nice chat but we didn’t talk about politics. All of us in the band have such wildly different opinions on religion and politics that we never get into it.

Read the whole thing here.

Thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the info.

You may have noticed The Highway Star has a somewhat different look now. True. We have incorporated more content management software into the website, which should allow for smoother interaction between you, our readers, and back to us, the editors. A couple of improvements above the waterline are the new tour dates page and a new way of submitting your own tour reviews.

We have tried to retain as much of the old identity as we could. To do so, many of our pages have been revisited and converted to the new format. Some had to be moved around. It is possible things were missed or broken in the conversion, so please let us know if you find something that doesn’t work. Or leave a reply right here.

This upgrade is another step in our efforts to make The Highway Star an even more useful resource for you. We do have plans for more, bigger, and better things still to come. So if you have something in particular you would like to see us focus on — or just want to comment on the changes so far, please do. After all, The Highway Star is ‘made for the fans, by the fans’.

The 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival will be held on July 4-19 this year. Deep Puple are included in the preliminary festival program announced a couple of weeks ago. The program should be finalized by April 17th.

Our boys established a good tradition of coming back to the Lake Geneva shoreline every few years — they’ve played the festival in 1996, then 2000, 2004 and 2006. The 40th anniversary festival in 2006 featured Ian Gillan, Steve Morse and Roger Glover on it’s artwork designed by Julian Opie.

The Kremlin gig from February 11 was broadcasted today, February 15th on Russian ORT Channel 1. Smoke on the Water from Purple’s set was included in the broadcast:
Continue Reading »

A new interview with David Coverdale appeared this morning on several sites. He talks mostly about the new album, Good To Be Bad:

Would you say that GOOD TO BE BAD is a mixture between your blues roots and a modern attitude? Any other influences?

For me it has all the elements, all the ingredients that I enjoy about Whitesnake…It’s a very solid, muscular, melodic rock record with a couple of fine ballads, so, there’s a little tenderness when the moment calls for it…& of course the ballads help balance out the chest beaters! I find it a very complete piece of work, actually…It covers a lot of musical ground…A positive chapter in the Book Of Whitesnake… I’m able to sing from a whisper to a scream, with all points in between, very comfortably with the new material… We also tried some new musical keys for me to sing in…which made it very fresh, interesting & fun… When Doug & I sat down to jam on each others song ideas the structure of the album was evident pretty much immediately…it came together very naturally… There was never a danger of compromising the acknowledged identity of Whitesnake for the sake of trying to be modern…or fashionable… I’d say if there was any influence it would be all the previous elements that have come together to make what is Whitesnake, coupled with the very welcome fresh injection from Doug , Chris, Timothy, Uriah & Reb… Chris Frazier has brought a very Paicey feel back to the band…He swings, grooves, rocks & rolls…A very pleasing foundation to build from…Whitesnake’s got it’s groove back! As a band, these guys know how to tell the Whitesnake story very well indeed…

The interview was conducted by Matthias Mineur and appeared on a number of different sites. We are not quite sure who reprinted it from whom, so we’ll send you to whitesnake.com to read it 😉 — here.

Deep Purple are confirmed to play in London, UK on July 30 at the ExCeL. This is the venue for the British International Motor Show. Tickets can be ordered at www.seetickets.com and concert tickets include admission to the motor show during the day.

New interview with Joe Lynn Turner on Classic Rock Revisited. Quite interesting even if you don’t agree with everything he has to say. He talks about his latest album Second Hand Life, his days in Deep Purple and the prospects of a Rainbow reunion and other things.

Here are some tidbits:

Jeb: Do you think Blackmore will ever quite doing Blackmore’s Night?

Joe: That is the question of the universe. […] I think it is possible that a reunion could happen – that is a political answer but he always gets tired of things and he always is looking for new blood so there is always the chance of something happening.

Jeb: If Rainbow were to get back together who should be the singer? Ronnie James Dio or you?

Joe: I know it won’t be Dio because I talk to Ronnie and he is doing quite well on his own. […] It should be me. I will tell you why, Dio had the heavier sort of dungeons and dragons stuff – don’t get me wrong, I love the stuff and I am even singing some of his stuff like “Last in Line” and “Rainbow in the Dark” in Big Noize. I am a huge fan of Ronnie James Dio but we [Rainbow with Joe Lynn Turner] did have the sales. We also had the worldwide notoriety and the commercial success. They had a poll one time about who should be the singer and overwhelmingly it was me — and I need the work [laughter].

Jeb: You were not a young kid when you joined Rainbow. You were 27 or 28.

Joe: I was immature. I was an American and I was used to seeing guys on stage trying to entertain an audience. I was over zealous and I was over doing everything. Ritchie and Roger helped to grow me up. Ritchie would say, “Just wrap your fucking legs around the mic stand and sing with all that soul power that you have. Quit prancing around the stage like some sort of poofta.” It made sense and I finally got it. Now, I kind of combine a little of both because I am an American and not a stoic, pretentious Englishman.

Read the whole thing here.

Have you been to a concert? Want to share your experiences with other fans? Write a review right here.

Whitesnake.com reveals cover art for the new Whitesnake album Good To Be Bad:

Thanks to Daniel Bengtsson for the info.