Nick Simper continues working on his autobiography, which has now reached the summer of 1969 and his dismissal from Deep Purple.

June ended with a show at London’s prestigious Revolution Club, followed by a BBC recording session for the David Symonds radio show. On July 1st I again met Rod Freeman, who was now manager of Jim Marshall’s music shop, and we went for a drink at the old favourite Cromwellian Club. Rod was quite subdued and once again broached the subject of my leaving the group. I explained that this type of rumour often followed successful bands. He then hit me with the bombshell. “It’s true”, he said, and then proceeded to tell me how they had been witnessed rehearsing with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. With all respect to Glover, I found this very hard to believe. This, of course, was like a bolt from the blue, and I resolved to find out more. The next day I telephoned Tetragrammaton in the US to find out what they knew. I was told that they already had the new single, and had been told that Rod and myself had been “paid off”. They told me that it was obviously not Rod and me on the record, and the official story was that the record was completed by Ron Wood on bass and the singer from Spooky Tooth on vocals, both in the capacity of session men.

Read more on Nick’s website.

Thanks to Arch for the heads-up.

Roger Glover and Joe Lynn Turner are among the guest musicians on Michael Schenker’s new album of UFO remakes. It is called My Years with UFO and is due to be released on September 20, 2024, via earMUSIC.

Track listing

1. Natural Thing (feat. Dee Snider, Joel Hoekstra)
2. Only You Can Rock Me (feat. Joey Tempest, Roger Glover)
3. Doctor, Doctor (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Carmine Appice)
4. Mother Mary (feat. Slash, Erik Grönwall)
5. This Kids (feat. Biff Byford)
6. Love To Love (feat. Axl Rose)
7. Lights Out (feat. Jeff Scott Soto, John Norum)
8. Rock Bottom (feat. Kai Hansen)
9. Too Hot To Handle (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Adrian Vandenberg, Carmine Appice)
10. Let It Roll (feat. Michael Voss)
11. Shoot, Shoot (feat. Stephen Pearcy)

The “house band” includes Derek Sherinian on keys, Brian Tichy on drums, and Barry Sparks on bass.

Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info.

Glenn Hughes was interviewed for the THAT Rocks! podcast, talking about his Purple tour and the new (then) upcoming Black Country Communion album, and his plans for the future. Continue Reading »

The fine folks at earMUSIC have kindly allowed pre-release access to Deep Purple’s new album =1, so that we can tell you all about it here on The Highway Star. Starting now and continuing until the official release date July 19, Rasmus Heide will be reviewing the full album in two-track segments. As they say: Hit Subscribe Now.

1. Show Me. “Uh! Come on, man! Don’t be shyyy!” Is this Ian Gillan urging new guitarist Simon McBride to fully embrace his new role in Deep Purple? He might as well. Over a tightly knit non-riff riff(!), Gillan moans, then urges, and then we’re off – into the explosive opening song on =1.

And what a fresh new start this is! For the first time in almost 30 years (since 1996 to be precise) we’re offered new blood on the geetar in Deep Purple. This alone is something of an accomplishment. Now listen to the size of Simon McBride’s Irish balls in this.

Show Me is a very effective opener – and unlike any openers you’ve heard from Deep Purple before. Its hypnotizing opening guitar with keyboard effects both intrigues and attracts, then moves into the song proper. Ian Gillan is front and center, and the words arrive fast and steady in a staccato style delivery that could almost be described as Ian’s way of rapping. Yes, rapping. Just wait and hear it for yourself.

“You’re on a hiding all for nothing, not going anywhere,” he sings. The verses are dark and menacing while the bridge clears the skies away to show us a happier face in excellent contrast.

Then there’s the solo section. Oh yes, Don Airey and McBride embrace each other at the front, trading licks in classic Purple style, rounding off their bit with an intense ascending run, before Gillan returns with another chorus before we’re taken through a dramatic build-up to the song’s ending. No meagre fade out here!

What an opener. This band is playing off each other, and their energy is palpable and gorgeous.

2. A Bit On The Side opens with fast double bass drum pattern underpinning an intense but less staccato riffing. Let’s consider this a modern day cousin to Fireball. There, I said it.

There’s a ton of energy here – supporting Ian Gillan’s superb tale about Charlene, another femme fatale in his long list of conquests. “You’ve been getting bolder, now you’re leaning on the shoulder, I can guess how you want this to be.”

With great intent Gillan claims in the chorus, “I don’t want no left or right, I want front and back – and a little bit on the siiide!” slowly trailing off the last word while Airey sweeps in with an effective Moog-style solo – until Ian Paice’s drums break things up and a whooshing McBride guitar takes us up to the next verse. This is busy!

Then, after another verse and chorus, towards the end, McBride levels the playing field with an intense and speedy solo that both excells and cements his position with the band. This guy’s here to stay! Then it’s straight to the song’s breathless climax. Phew!

Repeated listens give more insight into the playful lyrics and the layers of intrumental excellence. There is a terrific abundance of energy, detail and entusiasm here, perfectly portraying the collective skills of a band that sound half their age yet play with a refined restraint rarely seen among youngsters.

An absolute pleasure!

Roger, Paicey, and Simon discuss Simon’s first gig with Deep Purple. Continue Reading »

Black Country Communion’s new album V is now out, and a new video for the track Letting Go has been released as well. Continue Reading »

Deep Purple have started their 2024 tour in earnest, and at the first show in Madrid on June 13 two new tracks were presented to the audience. The first one is marked in the setlist as Bleeding Obvious, while the title of the other one is still unknown most likely is A Bit On The Side. Continue Reading »

Metal Talk has a review of Black Country Communion’s new album V (due out tomorrow, June 14th). And this one is not shy with superlatives either.

Forget the Hanging Gardens Of Babylon or The Great Pyramid Of Giza; one of the true seven wonders of the world is the 72-year-old voice of Glenn Hughes.

In an age where the authenticity of both live and studio vocals are looked on in some quarters with suspicion, the purity of the Wolverhampton man’s pipes are beyond astounding. On the blues fuelled Red Sun and Restless it’s no exaggeration to say he is performing at an even higher level than when he parachuted into Deep Purple Mark III in 1973.

Read more in Metal Talk.

Blues Rock Review has a positively glowing review of the yet-to-be-released Black Country Communion V, and gives it 9.5 out of 10.

Not many modern outfits give me the itch to dust off my old Led Zep and Deep Purple records. Then again, Black Country Communion are no ordinary sons. A renowned supergroup that suffuse the sky with the black smoke and soot of the Black Country (an area of England’s West Midlands), and the patriotic stars and stripes of America, their camaraderie was (and thankfully still is) immediately evident.

If you thought classic rock was dead and that old-school punch had been knocked out long before 2010 (the year of BCC’s self-titled LP), allow me to introduce you to this outrageously talented line-up. Keyboard phenomenon Derek Sherinian (ex-Dream Theater) and blues-rock titan Joe Bonamassa make up the American contingent. The other half of this musical power plant are the two boys representing the Black Country — thunderous drummer Jason Bonham and the ageless, evergreen ‘Voice of Rock’ Glenn Hughes.

They pick out Red Sun as the big hit of the album.

Continue reading in the Blues Rock Review.

Guitar World is celebrating the 70th anniversary of Fender Stratocaster with an anecdote of how Blackmore bought his first one from an Eric Clapton’s roadie:

I was in Deep Purple in 1969, and I was living in Acton, London. We were all in the same house, the whole band, and Eric Clapton’s roadie came by the house because he knew one of my roadies, and he brought a Strat with him.

I think it was black. So I said to him, ‘Do you want to sell that guitar? It looks interesting, and I wanted to try out a Strat.’ He said, ‘I’ll sell it to you for £60.’ I said, ‘Okay, you’re on.’ So, for £60, I bought one of Eric Clapton’s old Strats that he obviously didn’t want because he gave it to the roadie.

That guitar was used to record Emmaretta, but was retired shortly after because of a bowed neck.

Thanks to Guitar World for the info.