The much touted video for the remix of Smoke on the Water has arrived. Continue Reading »

Ian Paice is auctioning for charity one of his drum kits. In this video, he explains what exactly is being auctioned, how it sounds, and where the money will go. Continue Reading »

Paicey talks about the legacy of Machine Head to promote the upcoming remix of the album. Continue Reading »

Here’s Pete Makowski’s feature on Rainbow December’76 tour of Japan, originally published on January 29, 1977, in the Sounds. It is a rather long read, but well worth it.

“RADIES AND GENTLEMEN PLESENTING: TONEE CALEE, DIMMY BAIN, COSEE POW, LONNIE DAMES DIO, LITCHIE BRACKMORE… LAINBOW!!!!!” (me first Nippon gig).
The audience looked pretty ordinary until the band made their entrance. Then some kind of Jekyll and Hyde transformation occured and they became a seething mass of hysteria. Y’see, they like their rock hard ‘n’ heavy over here. (Kiss, Aerosmith, acts of that chrome plated genre are among the top attraction. Blackmore has an almost legendary status in Japan, Deep Purple having been one of the first heavy metal bands to break over there.
This was the first time I had seen Rainbow since Hammersmith and they sure sounded tighter… well looser… well, like a band. Their bombastic interpretation of ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’, with added ingredients, kicked off the show and after that, like a meteor let loose in outer space, nothing could stop them.
‘Kill For The King’ which followed has developed into something more than an exercise in loosening up collective limbs. ‘Mistreated’, really showed the progress made. Dio’s stunning vocal range sounded more confident, the backing was more solid. As Blackmore burst into spontaneous free form runs, Cozy’s drums clung on tightly to every single note.
For me it was a good introduction to the tour, culminating with an encore featuring Mr B’s guitar mutilation with an added bonus of amp and cabinets thrown over the side. This, as it turned out, was not an act of ecstatic joy. Blackmore was pissed off with the sound.

Continue reading in My Things – Music history for those who are able to read.

Many thanks to Geir Myklebust for digitizing and republishing this piece of history.

Roger continues promoting the 52nd anniversary Machine Head remix in Indian press:

“It’s all going according to the plan- we sat down and said ‘let’s write an iconic song’… of course things don’t happen that way!,” laughs Roger Glover, one part of the legendary rock band Deep Purple over a video call.

The band’s most famous piece of work, Machine Head, is celebrating it’s belated 50th anniversary and set to release a new edition with remastered versions. “We are a very unplanned band. One high led to another, it’s only when you look back you can see what the journey was like. When you write an album, you don’t know what’s going to happen to the songs, it is up to the record buying public,” quips the bassist-songwriter.

Continue reading in Hindustan Times.

Roger Glover was interviewed by Zeenews India and he shared his retrospection and introspection:

Q: Deep Purple have been the legends of rock and roll, it is the timelessness of your music and the appeal, that has been passed on to generations. What do you think is the timeless appeal of your music?

Roger Glover: It could well be dangerous to analyze too much. I don’t know. First of all, we learned a long time ago that you don’t get anywhere by copying anyone else. You have to be a leader. You have to be out front and take chances and risks. There’s a degree of musicianship in the band that I don’t think many bands have. When I joined the band, I’d never heard musicians like Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord, Ian Paice they just blew me away. Wow, they’re so good and am I good enough? There was a kind of naivety. Looking back on it, maybe there’s something to it, this naive side yet an honest and very musical side. If everyone was a brilliant musician, they would go over people’s heads, because only other musicians would appreciate them. But because we had thus this mix of naive and finesse, maybe that gave it a quality that appealed to people and that simplicity! It is hard to be simple, especially if you’re a good musician, it’s really hard to be simple. A riff like Smoke on the Water is so simple, and yet it’s like nothing else.

Read more in Zeenews.

Louder Sound reproduces another Classic Rock feature, this time on Claude Nobs. Funky Claude’s legacy includes not only being immortalized in that song about a gambling house burning down, but also being a prominent European promoter associated with many, many bands. To name a couple:

The Rolling Stones were already too big to play the festival when Nobs launched it in 1967, but they were his first significant promotion three years earlier when he persuaded the producers of top British TV pop show Ready Steady Go to broadcast the show from Montreux with the Stones and Petula Clark (back then Petula was a worthy coheadliner, particularly in Europe).

“I was giving away free tickets outside the Casino, and people were looking at them and going: ‘The Rolling what?’ says Nobs. “And then the producers didn’t want to have the Swiss crowd standing near the band because they looked so square; the boys had short hair and the girls had long dresses. I saw the band in Zurich on the latest tour a couple of weeks ago and we were laughing about it.”

In fact just about the only big British name Nobs was unable to promote during the 60s was The Beatles, and even that was not his fault. “In 1963 I was working at the tourist office, and I was looking for some acts to play at the Golden Rose Of Montreux TV show. I went to London and found The Beatles’ office, and by luck they were there. They were happy to do the show. So I went back and told Swiss TV, and they said they weren’t well known enough yet.”

Read more in Louder Sound.

Roger Glover shares his thoughts and memories:

Among that burgeoning collection of people, Dave Hodgkinson was pivotal in organising and running THS, not alone but one of a hardy set of diehards who have remained faithful to this day, and for whom I will always be grateful. I felt proud because it was honestly run by fans, and still is. To me, it was important, not only for news and information, but a place to express themselves freely. It is Dave’s legacy.

Read RGs memoriam in full on on rogerglover.com

Put Simon Mcbride into a studio, give him a guitar he’s never played, stick him with a track he’s never heard, and put the whole thing on YouTube. Sounds like fun! Continue Reading »

Louder Sound publishes online a Classic Rock 2018 feature on the band that gave Glenn Hughes to the world — Trapeze.

Fronted by the future Voice Of Rock, Trapeze were soon on board the Express To Success. But then Deep Purple came calling and walked off with the golden-throated goose

Growing up in the mid-60s in Cannock in the West Midlands, Glenn Hughes had three heroes. The first two were those of many other kids: George Harrison and Eric Clapton. The third was a teenage guitarist three years ahead of Hughes at school, name of Mel Galley.

It was Galley’s example that convinced Hughes to ditch trombone lessons and pick up the guitar. And when at 17 he was offered the chance to join Galley in a local covers band, Finders Keepers, he leapt at it, switching to bass guitar so as to be able to fill the vacant role. The band enjoyed a measure of success on the Midlands club circuit. But as the 60s came to a close, audiences looked for things more original and challenging.

In 1969 their enterprising manager, Tony Perry, decided to take away Hughes, Galley and drummer Dave Holland, and pair them with a couple of older hands from another covers band he looked after, The Montanas. Teaming up with singer/trumpet player John Jones and keyboard player Terry Rowley, they became Trapeze.

Continue reading in Louder Sound.