A local paper out of UK, The Hunts Post, reports that Don Airey is spearheading a campaign to save his local pub in Great Gransden, Cambridgeshire, as a live music venue. The pub used to host gigs regularly until 2018, when the new owners moved in. The business didn’t survive the pandemic.

The current landlords have not re-opened The Crown and Cushion, which is a Grade II listed building. It is also situated in an area of conservation and has ‘asset of community value’ status.

An action group of residents called Open the Crown & Cushion, which Don is part of, have appealed to Huntingdon District Council (HDC) to enforce planning law and return their community asset back to the villagers.

In a letter addressed to the action group, HDC’s chief planning officer said: “This remains an active case and we will continue to engage with the occupiers of the pub.”

A spokesperson for the action group said: “The Crown and Cushion is the last pub in the village, where historically, there have been as many as six pubs.

“This makes the survival of pub even more critical. Local residents and the action group continue to fight for the survival of their precious public house.

“It is hoped, eventually, the pub will be able to open with a new landlord and change of ownership, or ownership may be assumed by the village community themselves.”

Mr Airey, added: “There used to be regular Tuesday and Thursday music nights every week, the pub was packed and there were always well-known musicians, eager to play and create a very special atmosphere and great night out.”

[Update Aug 6, 2023]: It looks like efforts to save the pub have been unsuccessful, and the building is now on sale.

Thanks to The Hunts Post, CambridgeshireLive, and Marcus Streets for the info.

David Coverdale appeared on Paltrocast promoting the Still Good to Be Bad reissue. Some of it you may have heard before, and some other probably not.

I can’t not be honest about this, that and the other, who’s the inspiration for this song, who was that… it would be a spilling of the beans, which I’m not interested in hurting anybody, and particularly my family. So I’ve been working now with my head of video on another concept which I think could be significantly more interesting and not as fucking boring as a biography. We’re starting Q.T. With D.C. (video series), so we’re gonna answer people’s questions, some things that they’re curious about.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info and the quote.

A Dutch TV documentary on the history of Love is All, with participation from Roger Glover, Eddie Hardin, Ronnie James Dio, Ray Fenwick, and the book author Alan Aldridge. Everything you wanted to know about the track that to everybody’s surprise charted in that part of the world, and then some. It looks like this was filmed some time before the song accompanied the 1999 performance of the resurrected Concerto.

Thanks to The Deep Purple Podcast for posting the video, and to Uwe Hornung for bringing it to your attention.

A cover of Roger Glover’s Love is All appears as a bonus track on the just released album Golden Age of Music from Arjen Lucassen’s (of the Ayreon fame) new project Supersonic Revolution. Continue Reading »

Louder Sound reprints an article from the Classic Rock magazine on how Paicey landed a Paul McCartney gig thanks to his neighbour.

If Ian Paice were ever trying to impress the person sitting next to him at a dinner party, he wouldn’t be short of illustrious tales and celebrated collaborators to draw upon. The Deep Purple drummer has played with Whitesnake, Gary Moore, the Velvet Underground, Jeff Beck, George Harrison, William Shatner, and of course Deep Purple, which is why we just called him “the Deep Purple drummer”.

You imagine near the top of this impressive roster of stars, though, is the time he got behind the kit for Paul McCartney, playing on the former Beatles’ 1999 record Run Devil Run. He explained to Rhythm Magazine how it came about: “Paul and David Gilmour were friends from the past,” he said. “George Harrison and I were great pals – he lived just a couple of miles down the road and our kids grew up together. I’d met Ringo but never McCartney.

Continue reading in Louder Sound.

Classical musician Amy Shafer (we’ve previously featured her take on Child in Time) listens to the Concerto for Group and Orchestra — well, the 3rd movement to be precise — and gives her analysis, praise, and critique of Jon’s opus. It is always interesting to see a fresh look on a familiar piece of music, particularly when it comes from a completely different angle than we’re used to. The things she liked most, and was disappointed in, will probably surprise you. We encourage you to view the analysis to the end before jumping to conclusions.

First listen/reaction:

In depth analysis:

The timings she mentions in the analysis refer to this clip, so here it is for your convenience:

Which made this editor to revisit the ’99 version of the Concerto to see if and how it differs from the original:

…as well as the 2012 version, which Jon himself regarded as the definitive:

David Coverdale recently appeared on That Rocks! podcast. He talks about flying in hairdressers, the future of Whitesnake, brutalist architecture, and the “nether region”, among other things. Some of which you may or may not have heard previously. The episode is over 1 hour and 20 minutes long, and David joins about halfway into it. Continue Reading »

A short, but sweet interview with Steve Morse in Beaver County Times on the occasion of a couple of upcoming SMB gigs in Pennsylvania.

I quit (Deep) Purple because the tours were too long and we had a health emergency in my family with my wife having Stage 4 cancer. I told those guys ‘I can’t do this’ and they were upset for like three to four seconds and then moved on. That’s life, I and I wish them well and they’re doing great. But back to me and this band. I had always been told that we couldn’t do weekends only. That it just wouldn’t be possible to pay everybody and not be paying out of pocket to play. However, when we did the math with three people it was possible in many cases to make it work.

Read more in Beaver County Times.

Glenn Hughes will take his ‘Celebrating 50th anniversary of Burn‘ to the United States. The tour will start on August 16 in New Jersey and stretch into late September. The opening night in NJ and the Dallas show will be just Glenn and his band, while the rest of the tour is a double bill with Yngwie Malmsteen. There was no official word as to who goes on stage after whom, but several things hint to Yngwie closing, and Glenn performing before him.

Full details and ticket links are in our calendar.

David Coverdale spoke to the Metal Edge magazine, mostly about the ’87 self-titled Whitesnake album.

Coming out of Deep Purple, what was your vision for Whitesnake? And how have you expanded on that since the ’70s?

David Coverdale: It’s a buffet of all the sounds that I love. Some of the arrangements are symphonic because I adore classical music. You might not realize it, but concertos with three movements resemble a typical pop scenario. And having said that, I’ve always wanted Whitesnake to be like an orchestra. I never wanted it to be just one or two guitar players; I wanted an ensemble of people to facilitate the buffet of sounds I wanted to create.

You can work with great guitarists all day, can’t you? And, of course, I have. Just look at Jeff Beck, who could play amazing blues, but chose to make the guitar his own via his own identity. Jimi Hendrix and Edward Van Halen did so much with the guitar; I can’t imagine anyone doing what they did. So, I always sought to go after different sounds, and everyone who has been a part of Whitesnake has had their own identity and added that into the mix. It’s like, “Oh, here’s a nice six-pack of beer; I’ll have some of that,” or “Ah, some cheesecake; I’ll take some of that, too.”

Continue reading in Metal Edge.

Thanks to BraveWords for the info.