varia

Voor deze single heeft Ian 2 nieuwe nrs geschreven, 1 (Out Of My Mind) samen met Black Sabbath gitarist Tony Iommi en 1 (Holy Water) samen met Steve Morris. Het klinkt heel leuk, popachtig. Uiteraard is Ian voor beide nummers de zanger, maar voor Out Of My Mind krijgt hij hulp van Tony Iommi en Linde Lindstrom (gitaar), Jason Newsted (Metallica, bas), Nicko McBrain (Iron Maiden, drums) en Jon Lord op keyboards.

Voor Holy Water is de guestlist veel minder indrukwekkend. Behalve de gitaristen (Iommi, Steve Morris en Michael Lee Jackson) zijn het voor mij nobele onbekenden.

In april wou de muziekindustrie de aandacht trekken op het feit dat het niet zo goed meer gaat met hen omdat er teveel 'gratis' muziek in omloop is. Daarom werd de eerste RECORD STORE DAY gelanceerd.

Bij die gelegenheid bracht EMI een 'nieuwe' Deep Purple single uit, met daarop BBC-sessies. Opmerkelijk is dat hier Mark I aan Mark II wordt gekoppeld en dat er een mooie hoes bij hoort. Spijtig dat deze single niet in alle

platenwinkels (in België althans) beschikbaar was. Bij mijn platenboer in Hasselt was dat o.m. niet het geval. Gelukkig bestaan er ex-fanclubleden die zo'n dingen aan de kust dubbel (om er zeker 1 te hebben) bestellen en dan het 2de exemplaar via eBay van de hand doen.

Eind mei komt er dan een dubbelcd uit met meer BBC-opnames. In hoeverre die zullen verschillen van eerdere releases (zoals extra nrs op heruitgebrachte cd's) is me niet helemaal duidelijk, maar dat zien we dan wel. Ook zullen er meerdere versies van hetzelfde nr. opstaan e.d. In elk geval was deze voorloper/single al interessant genoeg om onze appetijt op te wekken. Nu nog wachten op het hoofdgerecht.

Een mini-interview met Ian GILLAN en we weten weeral wat meer

Deep Purple had eind maart in Rusland een ontmoeting met president Medvedev. We namen de gelegenheid te baat om Ian Gillan hiervoor te feliciteren en een paar vraagjes te stellen omtrent de nabije toekomst. Donderdag 7 april om 00 u 24 verstuurden we onze mail, 12 minuutjes later hadden we al een antwoord:

Gefeliciteerd met jullie ontmoeting met de Russische president. Dat moet een uitzonderlijke ervaring zijn geweest. Hadden jullie het over muziek en/of over politieke aangelegenheden?

Het gesprek met de president was zeer interessant ... ik kan natuurlijk geen details prijsgeven, maar we hebben heel wat onderwerpen behandeld.

Jullie komen in de zomer terug naar het Suikerrockfestival in Tienen, maar nu met een philharmonisch orkest. Betekent dat dat jullie (10de verjaardag?) een deel van het concerto gaan spelen zoals in 2001 toen Ronnie James Dio nog leefde en Jon Lord bij de groep zat?

Wat betreft optredens weet je meer dan ik, maar het orchestrale onderdeel zal het Concerto niet behelzen; dat zouden we zonder Jon niet kunnen doen, nietwaar?

Nog geen nieuws van een nieuw studioalbum, alhoewel we bijeen geweest zijn voor een 'writing session'; alles zit nog in een pril beginstadium.

Intussen heeft José niet stilgezeten en heeft hij zijn boek up to date gebracht en er een uitgever voor gevonden. Het heeft héél wat voeten in de aarde gehad, maar op 15 maart komt het officieel in het Spaans uit. Wie er interesse voor heeft, foto's zijn immers taalloos, kan terecht bij www.ediciones.lenoir.es . We laten José verder aan het woord (in het Engels):

A nine month investigation, 3.5 years of hard work writing it down, 10.000 paper sheet in the dustbin, 4.000 shows, 1.000 records, 500 anecdotes, 450 explanatory notes, nearly 400 pictures, 125 set-lists, 75 fan clubs, 30 biographies, 17 discographies and the biggest family tree ever seen. All this along 628 pages (DIN – A4 format, 21 x 30 cm) full of rock at 40.38 euros. Can anyone give more? Not me!!!!!!!

This is the first book on Deep Purple Saga ever, also just the second book on Deep purple in Spain (the first one finished in 1973 if I remember well…). Inside you can find deep purple history, The Pre Purple years, Gillan, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Glenn Hughes and Life after purple for all musicians involved. It covers all in purple rock since 1958 until 31/12/2010.

The book is also an interactive proposal. Following the foot notes you can live all musicians career through the years and “Un mundo purpura” (Purple World) admits no less than 30 ways of reading. You can start reading jon lord first years, go to deep purple, then to paice ashton lord, whitesnake, back to purple and finish on his solo works nowadays, but you also can just read the deep purple history year by year, or whatever. The reader decides how to read the book.

Ouwe taaie, Joepie jéé!!! Ze weten van geen ophouden: Deep Purple komt terug naar Suikerrock op vrijdag 29 juli 2011. En ze doen dat niet alleen, ze brengen het 47-koppige Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt mee en dat is waarschijnlijk geen plaatselijk muziekkorps.

Krijgen we een herhaling van 2001 (net 10 jaar geleden dus) toen in het Sportpaleis in Antwerpen het Concerto werd uitgevoerd? Toen was Jon Lord er nog bij. Komt die voor de gelegenheid mee? Heeft Don Airey iets klassiek gedaan? We trachten het uit te vissen en dan lees je het hier wel.

Feit is dat Ian Gillan net een "Rock Meets Classic" tournee achter de rug heeft en dat Purple al twee concerten in de USA heeft op stapel staan met een klassiek orkest én 6 dito optredens in Europa. Bij 2 andere Europese concerten (Zwitserland en Frankrijk) wordt (nog?) geen melding gemaakt van een Orchestra.

Nick Simper, de originele Deep Purple bassist heeft samen met "The Good Old Boys" een live cd uit met oude rocknummers waaronder o.a. de Purple hitsingle "Hush" waar Nick bas op speelde. De setlist van LIVE At The Deep Purple Convention: I'm Ready/A Fool For Your Stockings/My Way/Shakey Ground/Sleepwalk/Twenty Flight Rock/Somebody To Love/Don't Worry Baby/C'mon Everybody/Shakin' All Over/Oh Well/Hush/All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin' Over Tonight.

Opgenomen in Esquires, Bedford op 3 mei 2008, cat. nr. TSA 1001. Released op 6 juli 2009.

Jerry Bloom die eerder al het boek over Ritchie Blackmore schreef, heeft er een nieuw bij: Rainbow's Long Live Rock 'n Roll Story. Zoals de titel al aangeeft, focust dit boek op de gelijknamige lp uit 1978. Fans kregen duidelijk de indruk dat Ritchie afstevende op een meer commerciële aanpak. Het duurde zo'n jaar om de plaat te maken en op te nemen en het was tevens de laatste studio-opname met zanger Ronnie James Dio. Tevens leek het wel een komen en gaan van muzikanten. Jerry haalde herinneringen op met bandleden en crew.

De lp wordt nummer per nummer ontleed in een uitgave op cd-formaat. Uitgeverij Wymer Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9557542-2-7? §' BLZN;

O.K., het is dan wel in mini-formaat of Rainbow jr. zoals je het wil noemen en als puntje bij paaltje komt, zal het waarschijnlijk niet meer dan een nieuwe Rainbow coverband zijn. Maar de muzikanten zijn wel professionals en niet van de minsten.

Zanger is: Joe Lynn Turner (bekend van Rainbow en Deep Purple). Uitstekend zanger om naar te luisteren.

Gitarist is: Jürgen Blackmore. Juist; de zoon van. Voor mij heeft hij nog alles te bewijzen, maar om in het spoor van zo'n beroemde vader te durven treden - met diens eigen muziek n.b. - moet je toch niet alleen over moed, maar ook over heel wat vaardigheid en talent beschikken.

Drummer is: Bobby Rondinelli, niet meteen onze favoriet. Ik herinner hem mij nog altijd als een aansteller 1ste klas, maar met de jaren kan hij natuurlijk wijzer geworden zijn.

Bassist is: Greg Smith. Hem kennen we van de laatste Rainbow versie (met Ritchie) die tweemaal in België optrad.

Toetsenist is: Tony CAREY die zijn grote comeback maakt. Hij is steeds mijn favoriete keyboardspeler geweest bij Rainbow, was er bij in de Dio dagen en stapte op, als ik me niet vergis, omdat hij de plagerijen van Ritchie beu was. Was tamelijk succesrijk in Duitsland met een aantal solo-lp's en hier en daar ook wel een single of een jingle voor een tv-programma.

Onderstaand interview werd begin 2008 gedaan met IAN GILLAN gedaan via e-mail voor "School en muziek" een tijdschrift dat door de Middenschool en het Koninklijk Atheneum van Aarschot werd uitgebracht. De vragen kwamen van mezelf en N. Van Wanghe en M. Vanderest, 2 leerlingen van de school.

IG Ik kom uit een muzikale familie en daarna werd ik geïnspireerd door Elvis Presley.

IG Een afgrijselijk liedje dat “Ebenezer” heette. Niemand heeft het ooit gehoord behalve Roger (Glover, Deep Purple bassist, bekend van “Love Is All”) en ik.

IG Ik heb nooit last gehad van plankenkoorts, maar elke dag met een optreden windt mij op.

IG Cliff Bennett (stalgenoot van The Beatles in de jaren ’60. Speelde soulmuziek en nog steeds Alive and kicking) en Dusty Springfield (in 1999 overleden Britse zangeres [60] met een speciale stem en een resem hits waaronder “I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten” en “Son Of A Preacher Man”).

IG “Things I Never Said” van de recentste cd (toureditie) “Rapture Of The Deep”

Het is natuurlijk fantastisch dat je nooit lijkt te stoppen met touren en opnemen, maar wat maakt het allemaal zo speciaal voor je?

IG De uitdaging. Niets komt vanzelf. Een nieuw nr. een nieuwe plaat; het kan alle kanten uit, muzikaal zowel als commercieel. Het kan een afgang worden of een schot in de roos. Maar ook ieder concert vormt een uitdaging door allerlei invloeden van buitenaf zoals het publiek.

Deep Purple blijft zeer populair, de shows blijven uitverkopen alhoewel jullie muziek op de radio niet zoveel wordt gespeeld. Waar zou je Purple onderbrengen in de moderne popwereld?

IG Onze radioavonturen hebben zowat 5 minuten in beslag genomen en daarom zijn we maar terug ‘underground’ gegaan, waar het voor ons allemaal is begonnen.

Ik meen begrepen te hebben dat je nooit wil stoppen met muziek maken en optreden. Klopt dat?

Jij bent de originele Jesus Christ Superstar. Heeft dat een speciale betekenis in je leven?

IG Op muzikaal gebied wel, want het was iets anders, een avontuur zeg maar. Nochtans maakt of maakte het nooit deel uit van mijn leven (It’s not and never was ‘in my life’.).

Wat is je voornaamste inspiratiebron wanneer je muziek schrijft? Hangt dat af van de plaats of de tijd?

IG Er is voor mij geen voornaamste inspiratiebron. Om het even wat me beroert, wordt op de vriendelijkst mogelijke manier gebruikt.

IG Elk publiek vertegenwoordigt het zesde lid van de groep. Het kan een concert goed of slecht maken, zowel voor ons als voor het publiek zelf.

Zijn er muzikanten, van om ’t even welk muziekgenre, waar je ooit mee zou willen samenwerken bijvoorbeeld voor een soloplaat?

IG Ik studeerde zo veel mogelijk, werd door het lerarenkorps tweemaal per week afgeranseld en kon er niet vlug genoeg wegkomen.

Als ik me goed herinner, waren er in die tijd in de Britse scholen nog lijfstraffen, vandaar misschien Ians schoolafkeer. En … gelukkig niet voor alle leraars …J

Dat is de titel van een lijvig (en dan bedoel ik zéér lijvig) boek dat de Spaanse Purple fan José Galván in de voorbije 4,5 jaar heeft samengesteld,geschreven en geprint. Gespreid over 824 pagina's brengt hij het Deep Purple verhaal in verschillende hoofdstukken. Wie geen Spaans kent, is er niet helemaal aan voor de moeite, want het werk is rijkelijk geïllustreerd met foto's, bekende en minder bekende. Die worden achteraan gedetailleerd aan hun fotografen/leveranciers toegeschreven. Er staan trouwens nog andere gedetailleerde lijsten in het boek: alle lp's waar Purple en ex-Purple muzikanten aan meewerkten (voor Glenn Hughes werd dat een hele opdracht), een concertenlijsten van Deep Purple, Gillan, Rainbow, Whitesnake en Glenn Hughes van in het prille begin tot november 2006 en een stamboom (gespreid over verscheidene pagina's). Dit laatste deel alleen al beslaat 168 pagina's.

Het boek werd volgens mij met een computerprinter gedrukt, maar daarna vakkundig ingebonden in een lederen band en voorzien van een gedrukte, glanzende stofomslag.

De pil begint vanzelfsprekend met de beginperiode (Dias de gloria) die gaat tot "Perfect Strangers" gevolgd door de Años oscuros (de duistere tijden) tot in 2006. De reden voor die tijdsindeling is mij niet helemaal duidelijk. Een volgend hoofdstuk heet: de Deep Purple Saga en is ingedeeld in "Los años de formación" waarin dieper wordt ingegaan op alle (ex) Purple leden individueel. De andere hoofdstukken van dit Saga onderdeel handelen over de sologroepen en wat er van de (ex) leden is geworden (ook in beeld).

Dat dit véél werk heeft gevraagd, staat buiten kijf. Niemand werd bereid gevonden om het boek te drukken en officieel uit te brengen (waar hebben we dat nog meer gehoord?) en naar ik meen te begrijpen, werd het daarom op een zeer beperkte oplage geprint en verstuurd. Van de Purplistory cd werden enkele honderden foto's gebruikt, maar ook Simon Robinson en Alan Perry evenals vele andere fotografen verleenden belangeloos hun medewerking. De "Thank you"-list beslaat 2 blzn en als er gebrek was aan geld dan veronderstel ik dat niet iedereen van die lijst een exemplaar heeft gekregen. Waarschijnlijk worden mensen als Lee Aaron e.d. vermeld als favoriete muziekgroepen en niet als helpers.

Het boek werd me bezorgd met internationale taxipost en het is dikker (en weegt ook meer) dan het fotoboek van Didi Zill. Ik zou het de (Paarse) Bijbel noemen, maar dan beter geïllustreerd. Een aanrader!!!

We weten allemaal dat Ritchie Blackmore in Weston-super-Mare werd geboren, maar hoe ziet/zag het er daar uit? Neem even een kijkje op deze oude prentkaart. Toch niet zo'n klein plaatsje als je het mij vraagt.

De 2 belangrijkste leden van de Belgische internationaal bekende groep Vive la fête waren - als ik mij goed herinner - aandachtige toeschouwers in de persruimte tijdens het optreden van Deep Purple op Rock Zottegem in 2006. Dat blijkt niet zomaar toevallig geweest te zijn want op een festival in Brazilië speelden ze een eigen - verdienstelijke - versie van "Child In Time" en brachten die op maxi-lp uit. De Gillan-schreeuw blijft onnavolgbaar, wordt hier opnieuw bewezen, maar voor de rest zit het wel snor.

De website van Mick Underwood is klaar. Via onze Links kan je er een bezoekje aan brengen.

Een interessante Deep Purple bootleg dvd is, “Not Lazy At All ...” opgenomen in de Massey Hall van Toronto, Canada op 26 februari 2004.

De beeldkwaliteit én de klankkwaliteit zijn opvallend goed en alhoewel er slechts met 1 camera is gefilmd, bleek dat prima materiaal te zijn want Paicey en Airey komen prima in close-up. De plaats voor de camera was prima gekozen; links voor het podium met zicht van boven. Mede doordat de groep tegenwoordig zo dicht bij elkaar opgesteld staat, krijgen we regelmatig een ‘full view’.

De nrs: Silver Tongue/Woman From Tokyo/I Got Your Number/Strange Kind Of Woman/Bananas/Knocking At Your Back Door/Contact Lost/Well Dressed Guitar/ Don Airey Solo/Perfect Strangers/Highway Star/Maybe I’m A Leo/Pictures Of Home/ Never Before/When A Blind Man Cries/Space Truckin’/Lazy/Smoke On The Water/ Speed King (niet vermeld op hoes)/Hush. Speelduur: 2 u

Dit was de fameuze tournee waarop “Machine Head” volledig werd gespeeld, vandaar unieke live versies van “Never Before” en – in mindere mate – “Maybe I’m A Leo”.

GILLAN in Poperinge 1982: v.l.n.r. Colin Towns, Janick Gers, Ian Gillan, John McCoy, Mick Underwood

Gillan fans zullen zich zeker drummer Mick Underwood nog herinneren. Enkele dagen terug kregen we een mailtje van hem met de vraag naar foto's van hem om op zijn eigen website te gebruiken die momenteel onder constructie is. Omdat het intussen al meer dan 20 jaar geleden was dat ik nog iets van hem had gehoord wou ik graag weten of hij een klein interview per e-mail wou doen. Geen probleem zo bleek en hier is het resultaat.

1 Was it impossible for the 4 of you to carry on as a band without Ian as a singer? (I can imagine, when Purple couldn't)

It would have been difficult to have continued under the name Gillan without Ian as a member.

We did consider this as an option for a very short time. However I think we all felt the spirit of the band was now dead. What would have been the point?

I am still playing and working with some fine musicians. The fire never diminishes!

With Quatermass 11 we did play some gigs but getting everyone to be available at the same time got to be a bit too tough. The gigs went well though and I was pleased with the album. To have taken the band on the road properly we would have needed a management set up that would have made it a touring concern.

5 Are you doing anything in the music buniness now? (I guess that's the reason for your website?)

I don’t have much to do with the” MUSIC BUSINESS” if I can help it. However I do have as much contact with music as I can. Having said that, there are one or two projects in the pipeline.

The Gillan band ended rather abruptly, but I suppose in hindsight there were some signs that there were underlying tensions. We were kept very busy on the touring front and pretty much in the dark.

7 Where you asked for the 2nd Gillan edition? (I guess not, but if so, would you have accepted?)

I guess you mean the Gillan albums made later. No, I was not asked to be involved and would have been highly surprised if I had.

8 How are your feelings on the Gillan days (mixed, bitter or also positive)? Has time healed any wounds?

The Gillan days were a mix of the highest highs and some fairly deep lows. The highs overall win. Time has buried any wounds but sometimes the surface can get scratched and the odd twinge off pain is felt. The whole saga is not something that I really think about much.

9 Ian Gillan always wanted (and still wants) to tour. Was that a bone of contention sometimes? (long time away from home & family)

We were a touring band, just like a circus, that’s what we did. As far as I was concerned I just got on with it. The danger of burn out was never considered which was probably a mistake.

10 Do you have any (regular) contacts with other ex-Gillan members? Or with Ian Gillan?

I talk to John and Bernie at times. As for Ian, the last time I saw and spoke to him was Christmas 1983.

Wie er minstens € 640 voor over had, kon op e-bay een Franse EP van "The Maze" met o.a. Ian Paice kopen. Voor die prijs is hij uiteraard in goede staat en ook de hoesfoto is knap.

De maand april werd mooi afgesloten toen ik op een rommelmarkt de Quadrafonische versie van de Machine Head lp vond. Naar verluidt zijn sommige solo's hier anders dan op de stereo uitvoering. Na een eerste beluistering hoor ik wel degelijk iets van die aard, maar het zal toch een diepere studie vergen om daar nadere gegevens over te krijgen.

Intussen is de vinyl versie uit van "Rapture Of The Deep"; alleen te verkrijgen op bestelling. Ik had me toch wel verwacht aan enkele foto's en wat meer lay-out (ze hebben er toch met 2 man enkele dagen aan gewerkt), maar mijn hoop was ijdel. Dik vinyl en zwaar karton, dat wel én MTV, maar voor de rest ... Ook deze ene extra beluistering kon me niet overtuigen van de 'kwaliteiten' van de nieuwste Purple schijf.

Zaterdagavond 5 november was op de 2de Duitse tv zender (ZDF) "Wetten dass". Eén opdracht was in Hamburg 250 gitaristen samen te brengen die ... jawel ... "Smoke On The Water" zouden spelen, tenminste de intro. Er waren zoveel muzikanten dat men niet begon aan het tellen, maar de weddenschap meteen als gewonnen gaf. Samen beginnen zat er ook al niet in en aan de beelden te oordelen hadden sommigen de intro niet echt onder de knie.

De Deep Purple "Rapture of the Deep" tournee begon in Mexico City op 24 oktober. Purple opende met "Fireball", gevolgd door Strange Kind Of Woman" en de nieuwe nrs "Wrong Man" en "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye". Beide klonken live heavier dan op cd. Dan kwam "Demon's Eye", waarop "Rapture Of The Deep" aansloot; vol energie en met interessant werk van Ian Paice. Het ging verder met "Contact Lost", wat meteen de intro was tot Steves solospot en "Well Dressed Guitar". Klassiek gezien moest dan de keyboardsolo komen van Don Airey als voorbode van "Perfect Strangers". "Highway Star" compleet met lange intro maakte het publiek gek en van hetzelfde album volgden uiteraard "Space Trucking" en "Smoke On The Water". Eerste toegift was Lazy, oop de hielen gezeten door "Hush". De grote finale werd voorbehouden voor "Black Night".

Voor de 4^de keer kwam Blackmore’s Night op “Fernsehgarten” (ZDF, 14 augustus), nu ter promotie van de nieuwe single "I'll Be There (Just Call Me). Tijdens de introductie van alle aanwezige artiesten hield Ritchie een varkentje in zijn handen. De presentatrice merkte op tegen Ritchie dat het om op te eten was. Toen de groep zijn nr. ging lippen, gaf ze "The Man in Black" een wangkus, iets wat ze al lang voordien had willen doen.

Eerder (wat lager op deze pagina) hadden we het er reeds over dat 2005 geen goed jaar is voor bekende personen. Nieuweling in deze ongelukkige reeks is Carlo Little die op 6 augustus het gevecht tegen longkanker verloor. Carlo had sterke bindingen met de Purpe familie. Zo speelde hij o.m. met Ritchie Blackmore en Nick Simper in Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages, en met Jon Lord en Nick Simper in The Flowerpot Men.

IJdel als we zijn, zijn we zeer fier op de vermelding die de Engelse Purplistory-cd kreeg in het befaamde "Record Collector" tijdschrift.

2005 is niet bepaald een goed jaar voor bekende personen. Nieuw in de rij is radio dj Tommy Vance die zondag 07 maart jl. het heden met het eeuwige verwisselde, 3 dagen nadat hij werd getroffen door een hartaanval. Vinylverzamelaars zullen hem (of zijn stem) kennen van de interview maxi-single met de Deep Purple reünie interviews van 1984. Hij was vooral bekend door zijn werk voor Radio 1.

Chris Curtis drummer van The Searchers, maar tevens medestichter van Roundabout, de voorloper van Deep Purple, is op 1 maart jl. overleden. Hij was 63 en overleed aan de gevolgen van een slepende ziekte. Met The Searchers had Chris begin jaren zestig succesnrs als Needles And Pins en een cover van Sweets For My Sweet. In 1967 dan richtte hij met zijn broer Dave Roundabout op. Hij zag het niet meer zitten in de muziekbusiness en werd ambtenaar.

Ian Gillan is in Buffalo, New York, bezig met de opnames van een studio-cd die een documentaire dvd ter gelegenheid van de 40ste verjaardag van zijn loopbaan moet begeleiden. De cd zou "Gillan's Inn" moeten heten en bevat Ians favoriete nrs door de jaren heen. Er zijn Purple nrs zoals When A Blind Man Cries/Speed King/Smoke On The Water en Demon's Eye (geen Child In Time dus, waarschijnlijk bang dat hij dat live opnieuw moet gaan zingen). Daarnaast is er Gillan solomateriaal: Hang Me Out To Dry, Sugar Plum, Men Of War en No Laughing In Heaven. Uit zijn Sabbath periode is er Trashed, verder een Dylan cover I'll Be Your Baby Tonight en een nr van zijn Episode Six dagen: Can I Get A Witness.

Naast de 'vaste muzikanten' voor de studioplaat zijn er al enkele gastmuzikanten bevestigd zoals Luciano Pavarotti, Uli Jon Roth, Jon Lord en Tony Iommi. De studioband bestaat uit nobele onbekenden zoals Michael Lee Jackson op gitaar, Howard Fleetwood Wilson op drums en Rodney Appleby op bas. Productie is in handen van Nick Blagona, geen Purple onbekende.

The Purplistory available both in Dutch and English

The English PURPLISTORY-cd-rom is out now. It took a while but that's because Jerry Bloom and I thought only the best was good enough and also we were trying to give as much value for money as possible. So the 3 parts of the story are now done in pdf which will keep the pictures at the right spot. The only difference here with the Word version is that the pictures can't be blown up in the text through hyperlinks.

Nevertheless you can still see slide shows of each event when you have Windows XP on your computer.

As a bonus you'll get the pictures of Schwung 2004 and Rotterdam 1991 as well as some audio-files which contain all kind of interesting interviews. with Coverdale/Lord, Ritchie Blackmore, Steve Morse and Glenn Hughes. All in all some 90'.

Purplistory (Nederlandse versie) in een notendop: de tekst is in 3 delen verdeeld - om de Wordbestanden niet te groot te maken - en telt meer dan 150 pagina's. De foto's, gespreid over de voorbije 30 jaar, kan je via een muisklik op de foto in de tekst vergroten en er zelfs een diashow van maken. Via een inhoudsopgave met hyperlinks kan je dadelijk naar elk gewenst onderdeel (jaartal) doorklikken.

Met Windows XP krijg je een maximumresultaat. Met andere, vroegere versies van Windows, kan je de foto's openen en bekijken evenals de hyperlinks in de tekst, maar de diashows lukken alleen op XP. De prijs is € 24, maar omdat dit moeilijk is om eventueel onder gesloten omslag te versturen, doen we er 2 echte Deep Purple foto's bij voor wie € 25 betaalt. In dit bedrag zijn de verzendkosten inbegrepen.

Dit zou nóg beter moeten zijn dan het fotoboek van Didi Zill (en véél lichter en véél goedkoper!).

An interview with Mick Cervino
(Violent Storm, ex-Blackmore's Night)

A few weeks before the Graspop festival in Dessel (Belgium), Mick Cervino (ex-Blackmore's Night) mailed me to see if we could meet that Sunday June 26, but unfortunately I had professional obligations. So we decided to do an interview by mail after his tour with Malmsteen. Here's the result.

Tell us a little about the recent tour you did with Yngwie Malmsteen. I believe you played one or more Purple songs which aroused a lot of enthousiasm from the crowds.

Just finished a six week european tour with Yngwie, while I'm waiting to finalize the details of Violent Storm's CD (my band) to be released in Europe.

As you may know Yngwie, and most of his current band members are huge Deep Purple fans, so a great deal of time during sound checks was spent playing Purple songs. During the tour we played "Demon's Eye" almost every night, we often played "Mistreated", and here and there we played "Burn". However, during sound checks we had gone through most of "Fireball", "In Rock" and "Made in Japan", as well as tracks from "Stormbringer" and even from "Come and Taste the Band", so we could have played a whole show of just Deep Purple songs, which would have been fine with me.

With Malmsteen live: was it always only 1 Purple song per night or sometimes more?

Usually just one, but sometimes two. Demon's Eye we played every night, but once in a while, without any warning, we would play either Burn, Mistreated, Highway Star or others.

You’re obviously a big fan of the older Purple music, but what do you think of the newer tracks (reunion with Blackmore period, the Morse period and the Morse/Airey period)?

I liked the Perfect Strangers album, but I think the whole thing started going down hill after that. The older Purple was superior, in my opinion, especially the early Mark 2 and Mark 3 line ups. When Steve Morse joined he brought in some interesting songs and ideas, like Tommy Bolin did long before. But these days it is hard for me to think of it as Deep Purple without Blackmore and Lord, among other things.

I'd like to know more about yourself (nothing really private) like where and when were you born?

In Buenos Aires, Argentina. A long time ago.....

How did you get interested in music (both listening and playing)?

Initially, as a young boy, by listening to local bands who played british and american rock music. It was more a hobby at first, but it became all I did after discovering Deep Purple. I just couldn't understand how it was possible to be so bloody good, so I made it a point to give it my best by practicing all day and learning their material, as well as bits by other bands like Yes and ELP.

Did you always play the bass?

Professionally yes, but I started with the guitar until I heard Ritchie Blackmore and thought: why try to be the best when there is already somebody unreachable like Ritchie Blackmore?... I better play something else and maybe some day I'll get to play with him.

Did you take music lessons to learn (Purple) music? I mean did you follow the normal order: learn how to read music and then how to play an instrument?

No. I learnt them by ear. I did study music and I was able to read from a young age, but I didn't learn the songs I liked by reading.

In which bands were you before you joined Blackmore's Night?

Countless bands, many of which were famous in their native lands but not internationally. To name a few: Suspenso, Banana, Candela, Victor Heredia, One Hand Clapping, Hamilton Seed, Rival.

How did you get in Ritchie's band

I submited several video tapes to every possible address I could find to reach Ritchie. Apparently one of them got through. The video consisted of me playing a Bach composition on the bass guitar. I had recorded it years earlier but I waited until I thought was the right time to actually send it, which was in 1997. Once he saw it I am told he watched it many times in a row, and then had his manager contact me. This was followed by an arduous long distance audition, I had to send overnight recordings of myself playing songs from Blackmore's Night's album "Shadow of the Moon" on a daily basis for three weeks. Next was the audition in person at his house in New York, after which I was formally invited to join his band.

You’re first a big Blackmore fan and than a Purple fan, I think. Did you also study Blackmore’s character etc so that you knew what would make him get interested in you and the videotapes you sent him? (Did you know he sometimes plays the bass as well? If so, when did you find out? Did this influence you in picking Bach for the tape?)

I used to read every single thing that was available about Ritchie, which definitely helped me understand him more and based on that, I timed things accordingly when I thought it was the right time to approach him.

I did know that he occationally jammed with some band in the seventies playing the bass, I remember seeing a picture of him holding a bass. I also knew that he loved Bach's music, so when I began experimenting with the Bach on bass idea I envisioned him listening to it and finding it interesting.

Were or are you into mediaeval or classic music (before joining Blackmore's Night)?

I was definitely into classical and baroque music for a long time before Blackmore's Night, but was introduced to medieval/rennaissance music by Ritchie.

Do you think playing bass in Blackmore's Night is (would be) different from playing bass in Blackmore's Rainbow? Or with Malmsteen? If yes, in which way(s)?

In BN the bass had a very passive role. Especially towards the end of my term in the band, when there were two keyboard players, both playing bass lines with their left hands! There seem to be too much bass frequencies going on, so I was regularly told "The bass is too loud!", except that it wasn't necessarily my bass, but a combination of all those bass lines, including those played by Ritchie's bass arpeggios on the acoustic guitar.

In a band like Rainbow the bass would have also played a supportive role but hopefully slightly louder, though I don't believe Ritchie would have allowed much volume from the bass.

With Yngwie I was encouraged to turn up, for a change, which was most enjoyable, and since the bass doubles many of the lead guitar's runs and main riffs, the function of the bass is much more prominent.

Did Ritchie still play practical jokes on his musicians? Are they too rude, or can you tell about some?

There always were jokes, but nothing like the stories I've heard from the early Rainbow days. Ritchie is very playful and naughty, and he regularly does things you wouldn't expect a man his age to do, like supergluing the keyholes in the neighbour's car door, or attempting to scare you with a ghost's mask in the dark, etc. Many of his practical jokes were very funny, but you sort of have to be there to appreciate them.Those are the kind of things that make the Ritchie experience a unique and unforgettable one, which takes over any other small issues one could have had with him or his management.

Please tell us all about your new project you mentioned over the phone (who is involved, what kind of music, when cd out in Europe, possible tour ...).

The new project is called Violent Storm. It is my band. In the album I am very fortunate to have K K Downing and Yngwie Malmsteen playing two songs each.

The vocals are by Matt Reardon, some of the drums by Mike Sorrentino (ex BN, Zebra), Dean Sternberg plays guitar on one track, and I do most other guitars, rhythm and leads.

The kind of music is hard rock, obviously influenced somewhat by Purple and Rainbow, but making an effort to sound more contemporary. There is an intentional diversity in the songs to prevent the listener from getting bored after the first two songs, which is what normally happens to me lately, but you can still tell it is the same band playing those different songs.

The album is already out in Japan through King Records, and it will be released in Europe in the next few month. We'll be posting updates on this on my website www.mickcervino.com and soon on the actual band's website once it is up and running at www.violentstorm.net and yes, we'll definitely be touring Europe soon after the release.

Did you try to get Ritchie to play on a song on the Violent Storm album?

No. I didn't think he would. Maybe next time...Maybe next Life...

Who wrote the songs? Reading what you did on the album (playing a lot of instruments yourself) you could consider this as your 2^nd soloalbum?

Yes, I suppose. I wrote and played almost everything, but when Violent Storm starts touring it will be a band. However I do think that it is important to have a clear direction when one comes up with a new project, that's why for the first album I chosed to have absolute control of everything (...perhaps I've been hanging out with Ritchie and Yngwie for too long!...)

We'll be re-mixing the VS album in the next few weeks and re-arranging the track listing for the european release, which looks like it's going to be in late October. We may put a sound bite on the VS website once it's up and running in a few days (www.violentstorm.net)

Dan heb ik het over Ians hernieuwde optreden met Pavarotti, iets dat voor hem toch wel een eer moet zijn.

"Ja, het was fàààntabulous. Absoluut fantastisch." - Welk nr. zong je met Pavarotti?

"Smoke On The Water, of liever, we speelden mee want het grootste deel wordt gespeeld door het orkest. Het orkest is de hoofdzaak. Er zijn 3 orkestleiders: 1 voor Pavarotti, 1 voor het orkest en 1 voor de televisie. Het was de 10^de verjaardag van het festival en daarom hadden ze een sensationele line-up. Het was prachtig, zoveel goede artiesten. Ricky Martin was fantastisch. Het was een mooie verzameling mensen. Brian en Roger van Queen. Zucchero (lacht) was overal te vinden natuurlijk en zong met Jan en alleman. Met Deep Purple deden we Smoke. Er was een technisch probleem toen we het de 1ste keer deden en dus moesten ze het overdoen, net voor de toegift, ik bedoel de finale. Pavarotti zat daar in zijn grote stoel op de zijkant van het podium, wij gingen op om Smoke te doen en hij zegt (imiteert Pavarotti op een Italiaanse Marlon Brandon-wijze) "Wat, geen Zucchero?" (lacht) Eric Clapton was goed, Lionel Richie eveneens, het was gewoon een prachtige dag."

"Klopt. Wel, dat is toeval omdat die gebeurtenis met Pavarotti pas op het allerlaatste moment op de proppen kwam. Gelukkig was het 2 dagen voor dit concert. Als het gisteren was geweest zou het misschien nog net gelukt zijn, maar het zou nipt geweest zijn."

"Ja hoor. We kwamen erop door een foto van een Viëtnamees die een grote tros bananen gooit op een soort bus waar hij langs loopt en dat zet je aan tot denken over allerlei dingen die te maken hebben met …. hoeveel zou deze man betaald hebben gekregen? Ik weet het niet. Misschien 1 penny of zo en iedereen maakt winst op zijn rug. Het heeft te maken met de 3^de wereld en 'bananas' betekent in het Engels ook 'gek'. Het is ofwel bananas of nuts. Dan is er de GM-kant die de kop opsteekt. Genetische Manipulatie. Ik zag de foto die Roger vond in een Australische krant en uitsneed. Ik zei: "Dat is een fantastisch idee voor een albumtitel. Het opent zoveel perspectieven en het is maar 1 woord."

"Ik geloof dat de single zal uitgebracht worden … de 1^ste single zal "Haunted" zijn, de 1^ste ballade die we vanavond speelden. I love it, I love this song. Het album is een rock album, geloof me, maar dit een soort ballade eruit. Het is een plezier om zingen. Het andere nummer zal morgen klikken (zowel Ian als Roger vertelden met dat het vanavond allemaal chaos was, zoals dat gewoonlijk het geval is bij een 1^ste optreden van een tournee) als we het juist spelen. Maar zoals met alle nieuwe songs, wanneer je ze op het podium brengt is het de 1^ste keer altijd moeilijk. Vooral omdat Ian vanavond ziek was. Hij kwam pas 5' voor het concert aan en vertrok dadelijk erna. Morgen zal hij zich wel beter voelen."

"Het is maar een korte tour, slechts 4 weken. Het is geen 'bananas'-tour, maar ik heb het gevoel dat het er al bananas aan toe gaat. Lynyrd Skynyrd zou het 1ste deel van de tournee ook doen, maar nu zullen ze er pas bijkomen voor de 2de helft en ik geloof dat The Pretenders ons overmorgen komen vervoegen. Zij zullen het openingsprogramma zijn. Ik verheug me er al op, want ik vind The Pretenders goed. They're fantastic."

"In september. Ik ken de datums nog niet, maar ik hoor dat we misschien in Zuid-Amerika van start gaan, alles wordt nu in zijn definitieve vorm gegoten. Het is altijd hetzelfde: je weet nooit zeker wat er gebeurt."

"Waarschijnlijk zelfs dit jaar. Ik vermoed dat we voor Kerstmis in Europa zullen zijn. Ik ben er zo goed als zeker van omdat de Amerikaanse tournee half januari begint. Wanneer de cd uitkomt, zullen we zeker in Europa spelen. Dat weet ik. Misschien eind september of zo. Ik heb nog geen precieze informatie behalve van 1 optreden in Praag omdat de promotor de tickets al heeft vrijgegeven en dat mocht nog niet."

Zijn er songs op het album die over bekende personen gaan of over recente gebeurtenissen?

"Over dergelijke gebeurtenissen schrijf ik nooit echt. Af en toe eens. En als ik het doe, is het eufemistisch. Qua teksten ben ik er zeer tevreden over. Je moet het kunnen horen. Geen enkel nr. gaat over iets bepaald. Er staat vanalles op. Wanneer de cd uitkomt, zal ik wat inside info op de website zetten. Enkele interessante titels; … (maar dan laat Ians geheugen hem in de steek) Ik ben zo moe dat ik me de titels niet kan voor de geest halen. Ik heb er niets op tegen om over de albumtitel te praten en wat we vanavond op het podium deden. De rest zal wel komen wanneer het ogenblik daar is. Ik zal het je laten weten net voor het zover is."

Ian Gillan is alvast in Italië naar het eerste optreden van The Pretenders gaan kijken, zo liet hij ons weten vanuit Milaan net voordat de groep op het podium zou stappen.

De volledige versie van dit interview lees je in Het Paarste Nieuws. Dank aan Ian, Charlie en alle anderen voor een fantastische avond.

Bernie had invited me to his hotel (Prins van Oranje) in Diest. I know the place from the outside but always thought it was odd as I rarely saw any clients.

We entered through the back entrance. Did the musicians have a key or is the door always open? It'd have been scary if I had been there alone: reception hall closed and dark, no bar, no personnel, no other guests and the time … a few minutes after midnight. Bernie and I soon found a small dining room where the tables were set for breakfast (we thought).

I had told Bernie that I'm a teacher and while I was looking for the few questions I had written down, he started making conversation.

Typing. It used to be with typewriters but now it's with computers of course

I have an old one, a Mignon from 1904, so almost 100 years old. It doesn't have a keyboard. You have to point with a needle to the letter you want to type on an iron board and then push a button.

When I first heard of the gig I heard the name The Company Of Snakes, then I saw Classic Whitesnake, later M3 … so what's the band's name now?

Bernie: so, you want to know why. The Company of Snakes came to an end in November last year. We did some shows, the last shows we ever played, with Alice Cooper, in Russia, St.-Petersburg and then in Denmark, Copenhagen and Aalborg. I knew this thing was kind of over. It had nothing to do with the people. The people were very good. John Lingwood the drummer, is a very good drummer, a great guy, Stefan Berggren did a good job at singing, he handled the Company of Snakes stuff very well and he sang most of the Whitesnake stuff very well. But the problem The Company of Snakes had as a band was identity. We tried for such a long time. The Company Of Snakes was a bit strange because the original singer was Robert Hart from Bad Company and by the time we made a live album he had gone. And then we had Stef and made a studio album "Burst The Bubble", which I think … maybe when I listen to it in a year or in 2 years I will think; this is a great album.

The problem we had was when we played in England or wherever, we did very well. When we played mainly anywhere in Europe we did very well, but we only played places up to 1.000 people. That's O.K., but when we played with Alice Cooper in Russia and in Copenhagen there were like 6.000 or 8.000 people. We were playing 40', opening up, just Whitesnake things no Company Of Snakes. We were playing to thousands of people who were all Alice Cooper fans and both the shows … there was a lot of excitement in St.-Petersburg because it was the first time anybody from Whitesnake would be in Russia. Then in Copenhagen, which is a different kind of atmosphere in Europe, there was about 6.000 people and after one or two choruses of Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues about 4.500 out of 6.000 Alice Cooper fans realised "It's THEM, it's Whitesnake" and they went absolutely crazy. In the hall, when we finished, there was like this 'more more more' and Alice Cooper said: "You'd better do another song Bernie." So we did another song and then the next day in a Copenhagen paper it was "Whitesnake reformed for a secret gig".

The next night after these few dates with Alice, we played in a lovely town called Aalborg, in a very, very beautiful Victorian theatre. This place held about 800 people and we had maybe 100 people. The people that came were great, lovely, but they were the real fans and this was really to me … it showed that what I was thinking was correct. It was like the 100 people out of 1.000 people who should have been in the hall were the 100 that knew that the Company was Moody, Marsden and Murray.

By this time I thought "that's it", because you can't keep going around the country, the world, Europe wherever you want to play going "Well, we're The Company Of Snakes" because at the end of the day Micky and me and Neil were ex-Whitesnake. We can't change this and with 2003 it's 25 years since Whitesnake began and David had made some comments in the paper and on his website about "may it's time, maybe it's time" and I thought "well, maybe it's time, maybe it's a kharma thing, maybe we're all coming together at the right time." So I said The Company Of Snakes is kind of on hold but really it's finished. I suppose I hoped for a phone call from David. It never came and then David announced that he would tour Whitesnake with the 5 American guys. So O.K., what do we do? I said, let's make a decision and then I spoke with Jimmy (Copley, the drummer). You saw him tonight, he's a fantastic musician. About a week after I spoke to Jimmy … funny enough I saw Jimmy at a Deep Purple concert in England, I played with them in Bristol, which was a great night (Bernie was a guest at one of the Jon Lord farewell gigs in England) ... I think of things like that as well, playing with Purple that night while I jammed on Smoke On The Water in the biggest theatre, Ian saying we have a special guest coming out and the place was fantastic. The people were great and I suppose I had a little bit of a taste of the old days with the big gigs and playing with Ian and Jon it was a magical evening. I more or less considered that this, if we were going to do it properly, it had to be with the right people.

And then Tony called me, really as a social thing. He wanted a little bit advice. We were old friends, we didn't work together before, but still we were old friends from 10, 15 years ago. He came to my house and I explained … we talked what his plans were and then he asked me what I was doing. I said actually we're doing this thing with Micky, me and Neil and this guy from Bad Company. He said "Oh, who's singing" - "Nobody yet" - "Maybe I'd like to try that".

That's how it began and then we just got together. I thought if we're going to do it, we have to do it properly and that's where this M3 thing came from. It's just Marsden, Moody, Murray and then just Tony Martin you know, who opened for M4, M5, M6, M7 (that's out of the question Yves Saint Laurent has a natural spray with that name) …it gets a little bit crazy …

If we call us M3 playing classic Whitesnake, it more or less tells people exactly what they're going to get. We're not trying to be Whitesnake. Micky and I discussed it many times. I wouldn't want to be in Whitesnake if David wasn't the singer. That's kinda like the Eric Clapton Band with me playing guitar.

What we're playing is our legacy of music. Tonight you had 3 people on stage who played all of those songs in the studio and 2 people who wrote the songs. The songs belong, not to me, not to David, they belong to the fans. They made them famous, they made us well known and they're the one who're singing them back to us. I made the call to Micky and Neil and said, if we do this, you know we're not 25, 35 or even 45 years old, if we're going to play on the road, we'll have to give the audience, the fans what they want to hear. And I think what they want to hear are those classic Whitesnake songs.

Already, just in 3 shows, I think we made the right decision. Sometimes the Black Sabbath fans are saying "why don't you play Black Sabbath?" Because it's not a Black Sabbath group, it's a Whitesnake music band.

Bernie: no, we have no intentions to make any recordings. It's a live band, it's the concerts, it's the festivals, it's the tour.

Bernie: I think it will last as long as people want to hear the classic Whitesnake songs up until 1983. David has a great carreer long after 1983 and David Coverdale is a great singer and writer. He's done some wonderful stuff since we worked together. He did some wonderful stuff with John Sykes. "Is This Love" … I always think of "Is This Love" as a song that he and I should have written. "Still Of The Night" is great heavy rock or whatever you want to call it. But the stuff we did back in the old days was - to me - hard rock, rhythm and blues and "Would I Lie To You" is a million miles away from "Still Of The Night", but both can be Whitesnake. One side of Whitesnake is like Whitesnake A or Whitesnake AB. America knows David from all those songs post 1987 and yet the biggest song of all is "Here I Go Again", which he and me wrote. So there's always a connection. We didn't play it tonight, but we do Slow An' Easy, which is a great song written by Micky and me.

So next time we'll see you, you'll be playing Whitesnake songs but different ones from tonight?

Bernie: I'd like to get to the situation where we play a whole concert of Whitesnake songs up until 1983 and then we come on for an encore and say 'What do you want to hear?' A bit like we did tonight really. Usually it's Here I Go Again or Ain't No Love. Tonight we didn't play Slow An' Easy, we didn't play Wine, Women And Song, we didn't play Come On. There's another hour and a half of songs.

But the other reason we're doing this is, we're doing all these songs that were never done by the original band; "Child Of Babylon", "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights". I can't believe just after 3 shows that we never played these songs live. They're fantastic to play.

When I hear you saying these things, this reminds me of Ian Gillan telling me 'Now we're playing songs that Ritchie didn't want to play. Do you know "When A Blind Man Cries".

I don't quite remember, it's too long ago, maybe we played Child Of Babylon in a rehearsal 1 or 2 times, and said 'No, next', but now 20 or 25 years later we go 'This is great'. And I think we play it really good. This is a new thing because these songs have never been played live. And we do "Hit And Run" and we used to "Ain't Gonna Cry No More", but that's a great song, very popular. We do a lot of stuff from Come And Get It, Cryin In The Rain. Youngblood we play sometimes.

Bernie: yeah, Jon said 'I don't think I played terrifically well on this and you go 'Well, if that isn't the best you can play, don't worry about it.' Jon is such a great musician.

Bernie: no, that's not true. You can clear that up. I seem to remember there was a rumour that he and I were working together and John Sykes. I think I did an interview at the time and I said 'I have 10 songs that I think would be fantastic if David gets a hold on it. At the time I probably had 3 or something but I said 10 or something and then I did get the kind of thing through the grapevine 'let me hear them', but we haven't seen each other in 10 years. We've spoken on the telephone, but when we speak we kind of talk about family things. Maybe in the past we should spoken more about Whitesnake. It's a long time. He's on the road now. Funny enough we play Wembley on Sunday and he plays there the following Saturday. I have no problem with Whitesnake. People seem to think 'you must hate them'. Of course not, it's a different part of the beast, but the fact is that we, the 3 people in M3 we did write and play the original stuff. The reason a lot of people like Whitesnake is because of the original 5 or 6 albums. If they like the albums after, that's great. In America more people know the band from "1987" then the previous album because we never broke big in America, but we broke enormous everywhere else in the world. It's almost like 2 stages of the same thing. We still play pretty good. And it's one of those things we want to play because of the greatest hits coming out. The greatest hits is out in the shops and doing very well all over Europe and it's our record as well.

The single album is like the best of the Whitesnake singles, not really a greatest hits. I don't think so. There's nothing from Trouble, only one track from Lovehunter, no Lovehunter. I know that they're on the double album, but there's also Coverdale/ Page, which I think was a great album at the time, but I don't really see what Coverdale/Page has to do with the best of Whitesnake.. But that's personal. I love what David and Jimmy did.

Bernie: yeah, if it had been 'David Coverdale and x, y, z that's great, but I think the definitive Whitesnake greatest hits has still to be put together.

Bernie: Alaska, yeah, but there was a long gap in between. I did a lot of radio, I did some filmwork in Los Angeles and tv; that kind of thing. I was writing with other people. I did some stuff with Ian Gillan.

Bernie: yeah, which is one of my favourite personal pieces of work. I think Ian did a great job and the record company did a terrible job, but that's the business.

But I've been pretty busy playing with the Moody/ Marsden band playing Rhythm and Blues which was great fun. We still do some shows. I have an independent R & B big band, which I do gigs with. Micky has his own band. I produced Micky's solo album, I have a new solo album coming out next week called "Big Boy Blues", so everybody keeps busy and I'm also doing this theatre thing in London, Henry V at the National Theatre. It's a play and I'm doing the music. So, there's many things. I've been kind of busy busy, but not treading the boards. With the Company Of Snakes we did the studio album.

When you ask about recording: one of the main reasons for recording is; I never intended to record The Company Of Snakes. I had no intrest in recording and then this Germany company came in and offered me this deal. "No, I don't think so."

Bernie: pretty soon probably. We will have a live album available to the people who want it on the tour we do the rest of the year.

Bernie: we'll do it ourselves. I don't worry about record deals because with the internet now with the fans … If we would have records there tonight, we would probably have sold 200. We have no T-shirts, no records. It's not a shop, it's a R & R band, but I understand the economics.

In the Autumn when we show in the small theatres - these are warm-up shows really - … the guy said, we wanted the Company Of Snakes, but I couldn't afford them. He said: "I can't believe you're here tonight." It's a great club, with great people, it's an R&B club really. I think there were a lot of musicians in there tonight and last night. We play with such power, I think the poor PA was suffering and we could only play one way.

Bernie: that's why he got fired. He managed to get fired before he even played a gig.

Bernie: yes, he was going to come out. What happened was: he would have been here tonight but his passport is at the American embassy in London to get a new visa for America for Purple and because it's a bank holiday this weekend and basically because of all the problems politically … in the old days you could go to the embassy and pick up your passport, now you can't do it. It was impossible for him to get his passport. He could get it yesterday afternoon, when we had to be in Verviers. It's a shame because I was looking forward to seeing him and he wanted to come because we go back too far. We played the last 10 shows of the Company Of Snakes as a five piece.

Sometimes no keyboards gives Micky and me the chance to go in different areas, rhythmically. But on some of the songs you miss the keyboards like on "Here I Go Again".

I saw Don in another small club, called the Biebob with Uli Jon Roth, opening for Glenn Hughes and a few months later he was with Deep Purple.

I've just done some production with Ian Paice's daughter. She's a great singer. So I just spent some time in the studio with her. She's a very good singer, a very talented girl. You'll be hearing about her. And I see Ian all the time. Ian was at my house 5 or 6 days ago. We're all in contact. Who knows if we have a few days in Belgium or so in the Summertime we need a keyboardplayer, maybe I'll call Jon Lord. I say "Jon, you want to come to South Africa for a week?" "Why not?" Who knows? But when we go back, Don's going to do the show and when we do a few shows later on in July I think Mark Stanway from Magnum will play.

The keyboard thing with us has always been a kind of … many different people played with us. You never really know. Jon played with us at the show in Luxembourg and the audience went suitably crazy.

I also liked your 2 solo albums "And About Time Too" and "Look At Me Now". I remember "Sad Clown" quite well.

Bernie: yeah, they're very old now, but they still sound good, because of the musicians that are on it. Jack Bruce, Jon, Simon Phillips, Cozy, Neil. We're all kind of locked it with each other. They sound good on cd now.

If I remember well, there are 2 versions of South Africa. Did you play on any of them?

Bernie: I played guitar on both of them. The long version is created from the sessions. We took sections that we didn't hear and then it was the other way around. The short version was created from the long version. They said 'for a single this is ridiculous, it's 8, 10 minutes long.' Then they made the short version, but the long version is amazing. Jimmy Copley played drums on that.

Bernie: I haven't got that but somebody told me. I'll have to get a copy sometime.

Bernie: I have the 3" cd, which is about 10 years old and which Neil found for me when he was in Japan, or it was Japanese. It has both versions on one disc. That's really good, a great record. Even though I wrote it, I think it's special.

You wrote many songs. Is there one that you're more proud of than the other songs?

Bernie: that's difficult to say. Obviously the success of "Here I Go Again" is amazing and it continues to be amazing. It gets more airplay in America every year. It's on every compilation album it seems that comes out. One year it came out on 'The Best Of Soft Rock', 'Greatest Heavy Metal' and 'AOR Rock'. The same song on all of these records, which is great for me. It makes a good living.

One of my favourite songs that I have written is on the EP. I just like the raw power of 'Come On'. That's so simple.

Bernie: yes, I do. Every song … it's like children in a way. When I wrote those, I didn't have children and I have children now. But every song is a memory. You hear 'Come On' or 'Hit And Run' or whatever on the radio. I hear and see the session and the people. You know, Martin Birch, David Dowle on the first session and then Ian coming in and then hearing Jon putting those magnificent keyboards on.

"Fool For Your Loving" is pretty special to me. That came from just an idea in the studio and David came in and said "What's that?" That's where the riff came from and then Micky had a piece he put in the middle. It really is a Coverdale/ Marsden/Moody classic song. I'm pretty chuffed with that one. That was our first really big hit as well.

I remember doing an interview in Cologne with Jon Lord and David Coverdale a few months before Ian Paice joined and I asked "When's Ian Paice going to join" - "Oh, he's not going to come"

Bernie: it was inevitable. David Dowle is a great guy and a fantastic drummer, but what happens? The best drummer in the world is saying "What are you doing?" - "Nothing" You don't have to be Einstein to work out what's going to happen. Ian, as good as Dave was, was the icing on the cake. He just made everything work. "Fool For Your Loving" could not have worked without Ian Paice.

"Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues" … that's my favourite. Now you have 3 favourites. "Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues" to me, sums up that period of Whitesnake. The cut with - ironically Ian playing on it. Even though Dave plays on the original track. It's a great anthem, rock song. We wrote it very quickly. I had the idea and ...this melody and he said "I'm just walking in the shadow of the blues". He said "Fantastic title". He ran away in the studio and he came back with the words in maybe 40'. Almost finished. He's a great writer. I didn't care for some of the lyrics later on, but this is special.

Bernie: he writes really good with some people. He wrote great with Ritchie, he wrote really well with me and Micky, together and separately. We had almost a competition going, like who can come up with the most songs. With Lovehunter I wrote about 10 songs and he was going: 'Come on, I have to get some songs together.' I wish we had kept some of them.

He also wrote great with John Sykes. I don't think he's a good … the Jimmy Page thing, I heard a lot of David Coverdale in, I didn't hear so much of Jimmy. Some of the stuff with Mel Galley was good although some a little bit weak. It didn't have as much power as the other stuff. Sykes? Great songs. Where they came from, whether it was Jon or David, I don't know. I wasn't there.

The latest stuff with Adrian Vandenberg leaves me not quite so hot. Although the last album David did - Into The Light - was really fine. I'm a fan really, I always was a fan. Cozy Powell was the first guy who played me David Coverdale. He played me Burn and said "Listen to this." He wouldn't tell me who it was, because if he had told me it was Deep Purple I would have gone "I don't want to hear this" because I was a blues biased bigot. I was like a horse: blues, blues, blues … Deep Purple? No, no, no … So he said "Listen to this" - "Great, who is this?" - "Deep Purple" - "No" And that was the first time I heard David singing. I'm a big David Coverdale fan, regardless of what has been in papers or magazines in 20 years. That's how I began my relationship with him and that's how I still think of him.

Are you a fan of David Coverdale the musician or of David Coverdale as a person?

Bernie: well, David and I, we went through a lot of hard times with Whitesnake. All of us did and we worked very hard for very little in monetary, commercial gains. But for every amount for little commercial gain, we gained an enormous amount of respect for each other. And we wrote great rock songs, whether we made money or not. We wrote some classic Rock and that's probably why we're here tonight. That's what we're doing. I'm still playing David Coverdale songs, but in Wembley next week, he'll be playing Bernie Marsden songs and Micky Moody songs. We're all part of it. The fans realise that, especially in Europe. The European fan base is from the early days. The reason we're doing this, is because this will be far more instantly successful than Company Of Snakes. It's kind of Whitesnake because 3 of us were in the original Whitesnake. We cannot change that. Paul McCartney, when he sings, sounds like the Beatles. Paul McCartney or The Beatles …, you know what I'm saying. We cannot change history. People come to see us, whether we're in a small town in Belgium or in the middle of London in a big arena. They know that Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden and Neil Murray were in Whitesnake from day 1 until day ... 501.

Bernie: I'm still having fun. The day I don't enjoy playing live, I don't want to play. I'll be in the studio or I'll be writing for other people. I just keep playing, it's good fun.

When I went to see Deep Purple in Cologne last year, I intended to ask Ian Gillan if he was ever going to stop, but when I saw him live with all that enthousiasm …

Bernie: you didn't need to ask him. It's a pointless question when you see the artist, but it's a good question when you don't see him. People say "You're 55 years old or 50", I'm 52 years TODAY.

Bernie: it's a birthday interview. And if you would have asked me 10 years ago or 20 years ago, would I be doing an interview in Belgium in 2003, I would have laughed you off the table. But … things change. When you're 30 and very successful playing to 10.000 people, what you don't think of is in 20 years time you'll be 50, but also most of the audience is also 50. You don't think that, when you're 30 there's no such thing as people of 50 years old who rock 'n roll.

Bernie: how it used to be yeah. Now young people come because they want to hear good musicians. The last 10, 15 years hasn't produced enough - although there are some very good ones - individual talents; guitar, drums, bass, keyboards.

One day bands. But the audience has one big advantage on the bands: they get children.

Bernie: that's right. "I'll show you a guitarplayer"; that's what happens. You have an 18 year old guy who plays and who listens to Slipknot. And maybe he's a good guitarist. His father says "I'll take you somewhere tonight, come with me. I'll show you 2 old guys and they're pretty good." And the young guys come and meet us afterwards. They shake their heads and go "Man, I'll remember you tonight, you guys were amazing." It happened last night to me in Verviers. Two young guys, 18, 20 had a band. Their father brought them and they were "OK, we'll go" and afterwards "How do you get your sound, how do you play like that?" I don't play with any effects, I just plug in the amplifier. To them this is quite radical, but for our generation it's quite normal. We play from here, we play from the heart. That's what rock music should be. That's what it is for me and always will be.

Bernie: that's right. That's when it's time to get a new job. And if you don't go home soon, you're not going to have a job.

Meanwhile it was 1.00 in the morning. The 10' had become 45'. You don't need many questions to interview Bernie, just take a look at his answers. For me, it was a pleasure, for him too I hope.

Kort gero©kt & (ex-)Purple interviews

WHO CARES (for Armenia) - Ian Gillan, Tony Iommi & Friends

In april wou de muziekindustrie de aandacht trekken op het feit dat het niet zo goed meer gaat met hen omdat er teveel 'gratis' muziek in omloop is. Daarom werd de eerste RECORD STORE DAY gelanceerd.

Een mini-interview met Ian GILLAN en we weten weeral wat meer

Ouwe taaie, Joepie jéé!!! Ze weten van geen ophouden: Deep Purple komt terug naar Suikerrock op vrijdag 29 juli 2011. En ze doen dat niet alleen, ze brengen het 47-koppige Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt mee en dat is waarschijnlijk geen plaatselijk muziekkorps.

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