Remember Dick Pimple? Back in the mists of time Darker Than Blue held their first convention in sunny Sheffield, and the lads cuts a special tracks which they couriered over for us to play over the PA. Nobody had heard the new Morse line-up at that time and this loose jam got us all salivating. With Glover's permission Darker Than Blue later pressed this up on a CD single in a special didipak so DTB people who hadn't been able to get to the convention could get a cop - , and then deleted it.

Well it seems the track is now coming out again, albeit on a strange charity compilation put together by Ian Gillan and Tony Iommi. As the original has apparently been changing hands for large sums of money, this will at least enable others to get to hear it officially once again. More details at the blog.

SR#600250 photo: Birger Kofoed ) Thanks to Tom Dixon.

Ian Gillan all but confirms Bob Ezrin as the producer of the next Deep Purple studio album in an upbeat interview with Geoff Barton for Classic Rock magazine. Ian reveals that in a producer "we're looking for one of those old-pro type approaches where you have guidance and a great sound". He says of Mr Ezrin "He came up to see us and talk it through and everyone fell in love with him."

Start date for the recording (in Nashville) is June 23rd with 6-weeks being the allotted timescale.

TS#6002495 (photo: Birger Kofoed )

After abandoning plans to write, rehearse and record in 2011, Ian Gillan has apparently announced (according to a number of websites, though we're not sure where it originated) that the band now intend to work towards releasing their next studio album in 2013, with more writing and recording through this year during touring breaks.

There was a short news on German tv RNF (Rhein-Neckar-Fernsehen, covering the area around Heidelberg and Mannheim) last week about Deep Purple, to say that their gig at the Musik im Park festival in Schwetzingen (10.08.12) had to be cancelled, as they're about to record a new studio album. This kind of adds fuel to the story last time about recording this year with a release at the end of the year or early 2013 with a tour to promote.

Steve Morse added to the saga of the new album, and confirmed (in an interview with Classic Rock Revisited) that they will be writing together during May, with actual recording sessions taking place during June and July. At that rate they could have the album out for the end of the year.

SR#6002494 (photo: Mike Kanakis) With thanks to Tom Dixon and Michael Huck

Deep Purple's "The Songs That Built Rock" tour with orchestra kicked off in Glasgow on 26 November.

Andrew Jones attended the show and reports: "The usual set with an orchestra? We didn’t know what to expect but need  not have worried. The orchestra really added something to the mix with added swing and different interpretations of the songs we know and love. They added even more power to the band and Well Dressed Guitar and Rapture of the Deep were superb. The man who really stood out was Don Airey who seemed to love every second and was on fire alongside the excellent Ian Paice. Highlights were many although the real standouts were Perfect Strangers and Lazy and it was great to hear hard Lovin’ Man. The sound men did a great job too with the acoustics as the SECC is a hard place to get right. The band will be hard pressed to top this although a new album might do the trick…".

SR/NY#6002492

It looks as if plans for Deep Purple to record a new album this year have slipped again, according to a new Ian Gillan interview, but he feels they have got at least one more long player in them, judging by quotes from him talking to The Express & Star ahead of the NEC show next month.

"The fact is that we've been touring flat out. We're getting so much off on that we just don't feel the drive at the moment for writing. I think to get some progress as far as an album's concerned you've got to have a target, you've got to work to a date, and that gives you pressure. If you've got the pressure you get stuff done. We don't have a plan to be honest. People like to do stuff that they're good at, that they enjoy, that they get something out of. So while it's fun and we're all getting older and bits are dropping off here and there, it's still great. I think there probably will be another album."

SR/NY#600251 (Thanks to Nigel Young)

Filmed on the closing night of this year’s Montreux Festival on July 16, this concert features Deep Purple playing their classic hits with the accompaniment of a full symphony orchestra conducted by Stephen “BK” Bentley-Klein.

It's the third reunion show from the festival, and is issued to tie-in with the band's UK and European shows. Formnats so far are DVD and Bluray (with bonus interviews) and 2xCD set. All can be ordered at the DPAS Online store.

1) Orchestral Intro   2) Highway Star   3) Hard Loving Man   4) Maybe I’m A Leo   5) Strage Kind Of Woman   6) Rapture Of The Deep   7) Woman From Tokyo   8) Contact Lost   9) When A Blind Man Cries   10) The Well Dressed Guitar   11) Knocking At Your Back Door   12) Lazy   13) No One Came   14) Don Airey Solo   15) Perfect Strangers   16) Space Truckin’   17) Smoke On The Water   18) Hush   19) Black Night

SR#600250

(Thanks to Steve Hanson)

Ex Jamiroquoi bassist Nick Fyffe stood in for Roger Glover at Deep Purple's May 2011 shows in Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Turkey. Fyffe has previously played with Jon Lord, and is something of a regular at the annual Sunflower Jam charity shows.

During his stint Nick said on his website that "I am currently on tour with Deep Purple standing in for Roger Glover. It has been an amazing experience so far. We started off in Crete at the Pankrito Stadium, Heraklion. I'd had a few weeks to learn the set but no actual rehearsal so the first show was a real baptism of fire! Thankfully, doing my homework paid off and the gig was amazing.."

Fyffe can be seen in a local TV report from the Heraklion show.

RogerGlover is joining up with the band for the North American leg off their "Songs That Build Rock tour", which kicks off in Rama, Ontario on 3rd June. His temporary absence was due of the arrival of a new little Glover.

NY/TS#6002492

Deep Purple have announced four UK dates for 2011 (well, they haven't announced them, a ticket agency has!), part of the "The Songs That Built Rock" tour with the orchestra. Exact details of the size of the orchestra remain to be confirmed (but what's the size of your brass section between friends?), but 38 piece is being quoted for the UK leg.

Pre-sale tickets will be available from 14th April 2011 @ 9am and then go on general sale Friday 15th April 2011 @ 9am

In a recent interview, Steve Morse has given more clues about the format of the shows: "We're going to play our set, basically, and have accompaniment on some songs, if you imagine some of the old Motown songs where they added strings and horns to a song to spice it up. And that's the approach [the band] want[s] to take on this tour. We've got a whole bunch of new material. Whether or not we can pull that out for the tour depends on how fast the record can get done." (www.examiner.com)

See our 2011 tour dates for more details.

SR/NY#6002491

The organisers of 2011's "Sunflower Jam" charity concert have announced a line-up of Rick Wakeman, Jon Lord, Joe Bonamassa, Newton Faulkner, and Deep Purple, with "other legends to be confirmed shortly."

The show is due to take place on July 8th at the Royal Albert Hall, London, under the title "The Sunflower Jam Superjam 2011"

The Sunflower Jam show with Deep Purple has announced new ticketing details. Unlike previous years, the show at the Royal Albert Hall has some more affordable tickets for the 2011 event, starting at £50 (which isn't that much more than the last tour). Thanks to Mark Jones for details. Tickets are available via the hall or ticketmaster.

http://thesunflowerjam.com

SR/NY#6002501 (photo: Olga Davydova)

Ritchie Blackmore's son JR Blackmore joined Deep Purple onstage during their 27th November show iat the Sporthalle, Hamburg. The Over The Rainbow guitarist jammed with Steve Morse for a few minutes before playing "Smoke On The Water" with the full band.

NY#600247

(photo: Tobias Janaschke)

The one-off show Deep Purple did in Zurich in December 2007 (see Darker Than Blue Issue 59) is now coming out on DVD. This was a private ten track show lasting about an hour, paid for by a Swiss banker. Release was expected early in 2010. Great cover photo though!

Tracks - Pictures Of Home / Hush / Into The Fire / Strange Kind Of Woman / When A Blind Man Cries / Lazy / Perfect Strangers / Highway Star / Smoke On The Water / Black Night

UPDATE - This DVD is on sale exclusively from the producer's website  in Switzerland.

I must add that we have heard from some people who have had a lot of trouble ordering, including one guy who had the  money taken from his account three times and still hasn't had a copy. DPAS mailorder were going to stock it, but the distributor who was getting us the stock has also had problems with supplies so we have taken it off our catalogue.

SR#6002453

Deep Purple are still confirming shows for 2010, including the "huge European tour" mentioned earlier in the year by Steve Morse.

Their first dates in South Africa since 1995 (with the band due to join Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash for the 'Masters of Rock' concert tour) kick off on Friday, May 28th in Johannesburg, go on to Durban May 30th, and wrap up on June 1st in Cape Town (missing the World Cup by 10 days - they played in Germany during the last one). There is a long overdue visit to Northern Ireland in June (see below), and the Swedish Rockweekend Festival 8-9-10th Julyn near Kilafors. Over The Rainbow will also be playing at the festival.

More dates have been added to out 2010 gig list for Italy in late July. You can find more details on the Italian shows at www.deep-purple.it, where Francesco does his bit for the Italian tourist board by telling us that most of the dates are "close to the seaside and in beautiful locations. Arezzo is a wonderful city as well. So if you can make it, it would also make a nice holiday trip."

The band will play 13 shows in Germany during November 2010, with Marillion getting a one hour support slot.

NY#6002475. Thanks to Francesco, and others. Photo: Mikkel Andersen

If you enjoyed Martin Popoff's book Gettin' Tighter, then you may be interested in his follow up volume A Castle Full Of Rascals, which covers the band's reunion years in much the same sort of way and in a matching format (with Gillan and Glover on the front).

In stock now at dpas mailorder.

Thanks to Scott Wood for the update.

SR#6002421

Good news for vinyl fans; the two Deep Purple Live At Montreux titles (1996 and 2006) are due out as double vinyl editions at the end of October. These have been officially licensed from Eagle.

Sleeves are as the CD editions. We are awaiting packaging details and track split.

In stock now at dpas mailorder. Nice gatefold with plenty of live pictures inside.

SR#6002401

Ian Gillan was interviewed by Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in advance of Deep Purple's Istanbul show on July 20th, and mentioned plans for a new studio album: "I think we are ready to make another album. We’ve been talking about it for some time already. I think we’ll start to work on it next February."

He also shed light on the band's recording methods: "We go into the studio with absolutely nothing, no music or lyrics whatsoever. We sit in the kitchen, having some cup of tea, talk about families and football… Then we go into the room and play; six hours a day. After three days, some ideas begin to shape and we start to turn them into songs. To prepare the main lines takes about three weeks, to deal with lyrics, recording process and mixing also take two weeks. Since there have been many technological developments recently and we use them by recording the music in analog and mix it in digital to achieve the best result."

There has been a lot of talk about a new studio album being cut during the early part of 2010, their first since Rapture Of The Deep in 2005.  We'll keep you informed.

MR #6002682 with thanks to Orhun Yakın and Sakis Nikas. (photo: Daniele Purrone)

Rockpages.gr interviewed Ian Gillan backstage before Deep Purple's concert in Athens this summer. Some highlights:

Rockpages.gr: Let’s say that you were not the singer of Deep Purple and you were just a fan of rock music. A friend of yours says: “Hey, Ian…which Deep Purple album I should not listen to? Which one is not good enough”? What would you say to him?

Ian Gillan: "Without any doubt, I would not suggest “Who Do We Think We Are” or “The House Of Blue Light”. There are some good songs on those albums but the whole vibe is not right… neither one captures the spirit of the band. I guess “The House Of Blue Light” is the least favorite of mine."

Rockpages.gr: Now that you mention “Who Do We Think We Are”, would you like to tell us the one good thing and the one bad thing that comes in your mind regarding that recording experience?

Ian Gillan: "Well, the one bad thing is that the bloody banjo player never showed up! He was treating everyone with disrespect… and I mean everybody in the band, not just me. We were literally sitting and waiting for weeks for the bastard to come in the studio and join us. The band and the crew were just sitting and waiting. It was a very insulting behaviour. The best thing, actually, about the whole session was some stuff that we did when the banjo player… when Ritchie wasn’t there. Basically, fooling around in the studio… Jon Lord singing lead vocals on “Smelly Botty”… a cabaret impersonation…"

You cand read the whole interview on: /www.rockpages.gr

MR #600272 (photo: James Whitworth )

Deep Purple were called upon at the last minute to replace Oasis (after their latest split), headlining the Rock-am-See open air festival at the Bodenseestadion, Germany on August 29th. It apparently went very well, which lead to Purple also standing in for the Milano Urban Festival in Italy on August 30th, which was the last date Oasis would have been playing on the tour. In Milan Deep Purple headlined over The Kooks and Kasabian.

The sudden cancellation of the Oasis gig in Milan lead to the Deep Purple Italia (www.deep-purple.it) online forum being "invaded" by Oasis fans trying to sell tickets for the show. However, some of them attended the event and commented back the day after.

Francesco from Deep Purple Italia reports that Oasis fans were generally surprised by Deep Purple's performance, reportedly saying that they "kicked ass", "should have had the Oasis headline spot from the beginning", and that "they were worth every cent of the ticket price." It has also been reported that members of support bands KASABIAN and THE KOOKS were enjoying the show backstage.

NY #600270 (photo: Martin Ashberry), with thanks to Francesco

A new Deep Purple French tour is taking shape (again!), with six dates planned for early December 2009; half of them in cities where Deep Purple have played recently (Nantes, Marseille, Toulouse) - and the other ones in "new" cities (Amiens, Chambery, Montbeliard). The tour support is Swiss group Gotthard, in place of French act Café Bertrand, who supported Deep Purple for forty French shows stretching back three years.

Before the December tour, Deep Purple are also lined up to headline the famous "Fête de l'Humanité" on September 12th. This very popular three day event, organised by a daily French newspaper L'Humanité, takes place every year on the second week-end of September in La Courneuve, near Paris.

See the full schedule on our Deep Purple tour dates list.

Mathieu Pinard / DB #60026551 (photo: Martin Ashberry)

Nice to see that in these credit strapped times the ticket booking industry is as greedy as ever - well greedier actually! One DPAS member just called to say he has been charged an extra £8.75 PER TICKET in 'admin' costs, including a new charge (you'll love this) for doing the booking online himself. Nice. Note: Crash Records in Leeds charged 50p when I last booked a gig ticket through them, and this included first class postage.

Ticketmaster users (and all agencies boot you through to them anyway, so it's Hobson's choice): if you are having trouble with their Visa Verification process, use the 'make text smaller' option on your browser, to reveal an extra field to fill in before you can proceed. Took me three goes!

And another thing - normally one gets a discount for ordering online. Even the Duchess of Devonshire knocks a fiver OFF if you book Chatsworth tickets online! Here they charge you the same 'admin fee' even if you print off your own tickets! Simon.

Here is the top of the booking fees chart, in reverse order! GLASGOW at number 4 with just £5.55. At number 3, a surprise entry, £6.75, is LONDON. MANCHESTER climbs to number 3 with £8.75. But this tour's top of the ticket fees are BIRMINGHAM, with a whopping £8.95 per ticket! Well done Birmingham.
And thank you to Richard Taylor who put his credit card to the test to bring us these figures.

SR #6002631 (photo: Nick Robinson)

'Classic Rock' mag has fulfilled its promise of last issue to finally feature Deep Purple on the cover (the editorial claims that historically Deep Purple have featured in more 'Classic Rock' articles than Zep, GnR etc. but have just not been on the cover before).

On first perusal, it seems quite a nice feature, with new interviews with Gillan, Glover & Paice and comments from Ritchie from a 'classic' Blackmore article (hmm), plus recent ones from Coverdale and sidebars for Joe Lynn Turner and Steve Morse. A few controversial remarks from Ian Gillan, who says he's never listened to any Deep Purple Mk III albums ("What are they called? 'Burn' and..'Strongbow' is it?") Elsewhere he also confesses to have "still been drinking too much" at the time of the reunion and to not having happy memories of the 1980's.

TS #6002621

(with thanks to John Blackburn)

Deep Purple broke the record for international artists playing in Israel. Their original September 2008 show sold out so quickly a second was added. Then the third, and now it's four!

According to a local press release, the first show in Israel, originally scheduled for Sept. 7th, has been postponed to the 17th, so the schedule now is: Sept. 8th (Caesaria), 9th (Tel Aviv) and 17th and 18th (both Caesaria). The date was apparently moved so the band could reschedule a show in Russia for the 7th so that the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev could attend (apparently being "too busy" to go to the other Russian date. I think if I lived in the Ukraine I'd take that as a hint to move out now).

SR #6002571 Thanks to Dmitry M. Epstein for the news. (photo: Alan Perry)

Eagle have issued a 4 DVD Deep Purple box set called 'Around The World'. The discs comprise:

1. Bombay Calling and Korea 1995 both of which have been out before (Bombay Calling on DVD twice, and VHS).

2. Total Abandon and Down Under, both of which have been out several times in one form or another.

3. Live At NEC 2002, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover interview. This is new.

4. Documentary film about the Steve Morse era. Origin unknown.

Most fans would I think have preferred the NEC show as a stand alone product (to avoid marital strife if nothing else!), but you do get a 32 page booklet thrown in. The box set is shipping now from dpas mailorder. Click here to see a full pack-shot of the box.

SR #6002512 (Thanks to Nigel Young for the heads up)

The fourth DVD in the upcoming box set, listed below as "Documentary film about the Steve Morse era" is a 90 minute edit of a fly-on-the-wall 'Access All Areas', which has been in production for some years. People tell me the new documentary actually leans heavily on material which first appeared on the Gillancam feature on Ian Gillan's fabbo Highway Star effort last year.

Following the Total Abandon tour of Australia in 1999, it was decided to document life on the road with the band. Collated primarily over a 4 year period and starting in Japan 2000, Ian Gillan, Ian Paice and Drew Thompson collected vision from the tours. According to Drew: "it's an amazing insight into life on the road, and takes a look at elements of touring never really seen. It was never meant to showcase the performances from this period, but shows life on the road as it really happens; the fun, the humour, the politics and the camaraderie. The transition period of Jon Lord leaving the band and Don Airey reinvigorating proceedings has been captured at close hand, beautifully complimenting the live NEC performance. This is a must see for any fan of the band."

The full "Access All Area" documentary runs to beyond 3 hours, and has been edited down for the new DVD package. Drew expects that later in 2008 a full length version will be released. If it is, that may leave the NEC 2002 show as the only disc exclusive to 'Around The World'.

SR #6002531

Ian Gillan has told a reporter in Peru that he hopes the group will record a new album in 2009, but so far there doesn't seem to be anything more concrete than this.

SR #600252

Ian Gillan has written an article for The Times about Deep Purple's private show at The Kremlin on February 11th:

"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?” I’m sure I could have had everyone on their feet but I knew Tina Turner was on next and it wouldn’t have been cool to do that.

When we had finished our show, Medvedev and Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Gazprom, came into our dressing room where we had a chat and a couple of drinks. Medvedev 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. "

See the full article here.

TS #600250

Deep Purple were flown to Moscow to perform a special show on Fwebruary 11th at The Kremlin's Palace of Congresses, in front of Russian luminaries such as Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev - a man described by the Moscow Times as "chairman of state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and a virtual lock to become the country's next president." The party was to mark the 15th anniversary of the firm's creation.

The evening began with an address by Russian president Vladimir Putin, which was followed by performances from Tina Turner and Deep Purple among others. According to news reports "the fans wore furs, suits or war medals rather than jeans and T- shirts; they arrived in black chauffeured limousines not buses; and the front row of the audience included Russia's likely next president Dmitry Medvedev and a top former KGB spy." During Deep Purple's one hour set  "attempts by Ian Gillan to encourage audience participation led to the kind of slow, steady handclap which used to reverberate around the wood-panelled hall during Soviet Communist Party congresses." TS #6002471

CD tracks list in full : Pictures Of Home / Things I Never Said / Strange Kind Of Woman / Rapture Of The Deep / Wrong Man / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye / When A Blind Man Cries / Lazy / Keyboard solo / Space Truckin' / Highway Star / Smoke On The Water.

dpas mailorder are stocking both editions.

DVD disc 1 includes the band's set from the 40th Montreux Festival in 2006 plus iInterviews with the band members. Disc 2 contains the whole of Deep Purple’s 60 min performance from the Hard Rock Café, London, to celebrate its re-opening and the launch of the band’s new album “Rapture Of The Deep” back in October 2005 (audio from this set was on the special tour edition of Rapture Of The Deep CD). 1) Fireball 2) I Got Your Number 3) Strange Kind Of Woman 4) Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye 5) Rapture Of The Deep 6) Wrong Man 7) Lazy 8) Perfect Strangers 9) Highway Star 10) Smoke On The Water. Due mid-June 2007. It looks as if Perfect Strangers is absent from the DVD as well as the CD (collectors tell us it was absent on TV and FM in Europe when the show was broadcast last year).

It looks as if the Japanese edition of this new CD will include ALL the set on two discs, rather than the slightly shorter single CD in Europe which lacks the encore and Morse's showcase. Silly thing to do and annoying for collectors. Info is scarce but if we're right the extra CD tracks would be The Well Dressed Guitar, Hush, Too Much Fun, and Black Night. To confirm, the Montreux set IS complete on the DVD in Europe. dpas mailorder are stocking this import edition. If anyone who has ordered the single CD UK edition wishes to upgrade their order, please email Ann asap.

Eagle have confirmed a blu-ray DVD edition of Live At Montreux 2006, which will be released in February 2008 in Europe. Content is as the previously released DVD (reviewed in DTB 58), but the picture is high definition. It can be pre-ordered at dpas mailorder. (for more info on blu-ray, see our format guide).

SR#6002397

We've had requests for information on a new Deep Puple DVD called Live in China, taped on the March 31st 2004 at the Gymnasium Beijing. It is on the Masterplan label. This is the same company who pirated the Live in Bombay DVD in Europe, and we understand this latest is also a bootleg. Unfortunately these are quite widespread in German shops and have fooled a lot of people so be warned.

"The live In China dvd is horrible. Thanks for warning, sorry I didn't believe you!" Heikki Heino

Under pressure from the band, Edel have rethought the limited tour edition of Rapture Of The Deep. This will now be a DOUBLE CD set. CD 1 has the album as before. CD 2 now has EIGHT tracks: 1) Clearly Quite Absurd (new version) 2) Things I Never Said (Japanese bonus track) 3) The Well Dressed Guitar (unreleased) 4) Rapture Of The Deep (live) 5) Wrong Man (live) 6) Highway Star (live) 7) Smoke On The Water (live) 8) Perfect Strangers (live).

The live tracks were recorded in London Oct 10. 2005. Anyone who has pre-ordered from dpas mailorder will get this new version. Providing the price is reasonable, this now looks like a much better release.

The Rapture Tour Edition has been put back again (at least for UK release) until June 5th, the week after Monsters Of Rock. It is already available in Germany. Thanks to Essential for the info. Edel now say that the digipak is to be a limited edition only for the UK. It will only be available up to the release date (in other words pre-orders). After release date, shops will only be able to order the jewel case edition. So if you want to be sure of the digipak please pre-order.

SR#7001604 (Thanks to Joerg Planer, Amanda at Eagle and Matt at Essential)