With a body of work that spans seven decades, legendary English hard rockers Deep Purple helped pioneer and define hard rock while at the same time progressively pushing the musical style into new uncharted areas. The group, who has sold more than 100 million albums, continues to be active both on the recording front and on the touring circuit.

This month sees the release of the group’s enigmatic titled new album, and it is currently touring to promote it. Compared to the touring days of old, touring for the group today is a totally different affair.

“We’re lucky enough now that we can travel in comfort and stay in comfort,” says Roger Glover, the group’s long-time bassist.

“Otherwise, I don’t think we’d do it.

“There comes a point in your life where you’ve done enough of that, sitting in a van for hours, breaking down in winters with a flat tyre or something, living in boarding houses and cheap places and getting changed in toilets.

“And that may be great for a while, but once you’re older as we are, it’s not so much fun.

“It’s just tedious.”

Recent live shows have seen the group perform a set list comprising both classic Deep Purple cuts interspersed with more recent material.

“That’s been the sort of bedrock of set for decades, as we’re not a band that rehearses for two months before we go on the road,” says Glover.

“We just sort of make it [the set list] up as we go along, so we’re a lazy band in that respect.

“But we have got new fire in the band now with the addition of new guitarist Simon McBride, and so it changes things.

“So, there’s a possibility we might push in a few ideas, maybe in a jam part where people don’t even know what it is, where we’ll maybe try something out.

“And though you may expect the same set, it’s different every night.

“The solos are different, and even the bass part I play in Smoke on the Water may be different.

“At its heart, it’s just jamming, and we have fun.

“And that’s how usually we write our songs, too.

“It’s all down to the music and how we feel.”

Much of Glover’s inspiration for songwriting comes from an unlikely non-hard rock source, Bob Dylan.

“I think Dylan blew me sideways because prior to him, all songs were about love, lost love, found love,” Glover said.

“There was very little social commentary.

“He opened my mind to the world and the way he expressed it himself.

“I just wanted to be Bob Dylan for a few years before I realised it was so easy for him but so difficult for me.

“And that was because he was not trying.

“He was just being himself.

“So, it taught me to just be me, myself too.”

For all things Deep Purple, go to deeppurple.com

Music news

English rockers The Cult, which celebrates 40 years as a group this year, is set to tour Australia in November. The group was last here in 2016.

Thrash metal legend Megadeth is currently in the studio working on its next album.

Country music icon Johnny Cash, who passed away back in 2003, had a new album posthumously released last week. Titled Songwriter, it features 11 songs originally recorded as demos by Cash in 1993, but these have now been reworked by several musicians who had worked with Cash previously.

Another country music legend releasing new music is Keith Urban, whose new studio album High is set for release on September 20.

Former Rolling Stone bassist Bill Wyman also releases a new album next month titled Drive My Car. It is Wyman’s ninth solo outing.

From the diaries... March 2001

In early 2001, I was assigned to interview one of the hottest new signings to Warner Music, a band from Brisbane called Pretty Violet Stain, whose lead singer, guitarist and songwriter was a young Shane Nicholson, now a respected solo artist and country music producer.

Pretty Violet Stain’s debut, EP Blush, appeared in 1997, and in 2000, they signed with Warner's, releasing their major label debut, Parachutes and Gravity, in early 2001. In the interim, they embarked on endless touring, supporting international bands such as Fuel on their Australian tour in 2000 and performing at the now-defunct Homebake Festival.

Warner's were at the time investing loads of money, signing up many Brisbane-based bands in the aftermath of the popularity and success of Brisbane band Powderfinger, one of the late ’90s alt-rock success stories. The company hoped to capitalise on that, so Brisbane became the hottest musical spot in Australia, replicating a similar situation to when grunge happened in the early 1990s and all the record labels flocked to Seattle to sign every band there to capitalise on the success of Nirvana.

On the day of the interview, I was instructed to turn up at Warner Music HQ, which at the time was located on the northern end of busy King St in Melbourne. Upon arrival, I was escorted to a nearby pub to share an all-expenses-paid luncheon with Warner’s label publicist and Nicholson. Later, we returned to the label’s HQ, where the interview was conducted. A few short months later, though, the group had split, and Nicholson moved forward onto a successful solo career and in-demand producer, amassing numerous awards such as ARIA awards, Golden Guitars and Producer of the Year awards along the way.

This week’s global music charts

This week’s charts are dominated by Sabrina Carpenter, whose single Please Please Please is the No.1 selling single on the Australia ARIA Top 50, USA Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Top 100 charts.

Fun Fact

The Beatles’ song When I’m Sixty-Four appears on the group’s 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was one of the very first songs a young 14-year-old Paul McCartney ever wrote. When it came time for The Beatles to record it, though, McCartney’s voice had gotten deeper, so his vocal on the track was sped up to make him sound like a teenager.

Joe Matera is a local singer-songwriter, recording artist, guitarist and music journalist providing readers with all the latest music news.

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