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With a flying V and long hair

In a new interview to the Ultimate Classic Rock, Ritchie Blackmore confirms the story that in 1970 Christopher Cross has played a gig with Deep Purple in his place. This episode became a minor controversy in the Purple lore as over the years Cross himself claimed it, with further corroboration by Eric Johnson, who opened […]

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To the four corners of the earth

Ian Gillan spoke to the Leona Graham Podcast. This sounds like it was done some time in 2025, but posted only now, in May 2026. They talked about Ian’s collaboration with Urock, his age of discovery, the hardest song he had to sing, and other things.

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Blow you out of your socks

More Tony Carey! This time he talks to the Classic Album Review poscast. These interviews are apparently being done on the occasion of his Planet P Project albums being reissued on vinyl by (who else!) Edel, but a good half of the conversation revolved around his stint with Rainbow.

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Here’s a song, tells the story…

During a May 2, 2026, 2. Budesliga football match between Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Kaiserslautern fans started a chant that suspiciously sounds like The Riff. The game is posted to youtube, but we’re told that it is not available in many countries, so here’s an audio snippet

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A double dose of Hammersmith havoc

The online incarnation of the Classic Rock magazine has a short feature on Whitesnake’s classic live album Live… In The Heart Of The City. It is one of the greatest live albums of all time, a heavyweight double to rank up there alongside classics such as Thin Lizzy’s Live And Dangerous, Deep Purple’s Made In […]

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The Gillan Story

Another Martin Popoff’s book — Unchain Your Brain! The Gillan Story — is coming out at the end of August via Wymer Publishing in the UK. It is dedicated exclusively to Gillan the band. Between 1978 and 1982 Ian Gillan didn’t exactly reinvent himself, like many artists do, in fact the opposite—he returned to his […]

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Taking a breather

In anticipation for the one-off Dead Daisies/Glenn Hughes reunion, Glenn and Doug Aldrich were interviewed by the MetalKaoz podcast. Ahead of their one-night-only return to the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL, Glenn Hughes and Doug Aldrich join METAL KAOZ to reflect on Rock music, creativity, and the spirit that still drives them decades later. […]

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Billy couldn’t read or write

The first single from the upcoming new album Splat! is supposed to be landing on May 12, 2026, at 6:00pm BST, and little birdie tells us that it may or may not be Arrogant Boy.

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Squarely cylindrical

Along with the squarely analog, old school reel-to-reel tape deck and record player, Revox is also releasing a Deep Purple Splat! branded digital speaker.

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And a cardboard box for the tips

With the new album now announced, let the publicity blitz marathon begin. Ian Gillan has already made a couple of UK radio appearances.

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Splat!

Simon was slightly off with the timeframe of the new album release — the date is set for July 3, and the album is called Splat!. It will arrive in several formats, and the tour starting with North America in August will re-dress itself as the Splat! World Tour.

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Universe sitting on his shoulder

Tony Carey (once a regular on our site) talks to a fella called Cassius Morris. They spoke about Mandoki Soulmates, how the show business has changed since the 70s, “introverted extravert” Ritchie Blackmore, Dennis Rodman, cost of that giant rainbow across the stage, starting a retirement home for ex-Rainbow musicians, and many other things. Enjoy!

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One of rock’s great unfinished stories

Ultimate Guitar publishes an article by Greg Prato on the “Tommy Bolin dilemma”: When Tommy Bolin stepped into the James Gang, he was replacing Domenic Troiano and, previously, Joe Walsh. When he later joined Deep Purple, he was replacing Ritchie Blackmore. Two wildly different guitarists, two established legacies, and Bolin was expected to fill both […]

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It smells like rock ‘n’ roll

Calgary Herald has a piece on the Rolling Stones Mobile truck, now residing at the Canadian National Music Centre. The Centre is launching a series of events called Liner Notes dedicated to the history of the legendary mobile studio and selected classic albums recorded with its help: It really is hallowed ground. It’s weird to […]

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Doesn’t get more legendary than that

Roppongi Rocks has a short review of the Deep Purple gig in Tokyo Budokan, on April 11, 2026: They opened the Budokan show in style with “Highway Star”. Deep Purple back on stage at Budokan! This is what it is all about. Classics such as “Lazy”, “Space Truckin’” and “Smoke on the Water” were obvious […]

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Legends no more

The Rock Legends package tour featuring Joe Lynn Turner, among other people, and scheduled for a string of dates in November 2026 in Germany and Austria, has been cancelled: Unfortunately, the complete tour of “Rock Legends” has to be cancelled without replacement despite the 2025 postponement. Tickets already purchased can be refunded at the respective […]

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Just up the road from Whisky

In May 2025 Bob Daisley appeared on The Jersey Guys Podcast. It is a very long conversation, so a lot of dirt had a chance to be overturned, including him delving into his stint with Rainbow in a bit more detail than usual. Warning: turn the volume down before hitting play — the podcast intro […]

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Freight train and a bird on a wire

About a year ago Joe Bonamassa has posted an almost two hours long video of Black Country Communion live. In the spirit of better late than never, here it is.

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Running in and out

The desk of useless facts in our trainspotting department reports that at some point in time the stretch of the central street in Montreux called Grand Rue was renamed Avenue Claude-Nobs. Such that the building known as Le Petit Palais, that was the venue of the first Machine Head session — y’know, the one that […]

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On the cheap

Live Nation Canada will be holding a ticket sale during the week of April 29 – May 5. Tickets to selected venues and shows will be offered for $30 (that includes fess, but taxes are extra), and according to Toronto Sun, Deep Purple are among the artists that will be offered during the promo week. […]

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