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Beam us up, Scotty

The latest album from William Shatner has been announced today, and it is promised to be “a heavy metal extravaganza powered a veritable army of metal stars – each one personally selected and hand-picked by Shatner”. Said stars include Ritchie Blackmore, Zakk Wylde, Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream), Wayne Kramer (MC5), and Henry Rollins (Black Flag, […]

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A yodel for 17 strings and 2 sticks

Check out Steve Morse, John Petrucci, Dave LaRue, and Mike Portnoy jamming on a cover of Focus classic Hocus Pocus. This was recorded during the last John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe event, that took place in Las Vegas on August 7-10, 2025.

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A very personal piece

Steve Morse, his band, and his son Kevin have recorded a composition Taken By An Angel, dedicated to his late wife Janine. After losing my wife and Kevin losing his stepmother, this is the piece we put together as a tribute. The part at the end was actually something I had written as a chapter […]

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Chop it down with the edge of his hand

Steve Morse made a guest appearance on the single by a band called Dead Groove. They recorded a cover of a Jimi Hendrix classic Voodoo Child (Slight Return). LA’s heavy blues powerhouse return with a stunning cover of Hendrix’s classic for this highly collectible 7″ vinyl! Features guest appearances from Deep Purple/Dixie Dregs guitar legend […]

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Insecurities and more insecurities

Guitar Player has an article on Ritchie Blackmore based on an interview he gave to the paper version of the magazine circa 1996. That relentless, almost surgical pursuit of perfection was felt far beyond his own ranks; it reverberated through the generation of electric guitar players raised on his records. As Billy Corgan of the […]

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Show must go on

Despite the cancellation of the pretty much all Glenn Hughes tour dates for this year, his appearance at the Sound & Vision Awards in Palm Springs, California, on March 2, 2026, is apparently proceeding ahead. Glenn has posted on his Twitter: Music changes lives – especially for kids 🎵 Join me March 2, 2026 at […]

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The Köln Concert

For Record Store Day in the UK, there will be an exclusive 3 color vinyl release of the Rainbow concert in Köln/Cologne 25 september 1976. Here is the promo blurb from the Record Store Day UK site: First time ever vinyl release for this incredible live concert from Rainbow’s debut world tour and documenting one […]

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Failed the jazz audition

PROG magazine has an interview with Steve Morse, highlighting the earliest years of his illustrious career. But the music programme at Miami wasn’t ideal. I was very interested in classical guitar. I wasn’t that interested in the jazz department, because I was playing Jimmy Page songs and weird, teenage angsty music. So I didn’t know […]

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For one night only

The much rumoured Deep Purple show at the Royal Albert Hall has finally materialized. It is scheduled for November 25, 2026. The tickets go on sale this Friday, February 6 at 10 a.m., with registration for presale already open via the same link. Promo blurb reads: On November 25th 2026, Deep Purple will return to […]

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The end of humanity, but in an optimistic way

Ian Gillan was a guest on the Songwriting For Songwriters podcast, talking about, naturally, his songwriting process, both within the band and as a solo artist. He also mentioned that the new Deep Purple album is due out some time in June. Well, it’s very interesting on this one. I can’t give you too much […]

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The rubble moved

In this collection of bite-sized memoirs, Ritchie Blackmore talks about the earliest days of Deep Purple: meeting Derek Lawrence, signing an unfavourable contract, covering Hush, and 16 telegrams from Chris Curtis.

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Live from eagle’s nest

A couple of Steve Morse interviews from the recently concluded NAMM 2026. Steve talks about his relationship with Ernie Ball and his latest album Triangulation

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Purpendicular at 30

Purpendicular holds a special place in our hearts, as its release and events leading to it coincided with the formation of the online community that had founded this website and still runs it to this day. It is also one of the seminal albums in the history of the band — alongside with In Rock, […]

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The Paul and Steve Show at NAMM 2026

The yearly Namm Show in Anaheim, CA ends today. As usual, the show is a place where both professional musicians and regular folks roam around the show floor looking for the latest in musical tools. This always generates interesting YouTube videos from demos and impromptu small concerts in exbitor booths. Paul Gilbert and Steve Morse […]

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PTSD from sleeping in a bunk

Steve Morse was interviewed by the Six String Alliance. At over an hour and twenty minutes long, in-depth does not even begin to describe it. Hint: push it full screen to see individual chapters. In this in-depth interview, legendary guitarist Steve Morse reflects on his personal path, artistic growth, and the drive that keeps him […]

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Artwoods: Live at Klooks Kleek

From the letters to our better-late-then-never desk, we are glad to present you an actually pretty decent quality recording of the two early Artwoods performances from 1964, featuring Jon Lord. It apparently came out a few years ago: in 2016 on vinyl, and in 2023 on CD and digital. The latter are available via Amazon, […]

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The horse that wasn’t iron

Back in 2024, an outfit called Defenders of the Faith published an interview with Nick Simper on the occasion of the two Warhorse studio albums being reissued. That interview completely slipped under our radar, until now. Warhorse’s self titled debut was significantly heavier than anything you had done with Deep Purple. In the same breath, […]

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Between the hard rock and a beautiful place

This is equally both educational and heartwarming. In November 2024 Ian Gillan invited a group of aspiring young musicians from his home town of Lyme Regis on the Southern coast of England to the Deep Purple gig in Birmingham. He gave them the full tour of the backstage, they got to meet the band and […]

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An interview in eight movements

Ovais Naqvi, the author of the new Jon Lord book Before We Forget – A Work in Eight Movements, was interviewed for the Booked On Rock podcast. The conversation is over an hour long, so pour yourself your favourite beverage, kick back, and enjoy.

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Symmetry and togetherness

Here are a couple of from-the-vaults interviews of moderate interest, posted by the Blackmore’s official YT channel. Glenn Hughes, Chad Smith, and Luis Maldonado being interviewed some time circa the Re-Machined tribute album sessions. That album came out in 2012.

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