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![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse.jpg)
That little bit of expectation
Scenestr has a short interview with Simon McBride on the occasion of the impending release of =1.
When you join a band like that, as you mentioned all the iconic players, there’s always that little bit of expectation from the fans I believe. They all want you to play like they want you to play. Some of them want you to play like Ritchie, some of them want you to play like Steve or Tommy or Joe.
I said to [Don Airey], ‘I don’t know what to play. I don’t know whether to play like Ritchie or play this or do this’, and Don says: ‘Just play. Be yourself. Don’t worry about anything that Steve did or anything that Ritchie did. That’s history, this is a new thing. Just be yourself and just play.’
Read more in Scenestr.
Photo: Stefan Brending, cc-by-sa-3.0 de
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I like the way Don thinks! Simon should be Simon and put his own flavor on the great music he’s playing.
June 6th, 2024 at 18:52I’d rather not just hear him copy what’s been done before he’s a great player and should add his own touch.
That said I’m hopeful for some of the new album to make it into set lists, I’m really liking what I’ve heard so far.
🙂
It’s a double-edged sword. Tommy Bolin didn’t give a Colorado marmot’s furry ass about sounding or playing like Blackmore and while some Mk II and III material suffered for that in Mk IV performances, I think his part-audacious, part-naive approach of being only his own man worked great on Come Taste The Band. From today’s viewpoint that is to me a more important contribution to the DP legacy than whether he got Ritchie’s triplets in Burn right live (he didn’t).
DP isn’t KISS. They don’t need a Tommy Thayer playing dumb and unlearning most of his 80ies EvH chops to reenact Ace Frehley’s (a technically challenged lead guitarist if there ever was one, but with a one-of-a-kind sound) solos night after night befor an audience wanting to believe it is 1975 all over again. That’s not how Purple works or ever worked.
Frankly, if Simon McBride went out of his way to sound like Blackmore today, aping his mannerisms on the fretboard, it would make me cringe/laugh. It would also be hugely regressive – Ritchie’s style as a rock guitarist stopped developing sometime in the late 70ies (he did develop as a renaissance folk/acoustic strummer from the 90ies onwards, but not as a rock guitarist), why the friggin hell should someone like Simon, born 1979, not incorporate what younger players than Blackmore such as EvH and Joe Satriani contributed to the evolving art of guitar playing in the 80ies and 90ies?
And there is no way copying Steve Morse anyway – nobody sounds like him, period, he doesn’t even have an Yngwie Malmsteen acolyte like Ritchie does.
Mark my words: We are likely to see everything from the Morse era disappear from the set over time. Mk IV didn’t play much from Mk III either (in essence just the respective title tracks from the two preceding Mk III albums).
And so the seasons change …
June 6th, 2024 at 22:02@1…
Well said, +1 here. He’s a great player 🙂 !
Peace !
June 7th, 2024 at 00:33Musicians leave and come to the band, but DP has its own model, it’s neither HM nor classic RnR, something central (Hard Rock) has its own model,and go,years ,years.The guitar as the most important instrument RnR has a worthy player,” talented player again in Deep Purple. As well as a fan football (British/European) would compare DP’s guitar with the number seven in Manchester United F C .George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo….or ….Ritchie (as the primordial 007… Best….. Geogre Best)…. Bolin, Satriani, Morse …successfully run your share Simon McBride
June 7th, 2024 at 06:12Yo,
ROTFLMAO !!! Leiber Uwe has done it again, & drawn me in to correct matters, or balance them back out to normal….
qt. 1. “Tommy Bolin didn’t give a Colorado marmot’s furry ass about sounding or playing like Blackmore”…
qt 2.”DP isn’t KISS. They don’t need a Tommy Thayer playing dumb and unlearning most of his 80ies EvH chops to reenact Ace Frehley’s (a technically challenged lead guitarist if there ever was one, but with a one-of-a-kind sound) solos night after night before an audience wanting to believe it is 1975 all over again”.
qt 3.”Frankly, if Simon McBride went out of his way to sound like Blackmore today, aping his mannerisms on the fretboard, it would make me cringe/laugh. It would also be hugely regressive – Ritchie’s style as a rock guitarist stopped developing sometime in the late 70ies (he did develop as a renaissance folk/acoustic strummer from the 90ies onwards, but not as a rock guitarist), why the friggin hell should someone like Simon, born 1979, not incorporate what younger players than Blackmore such as EvH and Joe Satriani contributed to the evolving art of guitar playing in the 80ies and 90ies”?
qt. 4.”And there is no way copying Steve Morse anyway – nobody sounds like him, period, he doesn’t even have an Yngwie Malmsteen acolyte like Ritchie does.
qt. 5.”Mark my words: We are likely to see everything from the Morse era disappear from the set over time. Mk IV didn’t play much from Mk III either (in essence just the respective title tracks from the two preceding Mk III albums).
***Phew…..
R1. Leiber Uwe, no one has mentioned the great Tommy Bolin, or the horrid Mr.Blackmore as yet, so there’s nothing to get upset about…
R2. Ace Frehley is a great guitarist, & comes up with dynamic, iconic killer riffs, that rival even Tony Iommi…But what’s all this got to do with the thread ??? No-ones mentioned anything about what they want out-of Simon, or his role…
R3. DP is well past RB, TB, JS…It would be difficult to move-on from Steve Morse, but move they must if they want to keep playing, & so they did…And Simon is kick-ass in his own right, which he is displaying to everyone / most people. No complaints in this thread as yet…
R4. Very true except for the Yngwie comment…Yngwie does his own thing his own way, & would blow RB off-the-stage effortlessly. There is no comparison between the two…( Yngwie should have kept his mouth shut about listening to Fireball when he was a kid ).
R5, Time will tell…Simon is more than capable of playing Steve’s era music, so I guess that’s up to the boys to decide. Steve’s era music is better than what preceded it on almost every level. He was like having Frank Zappa playing in the band (for want of a better analogy)…
Peace !
June 7th, 2024 at 09:38It’s not an entirely fair comparison, but if you time-travelled Simon back into early 70ies London with his present chops, people from the trade like Ritchie B, Eric C, Jimi H, Rory G, Jimmy P, Jeff B, Robin T and Alvin L would all collectively fall to their knees and praise the abilities of the new guitarslinger in town.
It’s called development.
June 7th, 2024 at 10:18Well said Ivica! They all bring something to the table.
June 7th, 2024 at 10:29Alas!, lieber Herr Gregster, let me explain to you my (as usual: compelling) train of thought: Don says to Simon: “Don’t copy anyone,just be yourself.” And I agree, adding that being slavishly faithful to your predecessors’ style can work both ways and citing Tommy Bolin as an example of NOT doing that. (And man did he receive flak for his stance back in the day, not just from Blackmore devotees, but also – eventually – from the band which were possibly starting to feel insecure about their once made decision to take him on as a replacement.)
Ace Frehley is a stylist (and I like him for what he brought to early Kiss), BUT he is not technically a good guitarist. I’ve seen the man live from about three yards distance at a solo gig (he was sober). He plays even more bum notes than Slash and that is saying something. His rhythm guitar approach is as basic as Joan Jett’s. There is no fluidity in his playing, the guy is a constant musical st-st-stammer/st-st-stutter. 🙃 But he is friggin ACE FREHLEY and that makes him loveable.
Imagine him in a band with top notch guitar playing like Wishbone Ash, he’d have a hard time getting the job of the guitar tech.
I’m no Kiss hater at all, have all their albums and saw them three times live (plus Ace once, he was good fun if you weren’t applying guitar clinic standards), Destroyer (produced by Bob Ezrin!) is one of my desert island albums and Dressed To Kill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Emy0MXhfgE
is great too (hell, I even think The Elder has its moments), but seriously: Both Vinnie Vincent (whatever his personal issues …) and the hugely underrated Bruce Kulick could play circles around Space Ace. So can Tommy Thayer (who, lest we forget, had to reteach Ace his parts from the old Kiss records, because Ace was out of it once again, or even played for him unseen behind the stage at live gigs), but was paid while Kiss were still a touring machine to mimic Ace’s style and not be himself.
If you want to know what Tommy Thayer’s real hair color is and how he really plays, watch out for the blond guy with the Les Paul here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATjErr7FNCs
As hair metal goes, Black ‘n Blue were actually better than most.
June 7th, 2024 at 13:41Bonjour cela ne changera rien au fait que je n’acheterai p
June 7th, 2024 at 18:47LOL…
Have you been hangin’-out with GH Leiber Uwe ???…
Time Machines & the likes…
Still, there’s no-doubt that at the time, the master Tommy Bolin would have copped-the-worst of the RB red-neck fandom abuse…But JS would have made them weep, & no doubt Steve made them cry…
Simon is doing well it seems…Apart from the expected critique & comparisons to other guitarists past from live-show-excerpts over the last few years, no-one but yourself Uwe has brought anything to the table about the new record in that regard, at least in this thread via imaginary time-machine…
Tommy Thayer is quite a tasteful player for sure, as your link proves. He earns-his-keep, & keeps his mouth shut. Perhaps the only thing I don’t like about his assault with KISS, is that his vibrato is over-cooked, though very good…It’s an Ace Frehley stylistic tell-tale, & he tends to push-it too-far, almost into the next note, even on studio recordings like “Monster”…
But Simon’s breaking new-ground here with DP, better to celebrate his contributions than to compare with lesser folks like RB from decades ago. Time has moved-on, & Simon is wearing the new guitar crown within DP, & it’s hard-earned for sure, especially following SM.
Peace !
June 7th, 2024 at 23:24@5
One thing for certain, Yngwie couldn’t blow Ritchie off the stage if he came armed with a California Jam fully loaded Marshall stack. Yngwie is a one trick pony. Admittedly he is very good at the one trick but it’s all he has. Last tour he was so unprofessional and lax it was embarrassing.
“Steve’s era music is better than what preceded it on almost every level”
Said no one with any musical taste. Let’s face it, you think Ace Frehley has talent.
Steve is undoubtedly one of the most technically proficient guitar players on the planet. Technique can be very mechanical and lack feel. Give me a Ritchie, an Uli, A Michael Schenker over any of these technique focussed guitarists. Ritchie and a number of others were the trailblazers for all these modern wizards. Without them there is no Mor(s)e
June 8th, 2024 at 08:49I have an idea the band should be called Roundabout …..
June 8th, 2024 at 10:48As for me, the most distinctive feature of Simon from previous guitarists is that he is too laconic – nothing superfluous. On the one hand, this is clear and close to me, but on the other, I am always missing something.
June 8th, 2024 at 12:29Yo,
@11…Your comments are appreciated ! Remember my reply was for or dear Uwe & his time-machine screen-play…
However…
One could say that both RB & Yngwie are 1-trick-ponnies, but no one has Yngwie’s air-kick, so stand back…
Ace Frehley has countless millions in the bank from his riffs & tunes, how about you ???
Before RB’s time ( even during ), probably the most respected player on the planet was Wes Mongomery. Check him out yo ! And if by chance you ever get to listen to Django Reinhardt, you’ll no-doubt here lots of the “modern-day” guitar-gods within his awesome playing…And Django did it with only 2 x fingers…
The Scorpions remain a great band that has had its share of competent players, Matthius Jabbs included. People forget about poor Rudolf Schenker however.
Peace !
June 9th, 2024 at 01:41“Ace Frehley has countless millions in the bank from his riffs & tunes, how about you ???”
Ah, the profoundest of all profound questions! Let me think … perhaps about as much as Ace has made as a trial lawyer and litigation brief writer?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but of all the Kiss hits he didn’t write a single one. Even Cold Gin is “just” a live classic. New York Groove a Russ Ballard cover which teenybopper band Hello did better.
https://youtu.be/ZtzdigGGZys
But that wasn’t my point, I don’t have issues with his songwriting. I just find his lead guitar playing stylistically very limited. Kinda like Angus Young’s, but Angus is more fluid and has better timing.
But never mind: For all his limitations, Ace is an original. I wish him well.
June 9th, 2024 at 23:15@5
Ace has come up with some great riffs but his output doesn’t come close to Iommi’s. Yes, him and the rest of Kiss have made a lot of money but that’s not really a marker of a good musician or songwriter, otherwise one might judge One Direction, Spice Girls or Bieber to be superior. If we follow that logic then Blackmore is more successful and therefore superior than Steve Morse.
You are undoubtedly in the minority when it comes to your views on Purple’s halcyon days with Blackmore versus Morse’s era. When it comes to an art form such as music it’s more accurate to say we favour artists, bands and their various (and in Purple’s case, numerous) incarnations. We simply have preferences and can not lay claim to one being superior to another, it’s merely based on opinion, it’s impossible to be perfectly objective.
In his day Ritchie was more technical than the majority of his rock guitarist peers. His soloing was fluid, utilising alternate picking and was the first rock guitarist I saw sweep picking. Obviously, things move forward and guitarists focused more on technique, which is impressive, but some sacrificed songwriting for showcasing their technique. Malmsteen was one such musician, he had a dazzling array of chops, technique and speed (although that doesn’t necessarily make him a versatile player) but hasn’t written many truly great songs. Morse is a wonderful guitarist and wrote some great instrumental music but needed a band like Purple to inspire, develop and bring out his songwriting abilities, and ‘Purpendicular’ is definitely one of the band’s best.
I’ve very much enjoyed Simon McBride’s playing live (as I have his solo material), and I prefer his sound over Steve’s (he uses less gain than Morse). The two new tracks by Purple definitely bode well for the new album, and I’m excited at the prospect of hearing it for the first time.
June 10th, 2024 at 15:07RB is another good aunt like DeeperPurps, he wrapped that up well. 😘
This “x is better than y” is all kind of pointless too, there hasn’t been a bad musician in DP’s ranks ever, not in 56 years. They have had and held consistently high standards. Certain incarnations might not be to your taste, but it was never a question of ability. And each banjo player with Purple, whether Ritchie, Tommy, Joe, Steve or Simon had a distinctive style and did something extremely well the others couldn’t. Same goes for the other instrumentalists and singers.
June 10th, 2024 at 18:02Be yourself Simon, you are great!
June 10th, 2024 at 19:19@14…
Yes Leiber Uwe, you are correct…Ace Frehley suffers in very-much the same way as Mr.Blackmore, in that all his best work was stolen from other people…
qt.”But that wasn’t my point, I don’t have issues with his songwriting. I just find his lead guitar playing stylistically very limited. Kinda like Angus Young’s, but Angus is more fluid and has better timing.
But never mind: For all his limitations, Ace is an original. I wish him well”.
***And I think the same of RB as you’ve said above. And you may be onto something regarding Angus Young…
I would suggest that Ace Frehley is likely the more successful artist for sure, as that’s why KISS employ people to dress like him, play like him, & move like him on stage…They tried through the 19080’s & 90’s to do otherwise with some success, but alas, the fans won, & he was invited back, all-be-it for a short while…
His solo album from 1978 speaks volumes about his popularity to this day, as it has out-sold the others by quite an impressive margin.-(At least the last time I checked )…
And had KISS listened to his suggestion to stay a heavy rock band in 1979-80, history would likely be a different one for KISS, & the “Elder” never released, or at least reworked.
At least both bands continued on regardless, & for the most part, delivered pretty-good music without their original solo guitarists.
One thing remains for sure, & that’s RB is the bigger ass-hole, hands-down.
@16…I’m blending my responses like Uwe does with regards to anything Glenn Hughes, but with far less bullshyte, so he snaps-out-of dreamland lol !…Cruel to be kind…But please read through any GH thread to see-what-I-mean lol…And for further edification, check this out…It’s Uwe’s favourite sing ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHEntpfq1yU
Peace !
June 11th, 2024 at 08:23Actually, lieber Gregster, my favorite Glenn Hughes track is this here:
https://youtu.be/FANya8mcue4
As for Ritchie acting like a bigger asshole than Ace, I find Ace’s stunt of showing up drunk and dressed in an SS-uniform at the hotel room of a Jewish bandmate whose mother was a child inmate survivor of Auschwitz on a Japan tour of Kiss pretty hard to beat. It must have taken an inordinate amount of self-restraint for Gene alias Chaim to not punch Frehley in the face then and there for this display of “tasteful humor”, a man whose life he had saved twice before.
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/ace-frehley-says-gene-simmons-saved-him-from-drowning-twice/
PS: You say Ace’s work was stolen from him – I assume you can only mean KISS itself as the purloining perpetrator because I’m not aware of any guitarist (except Tommy Thayer because it was in his contract) who patterned himself after Ace, Carr to give examples? And last I heard, Ace sold the rights to his make-up and image to the KISS organisation after his last dismissal. That’s not quite “stealing”.
June 11th, 2024 at 14:02Yo,
@20…Herr Uwe, I was agreeing with the posted comment that Ace stole / used other peoples material with great success, aka, just like RB…( And it appears to be the same fellow Russ Ballard if the reports are correct )…You’ve miss-read the post my friend.
And since we’re now engaged in a game of tennis per-se, I ask this…
* Do you not find destroying a bandmates door in the middle-of-the-night with an axe, to borrow a necklace with a Cross on it for a seance unoffensive ?…
I’d say that both ass-holes are on par here…In fact, RB probably outweighs Ace’s antics since Roger was happily asleep before being violently assaulted…Hence, RB remains a much larger asshole…
Peace !
June 12th, 2024 at 00:55You’re right, I read your “stolen from” as “stolen by”, my bad.
Ironically, I never thought Ace that derivative, within the confines of his limitations as a guitarist he was very much his own man. To my ears he didn’t even sound really American in his playing, I could have envisaged him with some Brit glam rock or art rock outfit with his non-flowing stops & starts, stammering style. He could have for sure never played in a band like Aerosmith, he was too stiff in his playing for that, quite unusual for a Yank. It takes real effort to make a Les Paul not sing when you solo on it, but Ace did it every time. So limitations or not, there is something special/weird/original in his playing and sense of timing.
Re assholes: Blackmore’s semi-occult and mock-paranormal practical jokes were juvenile and sometimes went overboard, but there is a huge difference in my mind between scaring the wits out of someone for fun/Schadenfreude and what Ace did. I assume in his favor that no political sympathies of his were attached to that uniform and that he was just trying to be gross with a piece of morbid Nazi chic, but the at best callous, at worst mean nerve to do that in a band where two guys have a family history of Nazi persecution (Paul Stanley’s mother and her family were from Berlin and had the infinite luck/good wits and resources to be able to flee the mounting persecution there in the mid to late thirties of the last century before even that forced option became impossible) is – even with Ace’s alcoholic intake – unsettling. Hopefully he apologized at some point, but both Gene and Paul didn’t think it was funny at the time nor in hindsight.
June 12th, 2024 at 13:14