![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/mcbride4.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/morse2.jpg)
Fixing the flatbed dump
In anticipation of the June 11 gig in Atlantic City, NJ.com has an interview with Steve Morse:
Steve Morse’s idea of a week off from touring as part of the rock band Deep Purple?
Putting in 18-hour days at his Florida hay farm.
“I am arranging to do a little cutting” of the hay, Morse offered. “I have to fix the flatbed dump” truck and there are assorted parts to order for some of the farm machinery.
“I go to work (with Deep Purple) to relax.”
Regarding (lack of) a new album:
“We are sort of set up for it,” Morse said of a new recording, one he offered would “keep to the band’s roots” of blues-influenced heavy rock. But no recording dates have been set up.
“A (new) recording for a band like Deep Purple is like charity,” Morse suggested. “There is no compelling business reason.”
Factor in the cost of a new album and the marketing costs with the return and “it is a wash,” he said.
What about slipping in a new song here and there on tour?
“We used to do that. You Tube has derailed that concept. The first time you do a new song, it’s immediately pushed out on You Tube.”
Read more at NJ.com.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
SO it really is ALL about the money. Shame
June 4th, 2011 at 15:08So….they won’t do new songs live now because they will end up on youtube? How terrible!! Heaven forbid anyone gets to hear a new Deep Purple song.
June 4th, 2011 at 16:25There are plenty of bands who understand that getting songs out on the internet can serve to build a buzz, can create publicity, can create desire to see the band live and to buy its CDs.
Having new songs performed live then appear on Youtube is not a band thing at all. It helped Wilco to sell their last album rather nicely.
June 4th, 2011 at 18:00Btw, the interview took some time to absorb.
Guess I still felt surprised by the content.
Is it me or does it sound so bad?
I mean, it seems that he is not very motivated to do an album.
And the words around it are , uhhhhhhhhhh, depressing?
Must say I am a bit confused by now.
First I thought I read Paicey and Gillan were both in favour of an going back to the roots approach for the new album.
Then Roger was the one that was fired up to do it and Gillan demotivated.
Morse and Airey ought to be both motivated/hungry.
In this interview Steve does not sound hungry, but more reasoning like an opportunist.
What else is new?
June 4th, 2011 at 18:30Okay, Steve, so it’s all fault of business, internet, youtube, money problems etc. ? They act like some kind of prima donnas?!
June 4th, 2011 at 18:46Another less than stellar interview by the Purple people. Great band, great music, great performers, great linage – plus tons of charisma on stage. They just have a hard time giving interviews and marketing this machine. If I hear Gillan one more time say the audience are all 18 year olds and Glover say gain everything is dangerous and spontaneous on stage, I’m going to………ok….keep goinmg to their shows and buying their stuff regardless. Love these guys! BUT LEARN HOW TO GIVE AN INTERVIEW!!
June 4th, 2011 at 19:28This new cd was supposed to be their SGT PEPPERS? Thanks for getting our hopes up high I guess Rapture will end up being their Abbey Road
June 4th, 2011 at 22:45They are fresh for changes !
They are now i a dead end with ideas and with their appearance.
I would likely to see an changer (in line up, in setlist, and in attitude)
When they put Hard Lovin’ Man in the setlist it was an interesting improvement but it can’t go forever.
Honestly they are acting now as a spoiled brats. It looks like they don’t know what they want anymore.
A serious strategy and a fresh harmony is very needed here….
I’m afraid this will fall apart very soon if they continue with this nonsens
June 5th, 2011 at 00:33Blackmore left Purple 18 years ago, claiming they were stagnat and unmotivated. In that amount of time Purple manages to release 4 studio albums. Blackmore`s night releases an album every two years or so, and Ritchie seems happy, comtent,and enjoying himself. Say what you will about his current music, I think time proves Blackmore made the right choice.
June 5th, 2011 at 01:06Charity !!! And us who really liked that Steve Morse was part of “our” band. Real fans all over the world cannot just go to a DP concert willy nilly, We depend on recordings to hear “OUR” band. So Mr. Morse, charity or not, get on with it, and a double album would be in order @ Remember, we are the DP army aLL over the world. Award us properly
June 5th, 2011 at 07:50Well YouTube is good for one thing…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpWh_ynnips
Spot the weakest link…..
June 5th, 2011 at 08:16Black Country released a bunch of stuff on Youtube before the release of BCC 1. and that went Billboard #49. I love you Steve, but your comments don’t add up? Surely an off the cuff remark?
June 5th, 2011 at 09:38The do seem confused. Youtube works both ways, i’ve always figured it promotes more than damages sales. How does shaky footage of a new song lower sales? Maybe if the song isn’t very good? Youtube may be considered negative to some but bottom line it’s free publicity…world wide!! Viewing figures for DP videos on Youtube suggest they need to rethink their attitde, highest rated is Highway Star(’72) 8.3million views. Plenty more songs with over a million hits, so the people who watch, i shall assume, like, enjoy and are potential buyers of any new album. The management should wake up. If anything, playing the same set list year on year is surely doing more harm in the longterm. Why no live album to promote and capitalise on all these live tours?
June 5th, 2011 at 15:33I,m asking myself these days: Are Deep Purple an unsigned band? Don’t they have a record deal with an obligation to be recording and releasing albums within a certain timeframe anymore? And I thought record companies stood for promotion and advertising…
Regarding the current tour as opposed to the cost of promoting a new album out of their own pockets – how much does it not cost to bring a 40 piece orchestra around the world…spend that money promoting a new album instead. I don’t need an orchestra tour – nor an unplugged tour next time they want something new intead of being creative.
No album by 2012 and I’ll start losing interest…and I’ve been a fan for over 35 years. If they don’t put out a new record by then, they might as well get a permanent gig in Las Vegas….So come on. If they can afford solo albums one after the other then I can’t take their arguments about financing a new album seriosly.
June 5th, 2011 at 18:05Hartford here I come… Long live the Morse era!!!
June 5th, 2011 at 19:04I’m saying and saying that this line-up is only harvesting old times money… I saw that two years ago on their faces, being in first row in Dubai… Nothing, 70% of Mk2, playing like pro players in pub for money, and that’s it, winning combination, because besides me 13-14 years old kid jumping and shaking his head with long black hair, kicking me in eye 🙂 Everyone who’s young and started listening to DP wants to hear Highway Star, Black Night, Smoke… OK, there’s still market for it.
June 5th, 2011 at 20:40I was more excited watching Blackmore’s Night earlier that year – when Ritchie took Strat it all came together.
If anything, Ritchie isn’t stingy with his music and his talent; his discography is like Mozzart’s. Every two years set of 7-8 new songs varies between early hard rock, progressive, AOR, neo-classical, folk-pop-rock, neo-medieval, even funk he hated :-), etc.
Hi Doug
June 5th, 2011 at 21:25I couldn´t say it better.Ritchie has achived what he wanted.Record,and play when HE wants to,and not when management is telling him.Ok..his music is highly arguable,but the man is doing what HE wants.And Deep Purple´s “best before” date has expired for long time ago.There´s only one direction to go:retirement.
My main criticism regarding statements as to the effect of ‘Albums don’t sell , so what’s the use’ attitude regarding Purple, is that it hasn’t slowed any of the Purple members down from recording their own albums and contributing to other folks albums. Purple is the Meat and Potatoes for these guys. All of them. None of their solo stuff sells either. They are known more for their work in Purple than their individual works. They are touring like crazy in Purple. The fans are buying their tickets. The fans want and have wanted a New Album. The fans are being slighted. There is no reason for a 6 year black hole.
They still obviously have the knack for creativity outside the Purple realm. That is fine for them, but they are truly letting the Fan down and it seems they don’t even care. I guess that explains the Iommi/Gillan ‘Charity’ recording….’WhoCares’.
Cheers
June 5th, 2011 at 22:39Deep Purple has achieved what few bands have: The ability to more or less do what they want, when they want to do it. Their skill makes rehearsal unnecessary, and their performances are relatively effortless. No one is holding a piece of paper over their head which forces them to produce an album every nine months–whether they like it and are in the mood for it–or not. Instead, they can just play, and play, and play. Kudos to Deep Purple for reaching this plateau.
This success–while creating an atmosphere in which these guys are having perhaps the greatest time of their performing lives–does have the drawback of making them overly comfortable. They continually tour because they can. With no other obligations, they can do what they wish: solo albums, orchestral performances, charity work, musical collaborations–whatever.
This comfort comes at a cost.
Roger got it right when he said that Purple is an album band. Continually playing music from three and four decades ago with no new product to promote makes Purple a dinosaur band at best and a tribute band at worst, especially considering the line-up is considerably different than when those songs were composed. A contemporary recording lends legitimacy to the current band, allows the “newer” members a chance to leave their mark, and keeps the band relevant in the current scheme of rock music. This new album also would draw attention and interest from new fans and old. The last album is going on six years old…and will be closer to seven by the time a new one is released. In the minds of some, this makes the band “inactive”.
Deep Purple can do what they want and they earned the right to do it their way. However, from a fan’s viewpoint–and a historical one–it would be sad for this all to end, in Roger’s words, in “more of a damp squib than a fireball.” Recall that talk of a new album began in earnest in 2010–and the album that was supposed to be released “sometime in 2011” now has been pushed the 2012. Time IS a factor.
One word needs to be said about YouTube. The argument that someone will video a new song as soon as it is performed is a good thing as it creates excitement and a reason for those fans who otherwise are losing interest in the band to attend a concert–and in a few months time, a rough sketch of an album is complete. I appreciate Steve’s philosophy that a live performance is a moment in time that must be experienced and not recorded. However, I subscribe to Roger’s philosophy that a studio recording is a record of a band’s “moment in time”.
The solution to the “shaky video” issue is an obvious one: Hire a videographer and release your own high-quality video to compete with the homemade versions. Glenn Hughes is the best among the Purple family at exploiting the benefits of modern media, and the results he has reaped are obvious.
Meanwhile…good luck to Deep Purple in whatever it is they have earned the right to do–whether it be to continue touring or to make a recorded musical statement. I hope it is the latter, even if I have no right to demand it.
I’m just sayin’.
June 6th, 2011 at 03:20It doesn’t make sense to say a Purple CD wouldn’t sell,yet they all are making solo CD’s that undoubtedly will sell less.It seems the Purple is just a cash cow now,trotting out the basic same set list year after year.Kinda hard to get fired up for a gig when it’s the same old,same old.Glenn and BCC are going to be here in another week with 2 discs under their belt.Tickets aren’t flying off the shelves, but they seem to trying to BUILD an audience the hard way,with hard work.Youtube is a deal maker/breaker for me.If I hear it/see it,like it,I buy it.It’s what we used to use radio for,and MTV later.And the cost is…..nothing.I’m not sure if they’re willfully obtuse or just don’t care,but I lean toward the latter.They have the Purple franchise and seem clueless as how to use it.
June 6th, 2011 at 04:33Well. if they really are so commercially orientated that they cannot get the thought that the fans are whet drives their imcome !!! Sadly after sharing stage in 1968 with Paicy and the then members, im finally done. What a disapointment this is.
June 6th, 2011 at 12:59Doesn’t DP tour almost sixty percent or more a year? Maybe they have families they want to see also. Roger just had another maybe, Steve still has kids at home and so on. I would love to hear another album too but don’t you think they would turn out a better album being rested and after being with their families.
June 6th, 2011 at 15:59I do not think its all about the money….but do they not deserve to make a living just as we all do. I know they are not payed while they are recording so they depend on royalties from the album. If one person buys the album and then puts it on youtube where everybody then downloads its, where do they make their living.
Oh well just a few thoughts, I know some of you well disagree and thats ok, I just thought I would voice another opinion.
Glover gave an even worse interview in Boston. They are pissed at the US audience. So instead of being upbeat they complain. Glover, yet again, dissed the tour saying he did not know how it was going to sound. Geez….at about $100 a ticket he needs to be more optimistic. Reports are they had good crowds…albeit older…in Canada. The US shows will probably have 40% empty seats. Im five roows back in NJ and two tickets was $235. Hey Bruce Payne…get these guys on Eddie trunk, in Guitar Center…on the radio giving interviews. They should look at what they do….not the audience. Talk interesting stuff…like how great the set list is, we have some new songs, hey we banged Linda Lovelace in the 70s! Steven Tyler dishes on his band in a book, admits to gay sex that he did not like ( or was that Bill Clinton) and Keith Richards snorts his old man’s ashes and what do the Purple people do? Oh yeah…..everything spontaneous crap, everyone is 18 in our audience crap, i threw a flipping wardrobe out my window crap, Ritchie got heptititus while roomed with him crap. When was the last time these guys said anything interesting that my great grand father could not come up with.
June 6th, 2011 at 18:21Some of you cats are pretty harsh trying to dictate what you want from your rock icons – hey, that’s all good and fine – guess what – you’re not. If you don’t like what they’re serving then belly up somewhere else!
June 6th, 2011 at 18:52@ 19, T:
I agree. Well written.
After reading the different entries I thought that everything important a fan could say about the current situation has been said already. I’ll stop to argue about this and wait till some positive news appear. It’s easy for a group of people to built up a strong negativity and this is far more depressing than the “news” itself. No offence to anyone but this is what I feel. Anyhow, a new album is in the works, and no matter what interviews occur, I pray for a killer album that makes all the dragging waiting before its release forgotten.
June 6th, 2011 at 20:45Conclusion :
When people get older they too often get cynical.
June 6th, 2011 at 21:25Re: #23
You are correct in your statement that attendance at US shows could be low.
An orchestral tour is likely to be better embranced by more culturally aware Canadians and less likely to be accepted by American audiences composed of stinking hippies and sundry head bangers who want to rock out and who might find the concept too high-brow for their taste.
June 6th, 2011 at 21:34I have read every interview I can find and do not hear that they are “pissed at the US audience” . Roger did not dis the tour, how can one know how its going to sound unless they do at least one show? I would venture to say that some of these interviews were done before even ONE show. For people that are supposed to be DP fans some of you sound like the enemy instead of friends. I agree with Victor if you do not like the way YOU may be interpeting an interview then “belly up somewhere else” and leave us fans to enjoy the band.
June 7th, 2011 at 00:58Victor, that is the disturbing possibility. If the U.S. shows (the first tour here in years, and in small venues)do not sell out, it would suggest that the fans are indeed bellying up elsewhere to see bands whose music moves forward. If DP sells these shows out, then the fans love what DP is doing.
June 7th, 2011 at 01:26@ 24. I smell a rat ( Mary Long ! ).
June 7th, 2011 at 01:42As far as sales and royalties, didn’t Gillan say ROTD was the best selling Purple LP since Perfect Strangers?Yeah,people are going to upload it,but then,Steve was complaining that they do a new number live and it’s aired on youtube.Of course, I seem to recall 7th Heaven from the House of Blues on an old webcast,as well as Bananas going out live the same way,which tempted me to buy it after watching the show.And of course,a buddy of mine bought Abandon and Purpendicular after hearing a couple of tunes at a show we went to.Of course, you have to first produce new material,then actually PLAY it live to garner that reaction.Years before, we recorded tons of stuff off of radio for free.We swapped singles,LP’s,etc.
June 7th, 2011 at 07:56As for being pissed at the US audiences,it’s up to the band to get themselves over.They were rebuilding a bit in the late 90’s,then just dropped it.Too bad…………
Don’t get the reason for the lot of criticizm, I’d like a new album very much, but only if it comes from a desire to write and record it properly,(these guys are so good I don’t even care if it’s going to be heavy metal, pop-rock, medieval-prog-jazz or whatever) let it come in its own time.
Those guys have reached retirement age, almost, have already given us many wonderfull moments of music, and I don’t see the point of bashing them like that.
Btw : I suspect a purple album costs more to make (or to release at least, because of many things) than a solo album, son they would need to sell more of it to simply cover the investment. Can explain some things.
And I like Blackmore’s night, but frankly purple’s albums, and the last 4 in particular, are much more worked out and rely less on traditionnal (already writen) stuff than anything from B’sN, so comparisons are a bit stupid.
June 7th, 2011 at 09:44Deep Purple is the retirement fund.
The solo efforts are the hobbies.
Seems straight forward to me.
June 7th, 2011 at 15:58No way are they going to approach north America with any positive attitude. As for orchestras they just rent them in each city, not as expensive as toting one around. I’m tired of the never ending excuses, an album is nothing about anything but new material to draw from, if you don’t want to make one, the longer you take and the more shows you play, the more you chip off your own legacy and the more quality of both you lose.
June 7th, 2011 at 19:29S**T !!! I’m post # 35, are there any fans left after this…snigger, snigger…
June 7th, 2011 at 19:53Well said T # 19….
June 7th, 2011 at 19:54There are ‘Pros’ & ‘Cons’ to touring without any recently recorded material available for consumption.
On the ‘Con’ side – It would eventually be Soul destroying to not have any new material to share with us + seeing audiences mouth the Lyrics of new songs as they’re sung must be one of the most rewarding & satisfying experiences a band can have!
I know Studios,CDs & Pro-Tools don’t fund themselves, but it could be, that the next CD blows all previous material Out of the Water (Smoking or not!).
Do the Job Guys & I’ll buy the next album twice & the DVD of the making of the Documentary about how it all came about after writing some words on a Rizzla or two!
June 7th, 2011 at 21:41I said it years ago :
Time will prove me right.
But, for what its worth…..
I prefer them to end with a good, I dont expext a killer one……thats asking too much, album.
If they would incorporate some great sounding new tracks in the USA even me would be tempted to buy a ticket for overhere.
Stupid reasoning by the band.
Playing new stuff will lead to a youtube which would be contra productive?!
Are these interviews really serious or are they trying to fool us big time?
Wait…..
They probably already did(….)
June 7th, 2011 at 23:34Oh well…..
June 8th, 2011 at 02:22Don`t get me wrong, I am afan of this lineup; Bannannas was a step in the wrong direction, but in my opinion Rapture of te Deep is as good as anything Purple has ever recorded. It`s frustrating when my favorite band who always considered themselves artist more than entertainers no longer believe in themselves. I am a big fan of Blackmore`s Night, to me theyre nut that different from Dio era Rainbow ,not as heavy and with a more positive ,upbeat vibe.
June 10th, 2011 at 03:52@19 (and @25 beat me to it),
Good commentary.
I do think YouTube is a great medium….
As far as the band being pissed off at US audiences, it’s just not the case. They are rightly pissed at American radio as this American continues to be. Formats are nothing less than a joke anymore. SOTW is fine, but not even hearing the likes of radio friendly Girls Like That is a travesty and unfortunately will remain just that.
The gig in Atlantic City this past weekend had the guys in great form and the enthusiasm from them was contagious. They were having the usual blast. The lighting was intense, many times pouring out into the crowd. Ian even allowed a woman up on stage near gig’s end for a rather, er, uh, long embrace and slow dance….
Anyway, yeah, I’d love to hear more obscure material including Purpendicular forward, but I still enjoy seeing these guys. And let’s just hope for a great new recording they will offer by 2012. They are still a killing machine….
Peace,
Ted
June 13th, 2011 at 13:25@ 41
So many bands are not on radio and still tour everywhere, so……
Lets hope we ll never see the day GIRLS LIKE THAT is being played on radio.
June 13th, 2011 at 18:13I prefer Girls on film : )