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Hughes: “This is our band”
Classic Rock Revisited has a new interview with Glenn Hughes, talking about California Breed:
Jeb: What pushed you [to get an unknown guitar player]?
Glenn: I won’t say too much, but after Black Country broke up, it was kind of private, but some of my friends said that they could do some shows with Jason and me. It was really nice of them to say that, but I knew it would only lead to me wanting to do more with these guys, who were very famous guitar players. I knew if they sat in with Black Country that I would want to do more with them and they would not be able to do it, and it would be just like the scenario with Joe.
A few more months down the line we met Andrew. I wanted to make a specific type of rock album. It was difficult for me think who would play guitar, if it was not going to be one of my famous friends, or Jason’s famous friends. It was not going to be Jimmy Page. It was not going to be Steve Vai. I would have loved to play with these guys…like Slash. I love to play with Slash, but they would all be available to play sporadically, but not all the time, and I wanted a band. We got the opportunity to have this young man cast into our lives. I really believe in fate. I am old enough and wise enough to know to get out of my own way and to let something greater than me—I am not talking about God- but rather the greater universal thing of getting out of my own way and letting things flow. I am ambitious. I am a workaholic, but I am not the type of person who can do 100 things at once. I like to do one thing and I like to do it 100%.
Read more in the Classic Rock Revisited.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
He won’t say too much. (!)
June 5th, 2014 at 22:30I…..me….name drop….I …. me….
June 9th, 2014 at 03:47Finally got round to listening to the album.
June 9th, 2014 at 13:17Glen and Jason deliver what they do and the young lad Andrew can play.
Hehe, Martin, you are spot on. I’m so tired of Glenn banging on about his “famous friends”; it’s as if he uses them as a means of personal validation, he’s a very insecure man, bless him.
June 10th, 2014 at 15:07Glenn getting really tedious now. Tries desperately to make himself sound like a major creative influence in 70s. CB album promised so much, but in reality all sounds so samey. Sorry, “brother”
June 10th, 2014 at 20:14Glenn suffers from a heavy dose of ‘Star Envy’. He and JLT both need to learn how to just ‘Shut Up and Sing’. Talk about a self absorbed narcosis….. What a shame such a talent lacks humbleness. He views his existence in the music business backwards. The bands (mainly Deep Purple) gave him some notoriety. He didn’t give those bands their success. He benefited from them, not the other way around. He isn’t nor has been an influence in the industry. I can’t ever remember an interview from any musician, anywhere, any time who stated that Glenn Hughes was their inspiration nor even mentions him period. Oh, I just realized there is one musician whom brags on and on about Glenn Hughes……… Glenn Hughes.
Ch-BeerZ
June 18th, 2014 at 14:44” He isn’t nor has been an influence in the industry.”
Maybe because he cant be copied and wipes the floor with all people trying to sing?
June 20th, 2014 at 19:33Hey, Tracy
How many times did you see Glenn Hughes live in the last decades?
Cheers!
June 20th, 2014 at 19:50Tracy@ 6- Well said, I agree totally!
June 20th, 2014 at 21:47purplepriest1965@ 7 – Glenn Hughes used to be a superb vocalist back in his day, but that is well & truly in the past now. When I purchased the Iommi Fused album years ago, I couldn’t believe how much his vocal had diminished since the 80’s, woeful is his performance on that album! I have heard other music from him since the ‘glory’ days also & he hasn’t the ‘sound’ that he used to have, that can happen as people grow older, so be it! But you must be joking surely with the ‘wipe the floor with all people trying to sing’ comment! Please tell me that is a joke!Cheers.
Tracy @6 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeennnnnnnn to that my friend?! Just sing and play, too much talk……
June 21st, 2014 at 11:41PP @8,
I have only seen GH three times. With Purple MK3 in 1974 and then MK4 in 1976. Then finally with BCC in 2011. That’s pretty much the only opportunity I’ve had to see him. He is like Big Foot here in the States. There are rumors of his existence but he doesn’t make many appearances. Not sure why you ask but there is the answer. Does that change the facts regarding my original entry above?
ChBeerZ
June 27th, 2014 at 02:47Glenn is making the most out of what he has. I’d have thought Purple fans would be more supportive. I’m really disappointed to read the shallow carping and outright cynicism here. I’m a singer/songwriter/bassist myself and I marvel at what a 62 year old GH is doing. He inspires me with his creative output as well as his attitude. He’s not perfect, by any means, but he puts everything he has into whatever band he is in, Meanwhile the peanut gallery here just picks him apart. It saddens me, frankly. As I am only a few years behind Glenn, I will say this. As the end of your life rushes towards you, the wheat and chaff of this existence tends to separate. You tend to simplify and clarify what really matters and what doesn’t. Glenn focuses on what’s positive, and for him, that’s music and his own hard earned musical identity. He doesn’t waste time with critics and nit-pickers. If he strikes some as egotistical, I submit to you that he’s earned the right to generate publicity for himself. He has little choice since American radio has no time for guys his age. He has to go out of his way to scrap for public attention for BCC and California Breed. He puts his heart and soul into his work, and with heart surgery in his recent past, he knows that time is a luxury. He’s making the most of his passion and doing his damnedest to sell a record he has every reason to be proud of.
June 28th, 2014 at 06:23I hope CB sells ten million copies and I hope Glenn, Jason and Andrew perform before bigger crowds than California Jam in 1974. Is this likely ? No. But I love Glenn for giving it his all, and doing his best with what time, money and talent he has to work with. I don’t care that he pumps his own name every chance he gets. What choice does he have ? The time for measured responses and polite press relations is over. It’s the home stretch for Glenn and he can’t afford to waste the opportunity. I love the CB record and I salute the band for pulling out all the stops in making it. I hope it sells like crazy and a follow-up comes soon. Give the guy a break, will ya ?
I m with ya, Misha.
Did not know about the heartsurgery btw. 🙁
July 1st, 2014 at 20:27Tracy, I missed your reply untill now.
I forgot about your experiences with MK 3 and 4.
But still. I am of the opinion that you and many others dont see him in the right light.
The shows I witnessed since 1993 were amazing.
And yes, I must admit I had enough of the part in which he goes overdrive..
Maybe I m mistaken but it increased after 2000.
But giving him all this crap I dont think thats fair.
Espescially when you compair what he still is able to with Gillan.
Yes, Gillan did many more gigs.
July 4th, 2014 at 19:52But that apart……………..