German GoodTimes magazine has Mark 2 on the cover of the latest issue (2017/02), with two extensive features inside — one on the Mark 2: Der Bruch war die größte Schande des Rock’n’Roll! (The breakup was the biggest disgrace of Rock’n’Roll!) and another one on the current band: Angst vor dem “Das war’s!” (The fear of “That’s it!”).

Another German magazine Eclipsed puts the now familiar band of polar explorers on the cover of their issue #189 (April 2017), with a 10-page feature Reise in die Unendlichkeit (Journey to Infinity) inside.

German version (see a pattern here?) of Classic Rock magazine opts for Jim Morrison on the cover, but features 5+ pages interview with Ian Paice inside its 2017/04 issue.

Not to be outdone by its British or German siblings, Italian Classic Rock issue #53 not only has the band on the cover, but dedicates no less than a whopping 35 pages inside to all things Purple.

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page and Nigel Young for the info.

Roger Glover was featured with a lengthy interview in the Antihero Magazine. Yep, it’s Roger sharing his thoughts in response to interesting, off-the-beaten path questions. No further hype is needed.

Mark Dean: Do you find these press schedules get easier or more difficult as the years pass by?

Roger Glover: Actually, probably easier, because when you’re young you were scared about saying the truth. When you’re older, you don’t give a shit.

Mark Dean: You’ve got a new album coming out and obviously then the inevitable tour. The tour’s being called The Long Goodbye. I just wondered if that was clever marketing, or a conclusion and drawing to a close on your career as a band playing live?

Roger Glover: Well, first of all, we tour anyway, whether there’s an album or not. It’s not the tour that follows the album. Although, it is literally, yes. You are correct. All we know is sooner or later we’re going to end. We’re all either above or below our seventies.

So, you know, the writing is on the wall. Sooner or later this will end. We just don’t know when, but we’re putting ourselves and everyone else on notice that, you know, it is around the corner, we just don’t know when. I think, personally, we’re touring this year around Europe and the States, and there’s certainly other places we should go to if we’re going to say goodbye. I’d like to say hello and goodbye to lots of places, really. If we can.

To find out how he retains passion about creating new music, what he thinks of Slaves and Masters, how much of the new album he wants to play live, what he thinks on the reactivation of Rainbow, the state of his book of memoirs, which song really started him on the path to making music his life, how does it feel to be a rock celebrity, how the whole music landscape has changed over his lifespan, that secret track that Gary Moore guested on that is still unreleased, and many, many more, continue reading in Antihero Magazine.

Thanks to Nigel Young for the info.

The official inFinite online store is now open, presumably run by the record company. It stocks a full range of album merchandise, from compact cassette tape (how quaint) for $6.99, to the signed canvas artwork bundle for $183.99 (the store greets you with the video of the band hard at work actually signing those). There are a couple of standalone t-shirts and as well as t-shirt bundles, and these come in sizes S to XL, unlike the ones that come with the box sets. Public service conversion: the posters for sale are in A2 paper size, which is 42 × 60 cm or 16.5 × 23.4 inches.

Link: deeppurple.tmstor.es

Thanks to Yvonne and Andrey Gusenkov for the info.

Ian Paice will be a special guest on the new album by Purpendicular, called Venus to Volcanus. The album is due on April 14, via German label Fastball Music.

Ian is also continuing to perform with Purpendicular live, with the last gig of the latest string of European dates happening tonight, April 26, in Savigny-le-Temple near Paris.

Thanks to Akemi Ono for the heads up.

Roger Glover and Ian Paice did several interviews for the German press while attending the documentary premiere in Düsseldorf. Most of them by now are quite repetitive, so we won’t list them all, but the one from WAZ.de is a wee bit off the beaten path. And nothing like stirring a little controversy asking about a hot political topic or two.

We are now offering it to you in reverse translation from German, with all the usual caveats applying.

Wouldn’t it be tempting to play a concert without Smoke on the Water in the setlist?

Ian Paice: Never! We’re not crazy! 90% of the audience come to hear the old stuff!

Do you really take it to your heart what your fans have to say?

Paice: You can not make it right for everyone. Our real fans are pretty critical, they immediately speak out if they don’t like something. They have their own taste, but that’s okay.

Roger Glover: It all has changed with the Internet. When we played the first test concerts with Steve Morse, my stepson said in the morning: “Hey, it was probably a great show yesterday. — It’s all over the Internet.” I’ve even made friends with a few fans over it. But you have to set boundaries between them and yourself.

Paice: Oh yes, three or four years ago I had a few Jack Daniels’ too many and signed up for Facebook — oh man! I was busy for two days.

Glover: It is not like in the old days anymore, when you could leave your fan mail somewhere in the corner because it simply became too much. Nowadays people expect to get an answer.

You have hinted lately that the next tour could be your last.

Paice: It is more likely that we will do another album than we would do yet another world tour after this one. The music that you record is immortal, but the musicians are not. Some time age will take its toll, either you won’t be on that planet any more or you can’t play any more like you should. That day might come sooner than you think. At the moment we are not brave enough to say: “This is the end, this is it!”

So what then?

Paice: After the tour is over we’ll take a break for six months and then decide what to do next. And maybe we’ll play a concert here and there. In any case, we do not want to make a farewell tour like other musicians — and two years later say: “Okay, we are back”.

Glover: The first annual reunion tour… (laughs)

But are you not bored to play the same songs over and over?

Paice: A good piece of music is still a good piece of music even after 50 or 100 years. And when it’s really good, it’s always fun to play it. I’m sure if you go back 200 years, you’ll find a lot of classical pieces that are rubbish. What we know is the good stuff. And our music is like jazz: there is a structure, but within it everybody gets a chance to do something different every evening.

What do you think about Trump and Brexit?

Paice: I voted against the Brexit, it takes away a lot of amenities from me. But: the European Union was founded as an economic community, which was a good idea. What we have now is a federal state with far too many regulations from Brussels.

Glover: I didn’t vote, I’ve been living in Switzerland for eight years now. I would have voted to stay. And against Trump.

Paice: What a rebel you are! Trump talks like the blue suits [??? – ed.] after they had a few drinks at the bar. He does not talk like politicians should be talking.

Glover: I lived in the US for 30 years — today it looks to me as if they have a new civil war. Not North against South as it used to be, but the Middle against the East and the West coasts. It’s a disaster!

Thanks to Deep Purple Tour Page for the heads up.
Interview: Jens Dirksen for WAZ.de.

Loudwire is conducting a poll for the Most Anticipated Release of April 2017. Deep Purple’s inFinite is in the running and is currently trailing in the second place behind Richie Kotzen. You know what to do.

Several new promotional appearances have surfaced in the past few days.

Ian Paice will do an in-store appearance at the F-Musiikki Vantaa in Finland, for their “Big Drum Day” event on April 8.

Another in-store appearance promoting inFinite has been announced for April 10 at the FNAC Paris Saint-Lazare. Caveat: even though it is marked as Deep Purple in our calendar, it is not clear at this moment which members of the band will participate. Ian Paice, Roger Glover, and Don Airey are reported to take part.

Don Airey will be performing with his band at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt for two days — on April 6 and 7th.

Thanks to Nigel Young and SH for the info.

A “yes or no” interview with the band. Except Steve, who gets to talk more than the rest of them combined.
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Paicey and Roger promoting the new album on a radio station WXKR, broadcasting out of Ohio, USA. The boys are in a great mood, and there are few, if any, cringe moments from the host:
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Roger Glover pays tribute to the late Chuck Berry, who passed away on March 18 at the age of 90:

I have said often enough that the entire edifice that is rock’n’roll is held up by the twin pillars of Little Richard and Chuck Berry. Little Richard for his searing voice and superb band and Chuck for his scattershot lyrics and iconic guitar style. And most importantly, they wrote the songs.

Naturally, I’m saddened by Chuck Berry’s passing. The world turns and heroes are gone. The first album I bought with the first money I earned was Chuck Berry’s first album. Every band on the planet has learned and played his songs. Immortal songs. Living music.

RG