DEEP PURPLE's ROGER GLOVER: 'RITCHIE BLACKMORE Was An Amazing Guitarist, Way Ahead Of His Time'

In a brand new interview with Goldmine magazine, DEEP PURPLE bassist Roger Glover was asked if he ever gets tired of playing the band's classic song "Smoke On The Water". He responded: "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but the only boring part is people asking me about it. [Laughs] It's a great song to play. I love playing it. And it's not just solos. When I change the bass part every night, I have fun with it. It's a good song because it has a skeletal structure that you can just have fun with. And I don't think we can ever get away with not playing it. It's become such a ritual. And a lot of places — especially in Europe and other parts of the world — as we get older, the audience gets younger. Eastern Bloc countries and places like that, the audience is usually in their 20s. And younger. And they're experiencing it live for the first time. You see, you live it through eras and their experience. And it's always fun to play, so, no, I never get tired of it at all."

Glover also talked about DEEP PURPLE getting recently becoming nominated for Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inclusion for a third time, having been passed over in both 2013 and 2014. He said: "I get asked about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame a lot. And through the years I've gone through different feelings about it. There was a feeling where I should just say, 'Well, fuck off. We're not interested.' But I think it's more important for the fans, and families and friends, than it is for us in the band. We're sort of ambivalent about it. If they do it, they do it; if they don't, they don't. It doesn't really matter to us. We're on our own course. But I do think it's a shame that if they are going to do it, they didn't do it 20 years ago when [late DEEP PURPLE keyboardist] Jon Lord was alive. And when I see other people get inducted in that really don't deserve to be there ahead of us… PURPLE started out as five people and what branched out from PURPLE is almost a history of rock in itself, you know. There are so many bands whose influences come that from the early '70s PURPLE. [Former DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Ritchie [Blackmore] in particular. Ritchie was an amazing guitarist, way ahead of his time. And I think that informed a lot of the heavy metal players later on. The second wave of rock, if you like. The JUDAS PRIESTs, and the SAXONs and so on and so on. It still goes on. PURPLE was the stone thrown into the pond and the ripples are still moving out. And when I read one comment by one of the voters from the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame who said, 'DEEP PURPLE, they're just one-hit wonders.' What?! That floored me to hear that — that someone can think that. Well, If it happens, it happens. It's not a big deal for us."

Read the entire interview at Goldmine.

DEEP PURPLE is preparing to enter the studio to begin recording its follow-up to 2013's "Now What?!" album for a 2016 release. The CD will once again be helmed by Bob Ezrin (KISS, PINK FLOYD, PETER GABRIEL, ALICE COOPER, KANSAS),who produced "Now What?!".