DEEP PURPLE Bassist Checks In With Latest Update

DEEP PURPLE bassist Roger Glover has posted the following update to his official web site, www.rogerglover.com:

"The next [DEEP PURPLE] tour is on the horizon.

"In the meantime, the spell at home has been great: enjoying being with my wife and family and doing all the good things — going to plays, movies, restaurants, seeing friends, paying bills, putting out the garbage, chasing used car parts, attending art classes, wondering why printers don't work, listening to music, losing CDs, shopping, chopping, clearing my desk, losing things, checking email, going to the ballet, cooking, flying, writing songs, doing interviews, taking photographs, sorting bits, avoiding the lazy moments. Oh, and writing and recording the new [DEEP PURPLE] album.

"I've also been going though my collection of ageing multi-track tapes and 'baking' them — a process of putting them in a dehydrating oven and baking them at 135 degrees for 8 hours, enabling them to be played without shedding oxide over the tape heads, something they tend to do if they haven't been stored in a climate and temperature controlled environment (not an apt description of conditions in my studio!). Thus one can extract the noises held therein and transfer them to a more stable medium, like a digital hard drive. I bake them at home and then take them to Acme Studios where Peter Denenberg oversees the transfers. So far we've been working on the 'Mask' album, and in the process did re-mixes of the songs 'The Mask' and 'Unnatural'. I hope in the not too distant future to be able to re-master and re-mix some this album for a release to be available through the web site.

"Another project is one I've tentatively called 'Unfinished 'Urniture' — a collection of pieces and bits from my home studio, odd ditties, instrumentals, experiments, demos, things that would otherwise have no home (some might opine that they should never have a home …but I can't hear them from here!). Anyway, this will be released, again through the web, when it is fished. Or even finished.

"I have decided not to pursue the [DEEP PURPLE] 'Burn' remixes. Since I was not on the album originally, I felt slightly odd getting involved in the first place but I really thought I could help put a fresh sheen on the recordings. Peter Denenberg and I listened to the digital transfers (done at Abbey Road) and started work on several songs, including the title track. After a couple of days struggling with the sounds we listened to the re-mastered versions on the 'Listen Learn Read On' box set and I came to the conclusion that we were in fact bringing no real new insight to the music. Therefore I have backed off from the project. EMI will be carrying on with its plans but I have no further details to add.

"At Warren Haynes' invitation, my wife Lesley and I traveled to New Orleans last weekend. The occasion was the show called The Deepest End, being the culmination of the GOV'T MULE project that served as a memorial to their late bass player, Alan Woody. It is a real tribute to his memory and to the esteem in which the surviving members of the band hold him. They have recorded 2 CDs and a DVD so far.

"This show also featured the guest services of a slew of bass players and others and I found myself in exalted company: Will Lee ('David Letterman' show),Mike Gordon (PHISH),Jason Newsted (METALLICA),George Porter Jnr (THE METERS),Greg Rzab (THE BLACK CROWES),Dave Schools (WIDESPREAD PANIC),Jack Casady (JEFFERSON AIRPLANE),Paul Jackson (HERBIE HANCOCK),Victor Wooten (BELA FLECK AND THE FLECKTONES),David Hilalgo and Conrad Lozano (LOS LOBOS),Fred Wesley (JAMES BROWN),and some others, although I didn't get to see or meet all of them. I'm looking forward to seeing the DVD of the event.

"The gig started at 10.00pm and as the succession of guests entered and left the stage, time marched on through midnight. My turn came around 2.00am and the two songs I did, 'Going Down' and 'Maybe I'm a Leo', were over far too quickly — I was just starting to get a sweat up. The concert went on until 4.30am. I have to say this. Warren Haynes, Matt Abst (drums) and Danny Louis (keyboards) are three of the hardest working musicians I have ever met. They did this six and a half hour show, with dozens of guests, and never gave less than 100%.

"Great players, great taste, great band.

"Whilst in New Orleans I couldn't resist getting there early and checking out the Jazz Fest, held at the Fairgrounds about fifteen minutes outside the city. Music was everywhere. There were more than half a dozen stages on which bands were playing. We saw family bands, Zydeco bands, LOS LOBOS, JIMMIE VAUGHN, and an African troupe. The place closed at 7.00pm and we headed back into the city, enjoyed some great New Orleans food, and then went to see THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA at a club. John Hammond was opening and he gave out some powerful solo blues. Then the 'Boys' came on and gave a stunning show. They've been around since 1939 or thereabouts, at least the two singers that are currently touring, and their voices and characters are exceptional, undimmed by age.

"There are some 'snaps' of our trip, not great quality but a record of the time nonetheless.

"Anyway, now I'm ready to get back on stage with [DEEP PURPLE] and work up a decent sweat."