GLENN HUGHES Says DEEP PURPLE Mk. III Reunion Won't Happen

Legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes was interviewed on "The Classic Metal Show" on April 11 about his new album, "First Underground Nuclear Kitchen", and the 35th anniversary of the DEEP PURPLE classics "Burn" and "Stormbringer" (along with their recent remastered reissues). An excerpt from the chat follows below.

The Classic Metal Show: Glenn, there's always rumors that this lineup of PURPLE or that lineup of PURPLE or your lineup of PURPLE is going to get put back together. There's been a lot of talk that the Mk. III lineup (Hughes, vocalist David Coverdale, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice) will be [reuniting for a tour]. I'm assuming by the fact that you are out there doing more funk, and Ritchie Blackmore is out writing music for renaissance fairs, that it's pretty much not in the cards anymore. Is that correct?

Glenn Hughes: You know, David (Coverdale) and I have been discussing this with Jon Lord for the last three years. It's been on the table, off the table, on the table, off the table. David and I had a long discussion three months ago about doing it one more time. It wouldn't be a good time to do it in the next year, but there are a lot of things that may stop it from happening. So I'm telling you guys here on the phone tonight that I can't see it happening. I don't want to donate any more of my time to doing this. All across the world, the same questions are there. "When are you guys going to get back together?" I can't see it happening, and I don't think about it anymore. You guys just asked me the question. I never think about it. It's not part of the thought process anymore. For many, many reasons, it won't happen. It's a shame, because the fans would have loved to see it, but then again, I understand why [LED ZEPPELIN's] Jimmy [Page] and Robert [Plant] probably won't want it together. Let the legacy be intact. I don't know if people will really want to see guys doing the same songs they did 35 years ago. I don't know. I know there would be a lot of people, thousands and thousands of people every night that would pay to see this. None of us want to do it for greed reasons. We would want to do it for some kind of artistic revelry. I would want to do it for that reason. I don't want to get up on that stage and just coast, put on the pipe and slippers and just yawn and get all that money. That's not what I want to do. I want to give the audience a really, really good time.

The entire interview can be heard in three parts below.

"The Classic Metal Show" can be heard every Saturday night between 9:00 p.m. EST and 3:00 a.m. EST at www.cmsradio.net.

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