GLENN HUGHES Says He Just Completed A 'Secret' Record 'With Another Famous Fellow'

Whitney Ribbins of TotalRock Radio recently conducted an interview with legendary bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION). You can watch the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his recent activities:

Glenn: "I've been writing more music. I just did a record with another famous fellow, which I can't say who right now, which will be coming out… soon. It's like another secret. I can't announce it until they announce it, but I've been super-busy working. I'm a writer. That's my main thing is writing."

On how he views touring today versus when he started:

Glenn: "When I was a teenager, I really wasn't a drinker. I was a sports fanatic when I was a child, even when I was a long-haired in TRAPEZE with my beard and I was pretty much a sports enthusiast. When I joined DEEP PURPLE, I don't like to use the word 'fame,' but I think success can bring danger into your life. I didn't really understand about alcoholism or drug addiction. When I was a kid, I didn't [tug at] my mother's skirt and say 'Mommy, when I'm sixteen, can I drink? Can I do drugs?' I didn't want to become that guy, but I found myself surrounded by people that were over-excessing in drinking and womanizing and drugs and driving fast. I kinda became one of 'them,' not knowing I was stepping into the fast lane. Not knowing that I was becoming an alcoholic."

On the moment he decided his drinking and drug habits weren't the way he wanted to carry on:

Glenn: "I knew ten years before I stopped. I was trying to stop…in my book ['Glenn Hughes: The Autobiography - From Deep Purple To Black Country Communion'] I talk about the '80s. I don't remember the 1980s. I really honestly don't. I say that not for a statement, but I don't remember the '80s. I think in the '80s, I was trying to get sober. In '91, I had the heart attack and that definitely got my attention."

On being on the road today sober:

Glenn: "The road today is a place if you embrace it and if you are able to live normally on the road, if you can take care of your body and your mind and sleep, you gotta sleep. If you're a singer, you have to sleep. I travel by bus and I have a great bus and sleep well and drink a lot of water. For me, to cut back to the chase of the drug thing: I had a psychic change. I don't think it was the heart attack that gave me the change. I think it was the ability to realize that this behavior was going to kill me, at least drive me insane. Worrying my mother and father to death, which it did, they remember one day, they reported that I was dead. There was another guy called 'Glenn Hughes' in the band called VILLAGE PEOPLE. His name is Glenn Hughes and his name is spelled the same as mine. He was a gay guy and funny enough, my mom became friends with his mom because of the mix-up. It was horrible for them to read their son with his picture in the paper. There could have been a lawsuit there. I say this because I just lost my mom and dad. This whole scenario of touring and making album after album and having a career and being sober and trying to help kids, is really a big thing for me."

On what the new BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION album "BCCIV" means to him:

Glenn: "I'm singing again about life and death, because my mom had just died. My dad had died a few months before. Without being morbid, that's what life is. You come and you go. I wrote about fear and faith. I wrote about life in general, about living life. If you read my liner notes, I always seem to be out there on the sea and I'm always coming back to the shore. It's like I'm always reaching out, leaving and the song 'Wanderlust', it's like I'm always wandering and meeting people and always finding my way back. It's something that's important to me. I used to be in fear of that, but I've [embraced] it very much so."

On whether he is looking forward to playing more shows with BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION:

Glenn: "I am looking forward to it. We've been planning on this for a while. It's really enjoyable. I believe, from what I'm gathering, there's a lot of people waiting for this album. I'm really happy that the songs are strong and the vibe is really good."

"BCCIV" will be released on September 22 via Mascot Records. This is BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION's first studio album since 2013's "Afterglow". The album was recorded in early 2017 at The Cave Studio in Malibu, California with producer Kevin Shirley (BLACK STAR RIDERS, IRON MAIDEN).