URIAH HEEP/DEEP PURPLE Supergroup To Release Album In Early 2004

The as-yet-unnamed new "supergroup" featuring members of URIAH HEEP, DEEP PURPLE and OZZY OSBOURNE's former bass player Bob Daisley will release their debut album early next year on Melbourne record producer Michael Gudinski's Liberation label, according to Australia's Sunday Mail.

The idea for the band, which consists of Daisley, Lee Kerslake (URIAH HEEP, OZZY OSBOURNE) on drums, Jon Lord (DEEP PURPLE) and Don Airey (OZZY OSBOURNE, BLACK SABBATH, RAINBOW) on keyboards, Steve Morse (DEEP PURPLE) on guitar, and Jimmy Barnes (COLD CHISEL) on vocals, came about after a solo Australian tour by DEEP PURPLE member Jon Lord last year.

"When he was in Sydney, Jimmy jumped up on stage and did three songs because he has always been such a huge DEEP PURPLE fan," album project coordinator Drew Thompson told Sunday Mail.

"He got on famously with the band's bass player who [has] also [worked] extensively with Ozzy Osbourne.

"The new band features two PURPLE guys, Steve Morse and Dan Airey, two guys who have played with Ozzy for years, Lee Kerstake and Bob Daisley, with Jimmy out front."

Thompson said the band recorded "on the quiet" so as not to generate too much industry hype.

"It was recorded in August in Florida, where DEEP PURPLE do all their albums," he said.

"The guys worked with producer Darren Schneider who has worked with DEEP PURPLE, MATCHBOX 20 and CREED.

"The keyboards and mixdown happened in London.

"We are absolutely thrilled with the results the guys have come up with.

"I have always felt that Jimmy Barnes has had to scream his lungs out to be heard with the bands he has played with. On this album, however, he sits right back in the mix and it sounds great."

Thompson said the new musical collaborators would form a supergroup.

"We were going to be called THE MEEK but there is another Australia band with that name," he said. "The album, which will feature half original material and half OZZY OSBORNE material, will not be released until early next year."

Meanwhile, Barnes will team up with his former band mates in COLD CHISEL for a series of reunion appearances. COLD CHISEL sold more than three million albums before calling it a day in 1983.

Earlier this year the band met to discuss the possibility of performing in a live and intimate mode, up close and personal with their fans in Sydney. These shows proved a huge success and a live album will be released in November on Warner Records.

COLD CHISEL play at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Friday, December 19. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday.