Glenn Hughes is one of those names that is synonymous with rock music. His career spans more than five decades and has recorded some of the greatest albums in rock n roll history. I caught up with Glenn a week out from his Australian ’50 Years Of Burn” tour as he was headed to one of the final show of his American tour. We talked everything Deep Purple Mark III & IV, past attempts at reuniting the Mark III line up. Glenn is one of the most humble and accommodating musicians I have had the pleasure of chatting with.
This upcoming Australian tour will be a treat for all. Aside from the live shows Glenn is also doing two ‘In Conversation’ Q&A events, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney which will give fans the opportunity to ask anything they ever wanted to know about the man and his career. We also uncovered that there is new solo material coming from Glenn next Spring (Australian Autumn). Please sit back and enjoy our chat.
Andrew : Good morning or should I say evening.
Glenn : Hello there. How are you doing?
Andrew : I’m very well. How are you?
Glenn : I’m okay. I’m on the way to a show right now. My last, well, I’m finishing my tour this weekend here in LA.
Andrew : Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to talk to us here in Australia and for joining us here at The Rockpit. The amazing news is that you’re out here in our country early October to celebrate 50 years of “Burn” and Deep Purple.
Glenn : Yeah, I sure am and I’m looking forward to it.
Andrew : For me “Burn” is one of those records that is a part of just about every hard rock fans journey. My journey with you and Deep Purple actually started with “Come Taste The Band” at the age of seven or eight. So, the backstory to all of this is I do actually remember seeing “Burn” sitting in my, my uncle’s record collection at the time and I remember the cover kind of freaked me out a little bit at that age, but it had an element of curiosity to it. “Come Taste The Band” was really the first experience I had of you and Deep Purple. As the years have passed and I have explored the band, “Burn” is one of those albums that I hold very, very dearly to me. Between “Burn” and “Come Taste the Band” I have two very, very important records for me as a music fan. When it comes to joining Deep Purple back in late 1973, with the departure of Gillan and Glover from the band, did you have any idea what Deep Purple would look like in that incarnation?
Glenn : Wow. Fantastic backstory well, I joined before David and you know, it was weird for me that they were looking for another singer as well, because I was singing trapeze. You’re too young to know that, but I was a lead singer myself. So, for me to actually join a band where they were going to be getting another lead singer it was a bit weird for me, but I went, you know there’s something to this that might be good. And sure enough, when David joined, David and I, we shared a lot of vocals together, shared a lot of songs together. We had a great partnership singing.
Andrew : Absolutely. Your voices both work extremely well together while still being distinctly different.
Glenn : I agree.
Andrew : I guess from a musicality point of view as a bass player, had you expected that influence would come into the songwriting and have such a profound impact?
Glenn : Well Andrew, if you listen to those three albums, you know, Burn, Stormrider, Come Taste The Band, you’ll notice a definite change from the way Roger Glover plays and the way Glenn Hughes plays. Roger is a straight down the middle classic rock bass player, where I’m coming from the R&B and jazz side of bass playing. Whether that was the right thing to do with Deep Purple or not, I’m not sure. They were changing gears when David and I joined and they didn’t want to replicate what had happened with Mark II of the band. So that was happening with Mark III now with a different singing bass player and singer.
Andrew : For sure, and I think this is possibly one of the more positive changes I’ve seen in a line-up and in a direction, and it’s really quite refreshing to know that the band was able to go and explore something different again and have the addition of two new voices in the group as well as a new musical direction in some ways.
Glenn : But Andrew if you listen, and I’m sure you’ve listened to the album many times, ‘Burn’ could have been a song that Mark II would have done, but the way David and I did that song is something that Gillan could never do. They would never have made ‘Mistreated’ or “Might Just Take Your Life’ or ‘Sail Away’ in Mark II it wouldn’t have worked.
Andrew : No, absolutely not, there’s a very different feel. “Burn” was the album that was pretty much Ritchie Blackmore’s last stand in that era of Deep Purple.
Glenn : Right.
Andrew : How did you find working with Blackmore? At that stage he was moving more towards a classical style that has distinctively become his over the years.
Glenn : Ok Andrew, let’s talk Turkey here. The Holy Trinity, in my opinion of the early 70s, was Blackmore, Beck and Clapton and then of course, Tony Iommi. I joined the band with John Lord and Ian Pace and Blackmore, who was a very strong soloist as well. It was a different thing for me to do. As i mentioned to you before it worked because they didn’t want to replicate Mark II. Why would they want to have somebody sounding like Ian Gillan or somebody playing bass like Roger Glover? It wasn’t working to them any longer. David and I came in and refreshed the band.
Andrew : Working with a young unknown at that stage in David Coverdale what was that like? What did you find that he brought to the band and especially “Burn”?
Glenn : When he passed the audition they didn’t tell him for like two weeks they kept him waiting. When they did get a hold of him, David came down to see me at my house and we became very fast friends as we were going to be singing these songs together, so my friendship has been very good with him from all these years ago. He’s got a great voice, he is a funny guy and again Andrew, I think the vocal arrangement and the partnership we had vocally on the “Burn” album, “Stormbringer” and “Come Taste the Band” is exceptional.
Andrew : It is something that to behold. Thank you for again creating a very large piece of the soundtrack to my life. Out of those three Mark III / Mark IV albums does “Burn” sit at the top of that trilogy for you?
Glenn : Well, I like Stormbringer it’s my favourite out of them. Stormbringer was the album that Richie didn’t write much on and it left John and myself to write the music and some of the lyrics. When Richie decided he was going to leave somewhere during Stormbringer. We had no choice, man, but I do really enjoy listening to Stormbringer more than any of the albums I’ve done with Deep Purple.
Andrew : From the “Burn” album ‘Mistreated’ is one of the highlights for me. Is that the same for you?
Glenn : I don’t know if you know this, but David stopped singing ‘Mistreated’ twenty years ago and when he stopped singing it, I said to myself, I wonder if I should have a go singing this song, what would it sound like? In doing so I’ve taken this song now to the masses and I really do enjoy singing that song, Andrew. So hopefully people will feel the same when I sing it for them in Australia.
Andrew : I’m sure we will. If we can touch on the tour too, who have you got in the band that’s coming out to do these shows?
Glenn : I have Soren Andersen and he’s been with me for 17 years, he’s a great guitar player and I think everybody in Australia is going to agree with me. He’s one of the greatest out there and particularly with this particular show Soren fits the bill perfectly. On drums, I have Ashley Sheehan, raised in a Black Country where I’m from in the UK. What an amazing drummer he is, people are going to freak out in Australia when they see this guy play. He’s so damn good. On the keyboards is Mike Mangan who has been with me on and off for 10 years, he is a great Hammond player and that’s what I need in this particular show.
Andrew : Aside from the five Australian dates playing and celebrating “Burn” you’re doing a couple of sit down in conversation shows, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney. Have you done these kinds of shows before? And what can we expect from those?
Glenn : I did one or two the last time I was in Australia and it was great. It’s the chance for people to come and ask questions. I’ll be glad to answer anything you ask me and you can anything, by the way. I get kick out of that.
Andrew : That’s great and I’m sure fans will really embrace that opportunity. Over the years of playing the songs from “Burn”, is there anything that you approach differently now as a bass player?
Glenn : Well, you know, I stretch songs out like Purple used to stretch songs. In my band, we do the same thing, keeping the melody of the song the same, keeping basically what we played with Deep Purple pretty much the same. I like to jam, I’m a jam guy. I love to jam vocally as well.
Andrew : With the departure of Blackmore from Mark III and the introduction of Tommy Bolan starting Mark IV of the band, what was Tommy Bolan like as a person to work with?
Glenn : I don’t know if you have heard the story from when we were auditioning Tommy. I walked into the rehearsal room and I saw a guy in front of me that had green and purple and yellow hair and I walked up to him and I whispered in his ear, if you don’t get the gig, you’re coming home with me (laughs). Well, he got the gig and he came home with me and he stayed for three months. Tommy was my closest friend in the band. A wonderful, kind, soft spoken and a lovely kid. What a beautiful, beautiful guy he was. We had no idea that Tommy may have been dabbling with certain drugs, we had no idea, but what a wonderful, kind, compassionate young man. An incredible guitar player.
Andrew : That he was. He was someone that I think went way too soon. I would have loved to have seen where his career would have taken him over the next decade at least, had he not left us way too early.
Glenn : Yeah, I talk about this all the time, him leaving us at twenty-five. Oh my God. It’s just so devastatingly young. Again, we didn’t know Tommy was dabbling in those kinds of drugs at all.
Andrew : It’s got to be a hard thing to comprehend even now. Obviously the 70s was a time of experimentation and you have in the past had a history with addictions. Had you ever gone down the path of certain drugs that Tommy did?
Glenn : No, no, no, no, no. Tommy went down the opium heroin kind of trail. That’s never been what I did. Mine was more the powdered stuff for the nose. I’ve been clean and sober now for 33 years. I still vividly remember going to Tommy’s funeral and was devastated to see him in that coffin. I still miss Tommy. He lives within me, you know, I dearly, genuinely with all my heart, miss Tommy. I really do and I miss John Lord as well.
Andrew : Absolutely. He would be another big missing piece in your world. Prior to John Lords passing were there any attempts to reunite Mark III, Deep Purple?
Glenn : Yeah, I got a call from John Lord fifteen years ago, and we got David on the phone, and we spoke about it wondering if we could get Blackmore interested in doing something but nobody could get him on the phone. Nobody could reach Blackmore. Nobody could actually get him on the phone, and looking back, Andrew, we just wanted to just one more go, you know, to play those songs again, and of then John died a couple of years later. That was the end of that, you know?
Andrew : Do you have communication with Ritchie Blackmore at all these days?
Glenn : No, I spoke to Richie ten years ago. He wanted me to do some shows with him. He wanted me to play with him in his new Rainbow. He wanted me to sing second vocalist with another guy. I said, nah, I’ve done that before and I thanked him for calling me, but I wasn’t about to do that again, I like where I am now. As a lead singer for all these decades, I don’t think I need to be a second singer for anybody again.
Andrew : I completely agree with that one. The “Burn” album is the focus of these upcoming shows. Can we expect any other surprises?
Glenn : You can, you’ll get a couple of songs from “Come Taste the Band” and you’ll get “Stormbringer”. So, you’ll get all three albums, a touchstone from three albums. It’ll be an interesting evening.
Andrew : Oh, fantastic. I can’t wait actually.
Glenn : Thank you, Andrew.
Andrew : This will be a very, very special run of shows, I’m sure.
Glenn : And I want to thank you. You’ve all been very kind to me at The Rockpit this past few years. I want to thank you all so much for all the love and support.
Andrew : You are more than welcome Glenn, we love what you do. I had the pleasure of reviewing Black County Communion IV. Which was just a great album there are some truly magical moments on that album.
Glenn : Yeah, I’m really happy with that record. Thank you.
Andrew : I love what you do in that project. Your entire career has been one of those careers that has just been full of really high-quality material. The Dead Daisies albums were incredible too. On behalf of The Rockpit and as a fan I’d like to thank you for the music. We are all massive fans of what you do.
Glenn : But you know, Andrew, it’s like, obviously I’m doing nostalgia for Australians next week, but deep down, and you know, deep down, there’s new songs for me always being written and a new style, a new look, a new vibe. I don’t want to be cast in this nostalgia for too much longer and new music, new music is coming next spring. I’m hoping to return to Australia at some point in the next 18 months, but coming back to you next week, I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends, having a few laughs and making some great music for you.
Andrew : We look forward to having you here. I would dearly love to thank you again for your time. It’s beyond kind of you knowing that you’re on the way to a show. Thank you again so much for your time and we will see you out here. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to come and say hello.
Glenn : Well, why don’t you do that, Andrew? Let me know when you’re coming. Let somebody know and I’ll come and meet you and shake your hand.
Andrew : That would be lovely, Glenn. I would love that.
Glenn : Please come.
Andrew : Thank you. Have a great day.
Glenn : Same to you, Andrew. Have a good one. Thank you. Bye bye.
A huge thank you to John Howarth, Hardline Media and Glenn for the opportunity to chat.
