DEEP PURPLE, the "founders" of hard rock music, are returning to Greece as part of their European tour, for a unique appearance on Friday, July 7, at Rockwave Festival!
Few days ago, we had the opportunity to speak with Roger Glover, the legendary bassist of the British rock stars, who promise us an unforgettable musical night filled with lot's of their anthems.
On the night of July 7, 2023, Deep Purple are coming to Terra Vibe Park, to prove that they keep their promises!
ROCKWAVE FESTIVAL 2023: DEEP PURPLE Live @ Terra Vibe Park, Friday 7 July 2023, Terra Vibe Park
RockOverdose: Mr. Glover hello and welcome on RockOverdose.gr! It's a great honor to host you! Where do we found you at the moment? What are you up lately?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Hello! Thank you very much! We are on a tour actually, right now we are in Sao Paolo - Brazil and we are doing some festivals and some gigs and we've been actually working since February. We've got some changes although, I don't know if you're aware of that ... Steve Morse has suddenly retired from the band, just from touring not from music, he will still write music with us for sure, you know he couldn't commit more on touring with us. So we have a new guitarist in the band, Simon McBride and it feels like when you change one recipe ... it tastes different, so Simon has brought a new feeling in the band and that's very exciting!
RockOverdose:Would you like to tell us how did you choose your new guitarist?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well, before 4-5 years ago Don Airey gave me listen to a song by Simon McBride and I said "Wow, this is good!". He's been in Don's band on the last 7 - 8 years and Simon has also his band for a long time as well, so when this situation came up and we needed a guitarist it didn't seem looking anywhere else because he was so good. Someone asked why you didn't chose one more famous, that's the wrong question... Fame is something that you don't need to be good, Simon is a great guitarist and when he plays with us we're blowned away!
RockOverdose: We'd like your opinion on "Turning to Crime" covers album... Most look up to Deep Purple for inspiration, do you feel it was the time to look up to someone's too from your side?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well, we don't think like that. The way we make music is like that: We get together and we jam, which is play and see what comes out! This is somehow like a discovery for all of us, between us all. The chemistry of the band when we play all together is from where all that happens. That's how we've written songs ever since I've been in the band, since the 60's! It's a musical band so everything starts from the music and ends up being a song, but the music comes first. During the pandemic we couldn't travel, and we all live in different parts in the world so it became imposible to write songs! We can't write songs unless we're all together! So we thought about doing a covers album and use not written by the band but previously recorded by other artists. We had 50-60 songs to chose from and we voted which to finally do. It was a lot of fun to do it!
RockOverdose: Deep Purple has been in our lives as long as we start remember ourselves... What keeps the band motivated and being creative all these years? How much do you push yourselves doing all that?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well, I'd like to point up that rock music is a totally different thing than pop music. We write rock music to express ourselves not to be succesfull or famous, or anything! Our music is not designed to sell or to be commercial. That's the big difference. Pop music is like a product, the whole reason behind it is to sell records but we are more into expressing ourselves artisticly in music. Mostly hard rockers are writers and performers, that's what we do. We don't chase television, we don't chase headlines or publicity, we are just who we are and it's simple really.
RockOverdose: Of course you have lot's more to give to music!
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Music is infinite! There's no end to music. We like discovering things ourselves, we learn all the time, we're still learning about music.
RockOverdose: Does Deep Purple plan to create a new album?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Yes we are! We 've had writing sessions as we're together and we just get around some ideas, riffs, choruses ...whatever it is. We listen to them, have another writing session to chose what we like the most and then we're going to make the new record. It's quite straight forward, it's been the same way since the 60's. So yes, we had a couple of writing sessions, now we are on tour, then we're gonna take a break and then we get in studio and see if we can make the record. I don't know when it would be finished maybe this or next year. I can't look into the future anymore than anyone else can.
RockOverdose: After almost 12 years you return back in Greece! How do you feel? How do you describe your relation with the greek audience through all these years?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): It was about time! Greek audience is famous for being emotional and crazy! They're great! Any chance to visit Greece is always a good opportunity for us and I can't believe it's that long since we've been there!
RockOverdose: So, what should we expect from your performance here?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well I don't know what people expect from us, you should ask them... What we expect? Well, we don't actually have expectations, I don't like expectations .. I'm just happy that the ship of Deep Purple is still floating.
RockOverdose: Are you going to play any new song maybe?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): I don't know! Maybe!
RockOverdose: What about your memories from our country, in general?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Sunshine, warmhearted people and great fans, that they have sense of music! There are so many I love about Greece, great food! You know, it's a nice fortune for us because we travel the world playing our music and I've never thought while I was a kid I would get to America but here we are, we travel the world constantly. It's a wonderful thing, everyone should be in a band!
RockOverdose: Well, Roger you've a great career... Which do you think are some of the most important momments of it?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well, this morning when I woke up is important for me! There were many momments shaping my career, meetings with people, albums and stuff... but the most importand thing is just the existence. That's what I do, being on tour and waking up the next day well.... it's very important! Life is above all!
RockOverdose: Of course! Health and Life is important!
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Yes! I can't pick up one momment! Since the first time I heard Little Richard and Chuck Burry that's such important as everything that happened ever since!
RockOverdose: Would you like to leave a message to your fans, especially here in Greece?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Well, we're lucky enough to have some of the most loyal fans, especially in Greece. The audience there is always fantastic. It's about time to come back and I'm surprised it's been so long! So we're looking forward for it very much!
RockOverdose: What about your personal plans?
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Out of Deep Purple I'm a great believer of not making plans. Because when you have a plan it's like a struggle, it's a fight to stick to the plan. I prefer not to plan but have happy surprises. I have a family and it's of course the most important thing in my life, we're on the road so much that when I get home that's the thing I care about most, to see my children, my family. Actually, one new thing is that I'm writing a book right now, my life story and all I have to do is to remember it ... It's hard cause tt's been a busy life! At some point next year it's going to be published I think, there' too many things to write down!
RockOverdose: So, Roger I would like to thank you very much for your time! We'll see you soon in Greece! Stay safe!
Roger Glover (DEEP PURPLE): Thank you very much! I appreciate that!
For RockOverdose,
Zisis Petkanas
ROCKWAVE FESTIVAL 2023: DEEP PURPLE Live @ Terra Vibe Park, Friday 7 July 2023, Terra Vibe Park
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