Since the late 1960’s, very few individuals over the course of music history have broken sonic barriers with such unforeseen levels of elite virtuosity, enduring excellence, and unrelenting passion quite like Glenn Hughes, the voice of rock.
In the truest sense of the term anomaly, Glenn Hughes continues to thrive as one of the world’s greatest vocalists; someone who could hit the highest possible notes and exudes melodic soulfulness through his songwriting and awe-inspiring live performances. With a catalog of material spanning five-decades, so many of Hughes’ greatest performances have occurred in the present with Black Country Communion, California Breed, Joe Satriani, his solo material, and beyond, which absolutely defies the status-quo.
Back in 1973, Glenn Hughes joined Deep Purple and helped the band stay atop of the world following the departures of frontman Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. Not only did Hughes fill two integral roles, his musical presence was distinctly felt on what’s defined as the Mark III and IV era’s of Deep Purple. Alongside fellow newcomer and co-vocalist David Coverdale, they broke conventional rock n’ roll wisdom and formed a genre-defining partnership that expanded the group’s classical foundation with elements of funk, soul, and blues on 1974’s Burn and Stormbringer and 1975’s Come Taste The Band.
I recently spoke with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer about one of this year’s most pivotal rock tours, which showcases Glenn Hughes celebrating the Mark III and IV era’s of Deep Purple. Classical Deep Purple Performed by Glenn Hughes will be performing at the legendary Stone Pony on August 28 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Throughout this conversation, Hughes provides us with such an insightful and comprehensive documentation of his time in Deep Purple, the late ’60s wave of British hard rock, and learning pivotal vocal techniques from Stevie Wonder.
Hey Glenn, how are you doing today?
Very well, thank you. And actually, what time is it here? It’s 10:25 in the evening (laughs).
Oh wow, I’m calling from the East Coast as we speak. It’s almost 3:30 over here.
Yeah, we have a seven-hour difference. This thing we’ll be talking about is taking me all across the world but I’m so damn excited to be coming to New Jersey, my brother.
Same here, I think the history and magnitude of your performance goes hand-in-hand with an legendary venue like The Stone Pony.
I think the venue is a decent-sized club and I think a lot of people will be there. And I think it’s going to be a great occasion. And as you may know, if you know anything about me, I love New Jersey! It’s one of my favorite places in the entire world. I’m hoping all of my fans will join us and I’m going to give them – in my opinion, the show of the year, if I may be so bold (laughs).
I love hearing that. Over the years, do you have a favorite New Jersey moment that stands out?
You know, I’ve played so many places and I just find that when I play in the tri-state area, especially New Jersey, they are so damn kind and so into the music. They are such great rock fans and so rowdy, they’re almost like South Americans and I’m very excited to play for them.
I recently saw you perform with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, which was phenomenal.
Well, there you go and there’s another wonderful example of a great venue that I played with Joe, of course, one of my dearest friends. I knew when I was playing that show in late January that I would be doing this tour but I couldn’t tell you guys until it was officially booked. We had been working on it all the way back to late January. So now, what I’m hoping and praying for is that all of the people who saw me perform with my friend Joe, and all of my beautiful fans in New Jersey will show up so I could see them, meet and greet with them, and look them in the eyes and let them know they are loved and thank them so much for all of the love and everything that they’ve given me throughout my career.
You mentioned how far back you’ve been rehearsing the Deep Purple material. How did you assemble your band and and what aspects of their styles are so compatible with the Mark III and IV sound?
When I start this American tour next week, I wanted to have musicians with me that truly understood the mechanics – the sounds, the vibes, and the tastes of Deep Purple’s Mark III and IV lineup. Let’s just say I needed these set of players to come in and take this with me to a place that it needed to be taken. The guys I am working with are fantastic and I brought in Jeff Kollman, he is someone I worked with 10 years ago.
If you know Jeff at all, he is such an incredible guitar player. I bought in Mike Mangan, the hammering specialist who I played with in Kings of Chaos, a band I have with Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, and Gilby Clarke. I brought in an incredible drummer from São Paulo, Brazil who plays with a similar style as Ian Paice. What I am trying to say to you brother is I wanted to have a classic sounding Deep Purple event. For me, it makes sense to have these fellows playing with me.
We’re approaching the 45th anniversary of when you joined Deep Purple. Could you take me through that transition in your career in-between Trapeze and Deep Purple? What was it like to be a part of a wave of bands where both yourself and your friends experienced such unprecedented levels of success worldwide?
I had seen my friends like John Bonham and Robert Plant experience success before I joined Deep Purple. I had seen my friends like Roy Wood from the Move and my friends Ozzy, Tony, Geezer, and Bill have success when I was in Trapeze. I had seen my friends in other bands have success, they were older than me, of course. You’re obviously not as old as I am. Before I joined Deep Purple, back in the late 60’s, I was around a lot bands who had already experienced success. I joined Deep Purple when I was twenty-years old, just turning twenty-one. I had done three or four tours across America with Trapeze and at the end of my run with Trapeze, I had sold out a few ten-thousand seat venues in some parts of America so I think I was ready to go when I joined Deep Purple. It was a great time for me to be enlisted in that band.
From what I have read over the years; Ian, Jon, and Ritchie went to see you perform in Los Angeles multiple times and that was your first introduction? About a year later, you officially joined the band?
You know what it was brother, when artists would play the Whisky a Go Go back in the day whether it was The Doors, Humble Pie, Trapeze, or whoever – it was a three or four-day run just like they used to have at The Bottom Line in New York. We were on a three-day run and one night, I saw Jon Lord in the audience and I said to my friend, “Oh my god, Jon Lord is in the audience! He loves our band!” The next night, Ritchie Blackmore showed up and I was like, “Oh my god, Ritchie Blackmore is here!” Every night, there was somebody in the audience. I didn’t realize that they were checking me out.
And about three-months later, Ritchie and Ian Paice came to see me at the Marquee Club in London. And about six-months later, we played the Whisky again and those guys were there again. I had no idea they were checking me out. For about a year, they came to watch me perform and when they asked me to join, I was still like, “Are you serious (laughs)!?” It was kind of weird but beautiful.
Could you describe what your first jam session was like after you joined the band? When you first played with Ian, Ritchie, and Jon; do you remember that moment and the synergy level in the rehearsal space?
Yes, I do. Very well. That would have been at Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire at the English and Welsh border, down there in the southwest country. We were in this castle, this 13th century castle. And we were in, get a visual my friend, the dungeon! We were in the dungeon set up with all of our gear. If you know anything about Richie, he loved that atmosphere. And we’re in the dungeon making this record, which would be called Burn. And let me just say this to you, there was some pretty spooky stuff going on down there. But it was a great vibe to be crammed into this greyish dungeon and to crank out this rock music, which you now know as Burn. It was pretty eventful, wasn’t it?
That’s unbelievable. The album cover, especially the burning candles, captures that medieval and dungeon style aura.
It was an album, if you could recall back in the day and I am not sure how old you are, but Deep Purple was a band that were at odds with each other. There were a few people who weren’t friends with each other. I don’t know, you could probably read into the stories. But when I came in, I joined about six-weeks before David. But when David and I came into the band, Richie, Jon, and Ian felt like we had become a new band again. They thought, “We have new guys coming in so it feels like a new band.”
There were no bad vibes, no resentment, no animosities, and just a deep sense of friendship and brotherhood back in 1973, what would have been August. When we down to the castle, Clearwell Castle and you could google it, it was a monumental experience because those songs wrote themselves in that dungeon. Those monumental songs from that album were written with no stress, just a lot of love, a lot of angst, a lot of aggression, and a lot of power.
In terms of developing your rhythmic chemistry and identity with Ian Paice, how would you describe his influence on the trajectory of your bass playing during the Mark III and IV Era?
Well, you know, I’m a different bass player than Roger Glover. He has a much different style than myself. I think I’m more of a groove-player although I do like to play a lot of runs and I think you might know that. Ian and I had a different relationship as a rhythm section. I think if you listen to Made In Japan and Who Do You Think We Are and you put Burn on, you will notice that the rhythm section had more groove going on down there.
It was a different angle for me because I had been playing more groove-oriented stuff with Trapeze so I had to get more into the Deep Purple vibe and I loved it. It was a different thing for me and Ian as well. As you know and as we all know, Ian is one of the greatest rock drummers of his generation. As you know, Bonzo was my best mate back in the day. It was very different for Ian to play with me.
Having joined the band before David Coverdale and once it was official that you two would become a vocal partnership, what were the first few sit downs and songwriting sessions like between you two in terms of establishing this new era of vocals for Deep Purple?
Great question and I’m not going to give you a normal answer. David had never really recorded music and had never really been in the studio before so when we were rehearsing and writing, I may asked him or suggested to him that, “Can you take this part and I will take that part? For this part, I’ll take it. Over here, perhaps we can take this part together?” I may have given him some leeway to feel comfortable and to feel free and feel a part of it because I had been doing this for a few years before he had gotten into it.
The vocal partnership as you could hear it on Burn, in my opinion, was a very strong and truly singing partnership. The only other bands with multiple singers at the time were Humble Pie and funny enough, would have been Three Dog Night and Crosby, Stills & Nash. And Deep Purple with David and I, we were two rock singers going at it together and really honing our craft and singing together with the same kind of vibrato. David had a thicker tone and I had a higher register but we had the same technique in our vibrato, which allowed us to sing lead vocals and background vocals.
On the title-track “Burn,” could you take me through the moment in the chorus where you both harmonize and hit those incredible choir-like notes? What was it like the first time you settled on that idea and decided that was where you going with the chorus?
The great thing about “Burn” and this is a great question, by the way. We had written the album and let’s just say we had written six or seven songs, I was down at the pub with Ritchie and he said to me, “We are one song short.” And he said this, “We need to write a song, I’ve got this vision of a song called “Burn,” okay?” So we went back to the dungeon and we had a discussion, all five of us. We picked the key of G and we just started hammering out some riffs. Ritchie came up with the da da da da da, it basically started with that riff. As soon as he started playing that riff, Paicey and I started playing the “da da da don.” It sort of came alive! It really started to chase itself.
Of course, then came the “Buuuuurn (Glenn hits the note).” It just wrote itself. “You know we have no time,” the part I wrote, it sort of molded together. I swear to god, that song was written in about twenty-minutes complete from top-to-bottom.
It’s just amazing to hear about the synergy in the room, especially considering that song’s virtuosity and orchestration. You could feel the live energy and why it has become such an iconic rock masterpiece.
You know what it is, brother, I really think knowing more about life now than I did back then, we truly willed that song. We wanted to write a song called “Burn.” We thought about it, we talked about it, and we said, “Let’s do it.” We weren’t frightened of it. Those guys I was working with – Blackmore, Paice, and Lord – my god, those guys could play! They could play like nobody else. And I’m playing with these dudes and their virtuosity was second-to-none. When you’re playing in that environment, they are pushing you and you are pushing them. Brother, there was no fear in Deep Purple. Zero fear. And that’s the way we made that record.
I think that fearlessness could be felt on a song like “Mistreated,” which is so bluesy and emotive. And that was one of the first pieces of music you wrote with Ritchie?
That’s the first piece of music and this was before David joined the band, I went to Ritchie’s house and he said, “Glenn, I’ve only got one piece of music that I have written for the album.” Of course, this was the album that we were going to call Burn but we did not know that yet. He said to me, “Let’s go into my study.” There was one guitar in front of me and another guitar in front of him. He picked the guitar up and played what was going to become “Mistreated,” like the da dum, ba dum. That groovy riff.
I knew when he played me that piece of music, I said to myself, “I think I’m home here. I think I’m going to be at home and I think this is going to be a good environment for me.” If you remember, I think “Mistreated” was much more bluesier than anything he had done before and it gave us a new direction. Especially comparing it to a major song like “Burn” which is in the “Highway Star” kind of mold. You throw in a song like “Mistreated and “Sail Away,” which are groovier and bluesier songs, it was a different attitude from Mark III to Mark II. Of course, we all love Mark II but Mark III was a little bit different. Burn was also a top-five album across the planet.
On “Sail Away,” your bass line really kicks that song into full-gear. What was the genesis of that bass line, that funk-ridden groove and how did that song come together?
This is probably something when I tell you about it, you will probably realize that it’s true (laughs). Of course, I was listening to a lot of groove music back in those days as you know. If you listen to it very very carefully and I’m laughing when I tell you this, if you listen to “Superstition” and put it next to “Sail Away,” guess where it came from (laughs?” Let’s just say I twisted the knob and brought my mentor’s influence, Mr. Stevland Wonder, into it a little bit. And there’s nothing wrong in that. I think it was a great song and I think “Sail Away” is a great song for Deep Purple. We added our own flavor to it. It’s a song that I love to play and one of my favorite Deep Purple songs to perform live.
You have maintained a really cool and longstanding friendship with Stevie Wonder. You guys met during the Mark III era and have been friends ever since.
We met when I was recording Stormbringer. I was in the bathroom taking a pee and he was in the bathroom taking a pee. I said to myself, “Oh my god, it’s Stevie Wonder!” I waited for him to clean up and afterwards, he came out and I asked him if he could come in the studio so I could play him a song called “You Can’t Do It Right (With the One You Love).”
I took him into the studio and David was singing something and David said over the microphone, “G, I told you that I don’t want to see any guests in the studio.” And David had these thick glasses on, they were bloody thick and he couldn’t really see who was there. And I tried to say something and he said, “I don’t care who it is! I don’t want any guests in the studio.” And I was like, “But it’s…” and David went, “I don’t give a fuck who it is.” Finally, I stopped him and said, “It’s Stevie Wonder (laughs)!” It was a funny story and you have to get a visual. I love Stevie very much and he has been my mentor forever.
Back then, Stevie passed along some advice in terms of your lungs and breathing that has been pivotal for you ever since.
Yes, he did. He taught me about long breathing. I know you’ve probably seen this, I know you have watched videos and I know you have seen artists perform and you have seen singers who sing pretty relaxed and they have great rock voices. I’m sure you have seen other rock singers who have the veins popping out of their necks and they’re pushing and really struggling. I’ve got this huge lung capacity based off what my doctors have told me. In fact, I have seen x-rays of my lungs and they are big. I’ve got this capacity to use the long breathing technique when I sing. And ever since I was a kid, I have learned to sing from the diaphragm.
And as you know, I’m sure you have seen this yourself, a lot of rock singers sing from the neck. And that is where a lot of people have problems. Stevie taught me how to never sit down down when I’m singing. He also taught me to never lift your head up and he taught me how to breath and relax my throat, relax myself, and to be calm. And I want to thank him for that because he saved my life.
Without question, that’s so important. Proper technique combined with his advice and encouragement changed your life.
It really did. And yes, I was in Deep Purple, which is one of the top rock bands of all-time. You know, I have a lineage of friendship with guys like David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, and other great artists who weren’t so much rock artists. But I’ve always grown from that and I’ve brought myself back into the rock world, as you know with Black Country Communion and all of the things that I have done in the rock genre since.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR7_r9aZgiI
Being a Hall of Famer now, I have learned so much from being in Deep Purple and so much from what I did in Deep Purple and so much from my what voice did alongside David’s voice. We had such an incredible partnership and we had wonderful times singing these songs. I’ve always enjoyed seeing a couple of guys sing in bands. When I sing with Joe Bonamassa, it’s the same kind of thing. Brother, I love sharing the mic with other singers. Some singers don’t like to do it but I do.
On the topic of Stormbringer and even a track like “Love Don’t Mean A Thing,” there’s some great back-and-forth between yourself and David on there. Could you take me through the inception of that song and the transition of writing and recording Stormbringer?
These songs were written in stages. If I may be honest with you, you may look into Stormbringer and notice that Ritchie’s name isn’t really listed as much in the credits. Let’s just say he was thinking about leaving at the time and the ball was thrown into my court with David and Jon. So we came up with “Hold On,” “Love Don’t Mean A Thing,” “You Can’t Do It Right (With the One You Love),” and “High Ball Shooter.” Things were changing even though Ritchie was thinking about leaving. And “Holy Man,” of course. We got a chance to dig that up and write it. We couldn’t make Machine Head Part Two, you know that because it’s impossible. We couldn’t write In Rock Part Two. We were Deep Purple Mark III and we had just done Burn and we couldn’t make Burn Part Two. We were developing into something else and I love Stormbringer by the way, it’s one of my favorites.
In terms of writing and collaborating with Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin, Tony Iommi, and Gary Moore; what would you say is your biggest takeaway working with guitarists of that caliber?
All of those fellows you just mentioned and as you know brother, everyone in life has a different agenda. I have been very fortunate to work with some of the greatest guitar players in the world and they are all different. When you are working with them, you have to get into their headspace and just be a part of it and just flow with it regardless of the situation. I am very honored, humbled, and grateful to have worked with and to have been writing partners with each one of those fellows.
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