www.fitzgeraldsnightclub.com
F R I D AY, A U G U S T 1
Premier Steely Dan Tribute Show
Deacon Blues
S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 2
In The Sidebar
Bill Kirchen plus
Scott Ligon & Casey McDonough as the Letter 2
F R I D AY, A U G U S T 8
Featuring Michael McDermott & Heather Horton - 10pm
The Westies
plus Callahan 8pm show
S AT U R D AY, A U G U S T 9
Those Darn Accordians
The Polkaholics
T U E S D AY, A U G U S T 1 2
Voicebox with Cathy Richardson
T H U R S D AY, A U G U S T 2 1
Best New Artist 2014 Blues Blast Magazine
John Hoyer & The Shadowboxers
F R I D AY, A U G U S T 2 2
Blues Night!
IE: Tell us more about the album, please.
RG: After Rapture Of The Deep, I was not happy
with the sound of that album. But, we all carried on and forgot about that. We were too
busy touring to even think about it. I think it
was five years after the release of that album
that we started talking about creating a new
record. We started touring again, and we
thought about a year later we should get
started. But everyone was telling us don't
bother. No one buys albums anymore. Get with
it, and release a single on the Internet once in a
while, but all of that is not really us. We are a
dyed-in-the-wool album band. To me, albums
from a band like us are more or less like the
state of the country. What is the state of the
band? They are a measure of where the band
is at that time. A lot of the album is down to
Bob Ezrin, the producer. He came to see us play
in Toronto three years ago or so. He came back
stage and we were not particularly looking for
him to produce our next record, although he
was one of the names that had been bandied
about. Frankly, I never thought he would consider being our producer. But, he came backstage and we had a meeting. He said he loved
the band, he loved what we did on stage, the
freedom and the flow of our music. He liked
the ad-lib nature and quality of it. He said he
wanted to capture that in the studio. When we
recorded the album we recorded it pretty much
live. At least, the 4 of us did. We added the vocals on later. Instrumentally what the four of us
played is what stayed on that record. The solos
and vocals were overdubbed, but other than
that we had very few additions. It's a very raw
and bare record. I think that is what gives it its
freshness, and that is really down to Bob Ezrin.
He was very enthusiastic about the live nature
of the band and its musicianship. We are not a
band that writes songs to be recorded; we are a
band that writes songs to be performed. I think
that is crucial to the sound of the record. The
album sounds great to me, and that was my
priority.
IE: Robert Fripp of King Crimson has said
about his band, "It is always the same and it is
always changing…" I guess the same could be
said about Deep Purple, right?
RG: Yeah, sure. I think Robert Fripp is quite
right. Change is necessary. People, in general,
are always scared of change. Not necessarily
musicians or bands, but people tend to fall into
this security hole and stick with it. Change is
good. Your skin changes every few years. Your
body changes. Everything changes, and yet,
some things do stay the same. We're still the
hard rocking band that we were. I think we are
arguably a better band than we were in the
past. I don't know if that is true, but I enjoy
what we are doing now, very much. And, probably more than I did in the 1970s. I relish going
on stage now.
IE: How difficult was the transition after keyboardist Jon Lord left? He was really a cornerstone to the sound of the band and one of the
last original members. Was it hard to re-group
after he departed?
RG: Strangely enough, no. Don Airey stepped
into the role extremely well. I can't think of anyone better equipped to take on the role of Jon
Lord. The first time he played with us, we
knew. I have known Don since Rainbow. I was
in Rainbow with Don and I knew what kind of
musician he was. He is a wonderful musician;
full of every kind of influence you can think of.
He's a great jazz player; he plays a lot of classical stuff, and yes, he knows how to really rock
out. That's a rarity. The first time he played
with us was when Jon was ill. Jon had a bad
knee and couldn't do a tour or the start of a
tour. He had to step out for four dates in Scandinavia. We had very little time to rehearse and
after the first date with Don I told him he had
done great. He said he had tried to be Jon Lord
at first, but after twenty seconds realized he just
had to be himself. He could not have said anything better. The same thing applied to Steve
Morse when he joined the band. When someone replaces someone, to make that person an
exact replica is not the way to go. Don brought
a new freshness to the band; he has a great flair
for soloing. He is very adaptable. After a couple of albums with him he had really secured
himself in the band. He is very adept at making
Continued on page 46
Billy D & the Hoodoos
plus The Blue Coast Band
Reunion Show
The Skid City Blues Band
S AT U R D