Face-to-face backstage, Glover was a casually dressed, quiet, very articulate gent with reading glasses hanging from a chain around his neck.
We sat down for a chat with Glover before a concert in San Francisco this past August (see our review here). It’s a bloody oversight but anyone who’s really listened to the man can hear his ferocity, thumping groove and technical daring in Les Claypool, Victor Wooten, Reed Mathis and many more. When the great electric bassists of the past 50 years are rattled off, Roger Glover’s name is often conspicuously absent. There’s a startling lack of nostalgia because this music remains very much alive for them, fueled by steady touring and a sharp refusal to rest on their laurels. While Led Zeppelin may be getting barrels of ink for their solitary reunion show, Deep Purple has been marching around the globe for close to four decades, warmly embracing their beloved back catalog but also moving forward and creating new chapters with a determination most young bands would envy. They just look like they’re having way more fun now. The primordial muscle that drove monsters like “Highway Star” and “Woman From Tokyo” like a steel spike into our collective conscience remains fully intact. What’s more, there’s a consistency and naked joy to their music making now that’s sometimes been muddled by drama and ego in the past.ĭespite many of them approaching senior discount status, it’s abundantly clear the minute they start playing that Deep Purple doesn’t intend to give an inch to ANY hard rock band. While many might (and do) argue for the sanctity and brilliance of the classic lineup with founder/guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and keyboardist Jon Lord – both instrumental alpha males of the highest order – one has only to listen to today’s Purple to know they’re every bit as switched on and capable as any time in their history. They’ve gone on to release nearly 20 studio albums and innumerable live collections with multiple lineups, always staying true to an aesthetic that helped give birth to the descriptors “hard rock” and “heavy metal.” Since 2002, Deep Purple has consisted of Dixie Dregs shredder Steve Morse (guitars), Don Airey (keys) and foundation members Ian Paice (drums), Ian Gillan (vocals) and Roger Glover (bass). Not bad for a little rock combo that started in the backwater of Hertford, England in 1968. The four-notes that open the song may be the most widely recognized riff in popular culture. On June 3, 2007, Kansas City classic rock station KYYS gathered together 1,683 guitarists to simultaneously play Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water” and beat the previous Guinness Book World Record.
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