MARK CLARKE Let It Rock Interview There were two very short stints with a couple of great bands in your career, URIAH HEEP in 1971, and RAINBOW in 1977. Is it true that Gary Thain re-recorded your parts in the former group – and did you record anything with the latter? As for RAINBOW… It's so strange because just like the day COLOSSEUM passed on URIAH HEEP to me, so did Ritchie Blackmore. The very day I decided to knock NATURAL GAS on the head, within two hours the phone rang, and there was Ritchie. He came right out with "Do you want to join RAINBOW"? I was in shock but after about a minute I said, yes. Within a week, I was living in LA, and I don't remember how long we were there, but it was many months. From there we went to Paris, The Chateau [studios], for about two months. This is where we had our falling out that lasted about ten years, but now I consider him, when I see him, a friend. By the way, that was the "Kill The King" LP (the record's called "Long Live Rock ‘n' Roll" – DME), and I'm also on just two tracks on that. Why didn't you stay with either of the ensembles? Why did I quit? With the HEEP it was just plain old "I was fucking shagged out" and felt as if I was about to blow up. With Ritchie, it was the music: I didn't like it. Where do you think Blackmore heard you play? Well, he knew of me from COLOSSEUM and then, in LA, from NATURAL GAS. We rehearsed in the same studio, Pirate Sound. It was the old Columbia Pictures lot; it's where they filmed "The Wizard of Oz". In fact, the yellow brick road was right under our stage, I remember walking on it. © Let It Rock, DMME.net - December 2006