Roger Glover Rainbow Rising Rainbow Rocker Roger Glover isn't only a brilliant bass player. When he isn't making metallic music like Rainbow's current smash 'Since You've Been Gone' he can usually be found playing games. Roger, you see, is a maestro at chess, backgammon and a whole spectrum of electronic and board games. In fact his £ 400.000 mansion in Buckinghamshire is practically overflowing with the things. Roger -- who, this year, has been reunited in Rainbow with guitarist superstar Ritchie Blackmore after a break of six years -- told me about his fave hobby from America, where Roger is on the road for the first time since his days with heavy metal legends Deep Purple. Favourites "I love any games," says Roger. "Chess and backgammon are my favourites. It helps fill in the time when I get bored when we're touring. "I've also got about four tiny electronic games which I carry around in my suitcase. You can play them by yourself so you don't have to worry about finding a partner. "At home I've got a pinball machine and a one-armed bandit plus about 40 board games from scrabble right through to the really hard ones that are so difficult you almost need a degree to understand them." Roger is probably best remembered for his stint as bassist with metallic giants Deep Purple. When he left the band in 1973, he spent the next six years (before joining the Rainbow ranks) producing such successful acts as Status Quo, Judas Priest and Nazareth. "I left Purple because if I hadn't resigned I would have been pushed out anyway," he admitted Roger. At hat time Ritchie decided he wanted some new blood so I had to go. "But there were no hard feelings between us and I'm glad to be back working with him again. He's not an easy person to work with and sometimes he acts in a way that I just can't understand. "Then again, I'm not a genius like Ritchie. You have to allow for people like that. He's a very difficult person to get along with, but I've known him for ten years now and I know what to expect. Besides, he's a dream now, compared to what he used to be like. "I realise that this whole thing could end in disaster, but you only get out of life what you put in, and I'm willing to take the gamble." Roger is thrilled to be back onstage again, but he has his reservations about returning to the life of a rock'n'roll nomad. Creative "I get very restless," he says. "I'm a creative person and a lot of the time spent on the road can be very uncreative, even if it is fun. "I don't like living out of suitcases. And I'm not all that keen on a lot of the people you meet in this business. It attracts a lot of the less savoury members of society. You have to work hard to avoid them. "For instance we're a very clean living band - we don't take drugs or anything like that. There are lots of people who would just love to be your friends not because of who you are but what you are. I've learnt to spot them a mile off." Roger is in fact a family man - married with a wife and child, whom he misses when he's on the road. "I couldn't really take her with me though," he explained. You don't take your wife with you to the office, do you? My wife and I do have our ups and downs like any couple, and me going on the road doesn't make it any easier. It's just one of those things you have to live with." Roger will be back in England soon to play some dates, a fact that cheers him up no end. "There's no place like Blighty." And he's particularly pleased by the heavy metal revival that's currently taking place over here with bands like Judas Priest and rainbow themselves making the charts. "I think people are finally getting tired of disco." he says "They're beginning to see through its superficiality and lack of depth. People are bored and they want to see something with a bit of passion in it. The world seems to be rather in the doldrums at the moment, and people need something to be angry about, so they turn to angry music." But Roger isn't short sighted about Rainbow or the sort of music they play. No-one could accuse him of being just a 'headbanger'. Although he likes some heavy metal music. "I'd buy a Rainbow record, but not a Deep Purple one and certainly nothing by Black Sabbath" - he has very wide musical taste. "I'm actually very fond of classical music - Bach, Vivaldi and Chopin are my favourites. And I like West Coast people like Jackson Brown." Roger gets a chance to listen to his favourites en route between cities in rainbow's ultra-luxurious coach which actually has a lounge and bar installed in it. When he's not busy persuading some member of the road crew or the band to play games with him. Roger relaxes with a video or sits and writes lyrics. Of course travelling for weeks on and in a tin can with wheels can have its disadvantages. "If you add the artistic temperaments within a band, you know there just has to be friction. You just have to learn to put up with it. Whatever bad there is about the business - the good definitely outweighs it." © Andy John, Superpop - October 20, 1979 |