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Would you be willing to play with the group's founding guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, who had a bitter split with the band in 1993, at the ceremony if you were inducted? 
Ian Gillan: Well, we are the living, breathing Deep Purple. This is the longest that any lineup has ever been together in this band. And it would be unconscionable to think about bringing Ritchie in. I don't have an issue with Ritchie, nor does anyone. I've been in touch with Ritchie recently and everything's cool, so there's no bitter, personal problem. We're too old for that and everything's in the past, but no. That would be out of the question. How insulting that would be to [current guitarist] Steve Morse, for example? So if that's the stumbling block, fair enough. Never the twain shall meet.Rolling Stone - August 7, 2014 [For the full article click here]  "Highway Star" relentlessly charges ahead like the car it was written about, taking no prisoners. 
Ritchie Blackmore: I wrote that out note for note about a week before we recorded it. And that is one of the only times I have ever done that. I wanted it to sound like someone driving in a fast car, for it to be one of those songs you would listen to while speeding. And I wanted a very definite Bach sound, which is why I wrote it outand why I played those very rigid arpeggios across that very familiar Bach progressionDm, Gm, Cmaj, Amaj. I believe that I was the first person to do that so obviously on the guitar, and I believe that that's why it stood out and why people have enjoyed it so much.Jon Lord worked his part out to mine. Initially, I was going to play my solo over the chords he had planned out. But I couldn't get off on them, so I made up my own chords and we left the spot for him to write a melody. The keyboard solo is quite a bit more difficult than mine because of all those 16th notes. Guitar World - June 17, 2014 [For the full article click here] Pat Travers played in 1981 together with Rainbow a co-headlining tour in the USA. He saw Ritchie before with Deep Purple.... 
Pat Travers: Ok, so I saw Deep Purple in Montreal when they we're touring for Machine Head. They were fricking awesome! Ritchie Blackmore kept throwing guitars about ten feet over his head whenever they went out of tune which was a lot. He had a "catcher" and another guy that put another white Strat in Ritchie's hands. He had three revolving Strats all white. How weird that not too many years later I would be touring with Ritchie and Roger Glover when they were in Rainbow together.Pat Travers on Facebook - April 3, 2014 Any plans relating to Alcatrazz? You reactivated the band name with a different lineup. Is that something that you have moved on from, or not? 
Graham Bonnet: I quit the band about five months ago, and I told them about this new band that I was putting together with my friends here. We had just got back from a successful tour in Brazil, and great reviews and all that kind of thing. They asked Do you want to leave this band, and do something else-really? I said Yes, its been thirty years of singing the same old songs. I think it is time for something new before I shrivel up and die... My Global Mind - March 28, 2014 [For the full interview click here] Do you feel that the two hit singles that you had with Rainbow has overshadowed the rest of your music career?
Graham Bonnet: Not really no. I am very grateful for "Since you've been gone" and "All night long". I mean what can you say, that really made my career. It is my career, it is what brought me back into the limelight again after disappearing for so many years. The Marbles had ended with the Bee Gees and we stopped recording with them. It was a breath of fresh air even though it was something that I wasn't used to, I thank Rainbow so much and Richie Blackmore for giving me the job. I never thought I would have it.My Global Mind - March 28, 2014 [For the full interview click here] I want you to be honest with me; did you ask Bobby Rondinelli to share with you Ritchie Blackmore-related stories? 
Axel Rudi Pell: (laughs) You know the first time I met Bobby Rondinelli he said to me 'you want to know Ritchie Blackmore stories?'. I said 'well, I know some of them'(laughs). You know everybody asks him about Ritchie Blackmore because as you know he used to play with him in Rainbow. Of course, I asked him a few things but not that much.Sakis Nikas, Rockpages Web Magazine Greece - March 2014 [For the full interview click here] Staying on the Blackmore case, do you think that he will ever return to rock music with an album or tour with Rainbow or Deep Purple?
Axel Rudi Pell: I dont think so... he is very happy with where he is right now musically. Personally, I dont see any chance of him returning to rock music... maybe, he will do one more final thing in the future with various singers and players but I dont think that it will be with Rainbow or Deep Purple.Sakis Nikas, Rockpages Web Magazine Greece - March 2014 [For the full interview click here] What is your favourite guitar track? 
Brian May: "Since Youve Been Gone". I suppose youd call it pop rock in a sense, but its uncompromising, you know? People dont talk about Ritchie Blackmore enough. I dont know why, but he was such a trail blazer and technically incredible unpredictable in every possible way. Its great. Thats what you love, isnt it? You go to a gig and you want to see something which is not predictable, which is not like just reproducing. So you never knew what you were gonna see when you went to see Purple, when Blackmore was in it, but also Rainbow. You know, this was his own thing and it was wild and dangerous.Planet Rock Radio - January 19, 2014 [For the full interview on You Tube click here] Playing on so many albums and working with so many great musicians, is there a certain time period, not counting Deep Purple, where you feel you had the most fun? 
Don Airey: 1980 with Rainbow. We had some huge hit singles and it doesnt get any better than that. Big crowds everywhere we went and it was a fantastic band. Roger Glover and Cozy Powell was an amazing rhythm section and Ritchie (Blackmore) was playing the best hed played since Machine head and we had Graham Bonnet, who was just such a brilliant front man. He was unique. We played Donnington and Ozzy was there and he said to me after that it was the greatest performance by a singer he ever saw. He said that to me subsequently 20 years later.Metal Shrine Blogspot - February 2014 [For the full interview click here] Why does Judy Garland sing through the guitar solo in "Spotlight Kid" on the 'Black Masquerade' CD/DVD? 
Doogie White: When we finished the gig I went out to the recording truck and picked up a VHS of the show. It is raw with camera panning rehearsals and no titles which were done post production. Just before Land of Hope and Glory Ritchie plays a whoop on his guitar synth through the tape machine and it carried on for a while. I always thought, foolishly, that that was the sound we heard but it is indeed the Judy Garland tape that the sound engineer forgot to turn off.The reason it remains on the DVD is that the show was recorded completely live and mixed live at the time. So nothing could be changed to fix any mistakes. The sound has clearly been remastered (not remixed) which brings out certain frequencies. Clearly Judy's voice was a highlight in Rainbow for many years. Deep Purple Fan Forum - November 2013  |