In 1973 Deep Purple were carrying on as the Mark 3 version with Glenn Hughes on Bass and David Coverdale on Vocals. They wrote and recorded “Burn” that year and released it in 1974. Glenn Hughes is celebrating 50 years of the album on tour. Glenn is a Rock Hall inductee, and he was blessed with an amazing voice and we spoke with him on his birthday, August 21st. So that is where we began our conversation.

From there we got right to speaking about the tour celebrating 50 years of “Burn.” We even ran down a lot of the tour dates. You can see all the dates on the tour here. Glenn spoke about living here in the US for most of his life now and he spoke about how it is very important to him to tour in the States. The band assembled in a 15th century castle to write the album. Glenn spoke about writing the album in the dungeon, in the crypt of the castle. “What happened there all those years ago?” a question that Glenn pondered. Glenn related how they came up with the album’s title track “Burn.” It was the last song written for the album. The band were discussing in a pub local to the castle, that they didn’t have an opening song. Glenn mentioned how guitarist Richie Blackmore said, “Why don’t we write a song called “Burn?” Then they headed back down into the crypt with that idea and their pints and in a couple hours had the song.

This is not a tour where the album is being performed live in its entirety. Glenn chose five songs from the album that he felt worked very well as live tracks. Glenn said the tracks from “Burn” would be the center of the set. But he also mentioned other Purple classics he would be performing, including “Stormbringer.” Glenn said at the time that he was in Deep Purple, it was a new band. At the time Deep Purple had replaced two prior members with Glenn on Bass and David Coverdale on Vocals. Glenn discussed how it gave the band a rebirth. “I think David and I brought the soulful, bluesier influence in, which Blackmore really wanted.”

We also did take some time to speak about the gear Glenn is using on tour. We discussed his vintage Wah Wah pedal, and his Orange amps. You can watch our conversation above and don’t forget to catch Glenn out on the road.

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