STEVE MORSE

DAVID LEE Before we head into the band stuff, I heard that you got married. Are there any little guitar players in the offing?

STEVE MORSE I have a son from my previous marriage and he is seven and I have two stepsons that are nine and ten.

DL Do you get a chance to take them out with you?

SM I have never taken them all out but, Kevin has gone to Europe with me, on this last leg. I tried to bring him up for this Northeast leg but their school has already started.

DL I remember a day in the music biz when you would mention having kids or starting a family and people would just say "Never!"

SM Yeah, I have reached a point where I sort of see that life does not go on for ever!(laughs)

DL Having progeny at least gives you a sense of immortality if only in the sense of being a memory.

SM Yeah. You can do that with music and writing and stuff but in real life, my son is just the biggest deal.

DL Was that a Major life change, having children?

SM Actually, I haven't really seen too much. I have always been pretty responsible.

DL And it shows! Especially in some of your other responsibilities like this new DEEP PURPLE record for instance.

SM I really enjoyed that.

DL I have been a huge DEEP PURPLE fan for years and when Ritchie left I was more than a bit curious as to what the band would sound like and from my perspective it has all seemed to work out wonderfully.

SM I think that it just came about by them wanting to be adventurous and saying "Hey, let's have somebody completely different." I think that a lot of it is that they are so open minded. The reason that they got into the band to begin with and were pulled in from other bands is because they are all really good and their talent just shines. I guess they are just really relaxed with the new situation.

DL It has been four or five years now.

SM Yeah, over four years.

DL So you all must feel fairly settled in. Is the honeymoon portion of the relationship over now?

SM(Laughs)We don't always stay on the road. We just go out in big sections and then we are off for a while. It is very exciting all the time.

DL And as if they didn't keep you busy enough, you also managed to fit in a solo tour earlier this year. The solo gigs are something that you are obviously keeping going.

SM Yeah. In fact, if DEEP PURPLE would give me a little bit more notice on touring and stuff I would do a bit more of the solo stuff but that is just one of the hazards of being in a band that is big enough to actually have elements of a bureaucracy in it.(laughs) Slow communication and one end doesn't know what the other is doing.(laughs)

DL I remember reading an interview where Ian Gillan said that the band is "The most unorganized band in the world."

SM In some ways but, in some other ways it is the most streamlined organization. Communication is difficult with everybody living in different countries.

DL What is it like to be the only American in a British band?

SM It's no problem at all because we think alike on most issues and I have been to England for so many weeks of my life and they have been to LA so often that we don't seem like we are so different. We, mostly, go into other countries where none of us can speak the language and that is a great bonding force as well.

DL Has the fact that DEEP PURPLE is such a large international band had a positive effect on your solo stuff in terms of sales?

SM Well, I think it would if most of those countries were not counterfeiting records. Then it would help me but, at the moment... In Japan there is noticeable help but I guess the real payoff will be when I can do gigs in those countries. I find a lot of my records and DEEP PURPLE stuff that is counterfeited. Especially in India, Russia and Central America there are a lot of counterfeits.

DL That is just straight out counterfeits and not live bootlegs where someone has recorded a concert from the audience?

SM Yeah, exactly. They go and buy one real copy and that is the research and development costs to them!(laughs) It is so easy with digital technology. The countries that I mentioned do not even prosecute so they(the counterfeiters) can do it with impunity. In fact, they distribute them in stores.

DL I think that people tend to forget that though you are an artist this is how you feed your family.

SM Well, I have never depended on the records for anything. If I had I would have been let down. Records have really been a form of communication, for me, and not really much in the way of income but I do think that it is important to do them. It is just like putting interesting content on a web site. People don't get paid for it, usually, but it keeps people coming to it.

DL Someone described their records to me as signposts of where they were at that particular point in time.

SM Yeah, yeah.

DL You have a lot of those sign posts in your career. KANSAS, THE DREGS, SOLO and now DEEP PURPLE. Is there any plan to this progression or has it all just flowed by chance and desire?

SM That is where I am at! Like this record that I am wrapping up now with an likely collection of guitarists contributing one song each that would fall into the "classical" category. People like Dweezl Zappa and Marty Freedman and Trevor Rabin, Albert lee and Steve Howe.

DL This sounds like a Magna Carts deal.

SM No, it is Wyndham Hill actually. Some of it is acoustic and some electric. I remember the early "Switched on Bach" recording with synthesizer and that really turned me on to Bach even more than I already was and I guess that is why I believe in this so much as a good idea.

DL Did you do a Bach piece?

SM (Laughing)Actually, I did a Handel piece! I figured that everyone was going to choose Bach but I don't think that anyone did. It was such an obvious one, for rock and rollers especially. It is very much like a Bach piece.

DL The reason that Magna Carta came to mind was their "Steinway to Heaven" disc that was very similar to this but with keyboardists instead of guitarists.

SM Right before I left on this tour they sent me a tape where I was supposed to play "Tarkus" and the only problem was that there was nothing on the tape other than bass and drums! I was like "What? Am I supposed to play all of Keith Emerson's stuff?" It was the day before I was leaving and they just said "Just do it. It will only take you an hour or so."(laughs) I had to pass on that one because I just couldn't do a good job in that amount of time.

DL DEEP PURPLE has dodged the label of "Metal Band" for years but since you have come into the group I have seen the phrase "Progressive Rock" used frequently. Is DEEP PURPLE a progressive rock band in your estimation?

SM I don't know. I hope so. I don't see any easy label for this band other than "Rock Band." The more you get beyond that the more exceptions that you find. Like you can say progressive but we do "Smoke on the Water" which is not a progressive song. Then you say "Metal" well, yes but then we do "Fingers to the Bone" which is not metal. So, there is a clash there.

DL The mainstream press has never had much to say about the band in a positive light. Does it get to you when you either read a negative review of your work or one of the endless comparisons to Ritchie Blackmore?

SM Sometimes. I don't like seeing any kind of review where it is really biased, either good or bad. We had a really good one the other day and even though it was good I felt like they were a little bit biased. They were putting down ELP and I would just prefer everything to be judged by what it is. If they can come up with good reason, then I can take any kind of criticism and learn from it but when people just blast. When they just say "This is crap." I don't know why but I just hate that. I could sit here and try to analyze it but I just really hat when somebody dismisses something that really has a lot to it as self indulgent just because it isn't simple, angry and faddish sounding. I don't get that much bad press so, I guess it does make a big impact when I do.

DL I don't see self indulgence as being a bad thing, do you?

SM No, not at all. In fact when I go to see a race, I like to see somebody that is smooth driving and skillful but I don't mind at all if they are driving a car that has a lot of horsepower and accelerates quickly. Yes, there is not as much skill, in terms of finesse, but horsepower is impressive as long as that is not all that there is. You can see somebody drive a bus smoothly and with finesse but it is not as much fun to watch. I think that it is a combination of the artistic, that is the smooth part, and having some tools to work with, the horsepower. That makes it an exciting show. When somebody says that you don't need those tools to be artistic well, that is true but I guess that I am just one of those people that likes a great movie but especially, a great action movie.

DL How did someone manage to put together such an incredibly talent heavy bill with yourselves, ELP and DREAM THEATER, and how is it working out?

SM It is working out good. The idea was, of course, to put together a tour in flexible venues. These are the venues that you are looking at selling the seats and then if something happens and you have huge demand then you have room to expand outwards with all of those lawn seats. It is a nice flexible way of doing it and, of course, the promoters are hedging their bets by taking this because there are three acts. Although they all do draw from a similar audience. It is working out real good and we have had some really good attendance. It is different for all the bands. DREAM THEATER, they get a lot more people showing up than most opening bands but they don't get a full house and nobody gets the full 100% attention that they are used to when they do gigs by themselves which is very interesting.

DL Do people ever heckle you?

SM No, never a bit.

DL You are very lucky because there always seems to be one heckler in every crowd when I see a show.

SM I think in Ritchie's hometown, in Germany, one drunk guy disrupted the show. He would have been dead if he had ever shown his face because he hurled some stuff and took off.

DL Do you mean physical stuff or verbal?

SM Yeah! Physical stuff.

DL I think that I read about another incident you had where people were spitting at you to show you how much they liked you!

SM Yeah! Chile. That is also the same show that was on the video "The worlds greatest censored Disaster." One of those $20. For the tape plus $20. for shipping and handling deals. It shows something collapsing at a show?

DL Oh yeah! They climbed a tower and it fell over or something, right?

SM Those crazy idiots! They crashed the gates, it was full already, and there was no place for people to be so they climbed up on top of the tower where the PA was and it collapsed onto the people below. After they sorted out the bodies and determined that nobody got killed, we played the show! There were these crazy guys up front and this one guy in particular would spit every time I had my eyes closed. The guy could spit like a llama! I mean, he had amazing distance. Everybody around thought nothing of it. It was like "O.K. he is getting spit on. That is cool." I did not take it as a compliment and I just kinda lost it.

DL Did you go down and have a bit of a conversation with him?

SM Well, I asked the security people to go down and put a stop to it and all they would say was "Pick, you give me pick?" And I would say "No! Stop this guy!" And they would just say "You have pick?" So, we had a bit of a communication problem. When I finally got my hands on the guy reaching over the security guys all decide to grab me! So now I cant do anything and the guy has his hands around my neck and people are tearing stuff off of me that I have collected around the world, like necklaces and bracelets and stuff. So, I am being looted while I am being choked by the guy who was spitting on me! It was crazy! My guitar was just laying on the stage ringing. At least I waited until the last song was over!(laughs)

DL That was nice! At least you didn't stop in the middle of "Hush" or something!(laughs)

SM Yeah! I waited to do my stage dive right toward the guy!(laughs)

DL So, everybody else on that gig is sending home pictures of themselves on the beach and you are sending shots of your neck with fingerprints on it and covered in spit!

SM No! On the way out I just grabbed a bottle of some kind of booze and just doused myself with it for a kind of disinfectant!(laughs) And then I poured a jug of water over myself and got on the bus. Everybody was like, "What happened to you?"

DL The guys in DEEP PURPLE seem like the types that would haze you a bit if they were given the chance. Did they bust your chops at all when you first joined the group?

SM Naw, not at all. They were very polite and very helpful from the very first show. Nothing like that at all. I think that they had enough bad stuff happen to them before inside of the band. Bands learn, bands that were big in the seventies, that when you throw furniture down a corridor and it smashes that it is not O.K. and some of the members that may have done something like that are no longer there. Everybody learns and these guys have touring down to a science. There is no friction at all really. Basically, if somebody wants to vibe down the dressing room they are, pretty much, instantly ostracized. Especially right before the show it is "Forget you worries. We are going to go and have a good time."

DL Cool.

SM That is very cool.

DL That attitude seems to come across on the recorded work as well. "Purpendicular" knocked me out when I heard it and the new record is more of the same. It seems that everyone is having a great time and that wasn't always the case before.

SM Yeah, yeah I agree. Everything was picked according to how it felt first. Then Ian would write the lyrics with Roger. Ian Paice is a big part of the feel of the band because he swings at the same time he is playing the rock stuff. It is a very hard to describe thing, what he does. He has a lot of subtlety and that subtlety adds beauty to the feel that I just can't describe very well but I love it.

DL Ian Paice would seem to have such mastery over what little equipment that he uses that it would be very strange to see him behind a big fancy drum kit. He is an absolute professional but boy can he rock!

SM I agree. I mean, Carl Palmer does a great job at involving the audience in the drum solo and making a real good show out of it, he has real good technique too, but, Ian is just so cool! It is like a different level. I didn't mean to compare them but I just love the way Ian does it. He is kind of inconspicuous and laid back.

DL Having three bands, each filled with amazing talents, has there ever been talk of some kind of jam at the end of the night?

SM Actually, no because DREAM THEATER is only playing forty minutes and ELP is playing an hour less than they want to and DEEP PURPLE is playing forty-five minutes off of our set so, everybody is feeling like they are already cutting out some of their favorite stuff just to make the deadline. There isn't much time to screw around.

DL With the advent of the Internet it is a bit anti-climactic as far as set lists go because I can punch up your set list from last night and have a good idea of what you will play. I do notice that there is a considerable amount from the new record and that has got to make you happy.

SM Yeah that does feel good. I like that but, I do know what you mean about the Internet. That is one of my things about bootlegs too, I mean, the show is for the people who came. It's just like, I don't want to see the end of a movie before I watch it in the theater. I just don't want to know what the ending is.

DL Where would you like to see DEEP PURPLE's music go in the future?

SM Kinda what we are doing is great for me. To play the world, relax for a while and do my thing with my band and do another record that we like. We don't really have any pressure on that frontier. The records are kind of like when the record is done the manager holds it up and says "Does anybody want to bid on this?" It is something like that. I don't know what the exact mechanism is but there are different deals in different countries that all add up to pay for the production. It is a nice time to be in a band.

DL That kinda encompass my outro question, "Is it still fun?"

SM Exactly! I don't want to do it too much to the point where it is not fun. That is the only danger, the only down side that I have ever felt from DEEP PURPLE is that some of the legs have been a little bit too long and I have been counting down the days until I get to go home more than I ever have. But, the bottom line is, every show is just a blast!

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