I must confess that it feels a little odd to be sitting opposite Ritchie Blackmore in a Connecticut restaurant.A little more than nine hours and 4,000 miles earlier, I had been stirred from a blissful slumber with a completely unexpected call from Metal Hammer’s editor.
Deep Purple’s retiring guitarist had requested our presence with a view to chatting about the band’s forthcoming ‘House Of The Blue Light’ album and tour, and when somebody like Ritchie Blackmore expresses interest in a chat, you don’t let paltry things like oceans get in the way.
So, here we are, the two of us, deep in conversation. With someone whose words are rare as this particular subject, I always try to cut out the waffle and give a flavour of what went down. "You don’t do many interviews, do you Ritchie?" I enquire.
"No, but to be quite honest that’s the way I like it," he grins. "I tend to be too honest, and the people from the record company don’t like it."
The guitarist has been based in the States since around 1974 when he evidently got stuck in the country and decided to remain here due to an assortment of reasons.
"Officially, it’s for the taxman, but there’s more to it than that," he reveals. "I can go to a club here and I don’t feel the tension. England’s built a lot more on tension and nervous energy. Here, people just wanna play, maaan, and take drugs and things. America’s good because they don’t have such a chip on their shoulder, but at the same time they’re not as creative as the Europeans. But in England there’s that situation of being the ice cream of the month. Certain bands are ‘in’ for a while and then quite suddenly it’s onto the next one."
Do you resent the way that the press has treated the band, then?
"I just don’t wanna read it anymore. I always knew we were gonna be knocked, but now it’s got to the point where they’ve knocked us so much that they can’t knock us anymore. So now they pick on everyone else and it’s great fun. I get a great kick out of it. I know this is gonna sound weird but sometimes there’s a part of me that [reads the criticism] and says, ‘Yeah, I agree with that. We shouldn’t have released so-and-so’. That’s party why I don’t do press receptions or go around as an ambassador for the band – I’m liable to agree with someone who says that the latest LP stinks.
"But I do think that the English music press has become incredibly humorous," he continues. "I was reading the Melody Maker the other day and there was this stuff about Paul McCartney. They were just crucifying him; the best composer we’ve had in the past hundred years. They were saying that he had too much money and he was overweight with this horrible wife. I can imagine them saying the same thing about Beethoven in his day."
"I don’t go around as an ambassador for the band – I’m liable to agree with someone who says that the latest LP stinks"
The last time I’d seen Blackmore in the flesh was in London. It was the night before Purple’s gig at Knebworth Park and he’d crept into the Marquee Club in Wardour Street to see Chariot. Though unannounced and decidedly low-key, he was still the subject of a flurry of attention. Does he get much opportunity to check out up ‘n’ coming new talent? "It’s great to be able to go to a club, but it gets a bit awkward when people come up and ask for my autograph," he sighs. "I just think, ‘Why?’ It’s great for showbiz people like Rod Stewart – he gets worried if people don’t ask him for his – but I’m really not into showbiz. I just like to think that I’m a kind of above average musician. "I don’t go to clubs to check out the opposition, that’s gonna show itself on record or on the radio sooner or later," he clarifies. "I just like to see a band playing and it’s almost like a childhood memory. You start to remember what it’s like to play in a small club and the good feelings of the time."
So those early days still hold fond recollections for him?
"Some of them," laughs Ritchie. "It’s nothing to do with whether or not I was starving at the time. The starving days were some of the best times, but sometimes I was playing with musicians that I hated. Some of them were complete snobs who thought that if you played rock ‘n’ roll you were too loud. Especially playing with Screaming Lord Such & The Savages; half the band were rock ‘n’ roll and half the band were jazz snobs. They used to drive me crazy. The happiest times were the days at the Star Club in Hamburg, 1955. They were some of my favourite experiences. I used to knock off the chambermaid when her fiancée would drop her off. Things like that used to make it."
What sort of bands does Ritchie listen to these days?
"I don’t listen to too many bands. I listen to individual players. At the moment I’m listening to a band called Mannheim Steamroller. They play Christmas carols, but in such a way that it’s really great. They’re like a synthesizer band with mandolins. There are some really incredible, gripping chord changes."
Is this man winding me up? I’m not sure. Does he still listen to much classical music?
"Yep, but not as much. People tend to term classical music as being from the 17th Century onwards, but I tend to listen to a lot of medieval music. It stirs the soul. I believe in reincarnation, so it must all kind of tie in. Not too many rock bands do it for me. I’ve heard it all before, but not as fast."
So what does he make of Metallica, for instance?
"I’ve heard of them, but I’ve not heard them yet," he admits. "I’ll catch the odd g...
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