Glenn Hughes is ready to burn again — almost literally.
The singer and bassist’s current tour is celebrating “Burn,” his first album after joining Deep Purple 50 years ago. It was a challenging time, as Hughes and vocalist David Coverdale were coming in after the band’s “Smoke on the Water” success, but “Burn” hit No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 3 in the U.K. in early 1974, and the Coverdale-Hughes era of the band, dubbed Mk.III and (with guitarist Tommy Bolin) Mk.IV maintained the British group’s international stature as one of rock’s biggest acts — and led to Hughes’ induction with Deep Purple into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Purple period is only part of Hughes’ story, however. He was in Trapeze before that, and post-Purple he worked with Black Sabbath, California Breed Hughes/Thrall and Dead Daisies, among others, and is currently part of the all-star Black Country Communion. He is, nevertheless, happy to dig into those days in Deep Purple and feel the “Burn” once again…
• Hughes, 72, says that “it’s my honor” to celebrate the “Burn” album, which Deep Purple recorded during November of 1972 in Montreux, Switzerland. “I remember doing those songs back in the day and I’m in a different headspace these days, being sober for so long. No I’ve got the added bonus of people seeing me at my best, as it were; even at this age I’m doing better now than I’ve ever done vocally. So this is my homage to the band I was in, in this space I’m in now, playing these sons in a better frame of mind now.”
• The first concerts Deep Purple Mk.III played in the U.S. were at Detroit’s Cobo Arena shortly after “Burn’s” release in February of 1974. It was Coverdale’s first trip to the States, but not Hughes’. “Trapeze were quite popular in Detroit, actually. But those two (Deep Purple) shows, what I remember about them was it was the first two shows in America with the new band, and it was amazing for all of us. David and I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all being on that stage. We were welcomed by the fans and the band, and ‘Burn’ was a really big hit. It was fantastic.”
• Hughes was surprised to learn some years ago that he was considered for the frontman spot in Van Halen when David Lee Roth first left the band in 1985. “I was at Eddie’s house early in the 90s; he’s a good friend, and he was newly sober at the time, and he said, ‘Y’know, when Roth left we had a few names on a sheet of paper, and yours was one of them.’ I said, ‘Wow!’ He was a fan of Trapeze, and my tour manager managed Van Halen in the late 70s. He introduced Eddie and I and we became really fast and really close friends. I thought it was nice of him to tell me that, but they went with Sammy (Hagar), who was another good friend of theirs. I guess you never know what could happen.”
• Hughes recently departed from Dead Daisies but has recorded a fifth album with Black Country Communion, a band that also includes guitarist Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian. “I think this is going to be the last one, because we only make records every four or five years, and I don’t really want to be making records in my late 70s. I don’t think that’s gonna happen. So we probably want to go out on this grand and glorious fifth album. Joe’s telling me he wants to do shows this time around; It goes in one ear and out the other because I’ve had my heart broken before, but I hope we do because as a collective we are astonishingly great musicians and should play (live) a lot more than we have.”
• Hughes would also like to make one more of album of his own, which he may do next summer and then tour during 2025. “I have more work to do. I don’t want to be remembered as a guy who kept playing the old songs. I think I’ve got a new album in me. Inside of me lives a young man that is always pushing, creating. I write every day, even if it’s only a couple of lines or a couple of chords on the guitar. I want to get back to doing at least one more album and one more world tour as Glenn. I really want to make a homage to what Glenn is now, a songwriter that’s changed a lot, but I also want to make an album for me to go out and play for fans who want to hear me do classic rock. I have so many different kind of voices, so I want an album to have all of them.”
Glenn Hughes and Yngwie Malmsteen perform Friday, Sept. 15 at the Emerald Theatre, 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens. Doors at 7 p.m. Steve Ram opens. (586)630-0120 or theemeraldtheatre.com.
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