GLENN HUGHES "I DON'T BOW DOWN TO THE GOD OF MONEY"
Recently, Music Street Journal conducted an interview with legendary vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, TRAPEZE). Fewf excerpts are follows:
Music Street Journal: Why now are you getting back to your funk roots?
Glenn Hughes: People remember me from DEEP PURPLE and people remember from the harder stuff, but before DEEP PURPLE there was TRAPEZE and that was a really funky. It's a cross between British hard rock and classic American funk. And that's what Glenn Hughes has really been all about. And you know, I'm making a new record for myself hoping that my audience will go with that. And you know people around the world are understanding the Glenn Hughes funk thing. I mean they really…there aren't too many white guys that understand funk music. And I'm one of the guys that really understands that musical format. I can't help myself. I was born to play that kind of music. Traditional classic hard rock is kind of straight and boring. I like to sort of throw some funk in there.
Music Street Journal: You've been in this industry for quite some time now. You've gone through different genres. What's more satisfying for you as a musician? Being the big marquee name or doing it for yourself and other players?
Glenn Hughes: I don't bow down to the god of money. For me, the song is all important. The song is how I bring it and how I create it in the studio and take it to the stage. My fans demand new songs, they don't want to see me singing DEEP PURPLE songs all night. I love the process of writing a song. I love what it does to me as a human being. So the marquee thing is great. I'm ex-DEEP PURPLE. Can't get away from it. Kind of happy. And you got to come from somewhere and DEEP PURPLE is a great start. It's like…a two sided coin. I'm a solo artist and I was once part of a really massive band. I really like the fact that I'm forging my new style back onto people.
Music Street Journal: There have been rumors you might get involved in the remastering of DEEP PURPLE's "Stormbringer".
Glenn Hughes: I've done that. I was in the studio at Abbey Road three months ago to do "Holy Man" and I did it really quick. I put the board tape up from the 24 track from '74 and it sounded so great that I mixed it. I mixed a few more songs. I mixed "Holy Man", "You Can't Do It Right", "Love Don't Mean a Thing". I mixed them in the afternoon. I did a slightly different mix than what you've heard already with a little raw vocal, probably more funk on those tracks, more than you probably remember. I've added a couple of things on guitar that we didn't have on the original. And I've added a new vocal on "Hold On" so it's kind of an interesting mix.
On Thursday, March 29 at approximately 7:00 p.m. EST, a full-length, studio-quality version of the GUNS N' ROSES song "Madagascar" was leaked onto the Internet.
The track, clocking in at 5:41, was released as the result of some "cunning" work by a well-known forum member.
Many fans initially speculated that the track was a fake. However this theory was dispelled by GN'R guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal who revealed that the recording was "not an album cut, but an old demo."
"Madagascar", which GUNS N' ROSES premiered at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, is expected to appear on the band's long-overdue new CD, "Chinese Democracy".
