In a new interview with Greg Prato of Ultimate Guitar, DEEP PURPLE guitarist Simon McBride was asked to name the most difficult part to play that was originally written and recorded by founding PURPLE guitarist Ritchie Blackmore. He responded: “Most of it is actually not too bad. There’s one little lick which annoyed me for a long, long time; it’s in ‘Lazy’. I don’t play the same solo he plays in ‘Lazy’, but ‘Lazy’ is one of those songs where I feel I can just improvise a bit more and just have a bit more fun with it. But there’s this one lick he does in it, and I said, ‘I have to play that.’ And it’s a bitch of a lick. It’s not ultrafast. It’s just there’s a lot of chromatic stuff in it and slides in a very tight space, within three or four frets, and that’s it. So that, to me, is the hardest thing about playing PURPLE. Everything else, Ritchie was never really a full technician. So, nothing was really difficult to play technique-wise. Ritchie was more of a creative player. Even ‘Highway Star’, the fast part in that, it’s fast, but it’s not John Petrucci from DREAM THEATER or something ridiculously fast. It’s fast, but it fits the song. But everything else that he played was more just melodies. Ritchie played for the song most of the time. But yeah, that lick in ‘Lazy’ — that still haunts me every night when I come up to it. I’m like, ‘Oh shit, don’t screw it up!”
DEEP PURPLE‘s new album, “=1”, is due on July 19 via earMUSIC. The LP marks DEEP PURPLE‘s first material with McBride.
Since 2022, Simon has already played to DEEP PURPLE audiences totaling more than half a million people.
Two months ago, DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan was asked in an interview with Made In Metal how he feels about McBride performing songs that were originally written and recorded by Blackmore. Ian responded at the time: “Oh, first of all, Simon is a genius. He’s absolutely fantastic. He’s got all the energy and articulation and musical skills and creative skills that you could ever dream of. You can’t compare Ritchie with Simon or with [former DEEP PURPLE guitarist] Steve Morse or with [ex-PURPLE touring guitarist] Joe Satriani, the players that we’ve had in a band. And I think that Ritchie has to have all the credit in the world. He’s a genius. He was fantastic. I thought he was brilliant. And he was my roommate and we partnered and we shared a lot together. And then things, for some reason, went wrong later on. And I’m sure half of it was my fault, so those days were dim and distant. But as far as the guitar is concerned, Simon interprets these songs very, very brilliantly.”
He continued: “For a start-off, when you’re playing… Steve Morse had this same difficulty. When you’re playing a well-known solo or a well-known guitar part, or any part for that matter, the thing you have to do, the trick is to play the recognizable parts, the parts that everyone knows that are significant in that solo, and then you can freeform in between. But you’ve gotta pick up and show respect for the song and the original record, because that’s how people like it. If you meander around a bit in the solo, that’s also fine, but you’ve gotta start and end and do the bits that people know. Apart from that, Simon‘s approach to every song has just been to throw himself at it.
“Steve Morse said a good thing when he joined the band and somebody said, ‘How does it feel like stepping into Ritchie Blackmore‘s shoes?’ And Steve said, ‘I think Ritchie took his shoes with him when he left.’ And that, that applies to everyone — that applies to Simon now.”
Gillan added: “Simon‘s unbelievable. We’re so lucky to have him. He’s just amazing.”
McBride spoke about how he landed the much-coveted DEEP PURPLE gig in an April 2023 interview with Colombia’s El Expreso Del Rock. He said: “I know [PURPLE keyboardist] Don Airey very well. I played with Don for [about] 10 years now. And I also know Ian Gillan very well, and I played with him off and on. I also know Roger [Glover, PURPLE bassist] and I know Paicey [PURPLE drummer Ian Paice] as well. I’ve known them all, I’ve played with them all, but never at the same time. And I get on very well [with them]… I think I was kind of the natural fit for the band because… as I know Don and played with him and played with Gillan and I know the rest of the guys. We all get on very well. But, yeah, it was still… When I got a call to do it, it was just a bizarre feeling. I think I was jumping for joy.”
Regarding how he feels being a member of such a legendary band, McBride said: “It’s a great thing to be part of DEEP PURPLE. The name DEEP PURPLE is just iconic, and I’m very lucky that I can put my name through that, as being a part of it. But, yeah, the guys are great, and all the crew. It’s like a big family on the road. And we all have a lot of fun and we all get on very well. Yeah, I’m very honored to be a part of the whole thing.”
Simon previously recounted the initial call he received to fill in for Morse in an October 2022 interview with Andrew Daly of Vinyl Writer Music. At the time, he said: “Well, there was talk of me stepping in for Steve temporarily towards the end of 2021, but I never really thought much of it. I never thought much of it because it was always a case of, ‘It may happen or it may not happen,’ because it depended on Steve‘s wife’s condition as to whether he would be able to tour. But it just got to the stage where Steve decided enough was enough, and he needed to look after his wife, which is an amazing thing he’s doing. So, I knew it was possible, but I didn’t know for sure; I only really found out recently that I was being confirmed as a permanent replacement.”
McBride went on to say that the chemistry was “immediate” between him and the other members of DEEP PURPLE. “We had a few days of rehearsal in May [2022], and that’s all we needed. And then we did a few shows in Israel, and places like that, which were my first shows, and all we had was those few days of rehearsal. I know Don very well, and I’ve played with Ian [Gillan] and Roger for a long time, so it clicked quickly. But yeah, it was a funny thing — we did the three or four days of rehearsals, but we really only needed one. After the first day, we all looked at each other and said, ‘Well, we think it sounds pretty good. We don’t really need two extra days.’ We got to work straight away, and everybody was very happy. It helps that I’m a very easygoing person, and I get on well with everybody, I think. So, there was never an issue or a thought about if I would get on with them or not. And as I said, I’ve met them before, knew their personalities, and knew what to expect, so it’s been a great atmosphere.”
In August 2022, McBride spoke to the “Scars And Guitars” podcast about what it has been like for me him to step into the shoes previously filled by Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin, Joe Satriani and Steve Morse. Regarding his approach to playing DEEP PURPLE‘s classic songs, Simon said: “At the end of the day, for me, with this gig, there’s been lots of people saying, or asking me will I play like Ritchie or will I play like Steve or will I do this like Tommy or Satriani or whatever. So that thing initially kind of confused me a little bit; I didn’t know what to do. It was only when I was talking to [DEEP PURPLE keyboardist] Don Airey about it, and he just said, ‘Forget about it all. Just be you. Play your own thing.’ That’s it. Which I did. And I kind of started to relax a little bit and just be myself.
