Glenn Hughes is being driven from the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, back to Manhattan, after an afternoon of preparation for tonight's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Deep Purple, his musical home from 1973 to 1976. It's been a long day, with interview after interview, but Hughes is jovial, more than happy to speak about the highs and lows of his time with the embattled hard rock/proto-heavy metal outfit.
And while Purple's legion of fans have felt snubbed each year the band was left off the list of inductees, the British vocalist, bassist and longtime Los Angeles resident is not bitter.
"I was in Japan when I got the call that we were going to get inducted. I had a chuckle because really now, as a band, I can't speak on behalf of everyone, I just think the band were never angry or upset so much as the fans who have followed us for years, millions and millions of them, were so happy that we are getting honored," Hughes shares in an interview with Headlines & Global News. "I chose to share my award with the fans who have kept with us through the good, bad and indifferent."
After the departure of lead singer Ian Gillan bassist Roger Glover, Hughes, from the group Trapeze, along with vocalist David Coverdale joined Deep Purple's "Mach III" lineup alongside guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord and drummer Ian Paice. DP Mach III recorded the iconic albums "Burn" (1974) and "Stormbringer" (1975), and after Blackmore left and was replaced by Tommy Bolin, Mach IV recorded "Come Taste The Band" (1975). Hughes left in 1976 and went on to work with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, recorded one album with Pat Thrall as Hughes/Thrall, and more recently formed the well-received supergroups Black Country Communion and California Breed.
In our in-depth conversation, Hughes chatted about finally getting into the Hall of Fame, his thoughts on the mercurial Blackmore - who will not be in attendance tonight - his friendships with Stevie Wonder and the late David Bowie, and what to expect on his career-spanning fall tour dates, rescheduled in the aftermath of recent knee replacement surgery.
Read also: David Coverdale
Will you perform?
I hope so. I will not be performing with Deep Purple, but at the end of the show there may be some action with Cheap Trick, as they are dear friends. We'll have to wait and see, but I think there will be some vocals, hopefully (laughs).
Is the whole thing a bit bittersweet because the late Jon Lord won't be there?
Yeah, you know, Jon was diagnosed and he was trying to get well...It was a sad time, and a lot of people were upset that he never got a chance to get in here, and that's probably the bittersweet thing about this whole thing, that Jon, the greatest Hammond rock player of all time is not here, but trust me when I say this to you, he will be with us in spirit, absolutely, for sure.
Besides David Coverdale, who from Deep Purple are you still in touch with?
Jon Lord and I prior to him leaving us became friends again, good friends. I have a relationship for 43 years with David Coverdale, it's never altered, it's always been brother to brother. He's the only one I can say honestly that we've kept in touch throughout the years. I can't lie to you. It's not like the rest of us don't get along, we just don't get to see each other very often, because David and I live on the West Coast so we see each other all the time. And long may that continue.
What was your relationship like with Ritchie Blackmore and how did you leave things?
Again, and once again I say this to make it clear, when I'm asked in an interview by a fabulous journalist that I know is going to report appropriately, I'm going to tell you the truth: I have not spoken to Ritchie or seen Ritchie for 40 years. So I'm not saying anything bad about that, it's just that none of us have really kept in touch with him. I must say that personally I did try to reach out to him to see if he could show up for the fans, I got the answer "no." After I got the second "no," I just closed the shop and said "OK." Once again, Ritchie lived his live the way he chose to do it, he's got a lot of fans, and I'm sure he's accepting his award with grace, but unfortunately he won't be there [Friday] night.
Looking back at your time with Purple, what are you most proud of?
The writing and recording of "Burn," because after Mach II imploded in early summer of '73, Purple had sold a lot of records prior to me joining with David Coverdale. The challenge was how do you move units with two new guys? I had been playing in Trapeze doing OK in America, David was completely new. How do you continue a band or a brand that had sold so many records with "Machine Head" and "Made In Japan"? But there was no fear, because the camaraderie with the band, while we were writing - this is going to sound crazy - we were writing an album in a dungeon in a Medieval castle in England and the setting was incredible, and the songs simply wrote themselves. Ritchie said one day, we didn't have a title track, he said, "I love this word 'burn,' the connotation of the whole word," and we said, "hang on a minute," and we wrote a song and we took about 20 minutes and we were off to the races. It was one of those serendipity moments that I'll never forget.
What are the challenges of keeping a supergroup together like Black Country Communion or California Breed?
Remember now, if you could imagine, I was the only one in either of those two bands to do any press. I did 100 percent of the press, so when anything happens to a band, people start pointing at the guy who's talking. I absolutely am so proud of the work I did with Black Country with Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian. That music is a strong, strong legacy. Three studio albums, one DVD, that stand out to me as some of the best work of my career. California Breed was an incredibly strong record, but Jason didn't want to tour, so I figured, wait a minute, maybe someone is telling me to jump back on the solo circuit. But I'll say to you again, after Black Country Communion, that will probably be the last band I'm in, because it was so bloody good and the legacy's so strong that I think I should concentrate on working as a solo artist and maybe having a few guests come in as I go along.
You've worked with so many amazing musicians. Who else is left on your list?
Oh man, you know, I gotta say I'm in love with Chris Stapleton, the country artist. I mentioned to Dave Cobb, his producer, hey man, the next record, if you want to do a duet, please call me. I'm a big fan of all kinds of music. Billy Ray Cyrus is a dear friend of mine, and I just sung the title track for his TV show with Bryan Adams, which is going to air this year. The different forms of music I like are everything. Again, I'm getting inducted into the Hall of Fame and I want to ride the rock thing out as much as possible because it really is who I am, but I love all kinds of music. I don't want to be labeled. I can't stop people from labeling me or putting me in a genre. I don't place myself in a genre, it's the media and the fans that do that, and I want to thank them for thinking of me in that way.
What music inspired you when you were just getting started?
Stevie, Stevie, Stevie, Stevie and Otis, Otis, Otis, Otis and Marvin, Marvin, Marvin, Marvin. I was very lucky in 1974 to meet Stevie Wonder in the bathroom of The Record Plant in Los Angeles when Deep Purple were making "Stormbringer." I waited for Stevie to clean up, and when he came out of the bathroom I fan-boyed him a little bit, but he was so kind and generous, I invited him into the studio. And (laughs), David Coverdale was singing, and David doesn't have the best of site, and he said to me, "I told you not to bring anybody in the studio when I'm singing." I said, "David, it's..." He said, "I don't care who it is!" I said, "David, it's Stevie Wonder." And it was a moment I'll never, ever forget.
So Stevie Wonder has been my mentor since 1974, both professionally and personally. Not just for the way he sings, but the way he conducts his life with his family and fans. I love him to pieces. Black American music, Tamla Motown, mixed with British hard rock is who Glenn Hughes is.
What other projects are you working on right now?
I'm doing a solo album in June. I'm doing a couple festivals in June in Europe, I'm going to Copenhagen, the first place I ever visited in 1968, so I'm going back to where I made my first international visit. I'm going to make an album with my guitar player and drummer, Søren Andersen and Pontus Engborg. We're going to make a Glenn rock album in Copenhagen, the first album I've made in Europe in years and years and years, it's going to be very influenced by the groove rock Glenn.
How did you come to be friends with David Bowie?
I met David at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in June of 1974. I got a call one night [from a woman] who said, "My husband would like to meet you!" I said, "Who's your husband?" She said, "David Bowie." He's staying one floor above you. I went up there and met David. He'd seen the California Jam on TV, and he noticed - and remember he was just about to make "Young Americans" - that I had the r&b factor going down, so he was kind of interested in that segment of that life. We became really fast friends and he came to stay with me for six months when he was making "Station to Station" and getting ready for his role in "The Man Who Fell To Earth." We were pretty much inseparable in the spring through the summer of '75.
For more information on Glenn Hughes, including tour dates, visit www.glennhughes.com.
