Lord Says Deep Purple MKIII Reunion Unlikely

10/14/2010
. (Gibson) When Deep Purple set out to replace iconic lead singer Ian Gillan and longtime bassist Roger Glover, it appeared the band were entering a phase of lesser glories. Instead, the group was energized by the addition of a young, hungry David Coverdale and Trapeze bassist Glenn Hughes, and released the torrid Burn and its follow-up, Stormbringer. Ultimately, Deep Purple's newfound, soulful direction didn't sit well with Blackmore, who left the band to form Rainbow. Ultimately, they soldiered on for another year before calling it quits. But with the later success of Coverdale in Whitesnake and Hughes in Black Sabbath and, more recently, Black Country Communion, suddenly that MKIII line-up appears, in retrospect, to have been something akin to a supergroup. And the prospect of reforming this supergroup was put to keyboardist Jon Lord by Classic Rock magazine. While Lord said there are no plans to get the group together at the moment, he did have some interesting insights on the subject.

"I know a lot of people would like it to happen," said Lord. "But it would have to have [drummer] Ian Paice involved, and right now he's committed to the current Purple line-up. And I know they are planning a new studio album, as well as more touring."

Lord did reveal, however, "I got an email from David recently, and it seems Glenn and Ritchie might be into it, although I don't know how Glenn feels now, with Black Country Communion happening. Yes, I would love to play with Ritchie again, but don't read anything into that as far as MKIII is concerned." - more on this story

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