Well, here we are now in the 52nd year of Deep Purple. Time, as they say, really does fly!

I would like to again thank all the people that have continually supported the band and showed such interest in the various musicians involved. It has been nice to continue receiving messages from you, and although I cannot do personal responses, I thought it time to address several subjects.

Thank you for sending information about past gigs, dates, and personnel, which I always find interesting. Also I am very grateful for all the support for my other projects aside from Deep Purple, which, although they didn’t set the world on fire, seem all the more worthwhile now.

Another recent question asked about a project called Rocket. Well, I will be covering this and other subjects in the future when I have completed my part in the Deep Purple story. I still get asked about the Hall of Fame debacle, which I know outraged many people, but it really was not worth worrying about. Thank you anyway!

 

People have often inquired about my guitars. As previously mentioned, for many years I have used my 1961 Fender Precision bass, which I now use only occasionally. During 1968-69 I also used a black CBS Fender Precision, and also bought one of the first 1951 Precision reissues, which was called the Telecaster bass. After a while I built a hybrid, putting the Telecaster neck onto a black Precision body, which looked amazing! The trouble was that so many people wanted to buy it that I eventually sold it for a handsome profit, which I regret to this day!

 

With Deep Purple I occasionally played a blonde Gibson EB2 which was a very rare guitar, but sadly useless on stage due to chronic feedback! About 20 years ago I was provided with a new candy-red Precision by my old pal Rich Bennett from Atlanta USA. This great axe has been resprayed black, and I play it a lot. When I celebrated my 60th birthday I was given a surprise gift from Jeff Bennett, Rich’s son. it was a beautiful ‘51 Precision reissue which looks just amazing. I also play this one a lot too! Over the years I have toyed with many others including Rickenbacker and Danelectro, but for me, nothing does the business like a good Precision!

 

Several people have asked about the Blaggards and Cowboys project. I am playing on the first two albums, but not on subsequent ones. I have played more recently on the first and second albums by Aeon Sophia, called “21 Hundred” and “Headphonauts”. Working on these albums, produced by Donagh Moloney and assisted by my son Richard, has been a lot of fun. They are available through CD Baby and various streaming services such as iTunes. Donagh and Rich were kind enough to send the following message:

 

Just a message to thank Nick, Pete Parks and also Richard Hudson for their help, advice and encouragement during the making of our first two albums (“21 Hundred” and “Headphonauts”). It’s a sound that is far away from their usual type of music, but their signature styles remain recognisable throughout. Our music would be equally at home on movie soundtracks as it would at low volume in your local coffee shop, combining electronica with live instruments, whilst switching from guitar tracks to sitar to dub reggae and then back to electronic. We look forward to the next one!