Many thanks to Nasty Habits, Christian Schoen and all our friends in Vienna, who made the Good Old Boys’ third visit to the Reigen so enjoyable last week, and special thanks to Wolfgang Jaafar and Wolfgang Gonaus for their great photos and support.
Many thanks to all the Deep Purple fans who attended my recent gigs with
the Nasty Habits in Austria. It was tremendous fun to revive the Mark I act, and the enthusiasm of the audience proved that the original Purple songs still sound good, even after 40 years! The Nasty Habits were excellent, as usual. They really deserve to be recognized as one of Austria’s most original bands, writing and performing great songs. Thanks to them, I was able to play the old numbers once more, in front of some lovely people. I hope that we can do it again in the near future and I will look forward to meeting you all once more. Thanks again, and all good wishes.
Nick April 2009
Here is an e-mail I received from Ralph Grille shortly after the Vienna gig:
Nick Simper & Nasty Habits Live at Reigen/ Vienna 2009
The Reigen Club in Vienna is a well known location for people who have an interest in highbrow music. It is permanent venue of the Blues Spring and the Jazz Festival Vienna and a lot of famous musicians like Al Di Meola or Brian Auger for example performed there.
It was Mr. Simper’s third concert there and the Nasty Habits were once again much more than faithful accompanists. Together they celebrated the beloved, but seldom to hear live Deep Purple hits from the early years.
The Nasty Habits are a powerful Viennese rock band, specialized to support rock stars in Austria. The first part of the show contained a couple of usual Nasty Habits songs to warm up. For the second part, Nick Simper came on stage to make true a dream.
I met fans from all over Europe – Poland, Croatia, UK, Germany, Switzerland and of course, from the high mountains of Austria.
Needless to say, it was a unforgettable show, powerful, rousing, I wish they could do it one more time.
Set list: And The Address / The Painter / Mandrake Root / Emmaretta / Chasing Shadows / Lalena / Wring That Neck / Why Didn’t Rosemary / Roadhouse Blues / Kentucky Woman / Hush / Gimme Some Lovin’
Thanks to Ralph and Christian for some fantastic photos of the Vienna gig – sorry it’s taken so long to get them posted! You can see them all here.
At the end of last year, I had to cancel several shows in Austria and Germany with the Nasty Habits, where we were to perform the Deep Purple Mk I songbook. The reason for this was the sudden ill-health of my sister, Liz Palumbo. Sadly, Liz passed away on October 4th 2008, which was a huge shock to everyone that knew here. Always a lively, bubbly person, she was a lovely lady, well known in her home town of Hastings as a dance teacher and leader of a belly-dancing troupe who gigged 
all over the country. She was also a great Mum to her four daughters, Liz, Angelique, Sophy and Kate. Always extrovert and great company, she was a real inspiration to me. Without her enthusiasm for music I may never have played an instrument myself. Her stores and experiences certainly fired my imagination, spurring me on in the right direction. The huge crowd that gathered for her funeral was a measure of her popularity. She would have loved the performance that her belly dancers gave at her graveside, a fitting send-off for a great lady and a great personality who will be sadly missed. This web site is dedicated to her memory.
Nick
April 2009
