Glenn Hughes is on the phone from LA. He’s on his way to the final show of the USA leg of the Burn 50th Anniversary Tour -also known as the Glenn Hughes plays Deep Purple tour-which has so far taken in around a hundred dates world wide.

Hey Glenn, I was looking at the current run of dates on this tour and was amazed at the sheer number of shows you’re playing night after night. How long has this run of Burn shows been underway then? “It started…y’know, funnily enough I did start doing something similar to this in 2017 in Australia. That’s how this thing started, in Australia, and I did it for about eighteen months, then I stopped and started again in April of 2023”.

How much longer do you anticipate you’ll be doing these particular shows? “I finish in Australia I think on the 13th or 14th of October – (note-the tour ends Sunday October 13 in Adelaide) – then I go to Dubai to finish this tour over there so the show right after Australia is the end date. And that will be end of this particular show – let’s celebrate Burn. It’s time for me to go back to my own…thing, Leeno, and play my own music”.

With the Burn show, you’re doing the album in its entirety? “No. Only five songs – it’s an evening of only Deep Purple songs-its MKIII and MKIV music, with five from Burn. No solo material, only Purple”.

Judging by the recent live videos on YouTube you and the band are in top form-sounding really great. “Thanks! Everything is going great mate, I’m really happy”…

Everything people say about the wild lifestyles of rock stars in the seventies and eighties – that was pretty much you right? “Right! Yeah, I mean, I’m a different man now than I was in the eighties for sure. I’d had enough of being… not the man I’m supposed to be. Y’know I got tired of that behaviour and tired of not being the man I hoped to be and now I believe that’s where I’ve ended up. And I’m pretty happy about that”.

It’s obvious you’ve completely regained your full health, with a far better lifestyle than you had back in the old days. “Yeah, sure…it’s impossible to do that stuff these days. That was a period in my life from the eighties until the early nineties. I just changed everything Leeno, everything changed for me – I had to change literally everything”.

Well it’s sure worked out for you. And watching you onstage, you must have an ageing portrait of yourself in an attic! “(Laughs) Well…I’d like to tell you it’s really easy (laughs) but it’s a lot of hard work and I put a lot of time into this y’know?”

What can you remember about the Burn album? – It was of course the album you joined Deep Purple on, along with singer David Coverdale. Any particular recollections? “You know, we went to a castle in England (Clearwell Castle) to write the album. And we wrote the album in the dungeon, of the castle. So…each day we’d go down to the dungeon about eleven o’clock, just after breakfast, and we’d come up with some ideas that we would formulate into songs”.

Was it a band effort back then? Everyone working together on the songwriting? Or different combinations? “No, it was the whole band. The five of us in the room. Always it was that way. Yeah. It was good that way”.

(Me laughing) So Deep Purple set up together in a dungeon like a rehearsal space? (Acknowledging) “Mmm-hmmm…that exactly!”

And during that time with Deep Purple, and making those records, what was your dynamic with Ritchie Blackmore, going from Burn and through to Stormbringer? Being that he left the band shortly thereafter. “I think that he (Blackmore) had the idea of leaving at the start of Stormbringer. We went back to the castle to write again and when we found each other there Ritchie had only two ideas, one being Stormbringer and another one a song called Soldier of Fortune and the rest of the music was written by Jon (Lord – organist) David (Coverdale – singer) and myself.

So did the band feel somewhat fragmented by that stage then? “Well, it didn’t seem like it in the castle. Even when we were making the album I didn’t sense any strange mood behaviour. But shortly after the album was made, Ritchie on that tour said he was going to start something new”.

On the Burn album in particular, it sounds like you were using a Rickenbacker bass to me – but was there a Fender on there as well? “No there’s only a Rickenbacker on that album. I thought it was the right instrument to play on that album but y’know for me it was great (to record with) but live it wasn’t the right bass for me to play”.

So you went to a Fender Precision live. “I did”.

Still on Deep Purple – let’s zoom ahead to 2016 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. You were there with David Coverdale, was it an awkward situation to be in? “Yeah, it was pretty awkward because there was no family camaraderie. David and I, we were sitting with each other and with the band, y’know but there was no… no shaking of hands, no ‘how are you this evening?’, none of that”.

Really?! “No. Really”. How odd. “Definitely. Odd. Yeah”. Well…I won’t ask you about if you’re in touch with the other guys now! “Only David”.

I’ve only heard good things about David-that he’s decent chap. “He is! Very much so”.

Another interesting record you were involved in was the Black Sabbath Seventh Star album. How did that come about? “Well, Tony (Iommi, legendary Sabbath six stringer) was gonna have myself, Ronnie Dio and Rob Halford sing the album. But I went down there first and I wrote a song called No Stranger To Love with Tony, and he said ‘right, mate can you come back tomorrow?’ (Laughs) so I ended up doing the whole thing with him so… yeah we’ve been very good friends. We’ve done three albums together now”.

When you began this long journey you’re still on, did you consider yourself primarily a vocalist, or was it bassist, guitarist first? “Well, I was definitely a guitar player first, then a bass player, and somewhere in between that and after a couple years of me playing bass I was always singing backgrounds, singing in a few things I was doing, and then all of a sudden I found myself being the lead singer – it was by happenstance, it wasn’t meant to be that way but the band and the management thought that I should take the microphone and be the lead singer. And I’ve loved every moment of it”.

Your musical palette has always been quite varied. It’s never been strictly a metal or rock style that you’ve confined yourself to but I’ve always heard a very soulful, black influence in your style, and vocal delivery. It sets you apart. “Definitely. Yeah. You might be right! (Laughter) I have played with Earth Wind And Fire. I think it was like the end of the nineties I got asked to do a show with them, and I rehearsed with them for a couple of days and that was fun, let me tell you! Unfortunately it was an outdoors show and it rained so it didn’t happen:”…

The band you’ve been touring with has been with you for some time now-will it be the same line-up coming to Australia? “Yeah- but unfortunately the last time we were in Australia there had to be a slight adjustment because we couldn’t get the visa (sorted) for my guitar player Soren (Andersen). He’s been with me for ten years-through thick and thin, Ash Sheehan on drums, he’s been with me for seven years and Mike Mangan (keys) has been also around for ten. And they’re with me yeah”.

Let’s do a little bit of gear talk! You’ve been an Orange Amplification guy for quite some time now. “Yeah, I love them – I love Orange yeah. So good. I like the grind sound of Orange amps.
I’m touring with the Tiny Terror heads –  three kilos!” I’ve got two of those. They’re so good. “I get the same tone as with the AD200 heads from the Tiny Terrors – it’s amazing”.

You also have a Glenn Hughes Signature ‘O’ Bass’ from Orange now. Do you still play your longstanding custom Bill Nash Fender replicas? “Yeah! I use both the Orange signature bass and also the Bill Nash 1957 bass. They’re really good stuff”.

When this tour is finally done, are you going back to do some more work with Black Country Communion? Perhaps another album? “I will be doing a Black Country Communion tour (pauses)…next June, but I recorded a new solo album this last June and that’s gonna come out in Spring”.

What can we expect from that album then? “It’s done. And I really like to make records when I have something to say. But y’know I figured it’s been eight years since my last solo album, maybe I should do another one-and I really did enjoy writing this album. I think it could be my finest album”.

What kind of a feel have you gone for, as opposed to say Black Country? “Yeah, it’s definitely groovier for sure. You know, I wrote everything so it’s definitely more a Glenn thing, so I’m really, just, man I just can’t wait for everyone to hear it”.

Glenn Hughes Performs Classic Deep Purple Live – Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the album Burn:
03/10/24 – Sydney – Crowbar (In Conversation)
05/10/24 – Canberra – The Baso
06/10/24 – Brisbane – The Zoo
10/10/24 – Sydney – Factory Theatre
11/10/24 – Melbourne – The Espy Gerswhin Room (In Conversation)
12/10/24 – Melbourne – Croxton
13/10/24 – Adelaide – The Gov