At 7pm on Saturday 4th September, PLANET ROCK will air an exclusive  hour-long documentary interview with Black Country Communion, speaking  to the BCC members about the band’s formation and future.

The one hour  radio special will also be repeated on Thursday 9th September at 11pm. Presented by DJ Nicky Horne, the behind-the-scenes documentary  includes exclusive interviews with Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa and  Jason Bonham, plus a selection of tracks from the debut album. You can also listen to the show online.

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UK satellite channel Sky Arts are due to broadcast some highlights from the 24th July High Voltage festival. Heaven & Hell's tribute show to Ronnie Dio was originaly listed among the acts to be shown.

Heaven & Hell were not longer listed for the 28th August evening highlights programme. Still, there was plenty to enjoy, including Glenn's BCC bandmate Joe Bonamassa, who included a section from Billy Cobham's Stratus into his guitar showcase.

DPAS photo gallery: High Voltage Festival, 24th July 201

TS/DB #9002461 (with thanks to Robert Lundgren. Photo:

The Black Country Communion supergroup (Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian) is generating the sort of buzz which doesn't happen too often these days. Although live shows won't take place until next year, they will do a short (secret) gig in London on release day. This will be aired by Planet Rock Radio too. The CD is already a top five pre-order with some retailers, and the label have now announced two limited edition versions - including a 2-Disc (CD/DVD) with the album, interviews, exclusive studio and live images, production notes, studio footage, plus live tracks which have been about on the web in decent quality. Anyone who has pre-ordered from DPAS Online will automatically get this version, which is limited worldwide. A 2xLP vinyl pressing has also been added, and there's the regular CD. The album is set for UK release on 20 September 2010, and US release on 21 September. We will have some BCC prizes and an online competition here for DPAS readers shortly. The track titles for the album are : Black Country / One Last Soul / The Great Divide / Down Again / Beggarman / Song Of Yesterday / No Time / Medusa / The Revolution In Me / Stand (At The Burning Tree) / Sista Jane / Too Late For The Sun. Yes you say, but is it any good? You bet it is. I blasted through the whole album and can't wait to do so again. It's a little ragged round the edges, but has a powerful rock spirit which straddles the seventies through to today and just keeps you glued to the speakers. Indeed it's a shame they could not have issued the vinyl on Vertigo, because to me it is a real descendant of those slightly obscure but often exciting acts which the spiral label use to specialise in. The tracks are often lengthy, one or two reviewers have actually complained (!), but the band get into such a groove they've done right not to fade and cut. Dare I mention Mk 3? BCC certainly has echoes of 1974 about it, but in a good way. If Deep Purple themselves had issued this as the follow up to Stormbringer there would have been few grumbles. All songs are sung by Glenn Hughes, with the exception of Song Of Yesterday and The Revolution In Me which are both sung by Joe Bonamassa.  Hughes and Bonamassa share lead vocals on Sista Jane and Too Late For The Sun.  Also included is a new version of Medusa, originally recorded by Glenn Hughes with Trapeze (and strangely one of the lesser tracks here to my mind). The album cover is pictured opposite. (Anyone recognise the painting?)

SR/NY#7002453 (with thanks to Wolfy Smith, Peter Noble, Lisa Bardsley) Visit www.bccommunion.com

Purple Records have reissued the in demand album Play Me Out, Glenn Hughes' 1977 solo album. There were problems as the 1999 CD pressing masters were lost by the plant some years ago but the label has gone back to the quarter inch tapes to redo this from scratch.

Play Me Out is available from DPASMailorder, and is shipping now

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Heaven & Hell members Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice have announced a one-off show as a tribute to Ronnie Dio, with proceeds to be donated to the Ronnie James Dio "Stand Up And Shout" Cancer Fund. The band are set to play the High Voltage Festival in London on Saturday 24th July 2010. The vocalists for the performance are Glenn Hughes and Norwegain singer Jorn Lande. Tickets for High Voltage festival are priced £135 (for weekend tickets) and £75 (for day tickets).

Glenn sang 'Catch The Rainbow' and 'Coast To Coast' at Ronnie Dio's public memorial service on 30th May.

TS#7002461 (with thanks to Ian Parry-Jones and Bryan Greene) Photo: Roberto Souza

Glenn Hughes has lined up an interesting selection of UK dates for September / October 2010, including his first ever show in Northern Ireland! The full list is:

DB#7002443 (with thanks to Aodán Cunningham) Photo: Roberto Souza

Glenn Hughes (vox / bass), Joe Bonamassa (gtr) and Jason Bonham (drums) have formed a new power trio called Black Country (named after the former industrial heartland of the Midlands) and began work on recording their new album in January. Plus they have Derek Sherinian on keyboards. So that's a quartet then. They hope to finish the album in March / April and then tour.

The latest on Black Country is that first they were having to change their name and second, that the project is currently on hold following some sort of disagreements, though there is said to be an album in the can.

The forthcoming edition of the excellent 'Tight But Loose' Led Zeppelin magazine includes an interview with Glenn Hughes, in which he discusses the Black Country project. An edited version is available online at www.tightbutloose.co.uk.

SR/NY#70024121 (with thanks to Tom Dixon) Photo: Roberto Souza

Glenn is has been lined up to appear at two outdoor festival shows, including the Trondheim rock festival held in the town square. Whitesnake played the same festival in May 2009. The bill also includes Gary Moore. Attendance capacity is around 15 000.

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Glenn has spoken to Tony Conley's Rock Guitar Daily about the upcoming Black Country project:

"We're as bombastic as The Who, and as bluesy as Free, but we are doing some different kinds of things in terms of structure, and tempo: 7/8, 6/8, even 5/8 time, so it's not just a few chords and out. Joe's just written a song that is just blowing me away. He sings a couple, I sing a bunch, and there's a few where we're both singing. We originally had figured mid 2011 for the release, but here we are we've got it written, we'll have it tracked by the middle of March, around the 17th, and we should be done with vocals, and some overdubbing by April the 10th, just before Easter. So, it makes sense for it to come out sooner and now it should be out around September of this year." Read the full interview at rockguitardaily.blogspot.com (after perhaps being tempted by the Mott The Hoople reunion shows at the Hammesmith Apollo!)

DB#700242 (with thanks to Tom Dixon) Photo: Roberto Souza

Glenn Hughes spoke briefly during 2008 about a new authorised biography, which he was co-writing with a well known rock biographer. The book is being written by ex-Record Collector journalist Joel McIver, who spoke to Bruce Dickinson about it in the latter's radio show; "Glenn has led a life that you literally would not believe. He shouldn't be alive today. This book tells the story of his downfall and miraculous recovery to his current state of sobriety in full, technicolor detail with no punches pulled."

The biography is now about done and scheduled for early 2010. The publishers are planning a couple of limited editions too, including a possible autographed copy. We will keep you up to date.

SR/TS#7002233 (with thanks to Francesco)

scan: John Barnes

Glenn Hughes has been lined up to join guitarist Joe Bonamassa onstage at the House Of Blues, Sunset Strip (Hollywood) in Los Angeles on November 12th. The pair will then perform a couple of songs from Trapeze and Deep Purple Mk3/4. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

The show is part of the "King of the Blues" Guitar Center contest finals.

DB#700239 (with thanks to Paul Masters) photo: Simon Robinson

Glenn Hughes is due to perform three shows in Italy with guitarist Matt Filippini's Moonstone Project. . The sets will apparently include Deep Purple Mk3 & 4 tracks.

DB#700238 (with thanks to Francesco / Deep Purple Italia) Photo: Stein Ebeltoft

Glenn Hughes is to perform six outdoor shows in Sweden this summer as part of Robert Wells' Rhapsody In Rock' tour, complete with orchestra and musicians including Albert Lee (who once deputised for Ritchie Blackmore on the Gemini Suite studio recording). According to Glenn's official website he is due to perform a few tracks from his Deep Purple days.

Jon Lord has been lined up to take part in the opening show of the tour, at Falkenberg Idrottsplatsen on July 11th. At present Glenn is not due to join up until the second show, at Rättvik on July 13th.

DB#700236 (with thanks to Rhapsody In Rock) photo: Christer Lorichs

Glenn Hughes is due to appear at this year's 'Guitarfest', Birmingham NIA on July 11th. According to the show's blurb it's "The largest day of Guitars on earth! With the biggest name performers and the greatest brands, Guitarfest 2009 is set to be our best show yet!" etc.

Apart from Glenn, other players lined up include Yngwie Malmsteen and Doug Wimbish. Day passes are £15. For more info visit the Guitarfest and Drumfest website.

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Glenn Hughes has recently been interviewed for a new TV show documenting the history of The Whisky A Go Go club in LA (called A Shot Of Whisky). The makers have interviewed loads of musicians who played there, and Trapeze had a residency at the club, which is where members of Deep Purple first checked him out. No news on when / where the programme will go out, but it may be shown by the BBC, so we'll let you know more as and when.

Thanks to Mark Stratford.

SR#700234 (photo: Roberto Souza)

ChildLine Rocks, the rock concert that aids the ChildLine charity, will take place on June 1st at the Indigo2, London. The line-up (with more names to be announced), currently looks like this: Uriah Heep / Jon Lord / Glenn Hughes / Hot Leg / The Pretty Things / Sons Of Albion / Steve Balsamo / Andy Newmark / Mollie Marriott.

Click www.childlinerocks.co.uk for more details and to get info on how you can get your tickets.

SH#700233 (photo: Roberto Souza)

GlennHughes is doing vocals on this 'new' live album from 1998, recorded at a show in California - the band comprising Keith Emerson, Glenn and Marc Bonilla. It has been circulating on audience taped bootlegs for a while now, but this is the first proper audio release.

It is out now and there is a bonus track on this European edition.

Update - Wow, have a listen to the studio bonus Middle Of A Dream at the end of the CD - what an astonishing performance from Glenn! And a great backing from Bonilla and Emerson. Where've they been hiding this track? Or have I just missed it amongst the zillions of guest slots he's done over the years. Frankly this cut is worth the price of the CD alone.

"Glenn will be making a guest appearance with German Deep Purple tribute band, Demon’s Eye, on May 31st, 2009, near Siegen, in Germany. Glenn will be joining them as a special guest for a set of PURPLE Mk3 / Mk4 material. Venue: Dreisbachhalle Address: Hüttenwiese 8, D-57250 Netphen-Dreis-Tiefenbach (near Siegen) Germany. Tickets will be available through the band’s website www.demonseye.com and through a ticket hotline: +49 (0)2737-97662 " . Andree Schneider

Glenn also played Deep Purple Mk3 / Mk4 tribute shows in Norway during 2008:

DPAS live review: Glenn Hughes with Come Taste The Band : Rjukan, Norway, October 3th 2008

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Czech funk group Monkey Business issue their sixth album TWILIGHT OF JESTERS any time now, and once again Glenn Hughes sings on two tracks: Gumball and History of Pathos. It's very much a disco dance sound throughout though the lyrics are a cut above as usual. Their last album was not released outside the Czech Republic.

Thanks to Petr Novak for the details.

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Glenn Hughes is doing a return trip to Kavarna in Bulgaria - playing at a special free concert on Wednesday, May 6th, 2009. Glenn has decided to debut the entire Burn album in full in the original running order!

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Glenn Hughes (along with Joe Lynn Turner and Graham Bonnet) are guesting on Russian band Pushking's forthcoming album. One of Russia's "most popular metal/rock bands, PUSHKING has released over 15 albums," according to their website (so 16 then? Ed).

This new one features many of their musical heroes, and will be titled The World As We Love It. Glenn sings on Tonight and Kukarracha (the latter with Joe Lynn Turner and Graham Bonnet). Here's a nice shot of Glenn in LA recording his piece. Well, sat listening to it! You can find out more at the band's website: www.pushking.ru/

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Glenn Hughes' first solo band dates in Australia are now confirmed,  and they will be doing a career 'best of' set including Deep Purple Mk 3 and 4, Hughes Thrall, Iommi-Hughes and solo years. They are  appearing at:

If you're local take a tip from us and GO! See the (pretty awful) tour flyer here.

SR #900229 (photo: Anestis Ladopoulos)

Glenn Hughes is doing a special acoustic Swedish show in March, his first gig there for over two years, with Anders Olinder on keyboards.

Tickets: tickets@prismamusik.se (and soon to be available through www.ticnet.se)

SR #900226 (Thanks to Bjorn Carlsson for the details) Photo: Asa Spriggs

A treat for Glenn fans at the Robin 2 in 2009, with a special weekend of music - plus a barbie. There is a Saturday show by Glenn Hughes and band of his contemporary material and some Deep Purple tunes (inc we are told material not played in the UK before), followed by a Sunday show devoted to the music of Trapeze (and dedicated to Mel Galley). The Sunday afternoon is given over to a chicken barbecue and the showing of some rare film. The whole weekend (June 6/7 2009) is a very reasonable £35 in advance or you can get individual tickets for either night.

Ticket booking and more details at The Robin online.

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(with thanks to Mark Jones and SImon Ford)

Glenn Hughes cooperated on the 2005 CD by popular Czech funk band 'Monkey Business'. The album was called 'Kiss Me On My Ego'. Glenn sang on two songs: "Weekend Warrior" and "Silence". (the CD cover is pictured left). A feature on the recording of the album (from 2004) can be viewed at YouTube.

Glenn is also due to guest with Monkey Business in their Christmas show at the Lucerna Hall, Prague, on  December 10th 2008.

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Glenn Hughes is due to join Purple tribute band Come Taste the Band for an evening of Deep Purple songs in Rjukanhuset, Norway, Friday 3th October. The setlist was: Stormbringer, Might Just Take Your Life, Sail Away, Mistreated, Love Child, Getting Tighter, You Fool No One, You Keep On Moving, with encores Soul Mover and Burn.

Glenn Hughes & Come Taste the Band were featured on Norwegian TV, Friday 3rd October. The interview is available to view at the NRK website.

MM#7002241 (with thanks to Jo H. Kaasin) (photo: Daniele Purrone)

There is a third t-shirt now available, featuring a photo of Glenn in Trapeze with the band logo on a black background. This has been officially licensed by Glenn, and a pic is on the dpas mailorder site. Also the shirts are available in L and XL sizes now, while we have been asked to point out that the Vintage 76 design is on a 'washed- out' style shirt for that authentic antique look!

The DPAS have got in stock two Glenn Hughes t-shirts as sold on the June UK tour dates. One design is for the new album, the other is the classic vintage 1976 design with a shot of Glenn live from 1975. The DPAS isn't sure how long these will be around for. The size is large. Glenn has licensed some more designs which should be in stock soon.   SR#7002231

Glenn Hughes: 2008 Tour T-Shirts

Glenn Hughes and co. will be doing a set on the US nationally syndicated radio show Rockline this Autumn. This is scheduled for Wednesday, November 13 (8:30pm PT / 11:30pm ET / goodness knows when Speedbird Concorde time). Although US based you can hear the show over the interweb, for details visit the station site at rocklineradio.com

Thanks to Mike Garrett

MK#700229 (photo: Simon Robinson)

The new Glenn Hughes album is shipping now. It is titled "First Underground Nuclear Kitchen" (or FUNK for short!). (see the sleeve opposite)

First Impressions: "When you produce a track as fully charged as Never Say Never, and then slap it bang into the middle of your new album, then you run the risk of making everything else seem like a prelude to and coming down after. For me it just takes everything Glenn has been working with and for over the last three decades and gets the balance of metal, funk, soul and fab retro sound effects so absolutely right that quite frankly I'd be more than happy to have paid the price of admission for this one cut alone. Indeed I am more than happy to have paid, because Frontiers doesn't feel we're worth a review copy (which is why this is a tad late!).

But as a bonus there's also the almost equally great Oil And Water, and the just about as excellent title track as well. Play them all very loud and revel in the power. What a rush. The rest? I'll have to think about it for the magazine, but trust me on those three tracks alone it's more than worth it (despite the impression the 3 for £20 Trance Nation '50 chillin' greats' type sleeve might give you!). I'm already hyperventilating over the thought of hearing them live." SR SR #7002181

Glenn Hughes is a guest vocalist on former Uriah Heep keyboard player Ken Hensley’s new studio album, Blood On The Highway. Hughes follows in the footsteps of Ian Paice, who guested on Ken's 1981 album Free Spirit. dpas mailorder has finally been able to get stock of this title (thanks to help from Ken himself).

SR#2002278 (thanks to Stuart Hamilton). photo: Frans van Arkel

Deleted for some time, the Geoffrey Downes album Vox Humana from 1995 has just been reissued. It is of interest because Glenn Hughes guests on just one track, an excellent reinterpretation of Downes' Buggles hit Video Killed The Radio Star. It sounds a naff idea, but it's really very good (and much better than the original). dpas mail order will be adding this back onto their catalogue, it's been out of print for some years. SR#200232

thanks to Stuart Hamilton.