The PAL Live 1977 broadcast which came out on CD back in 1992 is being upgraded in remastered format and with the album title track restored to the running order.

The dpas online store say anyone who pre-orders from them will get a copy of the mini PAL Tour Programme as a bonus.

Due out April, with 12 page illustrated booklet.

MM#900257

Old and new on the radio *update 29.02.12*

Digital radio station Planet Rock announced that on Sunday 26th February Ian Paice would be appearing to discuss topics such as Deep Purple's current plans and Jon Lord's health. It seems that he interview actually aired was from December 2008. For a more recent chat with Ian, recorded in Edmonton, February 2012 - in which he really does mention Jon's health - visit www.k97.com.

Ian Paice "[Jon] was diagnosed with cancer but really early, early stages. And we know it's not a good one — whether there [ever] is a good one — but so far all the news from Jon is great. There are no more cancer cells being produced, and those that are lying dormant are being, hopefully, wiped out as we speak by a brand new treatment which he is having right now. So we're already thinking that he may be back working in April or May."

TS/NY#9002562

Searching for Major Tom *updated 28.04.11*

I must confess I thought we’d been the victims of some silly April Fool-day joke when we first heard the news, but I’ve since been in touch with the producers who have confirmed that both Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore are lined up for starring roles on a new album by former Star-Trek Captain turned actor William Shatner. The album is due for release later this year.

Ian Paice plays on "Space Truckin'", which also features Johnny WInter on guitar. Ritchie Blackmore plays on a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity", with keyboards handled by Alan Parsons. Other musicians on the album include Steve Howe and Patrick Moraz (Yes), Steve Hillage, Peter Frampton, John Wetton, Carmine Appice and Michael Schenker.

For more comment on Searching for Major Tom, check out the Darker Than Blue blog.

Available from the DPAS / Darker Than Blue Online store.

SR/NY#9002541

Ian Paice is due to play a show with the Matt Filippini Band on 2nd April 2011. This replaces a gig originally planned for 26th January but cancelled due to health problems.

A second gig has been lined up for 1st April, with Ian playing alongside Deep Purple tribute band The Stage.

NY #7002321

Ian Paice is due to play a pre-Christmas gig in Caserta,Italy, with Deep Purple tribute group The Stage. For more information, click on the poster.

NY #700231

Due to "organizational reasons", the Ian Paice & Tolo Marton February dates have been rescheduled for April.

The "Classic Rock Night" featuring Ian Paice & the Tolo Marton Band is due to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "In Rock" and to mark 40 years since the passing of Jimi Hendrix. It will showcase a project which Paice and Marton have been working on together. The setlist will include a Deep Purple tribute, a few Tolo Marton tracks, a few Hendrix tracks and a rock medley inspired by movie soundtracks.

NY #7002303, with thanks to Francisco - www.deep-purple.it)

Ian Paice is on the cover of the November 2009 edition of French drummers' magazine 'Batteur'. Inside there is an interview with Ian, which took place at the Paris 'Bag Show' in September (see item below) . The magazine is on sale now.

For more information check out www.batteurmag.com.

DB #700229
(with thanks to Max Sylvestre)

On September 20th, Ian Paice and Billy Cobham played a drum clinic at a theatre venue in La Pigalle, Paris, organised by local drum store La Baguetterie.

Ian performed solos, played alongside a group of female percussionists, and answered questions from the audience. These included background information on the recording of the intro for 'Fireball', which he explained was played using double bass drums as played with just one it lacked the required power. He didn't have a second bass drum, but was able to borrow one from Keith Moon, as The Who were using the same studio.

Billy Cobham played a separate jazz-rock set with a full band.

For more details, and photos from the event, visit rockerparis.blogspot.com/2009.

MR #700228
(with thanks to Angelo Misterioso. photo: Patrice Guino)

MR #700225

The Ian Paice DVD On The Drums went out of print in 2007. It is now reappearing on a new label, due out in October 2008. The contents appear to be the same, though the cover may change. We assume most Paicey fans will have snapped up this two hour drum fest years ago, which is actually very watchable (even if you don't know one side of a drum skin from another) but if not it's available via dpas mailorder.

Thanks to Pinnacle Vision.

SR#700227

DPAS DVD Review: Ian Paice - On The Drums

Two years after it was first scheduled, "Tony Ashton & Friends - Endangered Species Live At Abbey Road" is now in production, albeit having moved to a German label. Ian Paice and Jon Lord appeared as part of a reunited Whitesnake and PAL, at the special show staged in EMI's Abbey Road studio back in 2000, along with Bernie Marsden and many more.

Full track listing at dpas mailorder where pre-orders can be placed. SR#jl700226

The Childline Rocks show in London on March 13th featured Ian Paice and Glenn Hughes appearing together on stage for the first time in 32 years. Joined by members of Thunder, plus keyboardist Anders Olinder from Glenn's band, the pair played 'Mistreated' and 'Might Just Take Your Life'. Ian Paice was then in the backing band for 'Since You Been Gone' (sung by its writer Russ Ballard). For the show's finale Paice and Hughes also took part in 'With A Little Help From My Friends".

"The show was much better than I expected. Initially it looked like a very small gathering. Things picked up as the evening went on but it didn't sell out. Audience a mix between fans of various people on the bill and people linked to Childline.

It was worth it to see Glenn and paicey on stage together for the first time in 32 years - practically to the day in fact. Glenn was announced as having just flown in from LA and he did indeed look very ... LA. They kicked off with Mistreated which Glenn finished off with several minutes of over the top vocal histrionics which was stunning. Classic Hughes. Initially Ian's face had a look of how the hell does he do that about it but by the end he was slumped over his drum kit (presumably his jet lag!). Might Just Take Your Life followed and then Glenn left the stage. Well worth the effort Paice did another couple of numbers, most bizarrely Since You Been Gone with Russ ballard on guitar and vocals.

They both came back on for the encore of With A Little help From My Friends where Glenn out sung everyone." Andy Hardman     TS #7002191

Ian Paice and ex-Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden have made guest appearances on the debut album by Italian singer RANFA (Andrea Ranfagni): 'Little Hard Blues', which was released in December 2007.

Paice plays on one track: 'Forget My Boogie'. 'Marsden plays on ' Everybody Knows', 'May Day', 'New Baby', and 'Easy Woman'.

DB#700216

Thanks to Francesco - Deep Purple Italia - www.deep-purple.it)

The Paice Ashton Lord DVD includes the ten track Sight & Sound In Concert show from March 1977 (including a never before screened bonus track), along with the 50 minute Lifespan documentary, which tracked PAL during auditions, rehearsals, and back-stage. It includes further live footage from the UK tour. None of the material has ever been issued officially before. The title is now shipping from dpas online.

LIMITED EDITION: dpas online are handling a very limited edition which contains (along with the regular 4 page booklet) a DVD sized exact reproduction of the rare UK tour programme. All pre-orders will automatically get this edition.

FIRST THOUGHTS : We've had sight of a test copy and can report that it's a pretty good release all round. The BBC show is much less worrying than I recall. It's well filmed (in a slow deliberate BBC style) and Ashton's nerves don't seem nearly so obvious now, though he's clearly feeling tense (and loses his way in "Remember The Good Times"!). They run through pretty much the whole album, and there's great stuff from both keyboardists and the drummer in particular. The Lifespan documentary is way better than any of the dodgy pirate copies I've seen in the past. It's such a thorough piece of work we'll find ourselves cursing that not all Purple related projects were covered in such detail. There's half an hour of film shot in rehearsals, the studio and auditions, followed by half a dozen full songs on stage at Birmingham. As far as I know this is all the film of PAL ever made, so full marks to T2 for getting it together.

The DVD is trailed on the T2 site, T2 are doing some promotional shirts to mark the release and dpas online will have some of these available for a short time. There are photos from the release in our DPAS Photo Gallery. The DVD looks set to appear in Japan via TAMT

SR#7001971