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By Peter Lindblad
Blazing his own trail of hard funk- and soul-infused hard rock
over a long career that has included stints with Trapeze, Deep
Purple and Black Sabbath, and even the techno/house group The
KLF, Glenn Hughes has established a reputation as a musical
innovator who refuses to be pigeonholed.
His voice is legendary, and his fingerprints are all over some
of the finest albums in the Deep Purple canon, including the
1974 classic Burn, a barnstorming set of explosive, funk-fueled
rock that served as a comeback album of sorts after the
disappointment of Who Do We Think We Are. Burn was the first
Deep Purple album to feature Hughes and singer David Coverdale,
who had replaced Roger Glover and Ian Gillan. With Coverdale and
Hughes trading off vocals and bringing a more groove-oriented
approach to Deep Purple, the band was again flying high. But,
inner turmoil again reared its ugly head, and after Burn's
successor, Stormbringer, was released, guitar god Ritchie
Blackmore left the band.
Hughes would go on to work with a variety of musical
co-conspirators, all the while cultivating a distinguished solo
career that was almost derailed by substance abuse.
Sober and clean for years, Hughes has never been more
clearheaded about what he wants out of his recording career. His
latest album, First Underground Nuclear Kitchen, is an injection
of soul and funk that music sorely need. Released this year on
Frontiers Records, F.U.N.K. is his 12th solo effort. Hughes
discusses it and other aspects of his fascinating career in this
recent interview.
Pete: Many are saying of First Underground Nuclear Kitchen that
it emphasizes more of the soul and funk aspects of your sound.
Is there a reason you wanted to go in that direction?
Glenn: Man, you know, when you look at my career, when you go
back to my childhood, I was very much influenced by The Beatles;
of course, I'm from the north of England. And then I started
listening to what was going on in Detroit and Memphis and Stevie
Wonder and Marvin Gaye and Al Green, Wilson Pickett, Otis
Redding, and you throw a little bit of Beatles influences in
there and you get what I consider to be the Glenn Hughes
footprint. Before Deep Purple were around, I was in a band
called Trapeze — very sort of popular in America, funk rock. You
know, this is the blueprint, the sole print of what we left, and
then I became really famous in Deep Purple. So, it had taken me
a little to the left of where I wanted to be. Deep Purple were a
great, traditional, classic-rock band. Now, and all these years
later, I want to make music that is really, really the music
that is core to my soul, which is soul, funk and rock. I look at
it like, Peter, that it's a big soup, and you muck it all
together, and those three ingredients become Glenn Hughes'
music, which is the funky stuff.
Pete: Yeah, I was going to take you back to your days with
Trapeze. You came into that group with such a diverse range of
influences, from Motown to American soul and R&B to The Beatles
and British hard rock. Did that group give you the chance, and
it seems to be the case I guess from your answer before, to
blend as many of those as possible?
Glenn: It did, man. You know, when we first started out, Trapeze
were basically a harmony band, you know. We were very much
influenced by what was going on with The Beatles, even like with
the California Beach Boys. We were like ... we were very much
influenced by harmonies and melodies, you know. And then I
started to really, really, really super get interested in what
was coming out of black American music. You know, and if you
were to hear Robert Plant, he'd say blues, or David Coverdale
would say blues, or Paul Rodgers would say blues, but Glenn
Hughes has definitely gone with the soul thing. I'm really,
really still in love with this kind of music. It is the core of
who I am, and this record, First Underground Nuclear Kitchen, is
glorified and signifies what I want to do. You know, I don't
want to spend the rest of my life making records that I'm not
going to be happy with in a couple of years' time. I want to
make records in a place, in a time when nobody's playing bloody
records, but ... and please buy mine, everybody, 'cause it's
great (laughs). No, I just love what I do, and I want to make
music that is significantly who I am as a person. I sing about
the human condition. I sing about what goes on between us as
humans, and I really believe in this record.
Pete: And the new album features drummer Chad Smith of the Red
Hot Chili Peppers, who you've collaborated with before. How did
you two come to work together and what makes your partnership
work?
Glenn: I met Chad at the industry event called the NAMM show in
L.A. in 2002. We played together at that event. Since that
event, we've become best buds, godfather to his child, our
families are really close. Yes, he's the greatest drummer in the
world... for me, pound for pound. What I want people to know
about Chad is that he's a wonderful, wonderful, very funny guy,
who I'm addicted to hang with, and play with, and we just get
along super, super well. We're the same kind of guy. We like the
same things. Like I say, pound for pound, for my music judgement,
he's the greatest rock drummer on the planet. And trust me,
Peter, I've played with every bloody drummer you can imagine, so
no disrespect to anybody else who I've played with. I've played
with the greatest rock drummers — Ian Paice, John Bonham,
Bernard "Pretty" Purdie ... everybody, but for me, Chad seems to
work for my music, and he's a great guy.
Pete: Is it just kind of his feel? Is that what really he...
Glenn: His expression, his musicality, and the way he listens to
what I write, and his power, and he's very subtle on my record —
on songs like "Imperfection" and "Satellite," you know, very
subtle songs, he really turns out some hits with the Chili
Peppers. So, you know, like I say, I play with a lot of people,
I work with a lot of great artists, but Chad Smith is my soul
mate. We've worked together so much, it's like hand in glove.
Glenn: Tell us about the song "Love Communion."
Glenn: Yeah, I mean, I was writing the track with Luis
Maldonado, my guitar player. [He] was in my studio, and we...
basically, one day I was just basically tuning my bass up, and I
go "doom doom doom doom" ... just sort of writing that thing,
and he said, "What's that?" I said, "I have no idea." He said,
"Well, you've got to finish that." And, about half an hour
later, we finished the song. It wrote itself, and the title came
pretty much the next day. I normally write first the music, and
then I'll write sort of a melody in my brain. And then it's
just, the lyrics start popping out, but, you know, that album
was written pretty quick. This album, to me, as I said before, I
really believe in this particular record. Certain records write
themselves. This is an album that really did write itself. "Love
Communion," for me, is a very, very strong song, and, once
again, it sets Glenn Hughes aside from the rock pack, you know.
I'm not denouncing rock music, Peter. I'm not saying it's been
good or bad for me, but I want to make music that is primarily
at the core of who I am, that's the real Glenn Hughes, and I'm
consistently, continually, evolving. I don't want to be sitting
in the same puddle every year. I want to be moving and doing
what I do, and this record is an evolving record. I challenge
people to listen to it. I mean, it's a great piece of music. If
you are a Glenn Hughes fan, you will understand this record, and
I look in the audience around the world — and I'm on tour for
seven or eight months a year now — the average age of my
audience was 23, 24 years old. You know, whereas maybe 20 years
ago, it was 40. So, my audience is getting younger.
Pete: Do you find that fans of Glenn Hughes follow you
throughout the various stages of your career, and they don't
say, "Well, I liked him with Deep Purple, and I haven't really
listened to anything else."
GM: There was a small contingent or a contingent of fans that
maybe dropped away, and these are not the primary or largest
group of fans, because everybody that knows my music, that have
followed me even since the Purple [and] know that I am a
soul-singing rock guy that plays funk like it's my first
language. I can't play reggae because I don't understand it.
But, I think there might have been a few diehard sort of metal
guys that maybe have lost their way here, because my music is
not that. It never really was that. And I did make a couple of
records with Tony Iommi, which were more borderline on the metal
base, but they weren't really for metal, but ... and I will work
with Tony again because we're good buds and we love each other.
But, I think primarily, my audience, Peter, has followed me
through all of it. There's never really been a real
trial-and-tribulation period for me, because my music is very,
very honest. You know, it really... I love black American music,
and we know that. I love The Beatles. I love hard rock, and when
you throw them all together, that's what Glenn Hughes' music is.
Pete: You talked about Deep Purple. Coming out of Trapeze, it
was a bit of a left turn for you. Did you go into that situation
with a little trepidation?
Glenn: I did, and I'll tell you why. Trapeze were about to crack
it big in America. We were doing 5,000 seats a night. We were on
the Moody Blues record label [Threshold Records], and we were
being supported by the Moody Blues, really good friends of ours
now. And, you know, here comes Deep Purple. They're a massive
band. "Smoke on the Water" is the No. 1 song in America. Made in
Japan is the No. 1 [album] in the world... and blah, blah, blah.
It's huge. We were, that year, just about to join a band that at
the time was as big as Led Zeppelin, and it was just huge. So,
of course, I was asked to join, and I said, 'No," because I
wanted to sing and they wanted to get Paul Rodgers to sing. And
then Rodgers didn't join, so they got David Coverdale, and with
David — pretty much sounds like Paul — at that time. So, I
really wasn't keen on doing that, and I wanted to forge away
with my own band. And then they made me an offer I couldn't
refuse. I mean, financially, it's just something you can't
really refuse if you're a 21-year-old lad. So, I joined, and
what we did, Pete, we didn't make the same records as Mark II
with [Ian] Gillan and [Roger] Glover. We made records that were
predominantly more bluesier, more groovier, 'cause my bass
playing is way different to Roger Glover's. And my writing is
completely different. There's a lot of holes in my music.
There's a lot of spaces where Mark II Purple is a lot of speed
and a lot of different kinds of things that are really
different, so I was very proud of what we accomplished.
Pete: Absolutely. And at the time you joined Deep Purple, with
the departures of Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, you mentioned,
what kind of atmosphere greeted you with Deep Purple. Were
things still kind of tense or...
Glenn: Not really. I mean, as you know, Blackmore is a crazy
guy, and I think he likes to change members every two or three
years, anyway... [every] two or three records. And what happened
with this Gillan and Glover thing, I think he wanted new blood,
and here comes Coverdale and Hughes, and, of course, after two
albums, Blackmore leaves to go with Rainbow. That's the kind of
guy he is. What I saw with Deep [Purple] — and remember in 1973,
the climate in America is when you play music, it wasn't really
about the piercings in your nose and the tattoos — it was about
the songs. It was about the musicianship. Man, there wasn't even
drum risers back in '73. There wasn't even lasers. Remember
that. Yeah, we had our own plane. We had security, yeah. We had
candles. But there wasn't the shit that goes on now. So, you
know, rock fans were more intrigued by the persona of the
musicianship and how bands could jam. And lo and behold,
Coverdale and Hughes fit that mold wonderfully. We were, you
know, I think, great replacements for Gillan and Glover ... I
hate that word "replacements." You know, when I was coming off
of Trapeze, Trapeze were a massive influence to me, and you
know, that was a great, great band.
Pete: How responsible were you and David for bringing in more of
kind of the funk sound that permeated Burn and subsequent Deep
Purple albums like Stormbringer and Come Taste The Band?
Glenn: Well, when you hire a Glenn Hughes, Purple knew they were
hiring somebody that was a strong writer and a producer and a
singer. And, especially at 21, I wasn't even peaking yet. And,
you know, I wasn't a bossy guy. I was a group member. I was
accepted into the band immediately. We had two new members. And
I think it brought new blood into Deep Purple. We went away to a
castle. Sounds all very bizarre, but we went away to a castle in
England, a Medieval castle, and wrote music for the Burn record.
And we wrote in the dungeon. It all sounds spooky, but it's a
true story. We did our record in a dungeon in a castle. It
sounds great, and it's true. And it was wonderful.
Pete: You'd think after hearing the sound on that record, you'd
think more people would try to do that.
Glenn: Well, they did. I mean, Sabbath went down there. Zeppelin
went down there after we did to the same castle — Clearwell
Castle on the outskirts of Gloucestershire in England, near
Wales, in the forest of Dean. It sounds very Robin Hood, doesn't
it? But, it was a wonderful period of time for me. It was a
growth period. Yes, I was making a different kind of rock music,
but it was a music that I wanted to grab a hold of and we did a
great record.
Pete: Did Ritchie Blackmore welcome that funk influence? Was
that even what he was looking for?
Glenn: Oh, God, no. Let's be perfectly clear. He called my
music, Glenn Hughes' music, "shoeshine music," which I think is
very, very, you know... disgraceful. And you know, look, I don't
have a problem with people [and how] they want to perceive
genres, but I pretty much want don't want to be around that
behavior. Ritchie is the kind of cat that is, you know, a
larger-than-life, amazing guitar player that wanted to be
different, and he would push buttons, and he wouldn't really
speak to the band members. He would send notes via his
assistants or roadies. It was very much 1970s-all-gone-wrong
kind of thing. Look, in any band you're going to have some
dynamic, whether it's [Robert] Plant and [Jimmy] Page, [Mick]
Jagger and [Keith] Richards, you know, and now you've got two
guys in Deep Purple that were kind of clashing with Ritchie
Blackmore. But it kind of works. Rock and roll isn't supposed to
be polite. It isn't supposed to be well-mannered. It's supposed
to be about coals and jeans, isn't it? And, you know, there was
plenty of that, so in every band you're going to have hooking
and pulling, whether it's Pink Floyd, Yes... notice all these
bands that I'm mentioning, naming, are all British, aren't they?
So, I mean, I'm also very privileged, although I'm American
pretty much now — I've lived in America for 35 years — I come
from a long line or heritage of British rock bands, which are
wonderful.
Pete: What do you remember about playing the "California Jam" in
1974?
Glenn: I remember it like it was yesterday. And some Deep Purple
fans say, "Oh, all he talks about is 'California Jam.'" Well, I
don't talk about it. You talk about it. They talk about it, and
the fact of the matter is, when people talk to me about it, I
tell them this: You've got 300,000 people there. You're
headlining a festival. You're 22 years old. This is your moment.
You're in a great band. There's a lot of shenanigans going on.
Ritchie Blackmore smashes the camera. There's all kinds of weird
vibes happening. We blow the equipment up. There's helicopters.
There's chicks. There's drugs. There's movies. What more do you
want? It's a great, great moment.
Pete: Talk about working with Tony Iommi, a real friend of
yours. You worked on Seventh Star, and that was kind of a solo
album for him. What was he like to work with as opposed to your
days with Deep Purple?
Glenn: More than a friend, a brother. I don't say that to be
silly. I see Tony as being a really good friend of mine since
1973, when I joined Purple. I knew Tony from '69 when Paranoid
came out, or '70. I knew Ozzy. I know the guys pretty well. Ozzy
was my neighbor for a while. So, Iommi, as you know, if you've
met Tony, he's a very, very, very nice man. And he loves working
with singers. And I get along really well with Tony. I write
good stuff with him. It's a little left of Sabbath, as you
know... Seventh Star was a little left of Sabbath, and Fuse was
a little left of Sabbath. But, when you throw Glenn Hughes'
influence in with Tony Iommi's, you get a great mix. Once again,
with the Chad Smith thing, with Tony Iommi, you've got two of my
best friends here, so I'm big fans of these guys.
Pete: It'd be interesting to get you three together on an album
together.
Glenn: Oh, yeah. We spoke about this. I mean, we're all mates
together.
Pete: Talk about working with former Pat Travers guitarist Pat
Thrall to form Hughes and Thrall. How did that project come
about?
Glenn: Genius guitar player. A wonderful man. Was in a band
called Automatic Man in the '70s. Really, really super talented.
Really, his vocabulary towards his guitar is second to none. He
understands all the genres that I love – rock, soul, funk.
Actually, he likes reggae, too, which I'm not really a big fan
[of], but he's really good at that. And jazz. Hughes-Thrall was
a record released in '82. Sold a couple of hundred thousand
records. Could have sold more. We didn't promote it
appropriately. We kind of screwed up a bit — shoulda, coulda,
woulda. It's an album that should have sold five million copies.
I think that album, by the way, 200 or 300 thousand musicians
have got that record, at least. I think it sold 200,000 on
release. I think it may have sold another 150 [thousand] since
then. So, it sold pretty well. I mean, like I said, it should
have sold way more. It's a great, great blueprint for 1982. It's
a great record from my catalog.
Pete: Now, the 80s were kind of a trying period for you,
health-wise, with the drugs. How did you get clean?
Glenn: Let me just say that you either get clean or sober or you
go to institutions, jail or you die. I chose the first one. I
chose to get clean and sober because I was sick and tired of
being sick and tired. So tired of waking up not knowing where I
was, or waking up looking at myself and saying, "What the hell
is this today?" And I think having prayed — and I'm not going to
get religious on you — but having prayed to God for a couple of
years, let's say in the late '80s, that I just was praying to
rid myself of this bloody temptation, and I was desperate enough
to turn my life around. Now, when I did that, I had to
completely change my phone numbers, people who I'd spoken to,
people like my friends... I even had to change my girlfriend.
Everybody had to go. When one wants to become centered, one has
to do everything 100 percent. You cannot do things in half
measures. Was I desperate? Yes. Did I want to change my life?
Absolutely. It wasn't a career move for me. It was a humanity
move. I wanted to change everything, from the floor up. Greatest
thing I ever did.
Pete: And one of the interesting changes in your career —
probably surprised a lot of people — was you emerged with The
KLF. Talk about how that came about.
Glenn: They were looking for a rock singer to sing... they had
Tammy Wynette on the country song in '91, No. 1 song in Europe.
And the same month, they were doing another song, when they
wanted... that first rock ... I think they were talking to
Robert Plant and [Roger] Daltrey. And they came to me first. I
was in London. They said, we've got this song called "What Time
is Love?" And we'd like you to come down and sing on this song.
Now, I'd already known about The KLF. They were the biggest
acid-house, garage-rock, funk dance band of that era, selling
millions and millions of copies. For me to be acknowledged by
these guys was like a real good thing for me. I knew, once I got
this track, it was going to go to the Top 10. And, of course,
when you get a song in the Top 10, it has a video clip. The
video clip was shot on the James Bond set in Shepperton... great
video clip. So I knew at this point working with these guys...
and at this point, by the way, I'd become known as the voice of
rock. So, since that period of '91... hence the title of Voice
of Rock , which is kind of a cool thing to be called I guess.
And I went and did the video clip, and I knew I had to go into
treatment and get sorted out with myself.
Pete: Let's talk about your solo career from there. Soul Mover
was really kind of monumental album. How did you approach that
project? Did it accomplish what you set out to do?
Glenn: Last thing, first. I accomplished everything I wanted to
do. After Songs In The Key of Rock in 2004, [I] wanted to make a
record that was more akin to the groove of Glenn Hughes. I
wanted to make a sexier record. I wanted to make a record that
was going to make people dance. I wanted to make a record that
was going to make people just feel. Starting off with "Soul
Mover," the title track, and ending with "Don't Let Me Bleed," I
just think it was important to make a record that meant
something to me as an artist. It's the first artistic record I
made since Feel in '95, so I'm really in love with that record.
One of my biggest sellers by the way.
Pete: Is there an album that maybe you've made, solo or with a
band, that you felt captured the essence of what Glenn Hughes is
all about?
Glenn: Well, every artist is going to say the newest one, simply
because it really smacks of everything I've spoken to you about
— soul, rock and funk. But I'd say Feel and Soul Mover are a
close second and third. So, that's three records for me, and of
course, my first solo record, Play Me Out, high as a kite on
that record. I don't remember ever being clean and sober one
second, but still, a very, very beautiful record.
Pete: And Music for the Divine, the precursor to this new
record, received a ton of critical acclaim as well. Did you feel
maybe that album kind of was setting the stage for this one?
Glenn: It was. I'll tell you why: simply, the songwriting. I was
going through my Beatle period on Music for the Divine. I wanted
to make a more English, acoustic sort of ... cellos record. And
I wanted to make a singer-songwriter... I didn't want to make it
thinking I was going to make a singer-songwriter record. But I
just thought I needed to make a record that my fans will look on
their souls as their own. You know, "This Is How I Feel" is a
fan favorite. "This House" is another fan favorite. And "Monkey
Man," you know, and "You've Got Soul" and "Stepping On" — these
records are very important to me. They still ... I still play
most of these songs live. It's a great live album. That's a
great live album to play live.
Pete: Over your career, you've worked with so many great
musicians. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about Tommy Bolin.
An incredible guitar player. What do you remember about meeting
him for the first time and hearing him play? And talk about how
he developed over time.
Glenn: Well, I'll tell you what happened. We auditioned Clem
Clempson (Humble Pie, Colosseum). Clem was the only other guy we
auditioned. Clem came to stay at my home in Beverly Hills. And
we auditioned Clem. He wasn't the guy simply because he was a
good guitar player, but he didn't have that X factor in the fact
that he wasn't a showman, like Ritchie Blackmore. So, moving
forward to Tommy Bolin. So, Tommy comes in... I walk in, and I
see Tommy Bolin in the room. And he's got green, red, purple and
orange hair. I said, "OK. If you don't get this audition, you're
coming home with me tonight, anyway," 'cause he looked freaky.
Lo and behold, he got the audition. He won it. He won it simply
because he sort of was like... he was kind of arrogant but in a
very cool sort of sweet way. He sort of... he kicked all the
boxes. He looked the part. He was different to Blackmore, but he
had some pizazz, and he sort of like... made the songs kind of
his own. So, you know, he was a great, great guy. We lost him at
a young age. We did not know he was, you know, under the
influence of a lot of opiates. He was only with us for 25 years.
We had him for a year. He worked with Billy Cobham, and he was
Joe Walsh's replacement in The James Gang. He made a couple of
great records. I sang on an album called Teaser with Tommy. I
still do tributes for Tommy Bolin. I still do the occasional
memorial concert. I'll do things... I just love him, and I love
Johnnie Bolin. He's the only remaining relative that's alive,
Johnnie Bolin. He lives in Souix City, Iowa. I love him. I love
Tommy Bolin. I love the legacy of Tommy Bolin. Tommy lived at my
house for a while. I loved him dearly. He was an enigmatic man —
a giver, sweet, hippie, soft-spoken, crazy, joy to be around.
Pete: And I guess the last question. How excited to bring
material out live?
Glenn: I play five songs off this album live, Peter. It is a
fan's favorite. I haven't told them they must like this album,
because trust me, my fans are very, very one-minded. They'll
decide what they like, but they know of my endeavors, and they
know of my energies to get this record right. They also follow
my heart, they follow their instincts, and they know how
important this is for me. I have the greatest fans. Every artist
is going to say this to you, that they have the greatest fans.
But I have the greatest fans. They're soul freaks. They love
what I do. They follow every word I do. They fly all over the
world to see me. And I'm very, very privileged to have great,
great fans.
Pete: And you are about to embark on a tour.
Glenn: I'm about to embark on a tour, the last part of my tour,
but I've been on the road since April 7. This will be seven
months on the road. I finish Nov. 8. I am now also, Peter,
playing guitar in my show. I play Les Paul 335. I'm a Gibson
endorsee. Gibson has come on board, and I work very closely with
Gibson on playing bass and also playing their wonderful guitar,
so I'm really excited about working with Gibson. So, I'm playing
guitar in the show. I'll be in a ... by the time this goes out,
I'll be in Moscow all of October. I'll be at the Hall of Russia
for the whole month of October, working all around that massive
country. So, think about me in the cold.
www.glennhughes.com
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