Flying high again, Steve Morse is clearing for landing thanks to the wildly flapping semaphore of Jordan McLachlan.

There are few contemporary players who so completely personify the concept of the 'all rounder' as Steve Morse. A transcendence of stylistic boundaries has virtually become the cornerstone of his style; through his early work with rock/jazz/jazz/country/fusioneers The Dixie Dregs to a stint with AOR dino rockers Kansas to his own solo amalgamations, Steve has proved beyond doubt his ability to turn his hand to almost anything. And he flys his own plane.

Whether he is propelling a foot to floor rocker with his trademark alternate picking or coaxing a melody from a nylon-strung acoustic, playing in odd time signatures or completely unaccompanied, he always sounds utterly confident and authentic. It's not just his playing either. Mr Morse has earned himself a reputation as a very fine writer, solo albums like 'High Tension Wires' and 'Southern Steel' proving that records by primarily electric guitarists needn't simply demonstrate the usual rock influences and nothing else.

Having spent the last five years establishing himself as a solo artist, in addition to working on a couple of Dregs albums, one would assume that Steve was due for a bit of a rest. The tireless troubadour won't hear of it, however, and as of last year he's been busy adding another string to his already crowded bow by joining monsters of rock Deep Purple. Following in the footsteps of Stratmaster Ritchie Blackmore is daunting enough, but when you're in the position of taking over from another fairly handy guitarist drafted in to get them through a tour...

"The first thing they wanted when Ritchie quit," Steve begins, "kind of in the middle of a tour, was someone that could finish that tour and obviously had some name value where they were headed, which was Japan. They also needed someone that could cut it, and Joe Satriani was a great choice for that. After they finished the tour the thing was, Right, now we need a band member replacement, what do we do? Obviously you can't have someone who's just like Ritchie Blackmore, because that looks like a bad move.

"They had question marks in their mind when they gave me the call, just as I did, but they were extremely open-minded in considering me. My manager called me and he didn't ask me at first, he didn't tell me about the gig. He asked, How do you feel about Deep Purple? I thought he was asking if I wanted to play on a tribute album or something, which I would have said yes to. I mean, I knew half the set before I even met these guys and so I said, Yeah, they're a cool band, are they still playing? He said, I got a call from their management about somebody to replace Ritchie Blackmore in the band. To which I said, Yeah, who's it going be? I had no idea! Then he explained that they wanted to try me out and I asked if they were going to make me wear a certain kind of clothes!"

And do they?

"No!"

Part of Steve's appeal is the fact that he is well versed in so many different styles and has experience of several band situations, all of which must have stood him in good stead for all he's been asked to do now...

"With Deep Purple, my collective life experience sure does help," he nods, "but it still comes down to the whole spontaneous, creative thing. I think that's what's earned me my spot in the band. All my life I've had this opinion that a solo's not a solo unless it's what you're feeling at the moment. I was lucky enough to stumble across the chance to play with a band, a rock band, that improvises on stage and that's real cool! Jon [Lord, keys] has these huge ears and can just follow anything that I do, and that's very exciting. The reason that I think I'm right for the gig is because I've pretty much gone all my life on what's going to work right now, rather than work out this whole big thing that's going to look impressive. It's a spontaneous band, it's a very confident band and I like that a lot."

Presumably Mr Morse doesn't have time to sit and work much out, such is his workload...

He grins: "Yeah, in the last 18 months or so, the Deep Purple thing has happened, I've had a solo album out, The Dregs had an album out and I'm going to be finishing another solo album before too long! The solo thing will be carrying on the whole time – basically I've never had too much time off in my life. Part of that's been necessity and the other part is having a manager; if you have a manager you're going to stay busy! I'm not a businessman, I just do stuff if I like it and my philosophy is, if you take care of the music then the music will take care of you. It's always worked out that way. The only reason I quit the music business to become a pilot was because I was sick of the business. I was kind of taking it too seriously and too personally, all the bad things that can happen. So I got over that and went back in. That's something that I recommend; if you have doubts about your career, try something else."

As far as 'taking care of the music' is concerned, one gets the impression that Steve would really have done his homework before he hit the boards with DP; but it transpires that his assignment was fairly open-ended...

"They didn't say anything actually, just gave me a copy of a tape of some live stuff that Joe played on. And of course I had my library of Deep Purple stuff. Not every song that was on the list was in my library, because some of the stuff was off obscure albums that we really didn't get in the States.

"I listened to Joe a lot actually! I learned what he did and he did a great job of combining some of Ritchie's stuff, the way he recorded it, with his own style. I would say that I was influenced by the way that Joe interpreted the set. His philosophy was obviously the same as mine; play the stuff that's recognisable, like on Highway Star, where there's that set part of the solo that comes in diddle-diddle-di-diddle-di, which I play pretty much exactly as it is. It's the climax of the solo and everybody knows that part. Blackmore came up with some great stuff, so why not play it? I hope he's not pissed off, but hey, it's part of the song!"

As Steve's previous offerings have displayed, he's no slouch in the composition department either and it seems all ideas were welcomed when it came to the writing of the latest record, 'Purpendicular.'

"It went so well, we were fighting about what to leave off the album just to make it fit!" he laughs. "The writing is very easy for me; one of the key elements for me was that Roger made sure that when we were writing, he always had a DAT right there on the table. If Ian Paice and I were jamming and something was coming out, which happened quite often actually, he would sneak over, turn on that DAT and make sure he kept a record of it. He would mark the tapes and if we ever had a lull, which I don't remember happening too often, he would pull out a tape and say, I really like this thing you guys did. He was keeping track of everything. But it was very easy and very natural.

"We've got songs like The Aviator and A Touch Away on the album that are really stretching out for them and then there's a lot of stuff where I brought in ideas where I wanted to hear things again, like that Speed King-type riff, the Highway Star groove or a really fast shuffle, which Ian Paice can really play. In a way I was pushing the 'Machine Head' sound! But at the same time I brought in so many weird things that it opened up."

As well as those 'weird things', Steve also brought his phenomenal technical ability to the band. His trademark aggressive alternate picking is well employed to double Jon Lord's lightning keyboard phrasing in places - but Steve's well aware that his approach is very different to the pure neo-classical stance adopted by speed pickers like Yngwie...

"I have a really weird technique," he acknowledges with a smile, "and so it does sound different. Part of it is the way I hold the pick and the sound that I use - it's less high and low end and more midrange. I also use speakers with very strong magnets, which means that there's more impact from the notes.

"I use alternate picking on just about everything, unless it's an intentional hammer-on riff. I just love the power you can get from something like that - just hearing John McLaughlin play was a big part of it and a big influence on that part of my playing was also bluegrass. Some of Ritchie's stuff was that way and so too was some of Jimmy Page's. I'm still not too sure how he did some of it, but I remember trying to do Communication Breakdown when I was younger, when it just came out, and I was convinced that he was picking every note!"

He may be frighteningly deft or digit, but it's reassuring to know that even Steve Morse had to learn how to speed pick. And he still has to practice...

"Yeah, you have to practice!" he nods vigorously. "I love flying aeroplanes and there's a certain amount of natural ability in that - y'know, if you've got it you've got it - but in terms of staying proficient when the going gets rough, you have to maintain a certain level of discipline and regularity. On stage it's the same way - if you want to play a song and get by, sure you can go on stage drunk and without practicing. But if someone says, Here's a solo, express yourself, you have to be at your best. It's no good being half way there; it's like the ultimate test.

"Soloing is like, first of all, create something straight from your mind and, oh yes, as you do it, please execute it convincingly, with exactly the proper technique that's needed and, while you're at it, relax enough so that it's natural enough to continue the process. Soloing asks everything from you, all at once! To me, the approach has always been train, train, train, get ready, go on stage - and relax."

Wise words. Is Steve happy with his work though, or is he like Allan Holdsworth, whose playing defies scientific reason, yet who can't listen to his own records once they're finished?

"I'm sort of in between," he decides. "I think some people would describe me as a perfectionist, because at the end of the night everybody might be off talking and I'll be sitting there with a guitar going, Crap, what on earth did I just do? I'll sit and work on something that I screwed up; I want to know, just out of curiosity, why I screwed up. I'll want to work it out, because for five minutes after a gig I can remember everything! But on the other hand, with this album there are things on there that are first takes because sometimes there is no way to capture the feel of something that just happened. On stage though, it is the ultimate demand - you are going to have great moments and you are going to have ok moments in a set, so you can't beat yourself up about it."

Assuming that Steve takes his own advice and doesn't beat himself up over his performance, does he ever award himself a clap on the back when he listens back to a track he's particularly pleased with?

"Oh yeah, one of them was Ghostwind - that was a tune that just came. It was really the luck of the recording and the arrangement that made it as special as it was. Highland Wedding was another one like that. I don't want to put anything on the album that I don't believe in, so I feel strongly about everything that's on all of them.

"The writing is what I do; the guitar is just the medium and that's why the question when I joined Deep Purple was, Are we going to create something? If not, then they needed to get in a hired gun and that's not me. As a listener I like guitar players who write stuff that's interesting; that's what's always turned me on. A master of shred is not an attraction enough for me to go to a show, but someone that can really, really play well and writes great music, that's really cool.

"John Petrucci [Dream Theater's 6-string supremo] is a good example. Yeah he can play as fast as any fast player and very cleanly and very precisely, but at the same time I love the band's writing, so he's playing over great stuff. Then you've got Eric Johnson; he's always immaculate, so you're never going to see him on a bad day, but at the same time his music just sounds great - he has a way of creating a phrase that you just can't deny."

Given Steve's penchant for the diverse though, it's not surprising that his last listening session before he left home saw him getting his ears around...

"Acapella medieval music!" he laughs. "It's some English choral group and they really sing great stuff. When I need inspiration there's some Irish music I listen to, and Far Distant Shore by Enya is beautifully recorded. It has nothing to do with guitar; there's not a guitar on it, but it's just haunting and beautiful, gets straight to my soul and makes me want to write, like, death metal on acid!"

So are we likely to see any such material on the next Steve Morse Band album?

"Oh man, I don't know. My manager and record company would really like to hear me say certain phrases - it's fresh, different, exciting..! But I don't know what it is; it's just some music that I'm writing and I get so close to it that I don't really know what's going on! I can't get through an album that has all the same sound on it though; I like to throw in things for variety and that in itself has earned me a reputation for having a style."

Whilst we're promised a sighting of Steve on stage with Purple this Spring, it sadly seems less likely that we'll get a chance to witness the full glory of his trio doing tunes from the new album...

"We've never been able to get into England," he admits. "The story I've always heard is that by the time you work up some club dates in England you're going to lose out financially and you're not going to be able to pay the costs of coming over. In Australia and Germany the way we got to play was by some guy who just said, Hey, I'm going to bring the band over; they made it work and I guess If we're waiting for a big promoter to make an overture to our booking agent, we'll probably wait another two decades!"

Although playing in front of people is obviously a major motivation for The Steve Morse Band, Mr Morse himself has fairly definitive ideas how much time he wants to spend treading the boards.

"I purposefully figured that I would never be in a rock band," he muses, "partly because of all the touring. I knew from experience that Purple had toured a lot, but they also have families and stuff and so there's and end to the touring and they go back home! That really appealed to me - I mean, I've toured pretty constantly with my own band, but it's always been short trips."

But Purple insists on the red carpet treatment by all accounts, making such sojourns bearable. This press trip was conducted with the band comfortably ensconced in London's fabulous Landmark Hotel, the sumptuousness of which wasn't wasted on Mr Morse.

"You can spend a week's pay on a dinner," he reveals, somewhat incredulously. "These guys have been around a long time and they know how to live comfortably! I think traveling well takes precedence over bringing anything home from the trip; there seems to be no discussion that I'm aware of as to whether or not everything should be top drawer. Where I come from, frankly, it's a difficult ride to make a living from instrumental music, but I've always been able to do it. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make the tour work, and sometimes that means going out with one roadie and I'll drive the truck. I've owned trucks before now, I've owned all the equipment and pretty much always owned the rehearsal space and the studio. And I own the plane that we travel in! As a result, I've always had to have a very tight, active management in order to make it work. So yeah, this is very different. But I could get used to it!"

Part of Steve's compensation package joining Purple involved getting his own roadie, a luxury he does without on his trio gigs. Which brings us to the question of what he'll actually be taking on tour this time around.

"There's less rack stuff," he explains. "I'm consciously trying to keep things simple because I think the emphasis is on the band and the music. What I'm using is a Peavey 5150 going into some Scorpion speakers in a Peavey cab - I was looking for speakers that have punch, but not too much punch. The Scorpions do break up a bit when you push them, but they don't go too far and they have some impact when you're doing single note stuff. Then the second amp is a VTM, which is basically just a slave, my short and long delay are returned to it. That goes to some different speakers - they're Black Widows, more venomous speakers! The Black Widows have even heavier magnets and don't sound as good on the main signal, but for some reason for echo, them being stronger speakers sounds better.

"I play through two dry cabinets and two wet, but believe me it can sound like a mouse; if you're playing an open air stadium it sounds like the tiniest little thing if you get out of line with it. I use angle front cabinets and I always put them on their sides so it spreads out the sound a little bit; I put the main signal on the bottom and the effect on top, so I need even less of the echo. I use the dry on the bottom so it don't feed back too much - I want some good feedback, but not the runaway feedback. On the road I actually use DigiTech GSP21 Pros [rack multi effects unit] that have some programs in - they're small, they're light, they've never broken and my old Lexicons don't hold up very well with getting banged around. Actually I also have a third, longer delay which is just a cheap pedal, an eight second delay which DigiTech make and I use that for Lazy, where I set up a loop and play over it. The delays go into a little mixer, a tiny thing, which goes into the second amp, just to get the three delay sounds into one."

Steve's obviously spent a certain amount of time experimenting with gear to ensure that he has a system that works to his personal requirements. Everything serves the music though; just as he strives to develop his technique to the point where it disappears and lets him play exactly what's in his head, so his equipment is there to help him achieve an end, not to impress bandmates or spectating guitarnoraks. "Music Man [who make Steve's signature guitar] would make anything I want," he shrugs. "If there's something I don't like they'll change it and they have done, so I've got no reason to play anything else. To me though, if I finish a gig I don't come off stage and go, Wow that was really great except for that third song; if only I had a different guitar. My worries in life don't centre around what guitar I use. It's a good guitar though, it does what I need and so I don't worry about it. I blame everything on technique; if I don't pull it off then it's me, not the guitar, that's the problem!"