Steve Morse was in New York putting the finishing touches on his latest solo album (due in March) when he made the call. After a brief chat about dentistry and ridiculously tight interview schedules we got down to the serious business of finding out just how he got involved with Deep Purple?

"I don't know who in the band was responsible for suggesting me but I know that Roger Glover had seen my band play and Ian Gillan had some (Dixie) Dregs records. As for the approach, my manager was quite crafty about it, he called me up and said 'What do you think about Deep Purple?' and if I hadn't said something good I guess he would have just gone on to another topic. But of course I did, so he said 'Well there's a possibility of you guys working together, what do you think?' I said let's give it a shot and so the band designed a mini tour and rehearsal in Mexico to try out 'the new guy'. Turned out that it worked real well because we were coming up with new ideas without even trying. Plus we all got along so easy."

You can actually hear that on the album.

"That's exactly what I think. Chemistry is almost a luck issue, y'know."

Do you think they were nervous about taking on a new guitarist?

"The rest of the band finishing the tour with Joe Satriani was really good for me because it showed them that they could play with another guitarist and the audience would still love them. That was an important step for them and one that got their confidence back so they could fine tune their desire when it came to finding a permanent member for the band. I think that enabled me to be chosen rather than the biggest name hotshot, do you know what I'm saying? I don't mean that in a bad way, Joe Satriani was a great choice."

What did you think when you heard that they had got Joe Satriani in the replace Ritchie Blackmore?

"I thought it was really cool when they hired, I thought it was a bold step. I was encouraged by that especially as I think what Joe Satriani represents is a lot of guitar power, y'know, and I think that was a cool approach to take."

How did you approach the role as Deep Purple's new guitarist?

"With any project I do I try to fit in. Whatever the track needs, y'know. I don't care about anything else because it's a team thing."

How long did it take you to fit in?

"I felt good about the band, and Roger (Glover) is such an eclectic guy that I was instantly at ease. When I got together with the band and jammed it was just too easy."

When did you know that it was going to work?

"It was a variety of things. First of all Jon Lord instead of saying 'What was that?' when we were talking about a new part, instantly knew it. Whatever I played he instantly had something perfect to go with it. The same with Roger and Ian Paice."

Did the knowledge that Deep Purple like to improvise sway your decision at all?

"That's what I love, in fact I improvise more with Purple on stage than I do with the Dregs."

Are you sure?!

"With the Dregs we were so out of control that we needed some structure!"

Your arrival into the band seems to have had a positive effect on Jon Lord's playing in particular?

"Yeah, and I was really pushing for him to get back some sounds he had on Machine Head. So one day we were writing in rehearsal and I brought in a guitar effects box and put it on the distortion setting and stuck it in between the break between his organ and the Lesley. It turned out that he liked it and was switching it on and off. Then we took one of my guitar amps like Ritchie had done long ago and ran the organ through it as well. It blends great with the guitar I think."

Many of the songs have a live, almost jammed feel to them?

"That's exactly right. The parts that are recorded didn't take long at all. A lot of them were done live as a band, in fact 'Rosa's Cantina' is just a demo that felt so good we thought 'Hey, are we gonna do it again just for the sake of it?' If it feels right, leave it."

You were in the studio for quite a time according to Ian Gillan, why was that?

"The main thing that took time was the writing of the songs and figuring out which ones to do and which ones not to do. It also took time for Ian Gillan to come up with enough stories for the music."

'The Aviator' is instantly recognisable as a Steve Morse tune and a complete departure for Deep Purple, what happened?

"I'm a big fan of Led Zeppelin and I've always loved Irish folk music and that's always been a part of my roots. I just thought that Deep Purple could use some of that feel to go along with all that heavy stuff."

How did you approach them with it?

"I think at first they were kind of 'Steve's noodling in the background again', but then somebody said 'That could well be something we could work on.' And that's a key element of this album - they've been open minded about everything."

How many of the new songs do you think you'll be playing live?

"I imagine about four or five at least."

Which ones would you like to do?

"I'd like to do '...Feel Like Screamin', 'Cascades...', 'Castle Full Of Rascals' and 'The Aviator' or something like that."

What about the Purple classics, any new additions to the set-list?

"The most exciting thing for me is that we're doing the full version of 'Woman From Tokyo' including the spacey middle section which is my favourite part."

How have you approached reproducing the solos on some of the classic tracks?

"Some of the solos on songs like 'Smoke...' and 'Highway Star' have a shred of a theme which I stick to but other than that I get to do my own thing. The same goes for 'Child In Time', we stick to the guitar and organ theme that climaxes the song but outside of that I have free reign."

Finally, what do you think of Ritchie Blackmore as a guitarist?

"He doesn't go for a lot of distortion. Part of that has to do with the Stratocaster and part of it is to do with the fact that he doesn't like an overdriven sound. It sounds like he plays a tube amp very loud but on a clean setting where it's just the power tubes that are breaking up. He's a strong player and it seems like he's got a lot of fire inside and that's what I've always liked about him. He's got a very fiery, kind of angry, fast vibrato which I've also been accused of having. I don't think that's a bad thing, I think it's a cool thing!"