stevemorse.com: News Archive

News Archive - 2000

November 22, 2000

We now have the tour dates for the upcoming Dregs/SMB tour...

--Webmaster

November 16, 2000

Finally got the new pictures up in the gallery that I've been getting over the last month. If you sent a picture in, and it wasn't posted for a while, I'm sorry. I've been in the process of moving out of state to a new job and it's taken literally ALL my time lately. Anyway, once I get settled in here (the next few weeks), expect a new look and overhaul to be done on the site. It's gotten too big for it's current layout, and I'm going to devote a weekend to cleaning it up and making it easier to navigate. Again, I apologize for the delay in getting the new pictures up. Also, if you have sent an email in recently and haven't received a reply, this is why. Once I get settled in here everything will go back to normal with more frequent updates and such.

--Webmaster

November 14, 2000

The last part of our DP Europe trip was so striking, that I had to add a little bit more to what I wrote last. We had a long bus trip to Belarus, with very long border stops for reasons that I can't comprehend. After all day and quite a bit of the night, we arrived in Minsk. The restaurant was closed at the hotel, but they had a place around the corner that would serve us. Of course, I ordered pizza, and of course, I was amazed that there is one more place that considers tomato sauce to not be a pizza ingredient. The interesting thing was these big guys in suits that were following us around would not accept an offer for a couple slices of my pizza. I know they must have been hungry, but they were in serious security mode. Come to think of it, there was a police escort leading us all the way in to the city from the border. And an armed guard on our bus, and stories of mysterious disappearances of vehicles and hijackings on the road we came in on. Probably nothing to worry about. Then again, one of the huge guys followed me back to the hotel and walked all the way to my room and watched me go in.

There were these two old ladies that apparently lived on the floor as monitors. They would peer out and make note of any door opening and closing. Everybody had a cold or congestion, and was interested to find that napkins, tissue, and toilet paper are non existent. There was a 1/4 roll of 400 grit sandpaper in the bathroom if you needed to rub out some scratches in your car's finish. This was the nicest hotel in town. You couldn't call out, in fact it took 8 secret numerals to dial the front desk, which you could only get from the front desk. No heat, refrigerator was in the room, but smelly and not operational. Motel 6 would have been proud to compare amenities, especially the little, saggy bed. People in Belarus have a very tough life, and I don't know how they were able to come up with the (subsidized by Western sponsors) relatively low admission price. Yet, the gig was packed and full of incredible enthusiasm.

One of the guys that waited on us in our little segregated room that we ate in, told us an interesting story. Years ago, during the full blown USSR days, he was kicked out of the Academy (college level) for listening to Deep Purple. Another had told Ian that he went to jail for having a DP album. This was way before MP3.

Latvia was a big change. Of course, after we spent 2 hours trying to cross the border out of Belarus. Seems we didn't buy the optional insurance on the way in, or something like that. Perfectly content to let us sit for no reason. Stone cold expressions of contempt for the decadent Westerners....or was it just the way they treated everyone? Everybody that wants more Government-made decisions should go to Belarus to see the aftermath. Leaving, we saw lots of horse drawn carts that the farmers were using, I also so a horse pulling a plow in a field. No fences in most of the open grazing land, but some guys were herding cattle on foot, tending them to keep them together. Cheaper to pay a guy than to build a fence.

Anyway, Latvia was very cosmopolitan in comparison. Many people speaking English, and Western style hotels. Quite an impressive place compared to our preconceived ideas. It's proximity to Scandanavia and Finland apparently kept it in regular touch with them. If you're looking for friendly exotic, try there or Czech Republic. Great last gig. I still couldn't wait to begin my 4 legged trip home, though......a pretty long tour leg for me.

--Steve Morse

November 9, 2000

The shows have been going really well in Europe. Last night, the German promoter, Klaus Bonisch, gave a nice dinner for the band and management. There was one of Klaus' artists there, a guitarist whose first name is Berndt, who played some amazing solo acoustic pieces. Kind of in the same style as Al Dimeola, but with more electric techniques, like sweeping, thrown in on top of the fast picking.

While on the road, Ronnie James Dio decided that our conductor of the orchestra, Paul Mann, looked a bit like John Belushi. To put this in perspective, Paul is regarded as one of the very best in the business, and I've never seen anyone conduct an orchestra as well as he does. He is a very quiet, polite man. Now, back to Ronnie. Ronnie goes out and buys a gigantic stuffed animal that appears to be a Bee. You know, like a bumblebee. He goes onstage to do his songs and brings it with him and hands it to the conductor. Paul realizes that much of the audience doesn't realize the connection, so he mentions the Belushi things, then the whole audience cracks up as they realize that Belushi did dress up like a bee in the early days of Saturday Night Live.

Naturally, that wasn't enough. A few gigs later, we found out that Ronnie had bought a hat and sunglassses, to try to make Paul look like the Blues Brothers. Roger and I agreed on a key to play "Soul Man" in, and it was pretty funny. When Paul turned to the audience with the hat and sunglasses on, while we went into the verse of "Soul Man", he did look just like Belushi. At the end of the night, he conducted the last tune with all that on again, to the delight of the band members looking back. It's the little things about each show that the performers are likely to remember.....

Today we're going to Poland. To the same hotel that billed me $1610.00 for a ten minute local call to get online. And later said, "Why do you care? You are rich!" I will try to send this from that hotel again, for a hopefully more reasonable rate. In fact, the Polish people are very easy to get along with. Just as we Americans are ignorant of many peoples' customs and way of thinking, sometimes foreign citizens succumb to the widespread notion that we are walking around lighting cigars with $100 bills that are easily picked up off our streets, which are also paved with gold.

Belarus and Latvia are next after that, and we will be travelling in a bus, experiencing a small taste of the landscape and towns along the way. I imagine this last week of this tour having a lot of amazing revelations of life in former USSR. Speaking of Eastern Europe, I got to hear three of the Romanian, or actually, Transylvanian, orchestra players. They were playing folk songs for hours on two different occasions right after the gig. One guy was a trombone player, who could play bass, but they handed him a cello, and he detuned the top strings to a G, D, and A, and left the low one as a C. Then he accompanied the two violinists as if that was his main instrument. The violinists were swapping intricate melodies and doing rhythm with double stops the whole time. The next time, the trombone player was playing keyboard accompaniment. Really amazing, the love of the music they have. And they play it with real heart and soul. Great to have played with all of them.

--Steve Morse

October 24, 2000

Well, there are a lot of miles, I mean kilometers, being put away on this tour leg. Yesterday, in Spain, we played outdoors in a bullfighting arena. It was a very dry part of Spain, with the parched look that much of California has in the Summer. Oh, did I mention that it was raining? Not too bad, actually, since the orchestra was entirely covered, and light rain was all we had. Still, Jon Lord decided that we would only do the first movement of the concerto. Why?

Well, there was a very big soccer match being played up until 11:30 pm. Oh yeah, and the whole audience was watching it on a big screen on stage. That was the opening act, a t.v. A giant t.v., but a t.v. So, upon seeing our start time creep closer and closer to Midnight, and realizing that they must be selling alcohol out there, we started finding ways to shorten the show. Actually, it worked out pretty well.

The Transylvanian/Romanian Orchestra has so much strength and endurance, it is amazing. They were booked as a separate entity, to do their own travel arrangements. They are all travelling in regular 45 seat buses where you sleep sitting upright, if at all. We recently were able to get them excused from soundcheck so they would have a little more time to go to whatever hotels they stay at for at least a few hours before the show. No matter how many millions of miles they have travelled, most of them appear with smiles and enthusiasm for the show. Still, I sure wish the routing had worked out better for all involved. Problems with routing usually have to do with the agent suggesting logical routing, then the promoter finding no hall availability on those particular nights, then a process of travel compromises begins.

One of the things that is different about travel outside the U.S. is that the only English programs you will find is usually the news loops from CNN or BBC. And with all this violence in the Middle East, you will never turn on the t.v. in your room and see anything but conflict or flooding aftermath. So, imagine my surprise when Ian Paice walks up to me with a video walkman that has 4 Simpsons episodes on it, and say "Here you go, enjoy it." He could have asked, "What's it worth?" and been in the price range of a month's pay, but he just let me have it to watch. Actually, he knew from my many Simpson quotes, such as Homer's, "What could possibly go wrong?" that I was a big fan. Ian won't put up with certain things like no entertainment. So, he always gets a south facing room and carries a European digital satellite dish and receiver and sets it up in his room. If someone in the band or crew wants to see some English soccer, er, I mean, Football, match, they better be nice to Ian. He has all the Formula 1 results and highlights, all the soccer scores and details in his immediate memory as the British crew casually ask about it as he strolls in to the gig.

When I go to my mailbox at home, it's full of generally bad news, like how much this or that bill is, or some new clever way that my family's medical bills are not covered by out of state insurance, or how much of a penalty has been assessed because of non payment of a surprise bill that came while I was gone. But, the e mail has provided a new mail concept for me: positive feedback. Yes, many of you have written with interesting comments and suggestions, and reviews. Positive stuff, in nearly all cases.

I would like to let everyone know that I appreciate everything that has been written, and especially supporting underground music.

I just got an e mail from Manuel Barrueco, the most brillian classical guitarist that I got to tour with a few years ago, and he has accepted my parts to be on his solo album. We did a tune for a Christmas CD on Windham Hill that turned out really nice, with a very liberal interpretation that showed me how easy it was for him to record, and how many more takes I would use. He is such an immaculate player.

Before I left on this trip, I recorded my parts of these duets we had played together, and had to send them to him with no idea if he could work with them or not, whether the tempo was good or not, if I played too stiff, too weird, etc. So, I'm glad to know that we will have some tunes together. A long time ago, he mentioned Andy Timmons, and Andy Summers being on this CD also, although I don't know for sure since he didn't update me on that. Like I said, thanks for all the support, everyone.

From the road,

Steve Morse

October 10, 2000

There is a pretty lengthy interview with Steve up at Progressive World.

--Webmaster

October 9, 2000

Well, we've done enough shows now on this European leg to see that things are working out quite well with the Orchestra. All the players come from Romania and they have a heart and enthusiasm for playing that really helps the show. Some of the travel days are monstrous for them, since they're all riding in busses with seats only. Since they were all booked separately from DP, we are not involved in their transportation arrangements, but our hearts go out to them. After many hours in a bus seat, they still have the inner strength to play their best and smile.

They say that we've been lucky with the Northern European weather, and it's only been one day that I've worn a jacket, although I notice everyone else wearing them. Years ago, when we did a tour of Sweden in all outdoor venues, it rained every day. This time in nice indoor places, the weather is perfect. The English say "Sod's law..." meaning something like Murphy's law.

Since Ronny James Dio is touring with us as part of our show, as well as the orchestral stuff, that would explain the fact that it is even more of an event than a normal gig. The attendance is very good, and everything seems to be working fine for the crowd. For me, the only dark corner is the fact that right before this leg started, I found out that a bunch of days had been added, making the length well beyond my threshold of comfort. That's why they call it work, too, I guess. And I know with the enormous expense factor that we need the extra gigs and all.

I have been working on some new material, and one new piece has been thrown into the show. It is something like a crazy electric guitar study with the strings, horns, and flutes playing accompaniment and some melodies. This is the first chance I've had to throw something together on paper and see it handed to dozens and dozens of musicians and have them sight read it at the gig. The tune is very upbeat and busy, (surprise) and I wrote it to replace Night Meets Light, which I was trying to play with them before. Night Meets Light really needs Dave and Van in order to work, so hence this new piece. Tonight I called it "The ill tempered guitar" and last night I had Ian introduce it as "The well stressed guitar" and the orchestra knows it as "Guitarstring" . That was the working title of the print file that came up on the finished parts in huge type after I handed Colin printed the floppy containing the parts.

To spice up the stage vibe, Ronny is trying to get our orchestra conductor, Paul Mann, (who does bear some resemblance to John Belushi, but thinner) to dress up in a bee outfit with little antennae springing forth from his head. Paul was very slightly amused, but has so far not agreed. Since he and the orchestra dress in formal black every night, I got him to try one of my tie dye shirts right before the show, but he thought better of it after Bruce took a photo of him.

Looks like it's gonna be a strange tour....situation normal.

To answer a few questions that I've gotten:

1. I don't have any music transcribed of my stuff except that Cherry Lane (Warner Bros. distribution) had done a number of written music books. Naturally, I gave them to friends that needed them soon after getting my few copies, and I don't even remember how many different books there were, but at least 3 or 4.

2. I don't have much knowledge of what albums are available where, except for the stuff that Frank sells on this web site. Maybe someone who knows more about how to find stuff could help answer where different albums can be found.

3. I still do read all the stuff that gets sent to me, so your comments and kind remarks all been very appreciated. Thank you all for being generous with your time, too.

4. Lot of questions about how the wrist is....I have reached a plateau where it doesn't seem to be improving past a certain point, so I am carefully exploring some more physical therapy experiments. Luckily, there is no playing handicap aside from a minor amount of occasional pain which is almost unnoticeable during a show. So, from that standpoint, I feel like I am effectively recovered for all musical purposes. Thanks for everybody's good wishes.

--Steve Morse

October 4, 2000

We have had some problems with our shopping cart over the past few weeks. If your order number was 1406-1424 please re-order your merchandise and be sure to include your name and mailing address. Sorry for the inconvenience.

--Webmaster

September 19, 2000

Well, we just finished our South American leg with two nights in a big arena in Mexico City. Jon got freaked out when about 3 people out of the first 10,000 made some noise during the second movement of the concerto. Actually, the conductor, Paul Mann, got upset as well, but the crowd shushed the noisy ones until they eventually gave up. The gig went very well, but we had to take stock of everything and remind ourselves that the people that fill the arenas came to see Deep Purple, and not necessarily a classical concert. All in all, Jon handled it well the next night, and was back in a good mood and we all felt much better about the whole deal. In case I hadn't mentioned it, the first half of the show is now the concerto in 3 movements, then a break with our guests, Miller Anderson and Ronny Dio singing, then we do a bunch of Purple tunes, some with the 100 people on stage participating. It's a very unusual gig, and different in that the concerto was originally written for orchestra with the band answering them in some sections.

Speaking of very unusual things, there has been somebody impersonating me on the internet. This has happened before, and I have had stuff forged, and people have attempted to get information, etc. I'm sick of that kind of stuff, of course, but it continues to happen. Anyway, if someone approaches you through e mail to get any kind of response, send your response to the e mail button on this site, that I know I'll get. Thanks,

steve morse

September 8 , 2000

It's been a week here in South America, and other than really missing the phone service everywhere else, things are fine. We played the show with Jon's Concerto piece in the first half, and it's working very well. Some people might be surprised to find that it's not just DP with an orchestra playing in the background while the band does their thing, but an actual symphonic piece in three movements. First night had a couple of "yellers" in the quiet moments, but the second night we had a native speaker announce that the show was in two parts, a quiet, serious part, and a more typical second half. So, our second show was perfect in that regard.

Ronnie Dio comes out in the second half and we do 4 tunes with him as the only singer. He is great on the mike and great to hang out with. Then Ian comes out and we do some pieces that he and Roger did on Ian's solo album some time back, then some classic Purple w/orchestra (like people thought the whole show would be). We tried doing Night Meets Light during the rehearsal, but it sounded too weird to me without bass and drums, and was too difficult to nail the timing for all of us in a large arena setting with 100 feet separating some players.....

Now we're in Brazil, and getting ready to rehearse with a different orchestra, jazz horn section, and background singers. There are literally 100 people onstage at a time! The sheer number of folks gives the stage more of an off-broadway vibe than a rock band feeling, especially at rehearsals. The whole thing does sound very cool when you find a spot onstage that you can hear everything. The reports from out front are very good. I got my cast cut off, possibly by telling the cast architect, Tyrone, that I was going to do it with a sharp power tool myself. The doctor was cool about it, and said to wear the splint, but that it would be okay to take it off to play. So, now comes the rehabilitation part, where those tortured tendons are asked to move again. Thank God for the power of healing that we are born with, I'm hoping for full use of my left hand someday soon. Our Dregs/SMB tour was a whirlwind but went very well.

I received a few questions about the tour, and here are a few of the answers..... One listener wrote that he heard quite a bit of echo, why? The echo comes through a seperate mike and is subject to being panned, and possibly put at a different level than I'm hearing it. We do an auditory check of equal dry/wet levels during sound check, but things can sometimes change....

Will we come to the West Coast? As always, I never know what will happen when, since I try to please everybody by basically agreeing to most every proposed tour. At the moment, I don't see time to do it in 2000.

There was some heavy criticism by a couple of folks about the promotion, or the fact that there could have been more..... Even the tobacco companies look for more exposure through advertising, we are just musicians trying to play music. If we were great at promoting and advertising, it would probably be the result of having time, experience and some degree of control over each promoter and his market. In other words, it looks a lot easier than it really is to do a tour, period. You have to do the best you can, and trust that the others will, too. All in all, I'm still glad to be able to play live at all in the U.S.A. I'm hoping to keep it that way.

The sound at the shows? Many said it was good, one really railed about the bad sound at one the shows. We use the house sound systems at every club, and there is some vast differences. Our sound man has done a great job of handling all the variables, setting up the equipment, and taking his best shot at the mix that would sound good, but exciting, in all parts of the hall. All in all, if even one person doesn't like it, it bothers me. Which is why the constant, total access the internet provides is not always good for people like me. Still, one thing that I will strive for in the next tour will be less overall level, which I think is the only thing that bothers anyone on an ongoing basis.

In any case, like I said, I do read all the mail and do appreciate the time and energy that everyone put into it. The overwhelming majority of things that I get are very uplifting, which of course, is great to read. So thanks for the feedback, regardless! Gotta get back to that guitar....

thanks,

Steve Morse

August 10, 2000

Road News

We're about halfway through our SMB/Dregs tour and things are going pretty well. My left arm developed a little complication, but Dr. Sloan and Dr. Seigelson gave me some help in Atlanta, so it's going to get better. The playing is very interesting as a challenge, since there are limitations, but the music still comes out, which is the main thing.

We are now aware that many people at the Ft. Lauderdale show have had problems due to circumstances beyond our control. First of all, the show was always scheduled late for us, at 10:30, I believe. Far enough in advance to be printed in our itinerary books. The club owner played in the band that was first, and some people were told that show time was 8:00. I don't know if the first band started at 8 or what, but we were scheduled to play at that later time. We would rather play earlier, anytime. The audience is much more responsive earlier, too. Now, there were also problems with the band's guest list and many were told that they would not be let in, even though they were invited by management or the record company, or even band members. We are extremely upset to hear of people being inconvenienced in any fashion, be it waiting for hours, or being bumped off the list, or whatever. It's not the way we play the game.

Rod and Van have worked up a cool dual drum solo, we are doing a Mahavishnu tune featuring Jerry Goodman, there's a double key solo section with Rod and T, and we're doing a tune that T and I wrote together from one of his solo albums. So, there's lots of unusual aspects to this show, and we're glad to be able to do it all together. Hope to see you at the shows. P.S., if you know of anyone that was at the S. Fl. show, please let them know what happened at that show as far as the schedule.

Thanks,

--steve morse

August 9, 2000

Steve had this to say about the Alligator Alley show last Friday...

Please note that we played at the time that we were told and contracted to play. That time was printed in our itinerary books, as well. it seems the promoter gave an earlier time to the ticket buyers to sell more drinks or something. I have been late to one gig (20 minutes) in the last decade due to travel problems and did apologize profusely. It sucks that the performance time was given incorrectly, and we will have to consider that before rebooking again. I was wondering why people were saying stuff like "where have you been, man?" when I walked in 45 minutes before our contracted showtime. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

--Steve

There is a nice interview with Steve at Universal Wheels on-line zine that you can read here.

July 31, 2000

Major Impacts review...

There is a nice review of Major Impacts up at The House of Shred. You can read it here.

Thanks to Henry Bocanegra for the heads up...

July 29, 2000

Well, right now I'm on my way to Europe to play at Montreaux. There's always a reason why the direct flight to the Country I'm going to is not available, so this will be a 5 legged journey over 20 hours. I still think of going to Europe the same way as everyone else does- 9 or 10 hours and you're there. So, now I definitely have time to write a note before the battery on the laptop gives out.

The wrist is going to be a quick recovery, I think. Because of all the Earth Legacy supplements, (5 calcium tablets a day, for instance), and because of all the circulation-aiding exercise. Then again, there's the theory that you're supposed to sit around and wait for it to heal without causing stress or pain...... No, this is going to heal quickly and I will eventually learn to drop in at the skateboard park with my boys.

To answer a bunch of questions, I am not really a skateboarder, (surprise- they know how to fall more gracefully, apparently) just a Dad who likes to play with his kids. And I was just trying to "drop in" in a small concrete bowl, that's all. And I'm not a great pitcher, either. But, my right handed frisbee throwing has improved in the last 5 days as a result of wearing the cast, and even though I'm left handed, I found that I can write legibly with my right hand. So, a potpourri of new experiences.....

I could use some advice on cast etiquette. If someone offers to sign my cast and I don't want it signed, what do I say? Should I just immediately say "I broke it skateboarding," everytime someone starts staring at it, since they will eventually ask anyway? If I am supposed to keep it dry, but it gets soaked with perspiration playing a gig, does that mean I should just take a shower with it uncovered to get it clean? Has anyone ever run screaming out of an upper story hotel window because of the absolutely strangling, claustrophobic feeling of a clammy, irritating, vice grip that can't be removed?

Seriously, Dave LaRue has really helped me by coming over every night to train with me on our music. Refingering the music is going fairly easily, and the lighter strings are allowing some vibrato, at least downward, with the aid of gravity. By the time the SMB/Dregs gigs happen, my left hand fingers will be stronger.

We're adding some new music, like a tune that T Lavitz and I wrote called "Sparkle Plenty", and a Mahavishnu excerpt, in honor of the fact that Jerry G was the violinist in the band when I got to see them live. We're going to be doing some combinations of musicians, like Jerry with the trio, and Rod and T doing what I hope will be a keyboard duet. Haven't gotten an update on how that's going yet.

Anyway, lots of unusual stuff on this little upcoming tour with the SMB and the Dregs together. "Major Impacts" has been getting a lot of press interviews, which is where I've spent a lot of daylight hours, so things haven't really stopped all summer, there's always something going on. So, come on down to the show if it's in your area, it'll be fun. Thanks,

Thanks,

--Steve

July 18, 2000

What I did on my Summer Vacation,

By Steve Morse

Well, first of all, thanks for all the good thoughts everyone has sent. I am having a hard time typing this, which I'll explain in a minute.

Since my whole family is back here with me, I was taking the kids to the skateboard park, and had brought my skateboard, pads, and wrist protectors, etc also. After watching them for awhile, I joined in. At some point, my youngest boy was trying a new trick, and almost had it down. I urged him to just lean forward a bit more after he nearly lost it. "Why don't you try it?" he said. After 25 years of riding dirt bikes and many wipe outs, I thought that I had broke all the bones that I would break. 1 minute later, I was wondering why my wrist hurt so much and was so instantly swollen.

Next day saw me in a huge cast with only the tips of my fingers sticking out. I was in a total depression and much pain. My friend, Jay, a Neurologist who plays bass, got me an appointment with a serious orthopedic specialist.

I brought in my guitar and held my hand up to the neck while a compromise position was fiberglassed over my wrist and hand. Fingers were at least able to move slightly, albeit with much pain. I'm back in business, I'm thinking.

The good doctor brings more news about the second broken bone and how long that might take to heal, and possible surgery, and stuff like that. But he is so cool and supportive of helping me somehow make these gigs, that he allows the cast to be as abbreviated as he can stand it.

So, Dave (LaRue) comes over to my place to test the waters, and it's going to hurt just to press the frets down, but many of the notes are possible that don't involve stretches, thumb over the neck, or going above the 15th fret. New fingerings and different arrangements will be found, and pain pills will be taken. The shows will happen.

My first show is in a few days, the Montreaux Jazz Festival, with DP, and it's a stressfest coming up with new voicings and ideas for everything, but I'm sure that it will work out OK.

It's amazing how many things I used to need my left hand for. I sure do miss it, but things could be much worse. It should heal and be fine at some point. If you go to any of the SMB/Dregs shows and notice an incredibly authentic rock and roll grimace worn by the guitarist whenever a left hand finger moves, now you know why.

--Steve

July 6, 2000

Lots of pictures added to the gallery. Check them out...

June 29, 2000

Notes from Steve

It's been a while since I wrote, and I've been really busy. Deep Purple is finished with our first writing session for a future album and it went very well. It was the first time that we had all of us together in the same room, including the singer, Ian while we tried song ideas. In the past, there had always been a little time between writing the music and writing the lyrics. Now, it's cool that Ian is trying vocal stuff right in front of us while we play the ideas. That's actually harder than you think, since a singer will only usually use nonsense vowels, or sounds in order to have something to sing while they are trying out melody ideas as well. Anyway, it feels right this way, and I'm glad.

DP is also playing Montreaux Jazz Festival this year again, which is always a good gig. SMBand and the Dregs are doing some shows together in a few weeks on the East Coast. Why? Good question. It's a long story, but I wanted to get some more gigs for the trio as soon as we got a chance, since we had done the Dregs at the last opportunity instead of SMB (during the Dream Theater Tour). Anyway, Rod's wife came up with the idea of us both playing, and Rod came up with a twist: the band members interact and try to combine forces in some tunes.

So, the way I visualize it, we will start with the trio, then add one or two other musicians during our set, then the venue will want an intermission, then the Dregs will come out with a substantially different set than last time out.

My new record, Major Impacts, is available in stores, and I've been doing a lot of interviews about it. The basic idea is that the record is me writing original songs in the style of 10 different guitaritst/bands that were major influences to me. Dave LaRue and Van Romaine play bass and drums on it, of course. One of the tunes was a double version, with a part that was Kansas and the ending Yes. Then I found that they're touring together, which is cool. Thanks for all your nice E mail messages of encouragement.

Some of you have asked questions along the lines of: When are you playing this area.......

A. I never know, really. Not very far in advance, and it depends on lots of factors that I can't control, so I'm one of the last to know. Really.

Can you send me....

A. If I had it together to send stuff and do tons of more paperwork, I'd be programming for Microsoft or at least not having to hire people to catch as many loose ends as possible, such as management, booking, road managers, etc. The nature of a musician is creativity mixed with other things. I have never been one that keeps orderly files of past accomplishments in order to have them ready to send out to people. It would be cool if I was that organized, but I could maybe get closer to that if there were 56 hours in a day. I sleep very little as it is, and I'm always a step behind in paperwork, and e mail. So, I'll send it when I catch up with all the stuff that's in front of the line....in other words, probably not this millenium.

Can you visit this site and critique our music?

A. This is kind of like the one just above, having to do with time versus life expectancy. Nobody, not even my Mom, knows how much activity I try to fit into a day, and it never quite makes it, so I just don't have time to do that at this point in my life. Maybe someday things could slow down and I'd be glad to be giving people encouragement, support and constructive critiques, which I have done plenty in the past.

Bottom line is that I really do think of everybody that has supported me every day. Usually at breakfast. That's right, when I'm opening the refrigerator, I am reminded that the food got bought with money that people took out of their pockets at our shows. So, I have this tremendous guilt trip any time someone asks me to do something that I can't realistically do, because I do feel proud and grateful to have such steady support in a traditionally fickle business. It's just a long winded way of me saying I love you guys and I have to get back to work. Thanks always!

--Steve

By the way, I dual boot Linux and Win98 and recently my boot sector got corrupted so instead of spending lots and lots of time trying to fix that I just formatted. So if you've sent email lately with pictures or anything I lost them. If you have sent pictures or other email lately, please send it again.

--Adam

June 23, 2000

There are a few corrections in the tour dates. The show in Sunrise Florida is at "Alligator Alley" and the Atlanta show is at the "Variety Playhouse".

--Adam

June 14, 2000

Got some new tour dates. This time around the Steve Morse Band will be opening up for the Dregs! Should be interesting...

--Adam

May 22, 2000

We just did a bunch of press stuff for Deep Purple including interviews that will be on 3 different VH1 specials. Before they were Rock Stars, Top 100 heavy bands, and the third one had to do with all time classic albums. I just happened to have my guitar in my hand when I answered some questions about what I thought of other albums, and it worked out well. The producer said, "Don't worry, you're all over the show", because maybe I illustrated some of the things that I liked about the albums he mentioned by playing a certain riff or something to illustrate what I was referring to.

DP has just been added to the Montreaux Jazz Festival, although we don't really play jazz......But "Funky Claude" in "Smoke on the Water" is the host, Claude Nobbs (sp?), so he knows the band well, and I have played it before with DP, as well as with the Dregs and solo, also.

--Steve

Shots of the new album...

Magna Carta has some info on the upcoming album. Check it out here.

April 30, 2000

Guitar.com has posted a nice interview with Steve that includes a video.

Steve, Ian Gillan, and Roger Glover will be doing a live chat Monday May 1st 8PM ET. Click here to find out more.

April 18, 2000

Steve gives us an update from Switzerland (Thanks Eric) this time...

RIAA tries to take down Steve Morse Radio...

In case you have'nt heard, There are lawsuits against MP3.com, Napster, and Live365.com just to name a few. If you have no idea of what I'm talking about, I'll give you a brief explanation. I'll use Napster as an example. Napster was created to allow musicians who are just starting out to "trade" or offer their recordings over the internet in mp3 format. I won't go into explaining the format, but if you're interested go here to learn more. Well, like anything else, people abused the privelage by offering copyrighted songs for other people to download. The end result is: someone goes to the Napster website and downloads the client. They run the install and in about 30 seconds, have access to just about any song you can think of. So instead of going out and buying the CD, they just download the song. Obviously, record companies and artists are outraged by all this because they are losing SERIOUS money. I was recently accused of being in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 114 for streaming Steve Morse Radio. I emailed the guy back and hopefully will get it straightened out. More on this later...

--Adam

April 13, 2000

Even more from the road...

Yes, even more notes on the road from Steve.

April 4, 2000