1994 Interview - Trapeze reunion tour
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Posted by David on November 12, 2000 at 04:43:44:
Here's an interesting read from 1994. An interview by "The Austin ARENA" in Texas.
Enjoy!
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AA - Well, then, Glenn... how do you like our little ol' town in Texas?
GH - I love it. I love Texas. Texas is a special place for me...
AA - One of your favorite cities to play?
GH - Well, this is where it all started for Trapeze, of the four cities in Texas, so I hold a special place for this town... very much so.
AA - You've been here before, of course individually with your bands Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, but with Trapeze how many times?
GH - Oh my God, I can't even count them...
AA - So, you like our music scene?
GH - Yeah!
AA - You've just re-released two critically acclaimed albums on the Threshhold/Polygram label. Is that the reason the band got back together.
GH - That's exactly right.
AA - Or is it a new songwriting venture? I'm sure Trapeze isn't another revival act?
GH - I don't know if I'm going to do any more shows right after this. I wanted to do this...I call it a celebration of Trapeze music. That's why I'm doing it right now because I looked at the charts last year and I'm looking at all these bands like the Chili Peppers and Rage Against the Machine and I'm going, "these bands sound like Trapeze." (laughter) Personally, I felt it was time for me to do something funky again, all my life I've been a soulful person whatever I do and I just wanted to do this again.
AA - I dug the funk tune that you did at The Back Room, and your voice is extraordinary. I was impressed with your vocal abilities. Were you vocally trained?
GH - I just listened to a lot of Black music.
AA - Who were some of your influences?
GH - Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Al Green, those four.
AA - ...as other English rockers?
GH - I never really listened to English music, it was all American...
AA - No, I meant that they might say the same. Black roots, R&B...
GH - Oh, sorry. Yeah. Well, Paul Rush is the same... we're good friends and he's got the same influences.
AA - Are you going to do a solo project anytime soon?
GH - I am doing my own album and my project is really popular all over the world. It's called "From Now On."
BH - Didn't you do three albums with "Purple"?
GH - Yeah. Burn, Stormbringer and Come Taste the Band.
AA - Is Ritchie Blackmore really as difficult to get along with as I've heard rumour?
GH - He is, but honestly and simply - he's a man that needs some attention... therapeautically. He is a man who will not accept love in his life for his brother. I'm the kind of person who actually exudes love and actually likes to get it back. He's as cold as ice. We just didn't hit it off, y'know? Apparently, he's going through some sort of ...very bad period in his life.
AA - What ever happened to Rod Evan, the original vocalist in Deep Purple?
GH - I think he became a male nurse, or something strange like that.
PS - What about your stint in Black Sabbath?
GH - Not a good period. That was when I was drinking a lot and using a lot of drugs. That was a bad year for me.
AA - Judas Priest and Ozzy were taking a lot of hits for all that devil-worship, suicide stuff awhile back. Do you think songwriters should have a sense of responsibility for what they release or do you go with the First Amendment Right of freedom of speech?
GH - I think you'll find that Ozzy won't sing that stuff anymore.
AA - He said it was all in fun.
GH - It was. He's darling. I think Ozzy Osbourne...bless him... if he wasn't the guy that bit the head off a bat, or if he wasn't the guy who did all those strange things, he would be nothing. Because he can't sing. I understand about theatrics...Alice Cooper and all that stuff. But for me, it comes from inside, y'know. I don't dig this...to sell records you've got to bite the head off a bat. I wouldn't sing those songs. That's another reason I'd had to go. I'm a Christian, and I wouldn't do that.
PS - He got in big trouble in San Antonio...
GH - I know he did, he pissed on the Alamo.
AA - I remember in LA, back in '82 or '83, when Ozzy was trying to make a comeback, he performed at the Santa Monica Community College...free,
in a small, outdoor arena one sunny afternoon and out of his element. And he was overeaten...well, fat. He couldn't hit the notes, jumping around on the stage in his makeup and spandex like a vampire caught in the sunlight - it was pathetic. There were only fifteen or so people in the audience. And there were these two guys sitting in front of me
nodding out ...It was sad.
GH - Really. My God.
AA - Is there anything you would like to say, maybe to inspire or advise up and coming songwriters...
GH - Yes, I'd just like to say to young kids that if they think drugs are an easy way out in music, they're wrong. Because when you start using hard drugs you think you can write music and do all these things but it really does nothing to your system but drain you. I was on cocaine for eighteen years and it damned near killed me. So now, I'm off of that stuff for two
and a half years and that's why I'm doing so well.
BH - I swear you sound as good or better than when I saw you 22 years ago at my old man's ranch for "A Concert at Gatlin Creek."
GH - My voice is a whole lot stronger now.
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