Ritchie Blackmore

Livestream Birthday Interview [Part 2]

with questions asked by fans


It's Ritchie's 81st birthday.

I thought it was 91st [laughter].

Can you still play guitar?

Can I still play the guitar? I hope so. I do have inflammation on one of my fingers. I play more Django stuff. He only had two fingers. At least I have four fingers. One of them is inflamed with gout. It's called gout. Such a nice word, gout. Which comes from my ancestors. It's not something you catch, so it's not something that comes on naturally. It's comes from your ancestors.

Why are your melodies so good?

Why not? >> [laughter] I've always been a melody person. I've always been a melody person, before Deep Purple I love songs, even the simple hit parade, if they had a good melody, I would like those songs. One of my favorite songs was one by Dave Davies called "Death of a Clown". That was one of my favorite songs. Which we're thinking of doing again. I'm thinking about jumping in the lake. I don't know. I'm not I'm thinking about doing all my favorite '60s and '70s songs. But, not rock and roll. They can be pop or whatever. Just certain songs that I really like, but it wouldn't be in my traditional way of playing, which is heavy style. It will be sometimes light. And "Death of a Clown" would be one of the songs, by Dave Davies. He's a good friend. And I think he would like it.

What was your first car? First car?

I think it was an Audi. I think it was an Audi.

This sounds weird, but something about gout makes sense for Ritchie as it's also called the disease of kings.

I know. They used to think it was rich food. But, now that they've noticed it's not rich food. It's just in your ancestry. If you have gout in your ancestry, it will come out. I do play around it. I play more arpeggios than block chords. So, that's my gout story. It's apparently it does come from ancestry. It's not nothing that you do yourself. It has nothing to do with rich food. It has nothing to do with purines. Purines is the modern way of looking at gout, which is kind of wrong.

Rosewood or maple fretboard?

I love personally rosewood. The maple I played "Smoke on the Water" with a maple neck and a sunburst guitar, a strat. But, I prefer the rosewood cuz I can shave that down, sandpaper it down a little bit easier than the maple.

Can you say what happened at the California Jam in your own words?

California Jam, yes. I said to my management at the time, they said, "We have a big festival coming up. They want us to play at." I said, "No, thank you." I hated festivals because they had such a bad sound. You're outside and there's not much resonance. Everything's dry. So, I said, "I'd rather not do it." So, the management said, "But, it's a lot of money. And I said, "Right, but I'm still not going to do it." And then, funny enough, the manager I won't say his name, John Coletta. [laughter] He said to me, "The rest of the band want to do this festival in California." And I said, "Okay, I'm going to check with them." And John Coletta had said, "Yes, I checked with them, and they all want to do it. We're just waiting for you to say that you're going to play it." So, I said, "Let me check with the rest of them." So, I did, and apparently nobody knew anything about it. Not one of the band. When I called them, they did not know about this festival. So, I knew he was lying. So, I said, "Okay." I didn't answer the phone for a whole weekend. It was ringing off the hook. To get my okay to do it. I didn't want to do it. I did not like festivals. We were always treated very badly at festivals. There was never any organization. So, I let it go. I let it go for a weekend.

And then on the Monday, I answered the phone. And I said, "Okay. I will do it under certain circumstances. And I'm going to write down all the conditions that I want for this particular festival. If it's so important." They said, "Whatever you want. Whatever you want. Just write it down." Anyway, so I wrote it down. Gave my slip of paper with all the reasons for doing this particular festival. One of them was that we were the first band on with lights. That always made a subliminal difference to the audience. They would kind of wake up at that point. And I wanted to be the first band with lights. That would mean going on at about 8:30, 9:00 California time. And there were a few other conditions that I'd mentioned. Nothing too extreme. I just gone I just by experience I'd realized how the other bands and other roadies can upset the top band. We were one of the top bands with E.L.P. And who I admired greatly. Great people. And so I had all these conditions written down. And I said, "If we stick to these conditions, I will personally play the festival."

And the rest of the band knew about it. They said, "Yes, we definitely agree with these conditions because we've been kind of messed over before with certain conditions." And so we went ahead with it. Said we would do it. And came the festival. And the band that was supporting us just before us, they finished their act. I think it was at 6:00. So, I said, "I'm not going on yet. We have to go on at 8:30 when it gets a little bit dark with lights." And then we were told by all the powers that be, all the agents and record companies and TV companies, "You must go on now." And I said, "I'm not going on now." Nine months previously, I had worked this out for me to go on but not... well, not me, but all of us to go on at a certain time and everybody agreed. All the managements, agencies agreed that we would go on 8:30. So, now I'm in my little caravan and people are banging on the door saying, "You've got to get on stage. Otherwise, they're going to throw us off the whole show." I ignored all this, but it was quite stressful. And even the band were knocking on the door going, "Come on, Ritchie. Let's just get on stage. Get it over with." I said, "No. We had this particular stipulation saying that we would go on at 8:30. And I'm not going on until 8:30."

So, I stuck to my guns. And I think it was... I can't remember the CBS or CBS ABC, whatever was going on. They wanted to throw us off the tour, the show, because we wouldn't go on. And I said, "No. No. This was worked out a long time ago. We have a contract saying what time we will appear." And I was the only one that stuck to my guns. It was very stressful. I had the whole band saying, "Come on. Let's just go on stage and get it over with." And I said, "No. It's not right." So, the California thing was that we would go on at 8:30. And I stuck to my guns despite all the hammering on the door and people shouting abuse. And we did. We went on at 8:30, I think it was. And I got my way. And we were first band with lights. And then I happened to blow up the stage, which is a kind of a hobby of mine.

I like blowing up stages. I think it's something that goes back to my childhood. And I had it worked out with my roadie that I would go across one side of the stage, take the flood... the super troopers across with me, and the floodlights, the big lights. And I would play in one corner of the stage. Meanwhile, I would turn around and like throw a like a cast, a spell on the amplifier and it would blow up. And it was my roadie that would set fire to my dummy Marshall amps. And it worked. But trouble was it worked a little bit too well. It blew up so much that the main cameraman for, I think it was ABC blew his glasses off, and it temporarily made somebody deaf on the stage. So, there was a lot of confusion. But it looked really good.

But it was out of control. There were pieces of sparks going everywhere setting fire to the rest of the stage. But I knew that we had to pull something out of the bag because ELP were coming on. And we knew Keith Emerson had his upside down piano, which was going to revolve. And I thought, "Well, that's great. That's his gimmick." So, my gimmick is I'm going to blow up the stage. So, I blew up the stage. And the rest is history. I was put in jail for I think 10 years.

The police came after us cuz we we were arsonists at that time. We were we were told that set fire to the stage and it was dangerous, blah blah blah. And there was a helicopter waiting for us. We jumped in the helicopter and took off. And I saw all the police arriving in droves to arrest basically me. And so we flew away and went back to the hotel. And it was a very kind of satisfying evening.

It was just a very gentle affair. That was the basics of that whole thing. But my problem was what I had arranged with the management, who will remain nameless, John Coletta. I'd said to him nine months before, "I don't want to do this festival because it's always a shambles. It never works how it should." But everything I'd written down in the contract was discarded. So, I got my own back by blowing everybody up.

Your Blackmore's Night concert in Luxembourg 2012 was so great. I still owe the piece of grass that you gave me and shook my hand. Ever since I'm a musician and you are my biggest inspiration.

Yes, I want that back [laughter]. I want that piece of grass back. I remember Luxembourg. That was a fantastic affair. That was a great night. I really enjoyed Luxembourg. And we had a roadie with us that was watching the TV thinking that guy right over there he thought that he could bet. What they did was they had a Christmas, I think they had a Christmas What was that, Candy?

I think it was just flames like the Yule log.

They had a Yule log. The fire in the Yule log. I said to him as a joke... I called him up and I said at 12:00 midnight if you see any particular famous people within the fire you will make a lot of money by calling the station and saying that you can see so-and-so. And they will pay you. So he stayed up until 4:00 in the morning looking at the fire looking for these people that weren't there.

Favorite album you've ever been part of and why?

In a way I suppose it was 'Deep Purple in Rock' because that was our first endeavor into heaviness. Before that I'd said to Jon Lord, "Look I don't want to play with orchestras. So what we'll do is we'll put Let's make a hard rock record. And if it doesn't take off then I'll play with orchestras for the rest of my life." And luckily it took off so I didn't have to play with orchestras all the time.

What is the story behind the pilgrim hat?

Well, funnily enough I liked the pilgrim hat the way it looked. I actually got that idea from a guitarist called Davy O'List who played for a band called The Nice with Keith Emerson. And he wore a pilgrim hat and I thought I want to get one of those. That's why I was wearing it. Simple. I mean I just liked the look.

How long did it take you to write 'Carry On Jon'?

Not very long. I just kind of wrote it in the spur of the moment. My only problem with that tune was because of what it represented I could never play it on stage without crying. And that became a problem and I thought every time I attempted to play that song I would start weeping. So in the end I couldn't play it. Now I can play it because I don't think of Jon when I'm playing it. I think of it as a very nice melody. But at the time it was very difficult to play without weeping for Jon.

Have you given Beethoven his money for Smoke on the Water yet?

[laughter] The guy that was doing the interview for CNN. He wanted a kind of a quick answer to it. He said something like, "How did you write Smoke on the Water?" So I just said, "Well, I just took Beethoven's fifth and played it backwards." And that he seemed to be very excited with that. And I really think I remember him saying, "Now I know how that was written." It has nothing to do with Beethoven whatsoever. Although I'm a big fan of Beethoven and but he tends to drink too much whenever I see him.

What's the story behind the Rainbow song Jealous Lover?

I never wrote the words for Rainbow. That was just a riff I played in F sharp of all keys. I like F sharp. And I had the riff put down the construction and Joe Lynn Turner wrote the words. I was always more involved in the instrumentation construction melody. Joe wrote those lyrics.

My dad named me after you. His name is Ritchie also.

Are you spelling it with a T or a C? Yeah, it's C. It's really C. I never spelt it with a T. That was the record company. They were into numerology and they thought, "If we put a T in it it will change the numerology and they'll have success and make lots of money." They did make lots of money. The band didn't. [laughter].

The 'Wasted Sunsets' solo is one of my favorites of all time. I think it's very underrated.

I think it's underrated, too. Every now and again I do play that tune and I think, "Wow, I actually wrote. And it's a very nice tune, 'Wasted Sunsets'. But these things happen, you know. Maybe in a hundred years time people will play it and say, "Oh yeah, it was very good."

Do you still play your Stratocaster for yourself at home?

No. I have my Strat that's locked away. And I have about 20 acoustic guitars. So at the moment I'm still playing my acoustic guitars and it took me about 20 years to become comfortable with the acoustic guitars rather than the electric. But now I'm almost more comfortable with the acoustic guitars than the electric. But I still have my Strat. And it's a brilliant Strat. Unfortunately it's white like everybody's Strat in the world. I don't know why everybody has a white Strat. The first time I saw a white Strat was in a studio called DeLane Lea where Jeff Beck used to record and I looked into a cupboard where I saw some vacuums and brooms and his guitar was in there. The white Strat. So I thought, "Wow, Jeff just leaves his guitar in a cupboard." He actually wasn't the first one with a white Strat.

There was a band called The Remo Four from Liverpool. And Colin the guitar player had a white Strat. So I suppose it goes back to those days and that was '65, '66. Then Jeff was next, then Hendrix had a white Strat. So I thought, "Well, I might as well get a white Strat."

Which do you prefer, the sound of a humbucker or a single coil pickup?

I do like the sound of a humbucker. It's it gives you more sustain. I do like the humbucker really in a way. But the Strat pickups cut through more. It took me a couple of years get used to playing a Strat, cuz it was so unforgiving as Jon Lord might say. It was very clean. So one had to play exactly the right notes and the right impulse. But with a Gibson I find things a little bit more forgiving because you've got more sustain. And I had a Gibson for a long time. The ES 335TD. The red one. And I played 'Hush' on that guitar. And it was one of my favorite guitars. So I like Gibson for its muted mellow distorted elongated notes. But I like the Strat for how it cuts through, and delivers.

Will you release 'The Battle Rages On' takes with Joe Lynn Turner. Do you remember that?

I don't remember it. Battle Rages On. I'm very bad at remembering things that I've recorded.

What was the essential difference for you between playing Strat and your Gibson 335?

Like I said, with the Gibson the notes would be much more elongated and a little bit muffled but it had a kind of a distortion built into the pickup, whereas I find the Strat has no distortion built in. You have to apply the distortion at a different end. Which I usually have a Hornby Skewes treble booster to give me a little bit more sustain. And if you understand that, you're better than I.

Do you still have your tape recorder preamp?

Yes.

Have you ever heard of Walter Giardino?

No. Okay, from Walter Giardino. What's he do?

Recommended guitar players besides the obvious big name.

Trey Hensley. And he's with Tommy Emmanuel, another brilliant player.

Do you have fond memories of 'House of Blue Light'?

No. I thought that 'House of Blue Light' was average. And I couldn't wait to finish it. I didn't really get any satisfaction out of 'House of Blue Light'. That was not one of my favorites. My favorites were 'Deep Purple in Rock', 'Burn', 'Machine Head' and I think that was it. 'House of Blue Light' I didn't like. 'Who Do We Think We Are' I didn't like.

How do you say this? Vielleicht Nachstes Mal.

Oh, Vielleicht das nächste Mal. Exactly. That means 'Maybe Next Time'.

Where did the inspiration come from?

I just thought it was a very kind of melancholy song. So I put that title to it. And one of the bands said to me, "Why do you always name things under the German name?" And I felt a little bit offended by that. And I thought, "Well, why not? Why does everything have to be in English?" So I deliberately, just to annoy that particular member and carried on calling everything I released in a German title. But the Scorpions, the band the Scorpions, did tell me that I could not call it 'Weiss Heim', which is I call my house White Home. They said "That's not the correct grammar". And I remembered that. But I thought it was. I think they said it should be called "Weisses Heim". They liked the fact that I called it a German title. But they thought that I got the grammar wrong. Which is quite possible. Considering grammar is not my best subject at school.

Why did you never play 'Sail Away' in concert?

I never liked it. A very, very average song.

Do you still play Picato strings?

No. I play D'Addario strings, but Picato are very good. They're from Wales. And my father was Welsh, so I have half Welsh in me. Picato strings are fantastic. It would became awkward to get Picato strings, so I started over here with D'Addario. D'Addario strings come from Long Island. Where we now live.

Do you want to reveal what gauges you like upon acoustic steel strings? Or is that to remain a mystery? What gauges do you like upon acoustic steel strings?

Yes, I usually have a 12, 16, 22, 30, 39 and 49. Is that five strings or six?

I lost count. It's too late for anything. I got to be up in 3 hours. And it's close. I'm not going to go to sleep tonight. We'll just keep doing this all night. Greetings from Munich. Okay, I think you just talked about Weißheim Weißheim I should say. Right. let's see. Thank you for being my biggest inspiration. Love you from Chile. I love the solo of Stone Cold. long live Ritchie. Okay. Paris. Let's see.

They want to know what gifts you received today. ([Candice]: Ritchie does a very funny thing when it comes to gifts. On any holiday or on his birthday, he refuses to open gifts on that particular day. He would rather wait till Christmas. All week long and with us begging him to open the gifts until we're probably out of the house and then he'll open it when we're not home. So he did receive gifts today. I know what they are. He does not. They're still wrapped and still upstairs waiting for him to open them. Right?)

Yes, I appreciate gifts, but I always feel flattered. But then I feel a little bit awkward cuz most of my friends are homeless. And they buy me presents and I always feel like you shouldn't be buying me anything.

Can we have more live streams with the legend himself?

Which legend are we talking about? I don't understand this anyway. I have Candice often says, "Right, do you want to say something?" It's time. And I go "Well, I've had a few beers. Why not?"

Is there any deeper meaning to the song 'Darker Shade of Black'?

Yes. When I wrote that I really liked the tune but it was modeled and inspired by 'Whiter Shade of Pale'. So I called it a 'Darker Shade of Black'. My friend who wrote that tune, Matthew Fisher, even to this day I don't think he thinks he did. But I remember him playing that at rehearsals when he and I were in a different band before Procol Harum. And so, it was just based around 'Whiter Shade of Pale'. A kind of descending kind of progression which kind of reminded me of 'Whiter Shade of Pale', which was to this day one of my favorite all-time songs.

Do you remember Peter Ruth?

Yes. We haven't spoken to Peter for a long time. But he was very good in the studio. Very good orchestrator, a very good producer. And very gentle man. And he was Swedish, I think.

Will there be any Blackmore's Night shows in Europe this or next year?

I don't think so. I'm finding it very hard hard to get out of the house cuz we have a very big dog. And he won't let me leave the house without biting me. And that's a very awkward situation. Cuz I love animals. And we don't really have big dog [laughter]. But we have a big cat. And he will bite me. And his name is Winter. And I don't want to upset Winter by leaving the house. So, I stay in the house a lot.

My mom and dad used to dance and play 'Be Mine Tonight' to me when I was a baby.

Oh, great. That that particular song we actually sent to Anne Murray. We thought that would be very good for her to sing. We're big fans of Anne Murray. But she told us to go away. >> [laughter] >> No, she didn't say anything. I don't think it got past her nasty secretary.

Are you cat or dog people?

Both. I suppose I gravitate a little bit more towards cats. Cuz I've had Bamboozler. I had Rumpel, Rumpelstiltskin. And Baska. And there was Hopscotch. And now it's Winter. Yes, cuz we found him in winter. He was found in a car park. He's a rescue cat.

Were your parents musicians, too?

No, not particularly. My mother liked classical music. My father liked Frank Sinatra. That kind of thing.

You once said that Ronnie Dio did everything right in the studio and only usually needed about two takes. Which Rainbow track was the most impressive for you to watch him record?

I think it was Stargazer. Cuz the man was so musical because I think because of his playing trumpet in an orchestra. He just knew where to go. Sometimes he would come up to me and say, "What are you hearing on this construction of this song?" And I would whisper in his ear. And he would go, "Got you." And he would just sing it. He was a very small man with a very big voice.

Greetings from Bulgaria. God bless you. You're the reason I started playing guitar and being as successful as a guitarist and a musician. Thank you for your music.

Bulgaria has got some amazing musicians and some of their harmonies are fantastic. I love some of those female choruses that sing those estranged harmonies. That's Bulgarian.

Is it true that Spartan from Munich is one of your favorite beers?

Yes, I'm drinking that right now. Spartan as well as Mönchshof. I love Mönchshof, too.

What inspired you to do the guitar solo on Highway Star?

I just played that at home on my tape recorder. I had the chord structure down. And I just made it up as I went along, but I never, back in the old days when I played rock and roll, I never really rehearsed my solos. So, consequently, I would be all over the place sometimes. But that particular solo I worked out. I had a definite construction. And the descending riff that goes down chromatically was taught to me by Elvis Presley's guitar player. Now, I don't remember his name, but he was playing with Johnny Burnette on a tour that I did. And I think Brenda Lee was topping back in '64 or '63. And he used to play that particular run. The da da da da da da da da da da da going down chromatically. And I said, "How do you play that?" So, he showed me. Very nice guy. So, I incorporated it into that particular solo.

How was John Bonham as a person?

Fantastic. I would hang out with John Bonham very often, everybody called him Bonzo. But he did like to fight. He came up to the house, the place where I was living in Hollywood. And up to 2:00 in the morning, and I had some beers up there. And I would I was playing 'Man on the Silver Mountain' to him. And he loved that song, and he kept saying, "Play Love on the Silver Mountain. I want to hear it again." I said, "It's called Man on the Silver Mountain." He said, "Yeah, come on. Love on the Silver Mountain." So, I would play it. And we'd have a few people over. And he would want to hear that all night long. And I said, "You know, I said, 'Bonzo, come on. We got to John, his name is John. I said, "We have to play something else other than Love on the Silver Mountain, John." [laughter] And he goes, "No, I'm the guest here. And we're playing what I want." And I said, "Well, it's my place, and we're going to play what I want." So, the roadies had to kind of hold his back from having a fight. [laughter]. Which was embarrassing.

Do you still have your black Strat from the Machine Head days?

No. Things get stolen. Whenever they're stored anywhere, they always get taken away. Which annoys me. And excuse me while I kiss the sky. [laughter]

[Candice]: All right. We're putting a pause on this for now, guys. So, thank you for checking in on Ritchie's birthday on this very special night. I'm not sure if he'll come back, but if he does, we'll be back.

© Igor's Rock Universe, YouTube - April 14, 2026