Steve Morse Interview: Deep Purple Road Stories

Feature Photo: by Mike Savoia

Steve Morse has circled the globe many times over with the Dixie Dregs, Kansas, and with Deep Purple. He’s one of more respected guitarists of his era and has dropped countless solos across dozens of iconic records.

Morse’s fans will know the solos and have indeed taken in the records—and they’ve probably seen him live tons of times, too. But there’s more to a touring musician’s life on the road than meets the eye. What we see on stage on any night is just the tip of the iceberg.

During a break in the action, Steve Morse beamed in with ClassicRockHistory.com to offer up a few of his more memorable road stories from his years with Deep Purple. Sure, songs make the show, but it’s the behind-the-scenes anecdotes that make the show go on.

1) Deep Purple Takes Switzerland…

We were booked to play on top of a mountain in Switzerland, I recall. The way to get to the standby area [backstage] was to ride an inclined railway up the mountain, then get on a gigantic, tracked Snow Cat to be dropped off at the maintenance shed for the resort.

Except when you get off the Snow Cat, you drop in the snow, which is ok if you’re dressed for winter, which I’m not. So, when it’s time to play, we get Snow Cat driven to the stage side, and it’s an open bandstand with skiing people just getting off the lift for the long downhill run. They had put some tarp over the back, hoping to stop the wind, but the wind was swirling, so it was Winter everywhere onstage.

There were a couple of gas heaters which you might see at restaurants, so if you wanted to go to the back of the stage, you could quickly burn your hands and run back to the front. The net result was playing with no feeling in my fingers or hands and starting to physically shiver after a couple of songs.

I can’t play with bulky clothes on, but it might have been a better choice than wearing a lightweight cotton t shirt with the sleeves cut off? It snowed for the whole set, and I watched some of it land on my fingerboard and not melt, but luckily, the icy wind was there to keep it moving! I’m not sure, but I may have not played my best, most subtle inflections that set.

2) Purple Plays Isreal and Lebanon…

We were planning to play Israel and Lebanon. The gigs were postponed for a little war type of thing, but we eventually did play. We had been to Israel and had a great show, and now we were in Lebanon, driving to a remote, Roman era type of outdoor venue which would look right at home in Greece, reminding me of the Acropolis a little bit.

Anyway, we were in separate cars and had been advised that it was going to take longer than expected because of a detour. The detour turned out to be due to a bridge over a canyon having been bombed and taken out.

During our trip, the bilingual driver was getting some calls from somebody who was clearly upset at the driver, and you could actually hear both sides of the conversation, but it was in Arabic and was getting somewhat excited.

Afterward, I asked the driver what was going on, expecting it to be another detour or something. Instead, he said it was his mother. I asked if she was calling because she was worried about him traveling alone with a stranger, and he smiled and said, “Yes!” I said, “Moms everywhere are about the same.” And, once again, touring proves that people are more alike than different.

3) DP’s misadventures in India…

In India, Roger and I were going to a ceremony that he had been invited to do with his then wife. Getting out of the taxi, an absolutely heart breakingly sad faced kid stood in front of me with her hands out, asking for money, and looking like the calories were few and far between.

So, I pulled out some Rupees and gave it to her. Her face instantly turned into a huge smile, and she scampered off. But out of nowhere, there were now dozens of kids doing the exact same pose and expression. I quickly ran out of money, but the crowd only grew, knowing that they had a real tourist at the center of their circle.

One old woman came to the front, and told me something in Punjabi that I, of course, didn’t understand. She produced a woven basket, which was covered, and lifted it up to my face. Like most people, I have a distance which I automatically keep between myself and another person, like, maybe a two-foot distance.

In this case, I was totally surrounded, and this basket was in my face, like it or not. She said one more thing, and the top of the basket came off and there was a living white Cobra . I remember reading that they generally don’t have the money to defang them, they simply learn to deal with them without getting bitten.

All turned out okay since I didn’t really do anything except smile at the absolutely surreal scene that I was a part of. She put the cover back on when I turned my pockets inside out for all to see. It wasn’t a threat, it turns out, the snake was some sort of blessing; this was from one of the translators who I later described it to… after he stopped laughing. The people in India were really so friendly everywhere, and easy to find English speaking folks.

Don’t miss our previous interviews with Steve Morse below……. and his former bandmate and Depp Purple legend Ian Paice.