A new interview with BLACKMORE'S NIGHT guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore (ex-DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW) and his singer/wife Candice is now available here. A few excerpts follow:

Q: As a child, what did you aspire to be and when did you discover your talent with the guitar?

Blackmore: "I wanted to be a trumpet player like the people I was listening to growing up. But then my father bought me a guitar and said "if you don't play this, I'll break it over your head". So I started taking lessons, but got bored with them and then just started teaching myself. I always related more to the guitar than I did to people."

Q: What artists did you admire growing up prior to your own music career?

Blackmore: "BIG JIM SULLIVAN, SCOTTY MOORE, CHET ATKINS, BUDDY HOLLY, BOB DYLAN, to name a few.

Q: Blackmore's Night is quite a departure from the classic rock which typified the first 30 years of your career. What was the appeal of a Renaissance-era style sound?

Blackmore: "I had been listening to Renaissance Music since 1971 when I first saw the BBC's Wives of Henry the 8th. I first heard David Munrow and the Early music consort of London and was immediately drawn to that music. It was so honest, something you dont find in todays music. I loved the sound of the pagentry music, the sackbutts and crumhorns and shawms. It was the rock music of that day. Even while writing Deep Purple songs, for example, Smoke on the Water, the riff is done in 4ths and 5ths- a medieval modal scale. It makes it appear more dark and foreboding. Not like todays pop music 3rds. We were even doing some renaissance based ideas in Rainbow, like Temple of the King, or 16th Century Greensleeves, so you could say that the Renaissance music has been an influence in my music from early on."