Vocal legend GLENN HUGHES (ex-DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH) spoke to Shawn Perry from Vintagerock.com recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Vintagerock.com: Let’s talk about the new record First Underground Nuclear Kitchen.

Hughes: "Obviously, the title is out there now. You know artists when they say, 'Oh this is the best thing I’ve ever done.' It’s the common thing for artists to tell you. 'This is it — this is the way to go.' I’ve been making music a long, long time and I knew after the last couple of albums, I had to come up with something really special. I just spent so much more time, writing, arranging, producing — the whole gamut on this record is more of a Glenn album than ever before. I wrote it in the house and in the studio. It’s just a very complete Glenn Hughes record; a very complete tapestry of where I’m at, where I’ve been, and where I’m going."

Vintagerock.com: How would you describe some of the songs?

Hughes: "Well, the title…the record, really, is just super funky. Before Deep Purple, I was in TRAPEZE, which was a very funky trio from the north of England. But my roots…well, I’m from Britain. So we had that industrial thing from Birmingham, you know where Black Sabbath and ZEPPELIN are from. Trapeze was kind of like a hard rock band, but we really listened to black America — STEVIE WONDER, SLY & THE FAMILY STONE and that kind of music. So, when you cross British hard rock with Tamla-Motown, then you get Trapeze, which is basically the core of what they say, 'Glenn Hughes is rock, soul and funk.' I like to think of it as a big gum ball. You distill it together and all those three ingredients make up the flavor of my music."

Vintagerock.com: Speaking of Deep Purple, I’d look to go back to that period when you first joined the band. What was your initial feeling when you received the invitation?

Hughes: "At first, I said no. Well...I really didn’t say no. I sort of quizzed them because they wanted me to sing. They wanted a lead singer. And I quizzed them on that. And when they told me they wanted Paul Rodgers, I went, “OK that’s different. Paul Rodgers is one of my favorites.” So I thought, we get Paul Rodgers and I get a chance to sing with him and learn from him because he’s a very talented guy. So the premise was, I was gonna get Paul Rodgers, but they never got him because he’d already started BAD COMPANY. So, here we are, I’m in the band now and we started to look around for a guy that kind of sounded like him (Rodgers) in a way and we found David Coverdale. He hadn’t really recorded with anybody. I wasn't really that excited about singing just background vocals — I’m a lead singer. It was my idea at the time to have a two-lead-singer thing, which was done really well by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes. Dave and I sort of shared the vocals on the albums we made."

Vintagerock.com: One of my favorite Glenn Hughes vocal performances is on Seventh Star. Did you have any reservations about appearing on this record under the name Black Sabbath?

Hughes: "I did. Tony (Iommi) brought me in. His idea was to have three singers. One being Rob Halford, one being…I don’t know, like another rock singer…and me. I was the first cat to go down and sing. I think the first night I wrote with the guys 'No Stranger To Love' and I wrote 'Heart Like A Wheel'. I did those, and it was sort of like, 'Well, Glenn did two songs tonight, then we’ll just continue.' So I continued to write and finished the record with Tony. We got along so well that nobody else was really invited to come and sing. You know people talk about my voice and how good it was back then. The performances were OK, but remember you’re dealing with drug addiction and alcoholism. I love Tony like a brother, and it was difficult when we’re all getting stoned — the producers, Tony and myself, we’re all getting pretty high — and nobody can look each other in the eye. It’s difficult making records under the influence. It’s difficult dealing with ego and inappropriate behavior and schedules and — once again — chicks. It’s like a movie. And Seventh Star was a bloody movie. Tony was engaged to LITA FORD, and they were fighting all the time. Lita would come to my room, and then Tony would come to my room (laughs). They’re really good friends now, but it was difficult. I was completely out of my mind. I’d left my wife. I met a chick down in Atlanta who was crazy. It was a crazy time."

Vintagerock.com: Well, you guys apparently lived to talk about it because you’ve gotten together in the studio several times since Seventh Star. How would you describe your working relationship with Tony Iommi?

Hughes: "I’m pretty much a ferocious songwriter as far as what I do on daily basis. When I’m with him…let’s just say, we’ll get together on a Monday and we’ll work, right? We’ll sit face to face, and then Monday night, I’ll go home. The next morning, I’ll come in and he’ll have five riffs for me that he’d actually done at night when I had gone. Five different gargantuan riffs to choose from to write a melody around or write a bridge or a chorus to. That’s Tony’s forte — “the riff.” And I would come in with a chorus or the melody, and he would do that on a daily basis. He and I can write a mammoth amount of material. And that’s what Tony likes about working with me. If you ask him these questions, he’ll probably say the same. I can keep up with his work rate. He’s got a very quick turnaround in writing great riffs, as you know, and I thrive — since I’ve been sober — on delivering the goods. I mean, I just love completing. I love that word “complete” — I love completing things. And we completed a beautiful album called Fused."

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