BOB DAISLEY Talks CHICKEN SHACK, Touring With DEEP PURPLE, Start Of RAINBOW In New Interview
June 6, 2015, 9 years ago
In a new feature by music writer Joel Gausten, veteran bassist Bob Daisley (Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Gary Moore, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep) discusses a variety of topics including his time touring with Deep Purple and Elf in 1975 while he was a member of the celebrated British blues act Chicken Shack. In the feature, Daisley sheds light on some of the internal friction that would eventually led to Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's departure from the band that same year.
“It was around the time when Ritchie was becoming discontented,” Daisley observes. “He wanted to leave and form his own band. That didn't come across on stage, although Ritchie could be a little moody or a little difficult in his own way. I heard through the grapevine that it was because (then-Purple bassist) Glenn Hughes was very into drugs, and Ritchie was not like that. He didn't suffer people like that. Plus the direction of Purple was going away from what Ritchie wanted to do. He wanted to do hard, heavy Rock that was influenced by classical music. It was Jon Lord and Ritchie who gave Purple their classical influence with the heavy rock, which was a great thing. Glenn Hughes was very into soul and funk and Stevie Wonder and all that stuff, and that was pushing the flavor of the band from what Ritchie wanted to do, which is why he said, 'Okay, you get on with it. I'm off; see ya.'”Of course, Blackmore didn't leave Purple until finding a powerful vocalist to front his new endeavor. Those shoes were filled by Ronnie James Dio, whose band Elf opened the Deep Purple/Chicken Shack tour. Dio and fellow Elf members Mickey Lee Soule (keyboards), Gary Driscoll (drums) and Craig Gruber (bass) were soon selected by Blackmore to complete the first lineup of Rainbow. Interestingly, Daisley would join Rainbow himself two years later.
“The funny thing is that there was Ritchie, Ronnie Dio and myself all on the same bill and the same show on the Deep Purple tour, and we all ended up in Rainbow together a couple of years later,” he says.
The complete feature is available at this location.
Earlier this year, Daisley released Chicken Shack's Live In Germany '75, a live recording of a Chicken Shack lineup that included him, guitarist/vocalist Stan Webb, drummer Bob Clouter and future Robert Plant guitarist Robbie Blunt. More information on the release is available here.
Photo courtesy of Bob Daisley
