On August 6, Deep Purple keyboardist, Don Airey, sat down backstage at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden with Roppongi Rocks’ Stefan Nilsson.

The conversation covered a lot of ground: the energy brought to Deep Purple by new guitarist Simon McBride, the story behind Ian Gillan naming one of the new songs “Lazy Sod”, Don’s niece Olivia Airey who has joined Girlschool, his first Japan visit with Rainbow and much more.

During the chat, Airey reveals that he has a new solo album on the way. Says Don, "Well, I've always kept the solo… I had my own band, that's how we found Simon, 'cause Simon became part of my band, and a very big part of it, you know. We started writing together, and it was a very good partnership. And I always had it in my head, 'If Steve [Morse] decides to leave Purple, we won't have to look very far for someone.'

"But we've got an album in the can that we did before lockdown. We did most of it before lockdown and we finished it after lockdown, put the vocals on after lockdown. And that's in the can with earMUSIC. And I think that's gonna come out at the end of March."

Deep Purple brought their =1 More Time tour to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey on August 31. Fan-filmed video of the entire show can be viewed below courtesy of Tito Santana's YouTube channel.

Setlist:

"Highway Star"
"A Bit On The Side"
"Hard Lovin' Man"
"Into The Fire"
"Uncommon Man"
"Lazy Sod"
"Lazy"
"Show Me"
"Portable Door"
"Anya"
"Bleeding Obvious"
"Space Truckin'"
"Smoke On The Water"

Encore:

"Green Onions" (Booker T. & the MG's)
"Hush" (Joe South)
"Black Night"

Upcoming =1 More Time tour dates:

September
3 - Bridgeport, CT - Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater
4 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Broadview Stage at SPAC
6 - Bethel, NY - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
7 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
8 - Scranton, PA - The Pavilion at Montage Mountain

Tickets are available at deeppurple.com.