By Mitch Lafon

Singer and bassist, GLENN HUGHES, has been rock royalty for over forty years. He’s fronted such legendary bands as BLACK SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE, but it’s his current band BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION - also featuring drummer Jason Bonham (LED ZEPPELIN), keyboardist Derek Sherinian (ex-DREAM THEATER) and blues rock guitarist JOE BONAMASSA - that has him spreading the gospel of rock ‘n roll these days. BraveWords.com recently caught up with the rock icon to discuss all things BCC and beyond. Part I can be found here. Part II of the chat follows below:

BraveWords.com: Tell me about the Deep Purple And Beyond: Scenes From The Life Of A Rock Star book that you are writing. Will it be a tell-all book? Is it an autobiography?

Hughes: "It is, but there have been a lot of things about me that have been grossly exaggerated and some things that are really true. What I will talk about in the book is my use, the drugs, the booze, the birds and the blow. There’s a lot of music and my claim to fame in this book. I will also talk about my near-death experiences (there’s been quite a few of those).”

BraveWords.com: Is it difficult to go back and re-live those experiences in the written word?

Hughes: "Yes, that’s why it’s taken five years. The first two years were… listen I’m going to have to show my ass in the book anyways. Everybody knows what happened in the ‘80s. Everybody knows I wasn’t the man I am today. We’ve all seen the glory and promises that can happen to someone who has kicked a life long habit of drugs and alcohol and worked rigorously hard to get to where I am today.”

BraveWords.com: The obvious question is: are you still clean and sober?

Hughes: "For a long time and that’s because and let’s make it clear – the drugs and the alcohol stopped working for me. It just stopped and it wasn’t fun anymore. I was too tired of being sick and tired. At some point, every alcoholic and drug addict (in their disease) will have that moment. Some don’t get that moment. Some of our well-known and unknown people have lost their lives because they didn’t get to that defining moment called ‘divine intervention’.”

BraveWords.com: Is the book coming out this year?

Hughes: "As you know, the luxury edition with all the bells and whistles – the music, embossed in gold and what have you is coming out in May. There will also be paperback and hardback editions coming at the end of the year. There are a lot of photos and stuff nobody knows about because I’m actually a private fellow and people who read the book will go, ‘oh, Christ I didn’t even know he did that or bloody hell that was a close one’.

BraveWords.com: Or ‘how is he still alive’?

Hughes: "There’s been some grandiose rock ‘n roll times and some of my friends would be dead if it had happened to them. It really tells the story of what can happen to a chap from the North England who becomes incredibly famous in a rock ‘n roll band and then falls prey to the wrong people, the wrong dealers, all the chicks, the pimps and the monkeys. It’s like a movie… a bad movie that turned into a really great ending.”

BraveWords.com: It is a better movie than the ANVIL story?

Hughes: "That was a wonderful movie. Mine is a different story. I didn’t work for a long time and I’ll say this to you – I don’t remember the’80s. I don’t remember Seventh Star with Tony Iommi. I did twelve concerts in the ‘80s, Mitch. That tells you that my addiction wanted me alone in a bathroom with a crack pipe rather than be on stage with my friend the bass and singing to a lot of people. That’s the danger and unhealthiness of drug addiction. It wanted me isolated, alone and away from the world, but that’s not the case these days. I’m a completely different man.”

BraveWords.com: Was writing the book cathartic? Or does your brain start to long for the drugs?

Hughes: "Euphoric recall is powerful, but let’s just say that the first year of sobriety is tough for people. They have to be very vigilant and diligent… I’ve done it all and without being grandiose – I’ve lived the life of ten men, but my book is one of hope for people. I don’t want to glamorize the fact that I’ve done all this cocaine and fuck all these birds. It’s not glamorous. It’s not fun and cool to see a guy overweight, sweating, telling lies and paranoid in some fucking nightclub.”

BraveWords.com: They just have to look at what happened to one of your friends, Kevin DuBrow.

Hughes: "I was his mentor and (I guess) spiritual guru. He had a room in my house that he used to stay at. Do you know what killed Kevin? It’s that he was too damn intelligent to know that the coke had gotten him by the short and curlies. Kevin analyzed the fact that he could do this once a week and hole himself up in his house. That last time… he didn’t come to my home on my birthday and I knew. Three days later, I had to get the paramedics in his house and break the door down. I’m still shaking from that and laying Kevin to rest was a very difficult moment for Frankie Banali and myself.”

BraveWords.com: As you write the book and go through those moments, you must be thinking ‘that could have been me’.

Hughes: "Yes and since then, we’ve added four or five people to that list. Gary (Moore) of course and Ronnie (James Dio)… Well, Ronnie didn’t die of a drug overdose, but a lot of people from my generation are dying from the dreaded cancer. My job is to keep Ronnie’s name going with Wendy…”

BraveWords.com: I’m glad you mentioned Ronnie. You did a show last year with Heaven & Hell at the High Voltage Festival. Was it emotional or ‘odd’ for you to be standing in Ronnie’s ‘spot’?

Hughes: "It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my life. Ronnie and I were very very close. I would call him one of my favorite metal singers (no question about that)… Tony, Geezer and Vinny were really really sad and it was a sad occasion. They asked me to come in and do the songs. Of course, for my respect for Ronnie and Wendy, I graciously accepted to do that show, but it was not fun. It was gracious. It was the full 100% respect that Ronnie absolutely deserves, but in was not a barrel of fun. Parallel to my singing, they were showing stills of Ronnie on the big screen and people were crying… I was upset too. I was grieving. Remember, I’m a friend of Ronnie’s and a fan of rock music, so I was grieving with the 40 000 people in the audience. I was just a member of the faculty if you will. I’m a human being first and I’m a tremendously emotional person and I know for a fact that Ronnie would have been doing the same thing for me.”

BraveWords.com: Do you know if there are any plans to release that show as a ‘tribute to Ronnie’ DVD or CD?

Hughes: "I can’t speak on behalf of Wendy, but I know there’s going to be a great tribute to Ronnie. Some artists are going to come and perform Ronnie’s songs including myself, Geoff Tate, Rob (Halford) and Bruce (Dickinson). The accolade of the metal kingdom will come out. We’ll get Zakk (Wylde) to play on some songs and Dave Grohl (I think he’s going to sing Mob Rules). We’ll do the appropriate tribute for Ronnie. What Wendy and I want is to get people that Ronnie knew personally. He knew Dave Grohl and we want to get some of the new iconic younger guys to come in. We might even get Ozzy onboard to do it. I’m here for service to Wendy and Ronnie. I spent New Year’s Eve at Ronnie’s house. I spent Super Bowl Sunday with Geezer at Ronnie’s house (Wendy hasn’t sold it for obvious reasons) and Ronnie is there. There’s a lot of happiness in Ronnie’s home. A lot of people won’t understand that when they read this, but when you go to Ronnie’s – he’s in there.”

BraveWords.com: Let me ask you about Black Sabbath. You never joined Black Sabbath. You joined Tony Iommi’s solo project and the record company said, ’no, no – this is Black Sabbath’, but you never wanted to be the singer in Black Sabbath.

Hughes: "Let’s be clear – I had just done the Gary Moore thing and I got a call from my dear friend Tony. He says he’s down at Cherokee Studios and has got these songs. He’s thinking about having Rob Halford sing some, Ronnie sing some and myself sing some. The songs were obviously on Seventh Star. So, I went down to Cherokee Studios and the first thing I get to sing is 'No Stranger To Love' (I wrote the lyrics at the console) and then I sing a song called 'Danger Zone'. At that point, Tony Iommi is making a solo album for Warner Bros.  and it’s called, Tony Iommi. So, after those two songs he says, ‘I think we should keep just one singer and have you sing on the whole album’. So, we complete the ten songs on the album and as we’re making the video clip for 'No Stranger To Love', we get a call from Don Arden saying, ‘Warner Bros. would like to have it called – Black Sabbath’. What? It’s not a Black Sabbath sounding record.”

BraveWords.com: No, not at all. 'Danger Zone' is a great song… so suddenly you’re in Black Sabbath…

Hughes: "Only because I love Tony. He is, to this day, one of my dearest friends, but it really wasn’t a Sabbath album.”

BraveWords.com: Then you hit the road and you’re told to learn the Sabbath back catalogue.

Hughes: "Which was difficult for me because I’m not the singer that I am today and I have no bass around my neck.”

BraveWords.com: And then one day you show up to rehearsals and they say, ‘we’d like you to meet the bass player, Dave.”

Hughes: "I really wanted to play bass, I must admit, because it would have been easier for me. I was constricted by the fact that ‘A’ I wasn’t prepared to be a lead singer (without a bass) and ‘B’ I was drinking. Their fans are reliant on a strong metal influence and the fact was, at that point, that I wasn’t the actor that I am today where I can wear many hats. You have to be really focused to do a gig like that, but it was fun. Tony and I have obviously gotten way past that, but you know I’m the kind of guy that learns by the mistakes I’ve made in life both musically and personally. I’ve been on this road a long time and everything in my life is just the way it’s supposed to be.”

BraveWords.com: Other than the touring that fell apart quickly – are you proud of the Seventh Star album? The album recently received a Deluxe edition re-release…

Hughes: "I get killed in those liner notes, don’t I? I’ll say this to you Mitch, it’s none of my business what the members of the press write about Glenn Hughes. I’m the kind of guy that you are either really going to like or I’m going to irk you in some way. There’s something about me. I’m one of the last rock ‘n rollers from the 1970’s that’s pushing the whole thing and I’m not a shrinking violet. I’m going to engage people on and off the stage. I live life at a hundred miles an hour kind of like Lemmy, but without the drugs. Lemmy is a really good friend of mine and I really love him, but I’m like a sober Lemmy.”

BraveWords.com: Are you proud of the Seventh Star album?

Hughes: "I am proud of it, but remember Mitch – it’s difficult for me to be completely proud of an album where I wasn’t completely out of my skull. A lot of metal and classic rock fans love that album. It still continues to sell well and I get a lot of requests to sing songs from that period, but I won’t do it without Tony. I just don’t feel I can do it without Tony. He’s such as big part of that record.”

BraveWords.com: It was his solo record…

Hughes: "All I know is that I am at the right place in rock ‘n roll history. I’m one of the very few people that has been to the top, lost everything because of drugs and found his way back. It’s not about prestige, the birds or money for me. I’ve had that. I’ve got that. Success for me is that I am still here to tell the tale.”

BraveWords.com: That’s what has got to make BCC so rewarding. Not only that you survived all that, but have gotten into a ‘brand’ that people are excited about.

Hughes: "It’s a brand that is actually quite big. We’ve moved a lot of records and we believe the next one will move a lot more. We have a game plan that our management is keeping very close to the chest. Things will be announced shortly and people will go ‘ohhhhh’.”

BraveWords.com: Having a game plan, for you, must be new as well.

Hughes: "Not to say could have, should have, would have, but in the ‘90s when I got sober, I should have formed a brand or a band with some of my other well known friends, but I believe in synchronicity and things happen in the right time. When Joe and I ‘choose’ each other, it was destined to happen…”

BraveWords.com: You didn’t ‘choose’ Joe for BCC…

Hughes: "No. Joe and I were going to make a duet record together.”

BraveWords.com: It was Kevin who ‘recruited’ Jason and Derek…

Hughes: "We come off the stage, Joe and I, at about five to eleven (too late to call Jason on the east coast), Kevin got back to me at around 9am the following day and tells me ‘Derek and Jason are in’. The next thing he said was ‘now, go write me ten songs’. I went off to Brazil and came back with six songs. The pressure was on. He said, ‘January 3rd you have to record six songs and on March the 3rd we have to record another six’. It was a matter of ‘this is the moment that you have been waiting for’. Some people strive for something all their lives and break their fingers doing it. This was being in the action at the right moment and right time.”

BraveWords.com: Was there also a lot of pressure because of your pedigree?  This guy was in Deep Purple and this guy’s dad was in Led Zeppelin and….

Hughes: "Not really. A lot of my true fans knew that I had something like this under my belt for a long time. I had met with five or six other ‘famous’ people before Joe and realized that ‘I love these guys’, but it’s not going to work for me. The forming of this band was a matter of fate. It’s the right team that I want to live and travel with.”

BraveWords.com: It shows. The album has no filler.

Hughes: "And the next one is the same kind of thing. We’re also recording a live DVD in Germany in July (which will be coming out at Christmas). That’s an exclusive for you. Nobody knows about that, so there are going to be a lot of things happening for BCC. This is not supergroup. It’s a real band.”

BraveWords.com: So, come 2012 the band won’t be on hiatus while everybody runs off and does solo projects?

Hughes: "Honestly, there will be dates of mine. I want to do some orchestra and acoustic stuff, but my main focus is to be the guy that holds the anchor down for BCC. I’m the writer in the band. I’m doing all the press in April and May. Yes, I’m the lead singer and front guy, but remember this – this is a band. I’m flying the flag of Black Country Communion and we have an album coming out called, 2. It’s a good time to be alive right now and I wanted to thank all the fans on Bravewords.com. Thanks for the love and thanks for supporting my music. ”

For more info visit Bccommunion.com.

(Photo be Marty Temme)