By Martin Popoff
Ritchie Blackmore: "To us it kind of represents... back in the 1500's there was kind of a revolution going on, with all the peasants going against the landowners, the people who had all the money, royalty, because they were basically downtrodden. 'Fires At Midnight', the actual title song, is a song that came from the 1400's really, but I envision peasants uprising against royalty, laying siege against the castle, almost with that Frankenstein imagery, where they are raiding the castle with torches lit, that kind of thing. That's how I see Fires At Midnight. As well, a lot of our music is kind of organic. We'd like to think that we could sit around a bonfire, which we've often done, and just play the songs on acoustic guitar rather than have a big production. So Fires At Midnight is also keeping warm when you are living or celebrating outdoors really. It's music for the peasants. I would say the central theme is escapism, leaving today's pressures, leaving all the competition, the world, the fax machines, the computers, the tension, the stress and getting away into organic surroundings, nature."
So how does Mr. Space Truckin' Bloodsucking Speed King end up making studied, legitimate renaissance folk music?
BLACKMORE'S NIGHT - Ablaze On Long Island Page 4