GLENN HUGHES - Pipes Up! Page 4
by Martin Popoff

And if you want to here something from Glenn that's a little more immediate, look no further than his Soulfully Live In The City Of Angels two-CD and DVD offering.

"It's out; been out for about a month," says Glenn proudly. "It was recorded January 11th of this year in L.A., with Chad Smith on drums, my best friend, J.J. Marsh of course, on guitar, George Nastos on guitar, Ed Roth on keys. It's obviously a retrospective of my Trapeze, Deep Purple and solo work. We did it all in one afternoon in the studio with some friends and some guests sitting in the audience. And we captured it on film and just put it on DVD. Obviously I can say - and you have to hear it - but people are saying it's a really great performance of me and my band. And Chad Smith raises my game, when I work with Chad, because he's so musical and he's such an energetic drummer and such a powerhouse. I need that with the drums; I need a really good strong guy behind me. Chad and I go down to Mexico to play quite a bit. We go play at Cabo, Sammy's joint down there. We played gigs, we've done some shows around, bits and pieces, and Chad sits in with me whenever he can. We're going to do some English dates next year. Chad and I see each other a lot. We hang around together, we go on vacation together, our wives are best friends. So we do a lot of stuff together when he's not working in The Peppers. He's the perfect drummer for Glenn Hughes."

In closing, talk naturally drifts back to Glenn's next studio album... "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is, without a doubt, the finest release I've ever done. And I'm talking even about Play Me Out or Hughes Thrall, or the great records I've done in the past that people know. I just think that this next record is significantly the one that people have wanted me to do, or wishing I had done earlier. I wasn't ready to do this vast change. It's still a rock record, but I'm actually opening the door to saying 'This is it. This is what I've really been wanting to do.' And I've had the energy and the insight into why I should do it. I think I was getting a little bit tired with making records for a certain marketplace, or certain executives that really wanted me just to be sounding like Deep Purple. So I made a record that is definitely rock but it's more modern in its approach. The songs are more radio-oriented but I wouldn't call them... I haven't sold out for commercial reasons. I just think it smacks of a six-month project that is really, really written well and produced in the way, which, it should go to radio. It's the best work I've done."

Skip o'er to www.glennhughes.com for more on Glenn and his uncommon vocal chords.