Former Deep Purple guitarist Joe Satriani recently commented on Steve Morse leaving the band temporarily during an interview with Eon Music. He also praised the band for hiring Simon McBride as his replacement for the upcoming tour.
Joe Satriani briefly joined and toured with Deep Purple around 1994 to replace the sudden departed Ritchie Blackmore. After touring with them for a while, the guitarist left and continued making music independently. He joined Chickenfoot in 2008, and he has remained its guitarist since then.
Deep Purple replaced Satriani with Steve Morse in 1994, and he had been with the band until recently. The guitarist announced his hiatus from the band due to some saddening family problems. His wife Janine is currently fighting cancer, and Morse had to be with her, making it impossible for him to tour overseas.
The band replaced him with Simon McBride for the upcoming tour. The band’s ex-guitarist Satriani stated that the band did well by hiring McBride because the band is close with him anyway. He was also asked if he would consider stepping in, but the guitarist said that he was in the middle of making an album. The guitarist finally sent Janine his wishes that she recovers quickly.
Here is how he approved of McBride:
“Simon is a great call for that, so that’s really great. I mean, the band is close to Simon, and Simon’s a great guitarist.”
Satriani’s statement about stepping in is as follows:
“I think we all know; we’re on the same label now. They know quite well I’m in the middle of releasing a new album.“
Finally, he sent Janine his good wishes:
“I saw that earlier this morning, and yeah, I felt so sorry that Janine has to go through that. We’re sending her all of our best wishes and hope she has a quick recovery.”
You can listen to Deep Purple’s latest cover album below.
