Simon McBride On Deep Purple’s One Expectation From Him After Replacing Steve Morse

The guitarist Simon McBride recently joined an interview with the Scars and Guitars podcast and revealed Deep Purple’s expectation of him filling Steve Morse‘s blank in the band.

Steve Morse has made many contributions to Deep Purple since joining in 1994, replacing Joe Satriani, who became a member following Ritchie Blackmore’s departure. Morse was the band’s longest-serving guitarist and played on their eight studio albums. However, in the previous months, it was announced that the guitarist had decided to temporarily take a step back to take care of his wife Janine, who is battling cancer.

After Morse’s break turned into a permanent departure, the band informed the fans that Simon McBride would take the stage in the upcoming shows in May, June, and July 2022. The guitarist had to adapt to their sound and playing style for the concerts. He conveyed that while some of the songs were easy to deliver, some solos were harder to learn.

McBride also stated that he had to work on each song carefully because every past guitarist had unique playing styles. Previously, he had mentioned how the band members were meticulous about delivering their significant songs and solos. The rocker also noted that he did not try to imitate prior band members while playing.

Recently, the guitarist indicated that it was a confusing process for him because people asked him to play like the previous members. He expressed that he was unsure what to do on the issue of playing like Morse, Blackmore, and the others. While conversing with Don Airey, the keyboardist said he reflects his musical personality without trying to be like someone else. McBride noted how relieved he felt when he realized the band members’ only expectation was for Simon to be himself.

Simon McBride said the following about his appearance on Deep Purple:

“At the end of the day, for me, with this gig, there’s been lots of people saying, or asking me will I play like Ritchie or will I play like Steve or will I do this like Tommy or Satriani or whatever. So that thing initially kind of confused me a little bit; I didn’t know what to do. It was when I was talking to Don Airey about it, and he just said, ‘Forget about it all. Just be you. Play your own thing.’ That’s it, which I did.

And I kind of started to relax a little bit and just be myself. When you start to think about who else has been in the band, you get a little bit confused about what to play or when to play or what to do or ‘should I play this like Ritchie?’ or ‘should I play it like Steve?'”

Deep Purple is currently on tour, and they will take the stage in various countries like Germany, Norway, and Sweden in the upcoming months until 2023. Ian Gillan also mentioned in the previous months that they would start working on a new album in the next year after completing the tour.