"If I Change the Solo on 'Highway Star', I'd Probably Get Shot" Deep Purple’s Simon McBride on Recording Live, Guitar Gear & Finding His Own Voice

"That Whole Record Was Done on One Guitar." Deep Purple’s Simon McBride on Recording Live, Guitar Gear & Finding His Own Voice

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Simon McBride joins Richard Shaw to discuss life inside legendary rock band Deep Purple, the creation of their new album Splat, and the challenge of following iconic guitarists while remaining true to his own style. Simon talks about working alongside producer Bob Ezrin, writing songs through live improvisation, recording together as a band, and the unique chemistry that powers Deep Purple's sound. He also dives deep into his guitar rig, PRS prototype guitars, ENGL amplifiers, Quad Cortex modelling, and the philosophy behind playing for the song rather than playing for ego. The conversation also covers Simon's biggest influences, including Gary Moore, Joe Satriani and Steve Lukather, plus his upcoming instrumental solo album and future plans with Deep Purple.

How you doing, Simon?

Yeah, I'm doing very good. How are you doing?

Very well, thank you. Thank you for taking the time, because I know you've
only got a few weeks until you're back on the road with Deep Purple again. Are you looking forward to that?

Yeah, I'm excited to get back touring again. We did 5 or 6 shows in Japan,
Korea, and Kazakhstan, of all places. And we've got another 86 shows or something left. Last
year was kind of quiet for us. We did a few shows, but we also recorded a record and things like
that, so it'd be good to get out playing again and do what I do, and get the fingers loosened up
again.

Great stuff. Are there any particular dates you're looking forward to? Because
you've got summer festivals, you've got a big North American run, and a big European and UK run as well. Are there any standout shows that you're looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to the American run, because this is the first time with Deep
Purple that we've done the west coast of America as well, which I've never actually played before.
So, that should be cool to do. A lot of the gigs we're doing this year, we've done a lot of them
before, you know? Some great festivals. Like Hellfest is always a really, really good one to play. I
remember the first time playing Hellfest, because it really was like hell, because it was so frickin'
hot. It was summertime in France, and it was 44 degrees or something in the afternoon. It was
just ridiculous. And, because I remember starting on stage, and Rival Suns were on and I was
thinking ‘how are they standing there, playing in that heat just coming in?’. But, you know, I love
every show that we do, so every gig is a pleasure to play. But ask me that same question at the
end of the year. I might say, I hate them all.

We've got to talk about the new album, ‘Splat!’. That's coming out on the 3rd
of July. What was it like, writing and recording that album? Especially because you were working with, producer Bob Ezrin, so I'm curious what it was like working with him, and working with the rest of the guys on this album in particular?

Well, the first album I did with Deep Purple was ‘=1’, which is a great record. But
this one, ‘Splat!’, to me, was a lot easier to do than the first one, and I think that's because there
was probably less pressure from me, personally, and less pressure on everybody else too.
Because when you're a new guitarist in a band, or it's a new lineup, there's always that little bit of
pressure when you first record. Is it gonna be any good? Is it gonna be s**t? And so the first
album, it turned out really well, but I think this album sounds a lot better, simply because we know
each other a lot better now. I've been in the band for over 4 years now, and it's a case that I know
the guys better, they're more comfortable with me, because you have to remember, they've had
30-odd years with Steve Morse? So, they're used to Steve. I I come in, and I’m completely
different to Steve, and so, it's getting used to that. How I work and how I write stuff and whatnot.
Working with Bob is always a pleasure, because he's old school in his methods. He's the sort of
producer who just knows how to get the best out of you as a musician. I really don't know how he
does it. He's... as Paicey describes it, when you're in the studio with Bob, it's like having a
general and we're just the army cadets. We're just the foot soldiers. He's the boss, and he
basically controls all of us and tells us what to do. To a certain degree, of course. Because when
we go into our writing studio, it's really just the five of us go in there, sitting in a room in a circle,
and we just start improvising, just jamming, playing, and see whatever comes out. We all have
pre-constructed ideas. My phone is full of riffs and guitar ideas, because it's a thing we have
attached to our hip these days. But on this record, I decided, I'm not gonna go near that, I'm just gonna see what happens, you know? So as soon as we start playing in a room, and because of
that fact that we feel so comfortable with each other now, I wasn't afraid to just play whatever I
thought, and sing with everybody else. Sometimes what works is I’ll start playing a riff or
something, and then Paicey will join in if he likes it. If he doesn't like it, he won't join in. It's as
simple as that. We work really well together. Don is one of these mad professor genius guys, and
the ideas just fall off him. He plays things, and sometimes he wouldn't even remember. I would
say, play that again! And he's like ‘What? What did I just play?' and then you could see his brain
working backwards, trying to figure out what he played. And he would do the same with me, and
we all just worked really well together on this record.

I think the reason this one sounds a lot better than the last one is because it was just a 100% true
collaboration. That's really what it is. I can't say that I wrote this riff, or that thing, or whatever,
because none of it would have happened if we weren't all in the same room. So, generally, we
have about three writing sessions. The third one is really with Bob, who comes in and just goes
‘That sucks. Get rid of that, try this, do that’, which is great, because that's what every writer and
every musician needs. Somebody to come in and tell them that doesn't work, or try this, or
whatever.

We recorded it in Nashville, in a studio called The Tracking Rooms, which is now owned by Keith
Urban. Long story, The Tracking Rooms were where Deep Purple recorded a bunch of their
records before me. It was closed down just before COVID, and was never reopened. It was going
to be knocked down and turned into apartment blocks, as people like to do these days with these
really cool buildings. But, for some reason, they couldn't knock it down. It was something to do
with a structure or something that was technically impossible - which was great. So, it went up for
sale again, and Keith went and bought the place, and restored it to its original beauty. It's got to
be one of the best studios in the world at the minute. And, because it's so big, the acoustic
spaces, like the main room, is massive. And it has all these massive side rooms where you can
pick my guitar rig or Don's keyboards and or Leslie's cabinets, or whatever. So we all sit in one big room and play live. And that's how we recorded the album. It wasn't like, Paicey goes in, plays the drums, then I go play guitars, and then Roger... no, it was just everybody at the same time. That's where the magic happens with Deep Purple, you know? Deep Purple are not a band, where it's like, let's do an overdub on top of an overdub, because they've always just recorded since the 60s just the 5 of them. Hit record, done. Which is a great thing, and Bob understands that. That is a sign of a good producer. He figures out what way musicians work, and what way they think, and how to get the best out of them, and that's the great thing about Bob. You look at his credits over the years. It's a massive list. But Bob's a great guy, I loved working with him. He just made it really simple and really easy this time, and there was 3-4 takes of each song, and we were done. And that includes solos, everything. So I had nothing really to do when I come home. I had a couple of things, that's because I forgot, I’m getting old. I forgot to do it in the studio. It was a really great experience doing this record, and I'm very proud of everything that come out of that studio and that record. It was really cool.

That was a super detailed answer that I was hoping for, which is amazing, so
thank you for that.

Sometimes if I ever go on, just tell me to shut up.

No, not at all. I'm here to queue you up. That's my job, and nobody wants to
hear me speak, anyway. Especially my Derbyshire accent. So, speaking of that kind of magic, what we've heard so far of the album is the single ‘Arrogant Boy’, which I love, by the way, absolutely love it. Those unison lines, that Deep Purple are known for: how do they come about? Is that you? Is it Don? Is it both of you working together from the start, or does one of you come in with a fully formed idea that the other one has to learn? Because those unison parts are such a big part of the sound, and as a guitar player I love those kind of unison parts. I’m curious how they are created.

The thing is with Deep Purple, that’s always been a big part of their sound, that
unison thing between the guitar and the keyboard. It was the same with Richie and John Lord back in the ‘70s. Because if you listen back to ‘Smoke in the Water,' I remember somebody asked
me, what's the second guitar part doing in ‘Smoke in the Water’? And I say, well, that's the
keyboards. That aggression and that delivery was so incredible because it was very simple. It was
just three chords, and it was the same with a lot of their songs when they played it in unison. And
they got this slight difference in sounds, because Hammond organ and guitar have a very similar
frequency range. But once you get that EQ right, it just makes everything sound huge.

But the unison lines in ‘Arrogant Boy’, it kind of all fell together really quickly. It all came together,
in, I’m gonna not exaggerate, about 10 minutes - the whole song. That song started out where I
do my little solo spot live, I do this kind of thing where I alternate pick on the low A string. Then
when we in the studio, someone said we should do something with that little thing I do. Just an A
string, hand in the air, true rock star, that kind of vibe. I started playing it, and then Don joined in,
and then all of a sudden, this riff started to appear. He played chords and that was it. I remember the next riff part of it. Don started shouting out, ‘give me another riff, come on, go’. It was like being in a training camp: 'come on, go for it, go for it, go on!’. It was the first thing he played, and that became the second riff part of it. But as far as the melodic part, where it goes up to that little, kind of, proggy thing, Don started playing something, a little melody or something, I guess it wasn't exactly what you hear in a record, but I was like ‘there's something there’, so I joined in. It was a natural thing between us, Don and me. I've played with Don for so long, 15 years now, or maybe longer, and so I know the way he thinks a little bit. And he knows what way I think a little bit. So when he plays something, I know what to do. We just work really well together, so there was no pre-construction of that, or anything. And we fiddled around with it, and got up to
a certain place, and then I immediately heard in my head the little thirty-second note thing, I don't
know what the technical term is, but I heard that, but under the bed of chords that he was playing.
And so we did it in unison, and it just turned out really well. We didn’t try to write it, it just
happened, you know? It really was that quick, in the space of 10-15 minutes, I'm gonna say. And the basis of that song was done. Obviously, we went back later and tweaked a few things, and I remember when we did that, I was standing in the room thinking I never expect this to be a single. I just thought it was a bit of self-indulgent nonsense from Don and me, but I loved it. But when Ian Gillan put his vocals on top of it, I immediately went, that's the single. It's got everything in it. The vocals are amazing, the story's great, and just takes you on this little journey. But all the unison parts throughout the record, we try to play everything together, if we can, if it works. Because, as Don says, it makes it heavy. And, it does when you have the Hammond and the guitar synced up, and then the bass kicks in. It's incredible. And there's a funny thing that happens with Paicey and Roger. When they both lock in together. I remember Don describing it to me before. He said it's like somebody hitting you over the back of the head with a baseball bat. It really is. When they really lock in, it's just something about the pair of them together, they just work really well together, and so it's our job, Don and me, to back that up and create those unison things. There you go, there's another long-winded answer for you.

I encourage the long-winded answers. Because like me, I'm sure a lot of fans
out there are wanting to know these details. These are the things that inspire us to try. How do we write these kind of things? A lot of it is just getting that magic. But a lot of it, for me, is also getting the tone. Like you said earlier about the Hammond and the guitar, getting those frequencies just right. So, if you'd allow me to indulge in gear chat, what was the gear that was used on this record? I'm assuming your trusty PRS’. I absolutely adore your PRS’, by the way, especially your single cuts.

Yeah, no, my gear really hasn't changed that much, the core part of my gear. I use the same thing live as I do on the record, basically. The only thing different on the record is I've been working with Paul Reed Smith trying these new prototype PRS’, which have no truss rod in them, which are unbelievable. You've got to try one. For me, it's a game changer because, like any of this stuff, you always think, yeah, it'll make a little bit of difference. But when Paul sent it to me, and I plugged it in, and I went, 'yeah it's okay’, but then I played a little bit harder, and I was like, holy s**t! This thing just reacts with you, and it just gives you more of that natural sustain. You don't have to play with a lot more gain on your amp to get that, and for me, it was incredible. This has ruined all my other guitars. So, I said to Paul, I need two of them, give them to me. So he did, he sent me another two of them, and they're all amazing. That whole record was done on one guitar. Everything. All the guitar solos, all the rhythm parts, everything was done on one guitar, and that was my yellow, my first prototype that Paul sent me. It was funny, because I remember in the studio, I decided to do a little test on Bob Ezrin. Well, it was probably more of a test for me, because I just wanted to see if anybody noticed if I changed guitar. As I said, everything on that album was done with that guitar, but one track I just said, I'm gonna try one of my other PRS’. I brought it in, and Bob didn't know. And I s**t you not, two seconds of me playing, he said  ‘something's different, I don't like it'. I was like, it's the guitar, it changed. He says, ‘I don't like it, put it back'. Oh, okay, fair enough. It's super versatile. It’s hard to understand that a truss rod would make such a difference. I suppose when you go back to the first guitars, there was no truss rods, or even old Stradivarius violins, it was just one piece of wood, which was alive. So, that’s the guitar I used on that whole record. I tell a little bit of a lie, at home, I did two overdubs, I think, but I was using a 7-string PRS, just for some really low parts, and then I used a Telecaster in one little tiny section, and that was it, really.

My amps were Engl. I have an Artist's Edition. Because I remember when I joined Deep Purple, I was using Steve's amps, Steve Morse signature heads. And they were great, they just weren't for me, for a few reasons. One, I looked at it and went ‘there's too many buttons and knobs in this thing, I don't know how to work this’. I'm so used to bass, mid, treble, gain, volume - done. That's all. So, I couldn't get the best out of that amp, I didn't know how to. And it's a signature head, and I always believe signature amps, they're geared for one person's taste. And you either love that or you don't love it. And every player is different. I sound like me no matter what I plug into. If I plug into the toaster, I'll sound like me. You know, even though I want to sound like Steve Lukather, but I won't. Steve sounds great through it, but it suits him and suits his playing, his touch, his feel, everything, how he approaches guitar, it works perfectly with that amp. Tommy, my guitar tech, he spoke to Engl and told me that I wasn't 100% happy, and they brought me this other amp called an Artist Edition, which is basically an amp they've had through the years, but they change it for different artists. They brought it, I plugged it in, and I said, it's great, but I want you to do this, this, this, this, this, so a bunch of changes. So, what they did is they took that amp. Well, I did the gig with it first, and after the gig, they drove it back to the factory, and then come back the next show with this amp, and I was like ‘Well, that was quick’. The next day, which, because they were in Austria, it was like an 8-hour drive or something, they drove there, fixed it, come back, I plugged it in and went ‘that's it’. One of the tweaks I wanted to do was, because when we were talking about, playing with a Hammond player and, using Leslie cabinets and things like that, it's a similar frequency range. So, I wanted something that was in the same range. A Hammond is kind of more mid and high mid, so I wanted something more in those low mids, just to give me a bit of difference to cut-through, and also make that space bigger. And that's what I did, really. There's a little button on it, and when you push it in, it gives you that low-end growl a little bit, which the Hammond doesn't have. Because sometimes when you're on stage, the two frequencies just fight against each other all the time. So I wanted that difference, and it works really well within Deep Purple.

For cabinets, it's the angled Engl cabinets, but I have a cross between Vintage 30s and
Greenbacks in them. I always do the X pattern, because I like both sounds. I like the Vintage 30s,
but I like the Greenbacks. I like them mixed together, and it's like that Hammond/guitar, slightly
different frequency range, and you blend them together. It’s the same with the Vintage 30s and the
Greenbacks. In the Vintage, you get that more of a scream. The Greenbacks, you get that more
kind of a MIDI thing going on. But that’s what we used on the record.

At home? The gear nerds are gonna shout at me, because I used a Neural DSP Quad Cortex for a
lot of things. I love that thing, It’s a brilliant unit. I find, for me, for studio, I use it all the time. I just finished an instrumental record, and all I used, was the Quad Cortex. I didn't use anything else. My studio is full of amps and everything, but it’s like do I get the amp, cabinet, get the mics all set up? That’ll take about half a day. I’ve had Kempers and stuff like that before, and a few other
things. But with the Quad Cortex, I just find there's nothing out there that beats it in the studio. I run it through a couple of Neve things, like an old 1073 preamp and stuff. And that warms up a
little bit more, and it adds that little bit of depth to it, which is great.

But guitar-wise, the single-cut ones that I use, with the little F-hole, they're great too. They have
two little switches which split both pickups to single coils. Because I like neck pickups primarily
as a single coil, but sometimes I like the thicker sound, and the same with the bridge pickup. PRS
asked me at the time if I wanted a tone knob on the guitar, and I haven't used a tone knob in 25
years, I don't need one. For me, tone knobs back in the day were used for Stratocasters, which
were very bright. They didn't have the modern technology that we have now, so the tone knob
darkens it down to create that thicker shine.

I have a massive pedalboard with too many pedals. Like every guitarist, we have too many
pedals. I have pedals in my studio I haven't even opened yet. So, but I didn't use a lot. I used I
use a few Jam pedals. I use the one called a Boomster, which I use just for a little bit of boost in
the front end of the amp, when I go for a solo, primarily. I use a lot of Boss stuff, a delay one, I
can't remember the number. I use a bunch of different reverb stuff, but it's more for my own thing.
Sometimes in the studio, I prefer to use post-production stuff. I have an old Phase 90, and just
random s**t that I use. But the core element of it was just the PRS and the Engl, and that was it.

It's good to know you’re still a gear nerd at heart, like a lot of us are. We
accumulate stuff and always try new things, and I think I'm similar to you. I try all kinds of stuff, and it all comes back to the same old stuff that I grew up playing and enjoy playing. But there's always room to try new things.
We were talking about when you first came to the band, and you were trying the Steve Morse signature head, was there any kind of pressure to tonally sound similar to Ritchie or Steve, or even play in a similar way? Was there any pressure, but also, were there moments where the guys in the band said ‘you have to play this part like this, you have to play this part like that, do your own thing there', or were you left to your own devices?

There was zero pressure from anyone on me. The only pressure that I got was from me. Because when I first started, initially I was only stepping in for Steve due to is his wife's
condition, which is very sad. So for me, I just came in and felt that I've just come in as a session
dude here. I’m gonna come in, play, have a bit of fun, and go home. But when I finally became
part of the band, there was no pressure. They didn't want another Ritchie Blackmore. They didn't
want another Steve Morse. They didn't want another Tommy Bolin, or even Joe Satriani to a
certain extent. I played with Don for a long time, I played with Ian Gillan for a while, I've played
with Paicey, I've played with Roger, all at separate times, so they knew me, and they knew what I
played, and how I played, and they just said, ‘you're here because of you. We don't want you to
sound like Steve, we don't want you to sign like Ritchie. You know, we've had that’. Which was a
great thing for me to hear, because at the start I said to Don, 'I don't know what to play, shall I
play like Ritchie, shall I play like Steve, or should I do all this stuff?’. He said, ‘forget all about that,
just be yourself. That's why you're here’. So there was no pressure at all, which is a really great
thing. But obviously, when you join a band like Deep Purple with such a history of their songs and great guitarists, is you have to be respectful. There's certain things I can't change, like ‘Highway Star.’ I think if I change the solo on that, I would probably get shot, you know? Because I remember playing in South America, there was 65,000 people, and first song was ‘Highway Star’, and I go for the solo, and 65,000 people sang that solo back to me. So I was like ‘thank God I didn't change that thing, you know? So, you have to appreciate that certain solos are little constructed pieces of music within a song. There is other songs where you can change and improvise. Like when I play ‘Smoke in the Water’, there are parts of that solo I love, and there's parts of that solo where I'm fine to mix it up a little bit, and then there are other songs I completely change as well. They just want me to play like me, because I think if you try to play like somebody else, you’ll never ever truly be yourself. As a player, you'll end up just being a clone. It’s one of the reasons I don't play a Strat. As soon as I pick up a Strat, instantly want to play Stevie. Or Jimi, or any of that sort of stuff. I think my advice to everyone is just be yourself, because your influences and who you've listened to you over the years will eventually come out in your playing, and you form this other being inside you, which is your style, if you want to call it. I was very lucky. There was no pressure at all from the guys.

Talking about those influences, who are those early influences for you? I hear
Zakk Wylde talk a lot about the soup - what people have in their guitar soup, especially when they were younger. I'm just curious if you could boil it down to 4 or 5 players who were the core influences for you. Maybe you can still hear them in your style, or maybe you’ve removed them from your style completely.

Well, for me, I grew up in the 80s, so I grew up around all that, you know, Satriani, Vai, Paul Gilbert, Eddie Van Halen, all the greats. So I was very, very lucky to grow up in
that period of time. But if I was to narrow it down, I could narrow it down to three. For me, it's
Gary Moore, who’s one of my big influences. Satriani as well, because when I was 13, I was
obsessed. I tried to learn everything that he did. Then for me, the greatest, I don't like to put titles
on people, but for me, personally, I think the greatest guitar player of all time is Steve Lukather. He would probably hit me for saying that, but the guy's amazing. He just knows what to play for the song. And that's the same with Gary, and it's the same with Joe. Joe's a different style, but when you hear him playing in other things, like Chickenfoot, he just knows what to play for the song, and that's what I was always attracted to. Not how fast they can play. It's their choice of notes, and they listen to a song and go ‘this is what works'. You know, every time I hear Steve Lukather do a solo, it's like 'give me a break, really?’. You know, it's like ‘can you play a wrong note?’. It's the same with Gary. Everything that he did, whether it was rock music, blues music, fusion, he was a genius, but everything just was beautiful, and his touch on the guitar was just incredible. Aggression, but still very soulful, and could play with such emotion. They are two different players. There's from this side of the world, the UK, British guitarist; and
then there's an American guitarist. They're two different types of player, you know? But they're
both equally as good as each other, they're both amazing. They just have a different thing.
Americans are more polished and more constructed, and I find British guitarists are more raw, and we probably make more mistakes, but I suppose that's part of the beauty. But yeah, Gary, Steve, and Joe were probably my three biggest influences, and they still are today. There are lots of great players out at the minute, but I think I'm just turning into a grumpy old man and listening to the older stuff.

They're three heroes of mine as well and I 100% agree. They’re so unique.
They just don't seem to do anything wrong. I'd like to be a fly on the wall of them practising, and I'm sure they'll disagree with me, but with Steve, Joe, and Gary, it seems everything they did was just magic.

Yeah, I know. It’s one of those things when you hear of a song. And that's the big thing I've learned from all three of them, as I said, is playing for the song. It's not for my own personal ego, it's playing for the song, because at the end of the day, that's what people hear. And if you can do that and master that, you're on to something. Because I always say, everybody listening to music is not a guitarist. You have to play stuff that a plumber is going to understand, or an electrician, or a road worker, you know? They don't understand all the mad, flashy stuff, because they just think ‘it sounds like noise to me'. And it probably is, but, especially when I do. But it's important to retain that musical thing, musical sense of note choice over the years. It's one thing I've had to work on a lot, but I think having those influences over the years has really helped me, because that’s what I learned, and that’s how I think, you know? We've still got two of them left. Gary, unfortunately, is gone; but we've still got Steve, and we've got Joe here. Lovely people, which is great, too.

Final question for you, and that is: what’s next? Because you're touring for
pretty much the rest of the year with Deep Purple, but you mentioned an instrumental record. Are there any plans for when that will be released?

Yeah, well, I don't know, I've just finished it, because I wanted to get it finished before I went on tour with Deep Purple. It’s completely insane, this record. When it comes to instrumental music, anything goes. I didn't care. I was like, ‘I'm just gonna play whatever the hell I want’. I have Darby Todd, he's drumming on it, and the rest of it is just all me. And I have Dave Marks playing bass on a few songs, but it's crazy. When that's coming out, I don't know, maybe next year? It's actually being mixed at the minute, so I would assume it will be next year at some point when it comes out. But apart from that, just with Deep Purple this year, and then Bob Ezrin, he's talking about another record, maybe next year, with Deep Purple, so we could be doing that. We’ve already got stuff lined up for next year as well, some tours and shows. I always try to fit in my own stuff if I can. It’s a bit hard. This pesky band gets getting in my way. But, I always like to try and keep busy. So, I'd say after this year, I'll probably take three months off or something, just to spend some time with the family, the wife and the kids, to go, ‘look, remember me? I was that guy who was here 7 months ago!’. We'll see. This year and next year, there are tours, there are albums to probably be released and stuff. So, I always like to keep busy, and always thinking ahead.

Thank you for today, Simon. For those of you who want to get your Deep Purple tickets, they are playing throughout Europe for summer festivals, then North America, and European and UK shows up until pretty much the end of the year. For the UK fans, they are playing in Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, and a couple of dates in London as well. Thank you very much for today, Simon, I really appreciate it.

Oh, cheers for having me, man, it's been a pleasure. It's always cool to talk
guitars and nerdy stuff.

We're all just guitar nerds at heart, and we all love the instrument, we love
gear, and any chance we get to talk about it with other musicians is always a great thing as far as I'm concerned. I really appreciate your time today.

No problem, man.

Take care, and we’ll speak soon.

Yes, no problem, dude. Cheers.