Newsbites: Writer of Deep Purple’s Hush dies

Award-winner: Joe South

Joe South, who wrote Deep Purple track Hush and played on Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album, has died at the age of 72. South penned a number of well-known tracks in the 1960s including Down in the Boondocks and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. He won a Grammy for his own performance of Games People Play. He suffered from addiction issues in the 1970s, stemming from the suicide of his brother, then attended rehab in the mid-80s. As a session musician he worked with Dylan , Aretha Franklin and Simon and Garfunkel, among others. South, real name Joseph Souter, passed away from natural causes related to a recent heart attack.

Slipknot have commented on the arrest of Dr Daniel Baldi, who has been charged with the manslaughter of bassist Paul Gray and seven others. The band say in a statement: “As the loss of our brother is still very fresh for us, this new development has us all in a state of anger and sadness. We can only hope that justice will be served so this can never happen to anyone else ever again. Our thoughts go out to the families of the other victims. We plan to cooperate as much as we possibly can to ensure this tragedy is never repeated.”

The Rock And Roll Hall of Fame will pay tribute to Chuck Berry at a concert on October 27 starring Lemmy, Joe Bonamassa, David Johansen and others, plus Berry himself. The event closes a week-long series of events under the banner Roll Over Beethoven: The Life and Music of Chuck Berry. He was one of the first ten artists inducted into the Hall of Fame when it was founded in 1986.

Kevin J Anderson, who co-wrote Rush tie-in novel Clockwork Angels with drummer Neil Peart, admits it’s far from the first him he’s sourced ideas from the band. Anderson says: “My first novel, Resurrection Inc, was inspired by the Rush album Grace Under Pressure. Once, during a soundcheck for a concert, my wife and I were listening to them practice a few songs, including Red Sector A. She was test-reading one of my manuscripts at the time and she recognised the connection. She said: ‘How many stories are you going to get out of that one song?’ Several, actually!” [Whatever]

Bob Catley believes Magnum have a duty to remain honest with their songwriting. The singer explains: “You are what you are and you do what you do. Tony Clarkin writes brilliant songs – he has his own style. If we’d been a more sleazy and American style rock’n'roll band we might have had more success, but I like the way we are. We stand for something. Our fans are the ones who make us successful and they expect our songs to say something.” [Rocktologist]

Poison singer Bret Michaels says the band might have been a very different animal if they’d hired Slash after he auditioned for them before joining Guns n’Roses in 1985. Michaels reports: “Slash is one of my all-time favorrite guitar players. I believe he would have steered our sound a little more in the Aerosmith direction. He was basically the same guy he is today: what you see is what you get. It never really had a chance to work out or not. The band decided CC DeVille was the best choice for us.” [Austin American Statesman]

Semi-comatose bassist Chi Cheng is still very much a part of Deftones‘ lives, says frontman Chino Moreno. He explains: “When I was 17 years old I moved out of my parents’ house and moved in with him. We’ve been best friends most of my life. He’s always in my thoughts. The whole band feels very strongly about him. The main thing we try to do is keep a positive attitude, because it’s not like he died – it’s more or less he’s still alive and fighting and we all have hope. That’s the way we handle things.” [Noisecreep]

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s recent hospital dash was due to severe dehydration, bassist Mike Dirnt reports. “It was like severe dehydration, influenza, and it was just a really, really bad situation,” he says. “If you’re in your hotel room and you’re vomiting profusely, it’s not fun. So what are you gonna do? It’s hard to sing while you’re puking.” Armstrong’s illness forced the cancellation of a show in Italy. Dirnt says: “We’re going to make our way back to Bologna and play that show ASAP. We don’t miss many shows; we’ve maybe missed five out of our entire career, and we pride ourselves on that, but we’re human.” [MTV]

Doro Pesch enjoyed her second stint in an acting role. She’s playing the character Meha in the second instalment of Swiss film Anuk: The Path of the Warrior. Pesch says: “In one scene I had to bite off a villain’s ear. You can see me with a completely blood-smeared face afterwards. Looks brutal, but the shooting is great fun. I especially love the scenes when I ride the horse.”

Rumours are circulating that Led Zeppelin‘s 2007 reunion show is about to be released on DVD. Belgian radio station RTBF posted a story, later removed, citing a source at Warner Music saying the concert would become available in November, consisting of a two DVDs and two CDs.