GLENN HUGHES is a legend in rock circles, a curly haired bassist with a distinctive vocal, one of the icons of the genre. Famed for a substantial self-destructive streak in his prime, the man known as ‘the voice’ was a real manic rockstar, once beset with substantial drug problems as he performed with Deep Purple, Trapeze and Black Sabbath through the 70s and 80s.

Hughes was the bassist and vocalist in the Mk II and Mk III versions of his most iconic project, Deep Purple, sharing vocal duties with David Coverdale. Those were troubled times; he’s turned his life around over the last couple of decades, and thrown himself into musical projects, an air of ‘making up for lost time’ about his work.

“I talk to the Sabbath guys all the time, and I get on well with most of the guys from Deep Purple now” he says of his links with his past. “They’re slowing down with the music, but for me you can’t really stop this kind of life, man. I need to keep going.”

“It’s different, though. I’m a bit of a California hippie now. This whole thing is cathartic, brother,” he says. “I almost didn’t make it, but I’m in a really good place. I’m all about the love, the anger has gone. I’m playing to a mix of generations now. To parents bringing their kids to shows, and that’s really special.”

“I got myself straight and I’m determined to stay that way, I’ve changed my view on life totally. I’ll keep going until I drop, because I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“I’ll be playing the tunes from when I was in Deep Purple, the ones we wrote, and the ones I played over those years. You’ll get all the classics, and we’re doing a lot with them. They sound huge live,” he explains.