I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone involved with my recent trip to Brazil, especially Rodrigo Scelza, who organised everything, together with his partners, Fernando Goulart and Milton Arthur. Their hospitality and kindness was absolutely amazing!
The Brazilian musicians, Bruno (on keyboards), Fernando (guitar), Daniel (drums) and Rodrigo (bass) were first class and a great pleasure to work with.
May I also take this opportunity to thank the Brazilian people for their wonderful reception! Finally, what a joy and an honour to work with Doogie White, a lovely man, great company and one of the greatest voices in rock music!
Thanks again
Nick
October 2010
click here for some pictures of Nick & Doogie in Brazil.
Specially produced official T-shirts designed to commemorate both 40 years of Deep Purple, and 50 years since Nick first entered the rock ‘n’ roll business. “Girl and guitar not included!” Available from Wymer UK.
Here’s a photo of Nick and Bernie Marsden, with “Sam the drummer” after their recent gig at Spielberg in Austria. More photos and write-ups to follow soon.
Nick recalls the Summer of 1966, which as everyone knows ended in tragedy. Read his story here.
Deep Purple – History, Hits & Highlights 1968-76
Due for release on 1st June 2009
The ultimate package for Deep Purple fans includes many rare performances, never released before, including some that haven’t even circulated amongst collectors! Essential purchase.
Nick interviewed by Martin Popoff
Nick was interviewed by Martin Popoff in July, for the Brave World web site. Nick talks about the Good Ol’ Boys, Deep Purple and Austria. Click here to read the full interview.
Chapter 9 of Nick’s story
Nick finds Mick Stewart, and the new Pirates begin rehearsing. Any initial nervousness is soon dispelled as the band get new stage clothes and hit the road to packed houses. “These guys are the best Pirates I’ve ever had!” says Johnny Kidd. 1966 is shaping up to be a really good year….. Read his story here.
Dr Jim Marshall OBE
Nick was proud to be a guest at Jim’s 85th birthday celebrations at Wilton Hall, Bletchley on Friday 25th July 2008. Many of Jim’s old friends and colleagues were in attendance, and messages were received from satisfied customers such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Billy Gibbons. Happy birthday Jim!
Message from Nick
Once again I would like to extend my gratitude and best wishes for your interest and kind messages. Last March saw the 40th anniversary of my joining with Bobby Woodman, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore to begin the embryonic Deep Purple. No-one could have guessed back then that our records would still be remembered in 2008, with our first single, “Hush”, being used to advertise Jaguar cars!!
The Good Ol’ Boys were invited to Austria at the end of April, where we celebrated the anniversary, together with the great Austrian rock band “Nasty Habits”. We really enjoyed the two gigs at Graz and Vienna and it was lovely to meet so many great people. My old “Renegades” pal Rich Bennett came from Atlanta USA with his son Jeff, also my son Rich and webmaster Mike MacKechnie made the trip. A great time was had by all, due in no small measure to the wonderful hospitality of Peter Brkusic, the other members of Nasty Habits and their friends. Thanks lads! We look forward to doing it again next year!
Thanks also to everyone who attended the other 40th anniversary gig at the Esquires Club, Bedford, on May 3rd with the Good Ol’ Boys, Glenn Hughes and Burn. Everybody had a great day, due mainly to the sterling efforts of organiser Jerry Bloom. Cheers Jerry!!
Nick Simper 8th May 2008
Deep Purple Convention
Nick meetsGlenn Hughes at the Deep Purple Convention at Esquires on Saturday May 3rd. Well done to Jerry Bloom of MBTP for putting together a fantastic event. Click here for more details…
Tribute Gig for Lord Sutch & Carlo Little
Ace Cafe, London
Friday 20th June 2008
7p.m.
£7 on the door, proceeds to charity.
With Paul Neon & The Saints, Bessie & The Zinc Buckets, The Good Old Boys, Tonto’s Horse And special guests.
Nick has done another e-mail interview, this time with Dmitry Epstein from the excellent “Let It Rock” web site. You can read Nick’s interview here, or you can pay a visit to Dmitry’s web site.
Message from Nick
left to right…. Mick Ralphs, Nick Simper, Simon Bishop behind
I have recently done a couple of gigs with an all star line up, featuring Richard Hudson of the Strawbs on drums and two other “Good Old Boys” Pete Parks and Simon Bishop on guitars. On vocals we had Ali McKenzie who featured with the “Birds” in the 60’s, and the addition of “Bad Company’s” Mick Ralphs really put the icing on the cake!! With Pete Parks on my right and Simon Bishop and Mick Ralphs on my left I really was in guitar heaven! A good time was had by all, during which Mick swapped me a wide Gibson strap and short guitar lead for my narrow Fender strap and long lead.
Just for an extra bonus he presented me with one of his signed plectrums! (see photo above)
Using the working title “Pieces Of Eight” we all enjoyed ourselves immensely and hope to do it again in the near future.
left to right….. Ali McKenzie, Nick Simper, Richard Hudson, Mick Ralphs
left to right….. Pete parks, Nick Simper, Simon Bishop plus assorted guitars
Message from Nick
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has taken the time out to visit my web site, and to say thank you all for messages of support, which I do read carefully.
Whilst it is not possible to reply to everyone individually, I realise that many messages contain questions. I am unable to supply music, photographs or lyrics, but I will endeavour to supply answers to questions asked in the near future.
Thanks once again, and best wishes to you all,
Nick Simper May 2007
Warhorse Poster
Another rarity from Gerhard Koritnik; a Warhorse poster, autographed by the members of the band!
Click on the picture to see it full size. You can then click on the autographs to see them close up.
This picture has been watermarked, so no copying without permission from Gerhard!
Nick on YouTube
Danny Vaughn has a few clips of the Good Ol’ Boys at the Jolly Anglers in West Drayton, Middlesex in October 1997, which you can see here.
Meanwhile here is the Deep Purple performance on Playboy After Dark in 1968. Most of you will have seen the performance of “Hush” before, but this clip includes the intro to And The Address and a bit of Hugh Hefner mucking around on Ritchie’s guitar.
The performance of “Ritual” for the Beat Club session has reappeared, although this time it’s a dreadful second generation copy that looks like it’s been recorded on a mobile phone from a cheap TV screen.
Pete Parks remembers: “..the Beat Club session in Bremen like it was yesterday. The German engineer walked off the set and left the production to us. Apparently the volume we were playing at was affecting the cameras. As a result were ended up with a decent rock video instead of a Euro-Pop travesty.”
There is also a YouTube clip of Nick playing with the Marsha Hunt band at the Bilzen Festival in 1969, here. Deep Purple MKII also performed at that festival!Thanks to Gerhard Koritnik for the link.
Here’s a rarity, kindly given to us by Gerhard Koritnik; a flyer from Deep Purple’s show at the Salem Amory, on April 5th 1969, autographed by all 5 members of the band!
Click on the picture to see it full size. You can then click on the autographs to see them close up.
This picture has been watermarked, so no copying without permission from Gerhard!
Johnny Kidd – a personal message from Nick
Saturday 7th October 2006 was the 40th anniversary of the death of a much loved and much missed hero of the British 60’s music scene.
Nick was with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates from May to October 1966, and was a passenger in the car that so tragically took away “the Kidd”. Visit the Johnny Kidd web site to find out more.
Nick interviewed by the Deep Purple Fan Club of Argentina!
In the Summer of 2006, Nick replied to an interview letter received from Gabriel Gonzalez of the Deep Purple Fan Club of
Argentina. Theletter was translated into Spanish and published in their fanzine “Deepest Purple”. and we have been given permission to reproduce it here. We have translated back into English, using our Collins dictionary and a very rudimentary knowledge of Spanish… here.
Good Ol’ Boys at the Mick Jagger Centre
Nick and the Good Ol’ Boys stepped in at the last minute to support 24 Carat Purple at the Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford, on Saturday 6th September. From Nick : “On behalf of the Good Ol’ Boys, thanks to Ian, Pete, Chris, Garry and Rob for a great evening – a great bunch of lads. Best of luck for the future!”
Pictures courtesy of Rich Voysey Photography
The “Boys” are back in Austria 2008
The webmaster took a long weekend break to see the band play their second gig at the Reigen in Vienna on 27th April. A fantastic time was had by one and all, and it was great to meet Christian, Ralph, Wolfgang, Gerhard, Tilly & Swanage, and “Nasty Habits”. Thanks to everyone for contributing loads of photos, which you can see here. Nick joined Nasty Habits for a rendition of “Emmaretta”, he first time he’d played it in nearly 40 years! It was recorded for posterity below:
See you all again next year?
Exclusive to Confessions Of A Sixties Drummer
Buy your very own copy of ‘The Carlo Little Night of Honour’ on a jam-packed double DVD. A rare, explosive and entertaining mixture of blues, rock and roll, and 60’s R&B performed by some of Britain’s most legendary and talented musicians in honour of their friend, mentor and colleague, Carlo Little at York House, Richmond on 26th March 2006.
Featuring Dick Taylor & Phil May (The Pretty Things), Wee Willie Harris, Ray Phillips & John Hawken (The Strawbs/Nashville Teens), Mickey Waller, Vince Eager, Mick Avory (Kinks), The Good Old Boys featuring Nick Simper from Deep Purple, Julian Dawson, Ali McKenzie (The Birds), Downliners Sect, Art Wood, John Idan (Yardbirds) …and more!
Only £15 + £1 p&p. Pay securely with Paypal. Quotes for uk only, email for international rates. All profit to South Tyneside Hospital, Ward 10, where Carlo spent his last weeks.
The Good Ol’ Boys live in Vienna!
photos courtesy of Wolfgang Jaafar and Christian Schoen. Click here to see more pictures.
For anyone that was there, we’d love to hear your comments. E-mail us or post a message!
A message from Nick: “Thanks very much to Peter Brkusic and the “Crazy Austrians” for putting on such a fantastic show. Thanks for making us feel so welcome and a special thank you to all of you that came along to watch, and for helping us with our version of “Hush”. It was a memorable event!”
Another storming gig at the Angel, Bedford on March 9th. Click here for the photos, taken by our main man Rob Vernon.
There’s a couple of minutes of the Good Ol’ Boys playing at the Carlo Little ‘Night of Honour’ on 26th March 2006. It’s a Google video of pretty poor quality, but worth a look….
The Good Ol’ Boys at the Horns, Watford, 25th November 2006
The Boys were back in action at the Horns on 25.09.06 in front of a packed house, including some overseas fans, and welcomed Jeff Bennett who guested on drums for one number, nearly demolishing Hud’s kit in the process!
The Good Ol’ Boys at Esquires, Bedford, 30th September
It was the webmaster’s great pleasure to invite Nick and the boys to play at his local venue in Bedford. The boys were in fantastic form and it was great to see Nick back on two feet again! We took lots of pictures of the event, which you can see here.
Nick in Flying Fox
Warhorse publicity photo
More Archives
Sunday 26 March 2006 – CARLO LITTLE NIGHT OF HONOUR: You can read a review of the gig here.
You can listen to some 2-minute samples of tracks from some of Nick’s albums.
INTERVIEW WITH NICK by Charlie Jeffreys, during the Good Old Boys recording session at Felden, Herts on 30th December 2005.
Photos of the Good Ol’ Boys rehearsing on 30/12/05.
nd kind messages. Last March saw the 40th anniversary of my joining with Bobby Woodman, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore to begin the embryonic Deep Purple. No-one could have guessed back then that our records would still be remembered in 2008, with our first single, “Hush”, being used to advertise Jaguar cars!!
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