This is a brilliant story as told by Ritchie Blackmore whilst discussing the creation of Rainbow's first album ' Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow'. What a character ...and one of John 'Bonzo' Bonham's favourite drummers!
@@finnmogensen9526 he has humour, but it's a very black sort of humour. He used to play practical jokes on everybody with Cozy Powell when they were in Rainbow
I knew Gary from his days with ELF, who I saw play many times. Sometimes, Gary would come to see my band play (I am a drummer too). Soft-spoken guy and very polite. However, once he got behind the drum set, he turned into a ferocious hard hitting drummer with the most amazing fills that I had ever heard. One night with ELF, I saw him destroy his high hat stand in the middle of a song because he was playing so hard. Shortly after that, he had come to see my band and asked to sit in. I had just got my new top of the line Ludwig set that I was very protective of so I had to politely decline. He wasn't offended and spent the evening chasing down every woman in the bar. LOL I miss him. Great guy and fantastic drummer.
He was brutally tortured and murdered and it was mistaken identity. They killed the wrong guy. Gary was the drummer for my father's band before Elf etc.
They had a clear suspect but he slipped out of the country before they could pick him up. Haven't they heard of Interpol? Upstate new York keystone cops should have been fired.
Lemmy told about Ritchie and some unbeliviabile stories like this one!!And specialy about the best prank someone ever did!And of course it was Ritchie!!Wow!Blackmore is full of those rock stories,he is hilarious!!I know he has a dark side but ,hey , it's rock'n'roll, not a church!
The song Snake Charmer is what made me want to be a drummer. Its heart warming to hear Ritchie talk about Gary in this context. Ritchie aint the monster hes been made out to be and these stories help prove the point. I always get a little sad thinking about my first drumming hero and his horrible death, love to Mr. Driscoll, your still my first influence.
It's nice to hear Ritchie speak fondly of Gary. The Elf musicians only lasted one album and it seemed to me that Ritchie didn't like their playing. I was wrong. Gary seemed like a character. lol
I always thought that any mistake by any other musician would be the end of that musician. But very fond stories of a failing frailing player, almost sounding like a friend.
The keyboard-player, Mickey Lee Soule, actually quit himself. He didn't particularly like the direction of the music. He later joined Ian Gillan's band, which was more his thing. But the bassist and drummer were fired, yes. I think Ritchie just found them to be unstable, and not having the chops he needed. So he opted to find top-notch guys, Cozy Powell and Jimmy Bain
maybe 15 years ago, me and Pete Mendillo ( R.I.P. ) we've talk about the fact Gary Driscoll was an amazing drummer, he lived in the same area than Pete, they were friends, i seen the first Rainbow show in Montreal in 1975 , it was Cozy Powell on drums but i was disappointed that it was not Gary, myself and Pete ( we were drummers too ) we loved the work Gary made on the first album, he had also an interesting drum sound....though i have respect for Cozy who was a hot 2 bass drum drummer in the same vein than Carmine Appice at that time ....
Wow. How have i never heard these stories before? Brilliant Its nice to hear Ritchie talk so fondly about someone. Also ill never be able to listen Man on the silver mountain in the same way again lol
Ritchie Blackmore - a great storyteller and one of the greatest guitarists ever! Would have loved sitting down with him for a bear or two, listening to him talking of the old glory days.
Ritchie that's such a lovely story. I'd always thought that you held the band members of mki in contempt, like "amateurs". My sincere apologies. My favourite album was your 1st, and I just loved the whole line up and the story behind it, just wonderful. Thanks for that ❤️.
Man aren't you the cognizant one!? You either need a. Strong shot of coffee or just stop being a sycophant!! Ritchie tell a 'lovely' story about someone else besides maybe himself or his wife trust me your former inclination was correct because Richard does hold them in contempt he was taking the piss out of this guy he was clowning him.... And if Richie was ever to shed a tear over this it would be because he was disappointed in his delivery of the story not because he has a soft spot in his heart for this dude.
Huge Rainbow fan, saw them many times in Philadelphia. August 2, 1978 at the Tower Theater was the first and only time I had front row seats in that theater.
Great show, great venue. Saw Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, many great artists played there. I remember they couldn’t fit the giant Rainbow in the Tower for that show
@@wm.g6664 Yes, I remember that! That was just before I was old enough to be allowed to go to concerts with friends. And I remember reading about it in one of the magazines. Prior to Rainbow (Cheap Trick opened), some of the first shows I saw there was Sweet/Eric Carmen, Slade/UFO, Judas Priest/Iron Maiden (with their first singer), and Rush/Max Webster/Cheap Trick.
Ritchie N 1 ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ LONG LIVE ROCK N ROLL
I do remember the story about Gary’s headphones coming off in the studio. I have the Ritchie Blackmore documentary,but I don’t think the other Gary stories made the documentary, I need to double check.
Gary's drumming on that first LP was brilliant. The whole band was brilliant. Individually, those Elf members were great musicians. Too bad as a band they never made it into the big time. I'm just glad Ritchie got that lineup to record that first LP. Rainbow Rising would not have existed if Ritchie had kept that lineup but somehow I could picture those guys playing at least half of the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album.
I had a friend like that; one of many stories is him striking a nail with a hammer and having it fly back and stick into his eyeball. After a life of that pretty much daily, it culminated in him electrocuting himself welding under a car. He was hilarious.
Ritchie took care of himself. He never smoked a cigarette in his life. Never did hard drugs...a little boozin' but...he came out clean and can still play his ass off. I've been playing over 40 yrs and I STILL fuckup some of his "Licks" LOL God Bless you Brother!!
Richie loved so much Gary that he fired him after recording with him the epic "Richy Blackmore's Rainbow", one of the most iconic albums ever in the history of rock.
It's business, not personal. his style was not suitable for the plans the band had. firing him doesn't necessarily mean they fired him from their lives and never spoke to him again. or whatever. Ritchie says years later he even went to see the band Gary played in.
Look at how he bounced around styles in Deep Purple. That's just who he is. He cares about the music unlike other guitarists who only care about their solos
I love the 1st record and love it's line up. For me Gary is exactly the right drummer for these dark and lyrical songs. I like Man on the Silver mountain exactly in studio version but not live when they speed up the tempo loosing all groove and mysterious vibe of it. And Craig Gruber probably was the best bass player band ever had. His patterns and arrangements are amazing on the album.
Craig Gruber and Gary Thain were huge influenced on me as a bass player. I first picked up a bass in Feb. '76, and learned as much of this first Rainbow album and Heep's Magician's Birthday as possible!!.
As a child I listened to great drummers, all virtuosos but there is only one drummer in this world who is naturally unique, creative, impressive and talented, that is Gary, someone incomparable who became a legend at a very young age. when i opened the rainbow album cover and saw that huge photo of a drummer with his ludwig with cymbals arranged in reverse, releasing all his passion, i said... he is my reference from today and he continues to be so. R.I.P. Gary
Actually that was based on Judas Priest's endless string of drummers. The Stonehenge sequence was based on Black Sabbath's Born Again tour with Ian Gillan.
He should really tell stories of the old days. I mean there must be millions of stories to bank in from, from bands that were there back in the day and how the music business and industry was back then and the artists etc... , ppl would just love to hear about it. The real grind essence of being a rock/metal band from the late 1960's through to now basically. Do a shoot interview and hold nothing back.
Not sure about that Gary Driscoll story at the 3:00 minute mark. Gary came to Ritchie's room while on tour? That first version of Rainbow with the Elf guys never toured. By the time they started touring Cozy was on drums. I don't think Blackmore was ever on tour with Gary, Craig Gruber, nor Mickey Lee Soule. He had replaced all of them before Rainbow started touring.
I was in Ithaca NY last year, and visited the house Gary was unfortunately murdered in. It’s in a nice neighborhood, but the house itself is very eerie and just has a dark atmosphere to it.
I think Elf have come to an end by then anyway. So, Dio tried to get his guys in to make the record. They made lots of promo shoots, so Blackmore could pretend to have a band going on. I guess it was clear from the start for Blackmore, that he would look for other musicians that would play different, less boogie, blues and funk style. I think, Blackmore was searching for a hard hitting drummer and he remembered that former drummer of the Jeff Beck Group. Possible that Blackmore thought, the Elf guys (except for Dio) weren't up to his way of professionalism.
Gary was a very human rock star, God bless him, but it seems he was a 'drummer's drummer'. Bonzo loved his playing on what he kept remembering as "Love on the Silver Mountain"! If you listen to Snake Charmer from the Rainbow album, then the song Because of Your Love from Gary Moore's G-Force album, there are strong similarities in the rhythms - and the drummer in G-Force was Mark Nauseef, who had played in Elf alongside Gary Driscoll.
@D. Lelinho no complaints Cozy Powell was a top 3 drummer in the world at that time. Had some Bonham and Pace perfect. Best of both worlds. Rip Cozy and Garry.
Reminds me of my parents saying to, being a child,me......Wow, you always have bad luck. I could not escape it , only for some moments/periods in my life.....which I maybe should have myself tied to but I was full of selfesteem by that point, having reached certain goals I fought for. So I fucked up.........
Great stories. Never heard any of them before. But at the end of the day even with Ritchie singing his praises Gary - like so many other great musicians - got fired.
Everyone heaps praise on the Rising album. The first album is my favorite by far. Ritchie's tone and playing on the first was never surpassed on the later albums. (Sure, Gates of Babylon was a great solo, but his tone was so ragged on it.)
Drummers who can't count, usually have a problems with their fills coming out in the wrong place. Too bad about Gary, seems to have had a dark cloud over him his entire life. Ritchie's fantastic. One of the best guitar players I've seen.
Snigger! Sorry about that, but one, two , many? Dragonlance D&D series? And yet, here Ritchie sounds like the mature person everyone else says he's not? I can understand his snarkiness never being forgiven (cue Ian Gillan, and I'm quite agreed there, with his version). Still, Ritchie met up with his muse much later on, and they made those ever delightful Blackmore's Night albums! I still play DP and Rainbow albums every now and then, but the much more interesting later offerings are egged on by others in my household just totally loving that! Sorry, Ritchie, but my three female amazon parrots really DO love your music in all arenas even more than I thought I did! 😁
Once I had a hot discussion with a Malmsteen fan who told me that Ritchie is only good enough to wipe the dust off Yngwie's guitar. So I told him that Yngwie was only good enough to wipe the dust off the guitar of MY favorite guitar player Russ Parrish who is the driving force of Steel Panther - MY favorite band ... He practically hit the roof and we split up for good ...
