1. My daughter’s album, Red Handed, is now officially available and I encourage anyone and everyone to buy it. It goes without saying in way because she’s family but I am genuinely impressed with her singing and writing and I believe in informing people about what they might be missing if they don’t check it out. It is very hard to promote a new artist these days. Get information at MySpace:gillianglovermusic. The CD is available in stores and online at hmv.co.uk, play.com, or amazon.co.uk. She’s had several good reviews, one of which is here: toxicpete.co.uk. However, she needs sales!

2. As improbable as it seems, after 40 years of singing, there is still an alarming amount of people who think that Ian Gillan spells his name as Gillian (they are probably the same as those who believe that ‘a lot’ is one word!). It is a strange irony that my daughter’s name is so close to the name of the partnership that IG and I had when we recorded Accidentally On Purpose. Oh, and another thing, Gillian is pronounced with a soft ’G’, as in ginger. Just letting you know.

3. The DP British Tour in April was great and a big thank you to all who braved the elements and came out to see us. I managed to meet up with a lot of people and old friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. There were a few that unfortunately I didn’t get to see but there it is – until next time.

4. On the 23rd of April, near the start of the UK tour, I was invited to the Linda McCartney Centre in Liverpool. There I was treated like royalty and met some wonderful people. What little I did seems to have generated a lot of interest. Prints of my painting, Compassion, are now available for purchase from them. Information can be found at http://www.yourcentre.org/news.html.

5. We are now in the final days of the DP European Tour and again, what a blast we’ve had. Thanks again to all who came to see us. Talking of reviews, which we weren’t, it is always interesting (at least for me) to read what other people think of the performances, good or bad. We in the band have our own criteria, of course. These usually concern the acoustics of the venue, the seating or standing arrangements of the audience, the crowd response, how we play individually and collectively, and unfortunately how bad the security is. The Wembley gig was a great experience only marginally spoiled by the heavy handed, orange-clad security goons. Obviously, security is necessary at public functions but I wish they’d understand the difference between people enjoying themselves and the threat of real violence. Our view from the stage enables us to see a lot of the unnecessary goings on, spoiling the show for many people, including us. Rant over.

6. A new rant… I apparently have a MySpace page and a large number of people have been sending me messages in the belief that it is me they are contacting. THIS IS NOT MY PAGE. I have nothing whatsoever to do with it. Please ignore this fraudulent space. I will tell you when I have my own page and you can be certain it won’t read like it was written by a twelve year-old.

7. It’s been a while since I wrote, mostly because I’ve been very busy with the band – my solo things have been put on hold for a time but I will be working on stuff sporadically over the next months. I aim to release it as soon as I can. There is no title yet. No suggestions please.

8. I have to thank the Perfect Strangers of Finland who recently honoured us by presenting us with official Finnish government-issued postage stamps bearing our images. I can’t imagine how they pulled that off but it was a lovely thing, celebrating, as they state, five decades of rock. Is it that late already?

– Roger Glover, May 2007