Ritchie Blackmore (72) is secretly delighted that after two decades he still gets off on his medieval pop band project Blackmore's Night. After all, nobody had expected that the Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist would turn his back on hard, loud rock music and only return to it part-time in the autumn of his career (more about this in the second part of the interview in the next issue).
eclipsed: How much Blackmore is in Blackmore's Night?
Ritchie Blackmore: You're talking to a married man who's realizing a musical project with his girlfriend then and now wife and mother of his two children [Autumn Sky, *2010, and Rory,*2012]. Are you expecting anything other than a diplomatic answer?
eclipsed: In other words: How satisfied are you with your role at Blackmore's Night?
Blackmore: Candice [Night] quickly found her role as front woman and singer. I knew that she had a good command of it, and we quickly enjoyed immortalizing our common love of medieval music on an album. Soon after I met her, we started making music together. But frankly, after 20 years, I still don't know what my role is. Ritchie Blackmore, the rock guitarist, I can't be there and I'm not. And I didn't want to be anymore either. I am interested in trying out quite different medieval instruments. And I'm imagining that I'm getting something neat out of some. But basically I am the one who composes the songs for this band.
eclipsed: It is now released "To The Moon And Back - 20 Years And Beyond". A compilation with songs from the last 20 years. As a composer, which song would you describe as particularly successful?
Blackmore: I am always very critical of my work. There is and was no song, no matter if I wrote it for Deep Purple, Rainbow or Blackmore's Night, which I would say is perfect or very good. If I had to name a Blackmore's Night track, which I still like after the day of release, it would be "Home Again".
