"I've always felt pressure to stay in whatever the perceived style was. But the problem is, I can't seem to do it" Steve Morse talks Deep Purple, 'Triangulation' and genre-blending

With a career spanning decades of genre-bending innovation and unforgettable performances, Steve Morse has earned his place as one of the most respected and inventive guitarists in the world. From the groundbreaking fusion of the Dixie Dregs to his powerhouse years with Deep Purple, Steve’s playing has always been about passion, precision, and pushing the limits of what the guitar can do. Now, he’s back with a brand-new album with the Steve Morse Band - 'Triangulation'.

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Congratulations on your album ‘Triangulation’. It's your first album with the band in over a decade. What brought the trio back together again?

Steve Morse

I think it was several things: One, not being in Purple. That just gave an obvious hole in my schedule. Two, recovering from the personal tragedy of losing my soul mate. When Dave (LaRue ) and Van (Romaine ) come down on me with one of their suggestions, it's hard to say no. Dave was the one who answered the phone, so if you have any bass questions.

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Ok, Dave, who's your favourite bass player?

Dave LaRou

There are so many. I hate to pick one out of pack. It all started with John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. Led Zep II was what pushed me onto a different path.

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Do you prefer using fretless or strung bass?

Dave LaRue

I love fretless bass. The other guy I love is Jaco Pastorious; I'm very influenced by him : I love that jazzy side of things.

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You've spoken about playing together in the studio old school. Why is that so important to record that way?

Steve Morse

Well, we arranged that way. The recordings can be done separately, because the guys have been playing for so many decades, we're not going to lose the feel. We put things together with the whole band (in the studio) in order to have the feedback, back and forth, the exchange of ideas.

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You formally left Deep Purple in 2022, aside from having more time and not touring, how did that new chapter inform how you approached ‘Triangulation’?

Steve Morse

I missed doing music. The best way for me to heal was doing music on my own terms. That suits me fine. I don't need big numbers of things to validate anything. I knew that coming into it (the album), what you're about to spend a lot of time on is something you're doing for aficionados only and it's got to be good as a result. Then, in other words, you're playing to a more discriminating audience and not the widest audience, but definitely people that know their stuff. They know if you're sloughing off.

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You used your signature Ernie Ball strings, Music Man guitars and DeMarzio pickups. Did you put any new gear in with this album?

Steve Morse

I used a lot of the same stuff, but I did use my new ENGL 20 watt head for doubling a lot of the lines. It has a switch on the back. You can switch from 20 watts to five watts to one watt to zero watts. I would put it on zero and use the IR simulators - You can choose from any number of them, but you can store five or seven on the back, in the resonant memory, I use that straight into the board as something to double the guitars with. So that wasn't exactly the same as my regular 100 watt head through a mic and speaker.

Steve Morse

How about you Dave?

Dave LaRou

Mostly the same gear and I played fretless too. I mostly recorded directly through my Ampeg amp, and then we added amp sounds and distortion after the fact.

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'The Unexpected' is very symphonic and really classically influenced track. How did you map it out?

Steve Morse

Well, I had a version of it, and then I thought that Dave and I could trade parts; two parts that did counterpoint together. We'll start with these two, and we'll play around and come up with an arrangement, which is basically how it we work. The band is always involved in arrangements. So it went from just a two-part piece to having more layers. Of course, that's one of the things I do - ask anybody who knows me, I can take something simple and make it complicated, and not always in a good way.

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There’s a great bass line on that track, how did you approach the melody line Dave?

Dave LaRou

Well, I worked on that one for quite a while. That's what I love about playing with Steve and with this band he really utilises the bass in so many ways and has no limit to what is possible.

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I love the humour in 'Tumeni partz' the too many parts. And what was the other one too many notes? How was that too many parts following on from too many notes?

Steve Morse

That's just in the event that a critic does a review, I'd like them to get a head start and write the review for them. But that tune was written as a technical workout.

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You once described styles of music as just different colours, like clothes. Have you ever felt pressure to stay in one lane, especially when playing with a big band or in projects?

Steve Morse

Yeah, I've always felt pressure when I was in another band to stay in whatever the perceived style was. But the problem is, I can't seem to do it. I've been in other bands and I can't fit perfectly. I can add something, for sure, but I can't fit perfectly to everyone's vision.

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Did you feel that when you took over from Blackmore? That there was a certain expectation to be a replica, or did you want to put your own mark on it from the get go?

Steve Morse

For sure, with some of the fans, there was an expectation that didn't get fulfilled. With the band, actually, it started really, really well. With John Lord, he always saw more possibilities in an idea that I could bring in. Maybe because he was a classical composer, he was always willing to give that a shot. So that was wonderful.

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I can imagine him with that kind of personality not wanting to pigeonhole you. He probably, was really excited about a completely different approach to that lead playing.

Steve Morse

Yeah, with later Purple it was just me bringing in lots of ideas and hope that one of them, the band would think sounded like Purple and that’s kind of the way we work. Don (Airey) had a big voice in how things were going. Of course, he's got millions of ideas of his own that he could bring in.

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Let's talk about tone and emotion. You've always focused on melody over being flash, haven't you? What makes a solo sing to you? How do you decide what not to play?

Steve Morse

When you're doing a solo, you don't always have total oversight. Sometimes you're reacting to the feel of it and you're not really thinking about the melody, you're kind of playing with emotion. Last night, I was frustrated about something and in the solo you could hear that frustration, but I tried to capitalise on that. I'm going to take that emotion and I would make it into a more fierce attack, make it a real rock section.

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Yeah, I can get that. It seems very intuitive what you play. I sense it's not, like you're reading it. You're improvising what you're feeling.

Steve Morse

Yeah, but if you're writing a part or writing a solo, which I don't like to do. I compile solos, for sure, but the best source for solo is random happenstance: a happy accident, you know.

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Your technical chops are legendary. I saw a video of you playing and ‘Because We Ended as Lovers’, How do you balance that sort of virtuosity with emotional expression?

Steve Morse

Well, first of all, that was a tall order when they said, ‘we want to play on this.’ Beck is just one of my heroes. And how great his gift was, being able to be quirky, melodic, inventive, everything all at once. I was writing the review for the critics by playing the way I did, which was, ‘he's no Jeff Beck.’ I know I'm no Jeff Beck, but guess what? I love Jeff Beck, and I wanted to play the best I could. That's all.

I listened to the Stevie Wonder version before I did that and I said, wow, this is really, quite different. Jeff Beck made a signature about the way he approached that tune. It was like I was learning a Purple song. I want to do some of the vibe of Jeff Beck, but I want to do my own thing so I'm not copying them, you know. Same as I do with Richie's stuff: to show respect, but, be myself.

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What still surprises you or excites you when you pick up a guitar today?

Steve Morse

Well, I mostly do music late at night, and I like it because it helps me unwind, and it gives me a sense of satisfaction when I can reach a technical hurdle and I will target a particular movement that I'm having trouble with. I have three different techniques that I use to play the same passage, and I change from one to another depending on the pain level of which part of my bones are scraping that day. It's true. So I get satisfaction out of saying, I can still do this. I'll do it this way, then switch to that and just coming up with solutions.

There was a show in America called MacGyver, where the guy uses everyday items to help, get out of the situation and be, inventive with what you have. And that's the part that really makes me feel good, when I find a way around, a solution at a time when, I could legitimately say I shouldn't be picking up a guitar anymore.

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What was the most valuable thing you've learned on the road or playing live?

Steve Morse

I think what Roger (Glover) said that I agreed with, Roger and I were closer than any of the guys, except for maybe John Lord, but Roger and I spent a lot of time together on the road. We both agreed and felt the same about the more we travelled, the more we'd see that people are more similar than they are different. They react to the same things. They are afraid of the same things. They have all that, we're all similar. We're very similar. Our cultures and governments are different, but our human psyche is very similar.

I wish everyone could travel to learn that and see the different cultures and see why this one is highly effective in that regard, or this one promotes a more fiery or artistic cultural expression than the other. Those are all valuable too. But just that, one underlying thing is if you approach a person as a member of the human tribe, you're going to be able to deal with them if you have the right attitude.

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Music transcends all the barriers as well, doesn't?

Steve Morse

It's absolutely the universal language. I've seen it over and over and over.

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Your solo music has always pulled from a wide mix of styles like classical, jazz. Deep Purple also had a tradition of blending genres. Looking back, did that natural approach fit the band, or did you feel that they influenced you? How did you combine the styles?

Steve Morse

Well, to some people's chagrin, I combine styles without trying. I guess if you were a teacher and I was in your class, you would say, I have trouble staying on task. So musically, I do the same thing. I see possibilities and side roads, and I go down them and say, hey, this is kind of cool. Let's see if we can marry these two things together. So I do it without trying, and I think it's something to be celebrated, but it pisses some people off.

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Who were your influences when you were learning to play, when you were starting out?

Steve Morse

Oh sure, the UK was full of them, absolutely chock full. And I never understood why, until I went there and saw that the people have an ability to have a rigorous approach to doing their job. But also, you know, when jobs over and it's time to go to the pub, it's a totally different atmosphere, and a lot of the musicians were the same way. They put in their time and practice. They might have been studio musicians, but they had a wild sense about them, and they loved a lot of the American rhythm and blues, and early rock, they were influenced by all this. So yeah, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, of course, Yardbirds, Kinks, Zepplin, Hendrix, Clapton, Cream, John McLaughlin, the list goes on.

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Were you a fan of the Mahavishnu Orchestra?

Steve Morse

Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra was eye-opening to me, and obviously, the Dregs instrumentation was the same.

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John McLaughlin is a very precise player too.

Steve Morse

Yes, wonderful guy. And I learned so much from him.

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Is there any musical idea or project you'd love to explore that you haven't been able to do so far? You know, orchestral or concept album, anything you'd like to try?

Steve Morse

Yeah, just doing film composition. I think that's the most likely and reachable. So I'm looking forward to that.

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Can we expect you in the UK at some point in the future?

Steve Morse

I don't know. Actually, we've been surprised with the way things worked out. Here we are doing a tour, and the album's coming out after the tour. We don't know what's going to happen or how things work out. But let me just say that it's been a pleasure getting to know the people in the UK, and I've learned so much from being in the British band all these years, and I admire the culture and the absolute, astonishing work ethic that they're able to do with such a good attitude.

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Photo Credits

Nick Nersesov (Studio shot)

Gerry Driver (Live shot)