Exclusive: Deep Purple Unveil ‘Spinal Tap’-Like ‘Johnny’s Band’ Mockumentary Video
Earlier this year, Deep Purple released InFinite, their 20th studio album, armed with new hits like "Time for Bedlam" and "Johnny's Band." The British rock titans have teamed up with Loudwire to debut a lengthy video in vein of Spinal Tap, offering a humorous glimpse at the meaning behind the "Johnny's Band" single, serving as an extension of the original music video for the song.
Commenting on this must-see hilarity, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover explained, "Johnny is Everyman, Johnny’s Band is Everyband. It seems that many bands follow the same path… small beginnings, lucky breaks, success, good times, too much fun, problems, split ups, reunions, then it’s the good old days. I’ve seen it so often, it’s the stereotypical history." Despite some of the scenes and storyline resembling moments of Deep Purple's history, he cautioned, "Any resemblance to any band, alive or not, is mere coincidence. No animal was hurt in the making of this video."
Purple's past is well-documented from internal bands feuds to more recent matters like being owed upwards of $5 million from money siphoned off by one of their financial companies. It would appear that there's nods to all of this in the Craig Hooper-directed mini-mockumentary, which chronicles Johnny's Band (who are have reunited in the present-time portion of the video) signing a shoddy deal with Sham Records right before making it big. But as Glover explained, it's all coincidence.
As the clips play out, there's even a couple scenes where the members of Johnny's Band seem to reflect some of Purple's own, notably the camera-shy guitar player wearing a top hat (reminiscent of former six-stringer Ritchie Blackmore.) After recording the hit song "Jig" with producer Chris Peacock, the band begins to fracture due to problems from within their own ranks as well as not receiving proper payment. In the end, Johnny's Band plays a reunion gig, initially hoping to perform to ones to tens of fans, but it's a raving success.
See the full "documentary" above and watch the music video below. Catch Deep Purple on the road this summer starting Aug. 12 as they continue to promote InFinite. They'll be joined by Alice Cooper and the Edgar Winter Group, and a list of stops can be found at this location. Get your copy of InFinite now at Amazon or digitally through iTunes.
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