It's been a decade since Candice Night last released a solo album, but she's back with 'Sea Glass', her most personal set to date. She's not been idle in the preceding ten years however, working alongside her husband Ritchie Blackmore in both Blackmore's Night and a reactivated Rainbow, as well as being involved in a string of reissue projects. We caught up with Candice - with a few interjections from Ritchie - to talk the new album, the challenges of reissuing 1995 Rainbow album 'Stranger in Us All', her husband's health, and future touring plans. Under a violet moon; Eamon O'Neill.
Photo: Kristin Metzler
Hi Candice, how are you today?
Hello. Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to see you.
It's your first time on eonmusic, but you've been on the scene for quite some time; your first appearance was on Rainbow's 'Stranger in Us All album back in 1995.
That was a long time ago!
That was released, coincidentally, 30 years ago this year.
No, don't say it! Like you blink and time goes by. That's what happened. That was done in 1995, and yeah we're coming up to that anniversary, which is true. That's the album that started it all, really. What a great memory of that one. I love that.
I don't think that's been available on vinyl for years, if even at all; isn't it due a reissue?
You know, that's a good point. There was some strange things that went on with that album to the point where we're still, to date, arguing about trying to get an anniversary edition put out, with the people that own the masters. Unfortunately, Ritchie doesn't own the masters on that particular one, so it kind of gets lost in the shuffle of those huge conglomerate record labels, and then you want to argue with them, and it's $500 an hour for your lawyer to actually pick up the phone to talk to them, but we're still working on it. We're still banging on those doors and trying to shake those trees a bit. I think we're getting a little bit closer to being able to put stuff out. As far as that's concerned, man, they have that thing locked down. I don't know why. You know, fans would love to hear that a remastered reissue. There's some tracks that haven't been released. We have all these ideas in mind, and it's those record companies. You've got to deal with those record companies.
Even at the time, it was hard to get even the CD.
You know, very hard. It was a strange situation with Ritchie that, I know at one point he was supposed to meet the the head of the record company, and he came off stage and he was exhausted, and he went right to the pub that he told that the record company guy was going to be at, and that record company guy was at a different pub, and wires got crossed, and that guy thought that Ritchie snubbed him and didn't show up, and Ritchie didn't know where the guy went. It was pre cell phone days, like we couldn't reach anybody, so there was some bad blood, and it wasn't by anything that Ritchie did, but it just that guy just jumped off the deep end, and when he was assigning where to put, you know, as far as the record labels were concerned, he assigned Ritchie to this record label with 'Stranger in us All' here in America, this record label that was just, I mean, literally, being run out of a mailbox. Like, it was not a proper label, and it kind of got lost down that black hole, but not for lack of great songs. I mean, it did great in Japan, it did really well. In Germany, it did well, and all over the rest of the world, as far as I know. And still, to date, we're trying to get the rights back on that and make it right for everybody, but the songs on there, those songs are killer, even if I do say! They're amazing, amazing tracks, and Ritchie plays some of his best guitar. So yeah, everybody should check that one out.
We are here to talk about your new album 'Sea Glass', which is your third solo release; how does it feel to have that coming out?
It feels really good. You talk about 30 years [since 'Stranger in us All', but somebody sad the other day it's been 10 years since my last one, which blows my mind, because, what happened there!? They said; "why did it take so long?" I said that my kids went from toddlers to teenagers, and I didn't even realise how quick time went. Literally, I'm the shortest person in the house right now. I got a 13 year old boy who's almost five ten, and my 14 year old girl who's like five eight, and I'm the smallest one. They outgrow clothes, and they go into my closet, so I've got all these sports clothes now. So it's an interesting phenomenon, how time goes. The last album that I did, solo album wise, was a lullaby album, really inspired by them. They're on the cover of that so you could see how little they were.
You've also been busy with Blackmore's Night in the last decade.
Yeah, ever since then we've been doing Blackmore's Night stuff. We're due for that, but we did the last album in 2021, with 'Nature's Light', and we've been doing some remastered, reissued, anniversary editions. We did that with 'Shadow of the Moon' [1997], we did with 'Fires at Midnight' [2001]. We had to skip over 'Under Violet Moon' [1999] because it's all on analogue tape, and I still have to find people that can transfer that over, but we're getting there. I'm going to do that one soon.
But you've finally got to 'Sea Glass'.
This album is really a collection of songs about experiences, journeys, and things that have happened to me - for better or for worse - people that I've known, things that have inspired me in the last ten years, one of them being, of course, the dark COVID years that we all went through. It seems like a bad dream, like; "did that actually happen?" It wasn't a region, and it wasn't a town, it was the world, so the best thing about that is that we were all in it together. So when we talk about it, we can all really connect and sort of commiserate. It was incredible, you know, how deeply that affected everyone, and how we all were living in fear, and with quarantines and separated socially, and the things you took for granted, like going to concerts, and things that brought you joy, you know, hugging someone wasn't allowed, and saying it now sounds almost like some sort of crazy alien Ray Bradbury story, but we all lived it. So I was looking for joy in those dark periods, and some of the things wound up being inspirations for some songs on the album. So it's interesting how you wind up getting inspirations for creativity even in dark times.
It's been ten years, as you say, since your last album, but take COVID out of that, and that's lost two years.
I feel like the little kids, they went from really small and they had to wear masks, even going back to school, and they couldn't socialise, so it kind of really affected them mentally, and then the older people, you can't get those years back. Every year when you're older, it's kind of a blessing that you're still here, and when you eat that away at the end of life, that's some tricky stuff, so the last time we played overseas was 2019. Yeah, that was the last time Ritchie was on a plane.
I don't believe you've ever played in Ireland. Is that correct?
No, we have not, but one year for my birthday we happen to be in Germany, and Ritchie said; "If you could go anywhere, since we're over here anyway..." He's not a big traveler, he's done with what he's gotta do for work. He wants to get home, on his couch, and he wants to be sleeping in his bed. He's been living in a hotel since he was 16 years old, so traveling is not his fun place. It's mine, it's not his, but he said; "If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?" And I said; "let's do a stop off in Dublin". And we did, and we got to spend a couple of days there. And we went to, what is it, Johnny Fox's? I want to say there's a pub or restaurant there, and we got to the Ha'penny Bridge, and we got to the oldest pub in Ireland, they said, in Dublin [The Brazen Head], so, anything I could see in Dublin! And then he got food poisoning, and we had to stay in an additional two days. Even though I wanted to stay the extra two days, I swear I didn't't do it!
On behalf of the people of Ireland, I feel it's my duty to apologise to Ritchie Blackmore.
I will pass the message. He's wandering through with his boiled egg right now. [Speaking to Ritchie Blackmore] What? The Pogues? Oh, he said, one of his favourite bands is The Pogues, I should mention that.
[Ritchie speaks] New York Fairytale!
Oh, unreal song. It is a fairy tale, that song, right?
He's making commentary as he goes, as he walks past, and... there he goes.
Hello. Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to see you.
It's your first time on eonmusic, but you've been on the scene for quite some time; your first appearance was on Rainbow's 'Stranger in Us All album back in 1995.
That was a long time ago!
That was released, coincidentally, 30 years ago this year.
No, don't say it! Like you blink and time goes by. That's what happened. That was done in 1995, and yeah we're coming up to that anniversary, which is true. That's the album that started it all, really. What a great memory of that one. I love that.
I don't think that's been available on vinyl for years, if even at all; isn't it due a reissue?
You know, that's a good point. There was some strange things that went on with that album to the point where we're still, to date, arguing about trying to get an anniversary edition put out, with the people that own the masters. Unfortunately, Ritchie doesn't own the masters on that particular one, so it kind of gets lost in the shuffle of those huge conglomerate record labels, and then you want to argue with them, and it's $500 an hour for your lawyer to actually pick up the phone to talk to them, but we're still working on it. We're still banging on those doors and trying to shake those trees a bit. I think we're getting a little bit closer to being able to put stuff out. As far as that's concerned, man, they have that thing locked down. I don't know why. You know, fans would love to hear that a remastered reissue. There's some tracks that haven't been released. We have all these ideas in mind, and it's those record companies. You've got to deal with those record companies.
Even at the time, it was hard to get even the CD.
You know, very hard. It was a strange situation with Ritchie that, I know at one point he was supposed to meet the the head of the record company, and he came off stage and he was exhausted, and he went right to the pub that he told that the record company guy was going to be at, and that record company guy was at a different pub, and wires got crossed, and that guy thought that Ritchie snubbed him and didn't show up, and Ritchie didn't know where the guy went. It was pre cell phone days, like we couldn't reach anybody, so there was some bad blood, and it wasn't by anything that Ritchie did, but it just that guy just jumped off the deep end, and when he was assigning where to put, you know, as far as the record labels were concerned, he assigned Ritchie to this record label with 'Stranger in us All' here in America, this record label that was just, I mean, literally, being run out of a mailbox. Like, it was not a proper label, and it kind of got lost down that black hole, but not for lack of great songs. I mean, it did great in Japan, it did really well. In Germany, it did well, and all over the rest of the world, as far as I know. And still, to date, we're trying to get the rights back on that and make it right for everybody, but the songs on there, those songs are killer, even if I do say! They're amazing, amazing tracks, and Ritchie plays some of his best guitar. So yeah, everybody should check that one out.
We are here to talk about your new album 'Sea Glass', which is your third solo release; how does it feel to have that coming out?
It feels really good. You talk about 30 years [since 'Stranger in us All', but somebody sad the other day it's been 10 years since my last one, which blows my mind, because, what happened there!? They said; "why did it take so long?" I said that my kids went from toddlers to teenagers, and I didn't even realise how quick time went. Literally, I'm the shortest person in the house right now. I got a 13 year old boy who's almost five ten, and my 14 year old girl who's like five eight, and I'm the smallest one. They outgrow clothes, and they go into my closet, so I've got all these sports clothes now. So it's an interesting phenomenon, how time goes. The last album that I did, solo album wise, was a lullaby album, really inspired by them. They're on the cover of that so you could see how little they were.
You've also been busy with Blackmore's Night in the last decade.
Yeah, ever since then we've been doing Blackmore's Night stuff. We're due for that, but we did the last album in 2021, with 'Nature's Light', and we've been doing some remastered, reissued, anniversary editions. We did that with 'Shadow of the Moon' [1997], we did with 'Fires at Midnight' [2001]. We had to skip over 'Under Violet Moon' [1999] because it's all on analogue tape, and I still have to find people that can transfer that over, but we're getting there. I'm going to do that one soon.
But you've finally got to 'Sea Glass'.
This album is really a collection of songs about experiences, journeys, and things that have happened to me - for better or for worse - people that I've known, things that have inspired me in the last ten years, one of them being, of course, the dark COVID years that we all went through. It seems like a bad dream, like; "did that actually happen?" It wasn't a region, and it wasn't a town, it was the world, so the best thing about that is that we were all in it together. So when we talk about it, we can all really connect and sort of commiserate. It was incredible, you know, how deeply that affected everyone, and how we all were living in fear, and with quarantines and separated socially, and the things you took for granted, like going to concerts, and things that brought you joy, you know, hugging someone wasn't allowed, and saying it now sounds almost like some sort of crazy alien Ray Bradbury story, but we all lived it. So I was looking for joy in those dark periods, and some of the things wound up being inspirations for some songs on the album. So it's interesting how you wind up getting inspirations for creativity even in dark times.
It's been ten years, as you say, since your last album, but take COVID out of that, and that's lost two years.
I feel like the little kids, they went from really small and they had to wear masks, even going back to school, and they couldn't socialise, so it kind of really affected them mentally, and then the older people, you can't get those years back. Every year when you're older, it's kind of a blessing that you're still here, and when you eat that away at the end of life, that's some tricky stuff, so the last time we played overseas was 2019. Yeah, that was the last time Ritchie was on a plane.
I don't believe you've ever played in Ireland. Is that correct?
No, we have not, but one year for my birthday we happen to be in Germany, and Ritchie said; "If you could go anywhere, since we're over here anyway..." He's not a big traveler, he's done with what he's gotta do for work. He wants to get home, on his couch, and he wants to be sleeping in his bed. He's been living in a hotel since he was 16 years old, so traveling is not his fun place. It's mine, it's not his, but he said; "If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?" And I said; "let's do a stop off in Dublin". And we did, and we got to spend a couple of days there. And we went to, what is it, Johnny Fox's? I want to say there's a pub or restaurant there, and we got to the Ha'penny Bridge, and we got to the oldest pub in Ireland, they said, in Dublin [The Brazen Head], so, anything I could see in Dublin! And then he got food poisoning, and we had to stay in an additional two days. Even though I wanted to stay the extra two days, I swear I didn't't do it!
On behalf of the people of Ireland, I feel it's my duty to apologise to Ritchie Blackmore.
I will pass the message. He's wandering through with his boiled egg right now. [Speaking to Ritchie Blackmore] What? The Pogues? Oh, he said, one of his favourite bands is The Pogues, I should mention that.
[Ritchie speaks] New York Fairytale!
Oh, unreal song. It is a fairy tale, that song, right?
He's making commentary as he goes, as he walks past, and... there he goes.
There's a lot of deep, emotive material on 'Sea Glass', but the first single you went with is 'Angel and Jezebel', which has got attitude. Did you want to kick off with something upbeat?
Well, it's a funny thing, because 'Angel and Jezebel' is a song I've been singing around the house and to my kids for years. I have a sister who is seven years younger than me, and she's got the dark hair and she's got the dark eyes and she's got the height. I've got blonde hair and blue eyes, so it's funny that people don't think we're related. There's something about that dichotomy, that pull of the sun and the moon, and the yin yang balance, so I just love that visual. I'm not saying she's a jezebel, and I'm not saying I'm an angel, but just the visual of that inspired and kicked off this whole idea of a storyline. Like, who would that guy choose? Is he going for the girl you bring home to mom, or is he going for the one that brings a little bit of mischief and intrigue into his life. It's just a cool sort of psychological study on human nature.
There's two versions of the song on the album.
When I went in to record the song, I actually did the 'Back Porch' version first. I call it the back porch version because we have a large sitting area out here in my backyard, and there's a deck here, and when we have our gatherings, we have a fire pit, and we invite people over, and everybody sits with their acoustic guitars, and they play songs that we haven't heard in years, to originals, so we rediscover old stuff, we all sing along, and then we pass the guitar around. We get back to that old fashioned form of communication, which is not texting, it's not screaming and it's not snapping; it's just talking to people and telling stories. I feel like we're missing that sometimes in this world, that connection. So I called it the 'back porch' version, because that's the sort of song that we would be singing. It's just like singing around a campfire just enjoying those moments.
It is, as I say, one of the more upbeat songs on the album.
When I was looking at the songs that were on the album, I realised that some of them were pretty introspective and a little bit downbeat, a little bit more relaxed, and I thought maybe we needed a little bit of an edgier song. So I went back in the studio and I added some more percussive elements and some electric guitar and kind of amped it up a little bit, and gave it an edgier vibe. Funny enough, when I handed in the album in and it was all done and all mixed, and the record label was choosing what they wanted to release, that was the first song that they chose. So I'm glad I went back in and revamped that one and gave it a new energy. It's fun. It's a fun one to just sing along to.
You followed that, single wise with 'Last Goodbye'. It's a very touching song that so many people seem to be relating to. How did that feel to you to see those comments on YouTube?
I got goosebumps when you said that actually. Always, when you write a song, when I write my solo stuff, I feel like it puts you in a very vulnerable place. It's so easy when you're in a band to hide behind other people. Even as the lyricist, you've got a lot other components going on, but when it's your own stuff, it's all you. It's journal entries that you put out into the world, and then they either judge or, they take as their own, and they relate to it, and when they connect with songs or with words that you've written, it's just the best gift, the best feeling.
What was the inspiration for it?
That song, it's a sad song, and it basically is Ritchie and I, this year, it'll be 35 years that we have been together.
You're shaking your head. How do you think I feel? We always say we have a 'metiversary' and then we have a wedding anniversary. I celebrate it twice because it took us so long to actually walk down the aisle, not for any other reason except we were touring and writing and promoting. Time just went, so I said when we get married, I'm not starting from scratch, like I'm not letting all of those years go. We got engaged in 1994, and we got married in 2008; that's a lot of years in service! So, it's 35 years since we met, and in that time period, we have seen a lot of people meet, fall in love, get engaged, get married, have kids, and then get divorced. It happens all around you all the time. I am from a family where my parents, it was almost 60 years that they were together, and that was always the standard for me, to look at them. What an incredible accomplishment, because, they didn't always agree. People don't always agree, so relationships wax and wane, and it's like the moon the pulling of the tides; it's like you get pulled on all the time, and to spend that much time with someone, you grow and change and evolve, and hopefully you grow together.
That's a nice way of putting it.
There are going to be times it's a separation, and then you come back again, and so I've always questioned; "when do you know that that moment is the last moment?" How do you know that right around the bend, it's not going to be; "oh, we're on the rise again. Everything's okay"; it's just, again, one of those interesting psychological things. So I've seen a lot of friends of mine get divorced and go through that process and they're single now. But I noticed that a lot of people are actually using that for how they're feeling, or connecting it for people that are passed on in their lives. I read one comment where someone's mom had passed and she was looking at that song as something that she related to, so again, once the songs are out there, it's theirs, it's not mine anymore. I mean, it's mine in my heart, but I've released it, so and people can do what they will with the songs, and it becomes their own.
Ritchie is credited as playing guitar on that one, but does he play on any of the other tracks? I was wondering who was playing guitar on 'Sea Glass'?
Yes, that's Ritchie on 'Sea Glass'! I'm very lucky to have someone so incredibly proficient, around the house. The instruments that I play are not instruments that I could use as mapping instruments. I've got these chalumeaus [woodwinds] here. If you're not familiar with them, they can sound very annoying, but I have a little piano that I make very skeletal recordings on, very demo-ish, but with that I can get across the chords structure, the sequence, and the percussive elements of where I need or want the song to go and then I sing my top line over it, and I get the lyrics, and I send that over to the engineer who will be doing the producing. I'm like; "okay, so here's my idea. I want this and that", and you put it together, you paint it with the different colours, or you use the different flavours when you're cooking, and you make it what you want it to be, what I hear in my head.
There's a lot that goes into it.
Yes, but I am nowhere near proficient on any instrument to be able to just sit down and play a guitar and accompany myself and sing it. So I was having a difficult time getting my producer here in the house, Pat Reagan, to find out how I wanted 'Sea Glass' to sound, and luckily, Ritchie was here, and I'm like; "oh, I can't get it across", and I gave him what I did on the piano. I'm explaining it to him; "can you help me out?", and he's like; "no problem". He comes downstairs, grabs the guitar, and he's like; "what do you want?" It's pretty simple, it's not a difficult song; it's not Stargazer! So I'm like; "it's basically just the two chords before we go over to the bridge", and Pat's going; "yeah, I'm not hearing it", and Ritchie's like; "well, I could do this all day long", and he's just doing the chords! But he did this beautiful rolling, arpeggiated sound, and that was exactly the sound of the waves. So it was all like what I was hearing in my head, and I'm like; "yeah, just keep going with that one. That was perfect", and so we kept the track. It was just beautiful the way that is, and I'm just lucky to be able to have him here when I need him; he'll hop in, and then steer the boat, and he's like; "let's do this on that", and I'm like; "it's not a Blackmore's Night song, It's my song" [laughing]!
Well, it's a funny thing, because 'Angel and Jezebel' is a song I've been singing around the house and to my kids for years. I have a sister who is seven years younger than me, and she's got the dark hair and she's got the dark eyes and she's got the height. I've got blonde hair and blue eyes, so it's funny that people don't think we're related. There's something about that dichotomy, that pull of the sun and the moon, and the yin yang balance, so I just love that visual. I'm not saying she's a jezebel, and I'm not saying I'm an angel, but just the visual of that inspired and kicked off this whole idea of a storyline. Like, who would that guy choose? Is he going for the girl you bring home to mom, or is he going for the one that brings a little bit of mischief and intrigue into his life. It's just a cool sort of psychological study on human nature.
There's two versions of the song on the album.
When I went in to record the song, I actually did the 'Back Porch' version first. I call it the back porch version because we have a large sitting area out here in my backyard, and there's a deck here, and when we have our gatherings, we have a fire pit, and we invite people over, and everybody sits with their acoustic guitars, and they play songs that we haven't heard in years, to originals, so we rediscover old stuff, we all sing along, and then we pass the guitar around. We get back to that old fashioned form of communication, which is not texting, it's not screaming and it's not snapping; it's just talking to people and telling stories. I feel like we're missing that sometimes in this world, that connection. So I called it the 'back porch' version, because that's the sort of song that we would be singing. It's just like singing around a campfire just enjoying those moments.
It is, as I say, one of the more upbeat songs on the album.
When I was looking at the songs that were on the album, I realised that some of them were pretty introspective and a little bit downbeat, a little bit more relaxed, and I thought maybe we needed a little bit of an edgier song. So I went back in the studio and I added some more percussive elements and some electric guitar and kind of amped it up a little bit, and gave it an edgier vibe. Funny enough, when I handed in the album in and it was all done and all mixed, and the record label was choosing what they wanted to release, that was the first song that they chose. So I'm glad I went back in and revamped that one and gave it a new energy. It's fun. It's a fun one to just sing along to.
You followed that, single wise with 'Last Goodbye'. It's a very touching song that so many people seem to be relating to. How did that feel to you to see those comments on YouTube?
I got goosebumps when you said that actually. Always, when you write a song, when I write my solo stuff, I feel like it puts you in a very vulnerable place. It's so easy when you're in a band to hide behind other people. Even as the lyricist, you've got a lot other components going on, but when it's your own stuff, it's all you. It's journal entries that you put out into the world, and then they either judge or, they take as their own, and they relate to it, and when they connect with songs or with words that you've written, it's just the best gift, the best feeling.
What was the inspiration for it?
That song, it's a sad song, and it basically is Ritchie and I, this year, it'll be 35 years that we have been together.
You're shaking your head. How do you think I feel? We always say we have a 'metiversary' and then we have a wedding anniversary. I celebrate it twice because it took us so long to actually walk down the aisle, not for any other reason except we were touring and writing and promoting. Time just went, so I said when we get married, I'm not starting from scratch, like I'm not letting all of those years go. We got engaged in 1994, and we got married in 2008; that's a lot of years in service! So, it's 35 years since we met, and in that time period, we have seen a lot of people meet, fall in love, get engaged, get married, have kids, and then get divorced. It happens all around you all the time. I am from a family where my parents, it was almost 60 years that they were together, and that was always the standard for me, to look at them. What an incredible accomplishment, because, they didn't always agree. People don't always agree, so relationships wax and wane, and it's like the moon the pulling of the tides; it's like you get pulled on all the time, and to spend that much time with someone, you grow and change and evolve, and hopefully you grow together.
That's a nice way of putting it.
There are going to be times it's a separation, and then you come back again, and so I've always questioned; "when do you know that that moment is the last moment?" How do you know that right around the bend, it's not going to be; "oh, we're on the rise again. Everything's okay"; it's just, again, one of those interesting psychological things. So I've seen a lot of friends of mine get divorced and go through that process and they're single now. But I noticed that a lot of people are actually using that for how they're feeling, or connecting it for people that are passed on in their lives. I read one comment where someone's mom had passed and she was looking at that song as something that she related to, so again, once the songs are out there, it's theirs, it's not mine anymore. I mean, it's mine in my heart, but I've released it, so and people can do what they will with the songs, and it becomes their own.
Ritchie is credited as playing guitar on that one, but does he play on any of the other tracks? I was wondering who was playing guitar on 'Sea Glass'?
Yes, that's Ritchie on 'Sea Glass'! I'm very lucky to have someone so incredibly proficient, around the house. The instruments that I play are not instruments that I could use as mapping instruments. I've got these chalumeaus [woodwinds] here. If you're not familiar with them, they can sound very annoying, but I have a little piano that I make very skeletal recordings on, very demo-ish, but with that I can get across the chords structure, the sequence, and the percussive elements of where I need or want the song to go and then I sing my top line over it, and I get the lyrics, and I send that over to the engineer who will be doing the producing. I'm like; "okay, so here's my idea. I want this and that", and you put it together, you paint it with the different colours, or you use the different flavours when you're cooking, and you make it what you want it to be, what I hear in my head.
There's a lot that goes into it.
Yes, but I am nowhere near proficient on any instrument to be able to just sit down and play a guitar and accompany myself and sing it. So I was having a difficult time getting my producer here in the house, Pat Reagan, to find out how I wanted 'Sea Glass' to sound, and luckily, Ritchie was here, and I'm like; "oh, I can't get it across", and I gave him what I did on the piano. I'm explaining it to him; "can you help me out?", and he's like; "no problem". He comes downstairs, grabs the guitar, and he's like; "what do you want?" It's pretty simple, it's not a difficult song; it's not Stargazer! So I'm like; "it's basically just the two chords before we go over to the bridge", and Pat's going; "yeah, I'm not hearing it", and Ritchie's like; "well, I could do this all day long", and he's just doing the chords! But he did this beautiful rolling, arpeggiated sound, and that was exactly the sound of the waves. So it was all like what I was hearing in my head, and I'm like; "yeah, just keep going with that one. That was perfect", and so we kept the track. It was just beautiful the way that is, and I'm just lucky to be able to have him here when I need him; he'll hop in, and then steer the boat, and he's like; "let's do this on that", and I'm like; "it's not a Blackmore's Night song, It's my song" [laughing]!
What are you using at home to record?
At home, we have a very antiquated system here. We have a Radar. I'm going to talk in in words that I don't even understand, so to me, it's like Greek, but maybe you'll understand it. It's a Radar Otari. I don't even know if anybody even knows what that is anymore, but that's what we recorded 'Shadow of the Moon' on in '97. It's kind of a mobile unit, but it's pretty large. So at this point, when Pat does come to the house, he just brings his own little his brain of whatever he needs to set up Pro Tools with, and he just goes off of half the equipment we have down there. We usually record in the winter, so I think we just turn on the rest of it to heat the house at this point. I don't really know why the pretty lights and things are going, but Radar Otari, I've never found anybody who can still use that. They can't even find the parts for it anymore. So it's down there, off our dungeon pub room, which was what Ritchie wanted to have when we moved into this house. Everyone should have one!
Circling back, we started off chatting about trying to get a vinyl reissue of 'Stranger in us All', and 'Sea Glass' is coming out on vinyl. I make it your first vinyl release. That must be special.
Yes, you're right. I don't know if you've seen, but the colours are beautiful. They made it a sea glass, a beautiful kind of colour. I'm very excited about that. Actually, for my daughter's last birthday, I bought her an old, old record player. When she wants to use it, she asks me how to drop the needle on the grooves. It's like teaching. I'm still doing tutorials on it! We actually have two record players in the house; Ritchie has one downstairs in the bar basement, where whenever people come over, he's still playing the vinyl records, but there's something about vinyl. First of all, not only is it the artwork that you don't have to look on this tiny little screen; you get to see it like how it should be. You also get to read everything and immerse yourself in the whole experience again. I was born in the '70s, so I'm a child of the '70s and '80s, that's how I grew up, and so it's really nice to be able to get back to that and give it to other people who are appreciating it, maybe even for the first time enjoying it now.
Yeah, I totally get that; one of the first vinyl records I ever got was Deep Purple's 'In Rock'; I was 11 years old when I got that.
When I first met Ritchie, I was like; "what am I going to talk to this guy about?" I was a Rainbow fan, and then I didn't know much about him. I only knew the Purple songs that were on the radio, and the first thing I did was run and go to a record store, and buy a whole bunch of vinyl albums and try to immerse myself in even the liner notes. I was reading everything thinking; "wow, if there's any questions, if we want to talk about any of that, I've got that all there", and he never did want to talk about any of that. He just wanted to talk about ghosts and castles and history and so, but I still have those albums somewhere in my house.
Blackmore's Night are doing dates in April in the States, but are you coming over this way again to Europe?
Well right now, as you said, we do have the six dates here, anywhere we can drive to. We're doing Rhode Island for the first time, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. We're doing some New York dates, maybe heading down south a little bit. I think in the fall they're looking at some dates with that.
So right now, Ritchie is having a quite a few medical issues. Believe it or not, this man, it's April, and his birthday is coming, so he's going to be 80 in on April 14th, which is mind boggling, because he doesn't look and he certainly doesn't act it still. But you know at that age, some medical stuff starts catching up with you, and he actually had a heart attack about a year and a half ago, and he's got six stents in his heart at this point. And we're battling arthritis and some gout issues, and he's still got his back problem that he's had, so travel is difficult for him because of all that sitting. And standing on stage, even standing with the guitars is tricky, although I do see a lot of people even younger than him at this point in the industry, showing up in wheelchairs. I don't think he wants to be thought of like that or remembered like that. I think it's great that people still get to see those people; I would still go hear them, just to be under the same roof and hear what they sound like, but we'll see. Maybe if we can get some of these medical issues under control, maybe I can get him back on a plane, but as for right now, they actually warned him a couple days ago not to fly. So, who knows? You know, put positive energy, out there in the universe, and]hope that maybe we can get him back on there.
Have you any solo dates planned in the meantime?
For the solo stuff, I'm actually incorporating as a surprise - don't tell anyone! No, it's fine - I'm going to play a couple of tracks off of my new album, even before the album's released, in the middle of the Blackmore's Night sets. I'm going to do it really scaled down, just me and my backing singer, acoustic rhythm guitarist Jesse, and maybe the scarlet fiddler will be up there playing, so just the girls in the front, you know, front and center will come out when all the boys take their their break and go to the loo. I guess that happens. Ritchie drinks to go on stage, and that's got to come out at some point, so usually in the middle of the set, he takes off. We'll give the boys a break, and the girls will stand in the front, and we'll do a couple of songs off my new album, so people get to hear a little sneak preview in a very intimate, acoustic fashion. That's the starting point, so we'll see what happens from there.
Finally, I wanted to touch on Rainbow's shows in 2016, and onward; that must have been special for you, to help make that all happen.
One hundred percent. I absolutely loved doing that because, I mean, it's funny being, you know, the wife, the best friend, the confidant, the wardrobe consultant, and everything, but also being such a big fan of that band and of his, and watching him in his element, doing the songs that I grew up on that I'm just such a huge fan of. So as he's sitting there doing the track list and making it, I'm going; "wow!" And I honestly didn't think he was going to ask me to do backing singing. I was just happy to be around that music in a live forum, so when he asked me to do it, and the other backing singer from from Blackmore's Night at that point, we were able to get out there and just stand on that stage and listen to those songs live, and a lot of the songs I had never heard. I mean, the first time I saw Ritchie live, was six months before I met him, I went to a concert out here in the Meadowlands. It was a huge stadium, and it was Deep Purple, Guns n' Roses on their maiden tour with 'Appetite for Destruction', and Aerosmith on a triple bill.
That's a great line-up!
I was boots on the floor, general admission, getting knocked around, and all five four of me, but that energy! I later heard that during 'Smoke on the Water' the fans had set the seats on fire. It was 1989 and that's the first time that I saw Ritchie perform on stage, and then I met him a few months later because I was working at the radio station, and we met on the football pitch, but I'd never seen Rainbow from back in the day, and when he started reforming Rainbow in 1995, and of course, I went on tour with them, with Doogie White [singing], it was great to be part of that whole thing. But hearing those classic songs that I grew up with, yeah, being part of that, and watching that from the stage is just that was electric. I'm really glad I was part of it all.
Candice Night's 'Sea Glass' is released on 25th April 2025. Order here.
At home, we have a very antiquated system here. We have a Radar. I'm going to talk in in words that I don't even understand, so to me, it's like Greek, but maybe you'll understand it. It's a Radar Otari. I don't even know if anybody even knows what that is anymore, but that's what we recorded 'Shadow of the Moon' on in '97. It's kind of a mobile unit, but it's pretty large. So at this point, when Pat does come to the house, he just brings his own little his brain of whatever he needs to set up Pro Tools with, and he just goes off of half the equipment we have down there. We usually record in the winter, so I think we just turn on the rest of it to heat the house at this point. I don't really know why the pretty lights and things are going, but Radar Otari, I've never found anybody who can still use that. They can't even find the parts for it anymore. So it's down there, off our dungeon pub room, which was what Ritchie wanted to have when we moved into this house. Everyone should have one!
Circling back, we started off chatting about trying to get a vinyl reissue of 'Stranger in us All', and 'Sea Glass' is coming out on vinyl. I make it your first vinyl release. That must be special.
Yes, you're right. I don't know if you've seen, but the colours are beautiful. They made it a sea glass, a beautiful kind of colour. I'm very excited about that. Actually, for my daughter's last birthday, I bought her an old, old record player. When she wants to use it, she asks me how to drop the needle on the grooves. It's like teaching. I'm still doing tutorials on it! We actually have two record players in the house; Ritchie has one downstairs in the bar basement, where whenever people come over, he's still playing the vinyl records, but there's something about vinyl. First of all, not only is it the artwork that you don't have to look on this tiny little screen; you get to see it like how it should be. You also get to read everything and immerse yourself in the whole experience again. I was born in the '70s, so I'm a child of the '70s and '80s, that's how I grew up, and so it's really nice to be able to get back to that and give it to other people who are appreciating it, maybe even for the first time enjoying it now.
Yeah, I totally get that; one of the first vinyl records I ever got was Deep Purple's 'In Rock'; I was 11 years old when I got that.
When I first met Ritchie, I was like; "what am I going to talk to this guy about?" I was a Rainbow fan, and then I didn't know much about him. I only knew the Purple songs that were on the radio, and the first thing I did was run and go to a record store, and buy a whole bunch of vinyl albums and try to immerse myself in even the liner notes. I was reading everything thinking; "wow, if there's any questions, if we want to talk about any of that, I've got that all there", and he never did want to talk about any of that. He just wanted to talk about ghosts and castles and history and so, but I still have those albums somewhere in my house.
Blackmore's Night are doing dates in April in the States, but are you coming over this way again to Europe?
Well right now, as you said, we do have the six dates here, anywhere we can drive to. We're doing Rhode Island for the first time, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. We're doing some New York dates, maybe heading down south a little bit. I think in the fall they're looking at some dates with that.
So right now, Ritchie is having a quite a few medical issues. Believe it or not, this man, it's April, and his birthday is coming, so he's going to be 80 in on April 14th, which is mind boggling, because he doesn't look and he certainly doesn't act it still. But you know at that age, some medical stuff starts catching up with you, and he actually had a heart attack about a year and a half ago, and he's got six stents in his heart at this point. And we're battling arthritis and some gout issues, and he's still got his back problem that he's had, so travel is difficult for him because of all that sitting. And standing on stage, even standing with the guitars is tricky, although I do see a lot of people even younger than him at this point in the industry, showing up in wheelchairs. I don't think he wants to be thought of like that or remembered like that. I think it's great that people still get to see those people; I would still go hear them, just to be under the same roof and hear what they sound like, but we'll see. Maybe if we can get some of these medical issues under control, maybe I can get him back on a plane, but as for right now, they actually warned him a couple days ago not to fly. So, who knows? You know, put positive energy, out there in the universe, and]hope that maybe we can get him back on there.
Have you any solo dates planned in the meantime?
For the solo stuff, I'm actually incorporating as a surprise - don't tell anyone! No, it's fine - I'm going to play a couple of tracks off of my new album, even before the album's released, in the middle of the Blackmore's Night sets. I'm going to do it really scaled down, just me and my backing singer, acoustic rhythm guitarist Jesse, and maybe the scarlet fiddler will be up there playing, so just the girls in the front, you know, front and center will come out when all the boys take their their break and go to the loo. I guess that happens. Ritchie drinks to go on stage, and that's got to come out at some point, so usually in the middle of the set, he takes off. We'll give the boys a break, and the girls will stand in the front, and we'll do a couple of songs off my new album, so people get to hear a little sneak preview in a very intimate, acoustic fashion. That's the starting point, so we'll see what happens from there.
Finally, I wanted to touch on Rainbow's shows in 2016, and onward; that must have been special for you, to help make that all happen.
One hundred percent. I absolutely loved doing that because, I mean, it's funny being, you know, the wife, the best friend, the confidant, the wardrobe consultant, and everything, but also being such a big fan of that band and of his, and watching him in his element, doing the songs that I grew up on that I'm just such a huge fan of. So as he's sitting there doing the track list and making it, I'm going; "wow!" And I honestly didn't think he was going to ask me to do backing singing. I was just happy to be around that music in a live forum, so when he asked me to do it, and the other backing singer from from Blackmore's Night at that point, we were able to get out there and just stand on that stage and listen to those songs live, and a lot of the songs I had never heard. I mean, the first time I saw Ritchie live, was six months before I met him, I went to a concert out here in the Meadowlands. It was a huge stadium, and it was Deep Purple, Guns n' Roses on their maiden tour with 'Appetite for Destruction', and Aerosmith on a triple bill.
That's a great line-up!
I was boots on the floor, general admission, getting knocked around, and all five four of me, but that energy! I later heard that during 'Smoke on the Water' the fans had set the seats on fire. It was 1989 and that's the first time that I saw Ritchie perform on stage, and then I met him a few months later because I was working at the radio station, and we met on the football pitch, but I'd never seen Rainbow from back in the day, and when he started reforming Rainbow in 1995, and of course, I went on tour with them, with Doogie White [singing], it was great to be part of that whole thing. But hearing those classic songs that I grew up with, yeah, being part of that, and watching that from the stage is just that was electric. I'm really glad I was part of it all.
Candice Night's 'Sea Glass' is released on 25th April 2025. Order here.
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