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Regarding the DPAS search for Deep Purple Mk3 video material, I have a short black and white clip of 'Stormbringer' live in 1975, which might be from the TV show mentioned in your reguest for information. It's around two minutes long, with a strange silent comedy insert of people running into the sea. The quality is awful. From seemingly the same source tape I also have short clips of IGB and the Windows concert. Does anyone know where these come from? Were they perhaps from an old German TV special? Alexander Hall
Hi Alex. To explain the origin of the old Stormbringer tape, here's an excerpt from Darker Than Blue Magazine No.51:
'"Tonny Steenhagen has finally explained the history behind a clutch of very interesting but very poor quality video clips which have circulated out of Holland for some years, these include Deep Purple Mk3 playing `Stormbringer' live, and Rainbow performing `Do You Close Eyes' in 1976. I'll let Tonny explain:
"Let's clear up the story about the Dutch DP fan-club tapes. The father of the guy who ran the Dutch Deep Purple fan-club from 1974-78 (Rene Veldhoen) had a radio shop, and used to tape bits from television on an old reel-to reel b/w video recorder. They lived close to the German border, so were able to pick up the German TV stations. In May 1975 they organised a Deep Purple club day, at which they showed all of their Deep Purple videos. I remember seeing the 1974 `Windows' concert, plus 'Stormbringer' live, and `Speed King'. The last two I'd already seen myself in colour on TV when the programmes were originally aired.
I'm quite sure that the `Stormbringer' clip was aired in 1975 by ARD (German TV), on a kids programme called `Info', which ran on Sunday mornings. The silly bit halfway through was in the actual broadcast. The ending was indeed very abrupt, as it is on the pirate copies currently in circulation. No more was shown.
Now the sad part of the story. Rene lost interest in the whole DP thing for a few years. He stored the tapes in a shed that turned out to be damp. So, come the mid 80s when he wanted to transfer them onto VHS, it turned out that a few were completely stuck together. What was salvaged are the poor quality b/w clips which circulate among fans today." text © Darker Than Blue, 1999
