By Ray Shasho
Candice Night interview:
CANDICE NIGHT is the enchanting singer, songwriter,
and multi-instrumentalist, for the medieval folk rock group Blackmore’s Night.
Candice was raised on Long Island, New York and
began a modeling career at the age of twelve, appearing in print ads,
commercials, and promotions at trade shows into her 20s. She hosted a rock show
at a local Long Island radio station which helped transform her destiny.
Night met Ritchie Blackmore, legendary lead
guitarist for Deep Purple, at a soccer match hosted by WBAB the classic rock
radio station she worked at. Blackmore enlisted Night to sing backup vocals for
Deep Purples’ The Battle Rages On
tour in 1993.
Night went on to co-write and contribute her musical
styles to Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow on the tracks, “Aerial” (Charted #2 in
Europe), “Hall of the Mountain King,” “Black Masquerade,” and “Wolf to the
Moon” for the Stranger in Us All album
(1995). Night also toured with Rainbow
as a background vocalist.
Candice also provided vocals on Ritchie Blackmore’s
version of “Apache” on the album, Twang!
A Tribute to Hank Marvin & The Shadows. The compilation features some
of the greatest guitarists of our time.
In 1997, BLACKMORE’S NIGHT catapulted the duo of
Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night into a fairytale journey, performing
wizardry medieval folk arrangements with a dose of rock and roll. The group’s
debut album, Shadow of the Moon endured
the European music charts for seventeen weeks. The track “Play Minstrel Play” featured
Ian Anderson, the superlative flautist of Jethro Tull.
Blackmore and Night toured Europe extensively with
their newly christened band, decorated in medieval garb, while capturing the
ambience and spirit of Renaissance as they perform shows at castles, theaters, churches,
opera houses, and fairs. The group also performs with many of the musical
instrumentation used during the Renaissance age. Self-taught, Night learned to
play the hurdy-gurdy, the shawm, rauschpfeife, pennywhistle, recorder, cornamuse,
and gemshorn. The addition of these amazing instruments, along with
performances by virtuoso musicians, spotlighted by Ritchie Blackmore’s valiant and
poetic acoustic strumming and Candice Nights’ enchanting fairy tale
vocalizations, completes an exciting and extraordinary musical celebration.
But then occasionally you’ll also witness Ritchie
Blackmore “the legendary rocker” wailing on his ‘Strat’ on tunes like “The
Circle.”
Blackmore’s Nights’ music is positive, inspiring,
romantic, and it wakes up the soul. Their audiences are so inspired, that they
contribute to the celebration by dressing in their favorite garb, mimicking
their most revered fairy tale, medieval, or Renaissance era character.
Blackmore Night’s subsequent album releases … Under a Violet Moon (1999), Fires at Midnight (2001), Ghost of a Rose (2003), The Village Lanterne (2006), Winter Carols (2006), Secret Voyage (2008), and Autumn Sky (2010).
Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night finally tied the
knot in 2008 after a nineteen year relationship. Their first child together,
Autumn Esmeralda Blackmore was born in May 2010. Blackmore’s Nights’ eighth
album, Autumn Sky was dedicated to
the birth of their first born daughter.
Candice Night released her first solo album entitled
Reflections in 2011. It’s an
awe-inspiring collection of music
written and performed by Candice. The album was not influenced by husband
Ritchie, leaving Candice alone to do her own thing. Track two … “Gone Gone
Gone,” should be sitting at the top of the country charts, while “Dangerous
Smile” could easily be the theme to the next James Bond movie. “Alone with
Fate” is a beautiful composition reminiscent to the timeless classic “Those
were the days” by Mary Hopkin.
… I instantly fell in love with the CD and gave it (5) stars.
On February 7th 2012, Candice Night gave birth to
their son Rory Dartanyan.
Blackmore’s Night continues to amaze and illuminate
audience’s worldwide, bringing joy and happiness to their faithful, young and
old, and who for one very special evening are transported into another place
and time … filled with fantasy, magic, chivalry, clever repartee, and a reason
to be merry.
Blackmore’s Night is currently celebrating their
fifteen anniversary.
The group’s latest release is called Blackmore’s Night: A Knight in York. It’s
an incredible journey of some of the groups most recent tracks performed live
in York, England. The special edition collection contains a single audio CD accompanied
by (1) DVD and (1) Blue-ray DVD. The DVD is where you’ll receive the genuine
Blackmore’s Night experience. You’ll witness the colorful onstage wardrobe and
scenery, capturing the true ambience and celebration of the show. You will also
share what their audience’s have experienced for fifteen years … the enjoyment
and magic of being part of a Blackmore’s Night event. I gave Blackmore’s Night: A Knight in York - The
CD/ DVD special edition collection (5)
stars.
Coming in mid January 2013! Blackmore’s Night will
be releasing “The Beginning” A documentation of their early period. -Including Shadow
Of The Moon and Under A Violet Moon as
well as rare video footage of their early tours "Live In Germany
1997-1998" and "Under A Violet Moon - Castle Tour 2000” -Available
for the first time on DVD and only in the "The Beginning” box.
I had the delightful opportunity to chat with
Candice Night last week about her life before and after meeting her legendary
guitar-hero husband.
Candice was definitely one of the most personable
artists that I have interviewed. She gleams with positivity, is extremely
cheerful, and just a pleasure to talk with.
Here’s my interview with the enchanting songstress/
songwriter/ and multi-instrumentalist for Blackmore’s Night… CANDICE NIGHT.
Ray
Shasho: Candice, thank you for being on the call today, where are you calling
from?
Candice
Night: “I’m in cold, wet, and rainy New York, but the
leaves here are amazing right now.”
Ray
Shasho: First of all, I’d like to say congratulations on the groups fifteen
year anniversary.
Candice
Night: “Thank you very much Ray … you’re one of a few men
who remembered an anniversary (All laughing).”
Ray
Shasho: Tell
Ritchie, I also like to clean house and run the vacuum like he does.
Candice
Night: “I
hate to tell you this … but this is probably one of the main reasons why your
wife married you, because I could say that about my husband (Laughing). He
calls it a Hoover, because the big separation of language between the English
and American, so I often need a translator when he’s talking. So when he says
I’m running the Hoover, I say that’s exactly why I married you my darling (All
laughing).”
“But it’s so funny when you listen to all the
different dialects when you’re traveling and touring. This one whole area where
Ritchie’s ancestors are from, Jamaica Inn, which was based on an old story by
Daphne du Maurier, it’s a little bit north and east of Penzance where all the
pirates use to come and bring all their booty there and distribute it. So the
Jamaica Inn actually exists and it’s very haunted on Bodmin Moor. Whenever we
go to England, we try and go to this place because a lot of Ritchie’s ancestors
are from there, it’s a lot of farm country, and all the people out there
literally have a pirate’s dialect. It’s like being out on a movie set … you
have the sign swinging in the wind, it’s really dark and misty, the cobblestones
are outside, and then the door blows open and some guy comes in talking like a
pirate … and I go, can somebody just pinch me, I just love it!”
Ray
Shasho: Ritchie always looked like a swashbuckler anyway … put a sword in his
hand and he could even be one of the Three Musketeers.
Candice
Night: “He’s a big fan of Errol Flynn as I’m sure you could
imagine. And of course you watch The
Princess Bride and he’s like Inigo Montoya. Actually Mandy Patinkin who
played that part, we went to see him in concert at Westbury Music Fair awhile
ago and he was just brilliant. He has this amazing voice where when he sings he
sounds like an old 1920s record. It’s so funny because apparently for his
encore he ends by running back on stage and saying “Hello: My name is Inigo
Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” And then everybody applauses
and he comes back off the stage (Laughing).”
Ray
Shasho: Candice, you and I share something in common … we were both in radio.
Candice
Night: “Actually, when I first met Ritchie that was my
chosen career path. I tried to figure out where I’d fit into the radio world,
trying every aspect of it … promotions, I was cutting commercials, and just
seeing where I’d fit in before someone came along and scoop me up and ride off
in a white horse … or black horse probably.”
“I met Ritchie back in 1989 on a soccer field. I was
there to cheer on my team; we were actually number one arbitron-rated for a
classic rock station here in Long Island. I was going to New York Tech for
communications and taking my radio courses. So I was interning there for about
a year and half at WBAB and Deep Purple came into town and said let’s play a
charity soccer match. We brought our guys down, and they brought all their
ringers from Europe, and our guys were not the most athletic, they were really
good at eating pizza, and running up and down on the field was not their forte.
So you can imagine that Deep Purple beat us pretty badly. So after the game, I
went over and congratulated him and that’s when our meeting began.”
Ray
Shasho: Was Ian Gillan the singer of Deep Purple at the time?
Candice
Night: “Yes, but the funny thing was he wasn’t on the
soccer field. Ritchie and Roger Glover came, but I think the rest of the guys
just said have a nice time boys.”
Ray
Shasho: I chatted with Joe Lynn Turner last year, and it sounded to me that he
really cherished working with Ritchie, so they must have had a really good
working relationship. But it didn’t sound like Ritchie and Ian Gillan liked
each other very much.
Candice
Night: “Joe and I ended up doing a duet; we redid “Street
of Dreams” on one of our albums a couple of years back. Joe is one of those
guys we keep in contact with and just such a good guy and so overenthusiastic
and has got a lot of energy. But yea, I think there was a lot of friction and
from what I wound up seeing there was a large amount of friction in the last
days of that Deep Purple incarnation, which was so sad because in the beginning
they had such an amazing rapport and they had so many amazing songs. But towards
the end, everybody is travelling in their own separate limo and they only talk
when they get onstage …if then, and maybe egos were pulling everyone in
opposite directions, and it’s kind of bad to see that sort of thing happen. You
also don’t want to keep people in one box when they’re like that because
somebody is going to explode somewhere along the line.”
Ray
Shasho: What did you think when Ritchie asked you to become his musical partner
at that time?
Candice
Night: “It’s a funny thing; we never actually went through
a conversation like that. Everything that we’ve ever done has been a really
natural evolution. When I first met him, we ended up being friends first and
then obviously the evolution of our relationship grew and he got me on the road
with him. He knew I could sing …when he has parties, he’ll bring out the
acoustic guitar and play for you, but he also wants everybody to give a little
bit of themselves to be on an equal playing field. He doesn’t care if it’s
reciting a poem, or doing a dance, or playing an instrument, singing a song or
whatever it is, just bring it and let everybody have a good time and participate.
So when it got to my part when I first met him at one of his parties, he said
what’s your contribution to the party? I said I’ll sing a song … and I think
the first song we ever did together was the “Theme from Mahogany” believe it or
not, he loves that song. At that point he knew I could carry a tune. So when I
went out on the road with him in 1993 with Deep Purple, he had asked me to do
some backing vocals on his “Difficult to Cure” solo. So they had me well hidden
behind some drapes and had amplifiers stacked up in front of me so nobody could
see me.”
“So really after that … was when he left that band
and reformed Rainbow, and he knew I was kind of a closet poet, constantly
scribbling in my journals and writing poetry. So when the guys in Rainbow were
having a hard time coming up with lyrical content he came to me. He called me
up on the phone and I was coming up to visit anyway, he played me a backing
track over the phone and said, look, see what you can do, if it’s not something
that works for us, we’ll fly up a professional guy and head that way. So I
thought I’d just give it a shot and got on the ferry up here from Port
Jefferson to Bridgeport and by the time I got to the other side, and after an
hour and fifteen minutes of just looking at the water and listening to that
backing track in my head, I came up with fourteen versus. When I got to the
other side they said … great! We’ll take this one and that one. Then they’re
circling … yea, this one, that one, and the other one, and we’ll piece this
together … there’s the chorus and there’s the song. I said wow that was easy! And it was something
I really loved. So that was actually how I ended up writing or co-writing.”
“While the other guys in Rainbow were doing the
backing tracks, Ritchie and I would be sitting in front of a big raging
fireplace in Massachusetts at Long View Farm Studio with the snow falling down,
and he and I would have the acoustic instruments, and I would make up lyrics
and he would make up songs, and that was kind of his escape from what the rock
and roll world had become for him, because he had been in it for over thirty
years at that point. So like I said, it was just all a natural revolution, we
started writing together, the people wanted to hear the music more, and then a
record company offered, and it grew and grew. Now it’s been fifteen years and
every step of the way has been amazing.”
Ray
Shasho: Blackmore’s Nights’ music is positive, inspiring, romantic, and it
wakes up the soul.
Candice
Night: “This is one of the only shows where people leave
with smiles on their face. It’s like a contagious energy that’s all positive
and it makes me feel so good in a world that is so unsure, unknown, and
negative. And you have everything from road rage to air rage to your senses
being bombarded by texts and emails and everything is always in your face all
the time. Even the commercials are screaming at you all the time …and it never
ends! For me it’s just nice to see
people enjoying the music and enjoying the escape to be able to close their
eyes and go someplace else and get away from all the stress and the pressure. I
love the age range of the people that come to the shows … from five year old
little kids who are enjoying it because they’re still innocent enough to dress
up and become anything from princesses to fairies, or Robin Hood. Then the
parents get involved because the fathers followed Ritchie’s music since the
60s, and now that guy’s married to a wife who likes the romantic lyrical
content. Then there’s the grandparents who think it’s just good old melodic
music.”
Ray
Shasho: I watched an interview that you and Ritchie did implying the decision
to play Renaissance-type music was because of Yoko Ono … was that a joke?
Candice
Night: “Its tongue and cheek I think. I’ve heard rumors that I may be referred to that occasionally but
no one has been brave enough to say that to my face luckily, probably because I
do have medieval torture devices all through my house. We have converted our
home into a medieval dungeon. I think when people get so caught up in
nostalgia; they just look at their favorite bands and think those bands are going
to be exactly the way they were in the 70s, just stay in that box and be like
that forever and ever. And when something comes along, that world changes and
their whole world gets shattered and they have a hard time dealing with that.”
“Let’s go back to the John Lennon/Yoko Ono thing,
when you’re watching any of the documentaries, for better or for worst, did you
ever see John Lennon happier than with Yoko Ono?”
Ray
Shasho: I don’t know … I really thought Paul McCartney broke up The Beatles.
(All laughing)
Candice
Night: “When the Beatles ran their course and weren’t happy
anymore, you can’t keep them in that box. So who’s ever around at the time ends
up getting blamed, and I can speak from personal experiences. Being with
Ritchie, I’m with him first and forth most at a personable level and if
something is going to make him smile and be happy than I’m for that one hundred
percent. But if somebody’s going to tell me, he’s got to go on stage and be
absolutely miserable, and I know its eating him up inside, and he hates what
he’s doing every night, which one are you going to support? I stand behind him
whatever decision he makes, and so the decision he made was to follow another
path.”
Ray
Shasho: I do like hearing all those Ritchie Blackmore rock and roll stories though.
Like when he destroyed the cameraman’s TV camera at California Jam. Greg Lake
told me that he’d become annoyed over the fact that Emerson, Lake & Palmer
were headlining. They didn’t want to be playing in the support role.
Candice
Night: “I think they were promised by the promoters when they
were to go out and do their show that they would be the first band to play when
the sun went down. So they ended up getting completely screwed on that. He said
he had people banging on his door for like an hour saying you’re going to get
cut from the list, than you can’t go out, and you’re going to get sued…. they
tried to get rushed out and he said no, this is what was in the contract, this
is what we were promised. So… sorry Greg, it had nothing to do with that. But
it was probably the fact that they had promised him that slot and he was just
so pissed off. It’s just such an amazing visual when you’re the first band that
comes onstage when the lights come on.”
“But there were problems on the Come Hell or High Water video too. And these are all the stories
behind the stories. We were in the dressing room and we knew they were going to
film that night, Ritchie had said, “Why don’t you film on the first couple of
nights because the singer tends to blow his voice out on like the second or
third night and I’d rather you guys get a good performance.” So they kept
putting him off, and putting him off, and saying no. They finally decide
they’re going to record more towards the middle or end of the tour. So Ritchie
wasn’t happy about that, he didn’t feel like it was going to be a really good
performance for everybody involved.”
“Ritchie goes to the side of the stage and sees
cameras setup on the stage, and a camera was setup right in between him and the
audience. He said, “That is not going to happen because those people paid money
to see me, not to see the back of a cameraman’s head.” Everything he does is
fighting for the fans, which is so ironic because he has such a bad name, but
nobody ever hears the stories behind while these temper tantrums are happening.
So he spoke to management and they said okay I get it, we’ll move the
cameraman, get ready to go onstage. Ten minutes later, the cameraman hasn’t
moved an inch, he’s still out there. So Ritchie says, “That’s it… I’m telling
you, I’m not going out there.” And everybody is waiting and the guy still isn’t
moving. Ritchie says, “I’m not having a cameraman in between me and the fans!”
“By the third time, Ritchie tells the roadie to move
the cameraman. Five minutes later, Ritchie hears the band starting. Now they’re
starting “Highway Star.” Ian Paice is out there getting the drumbeat started;
everyone is starting and their waiting for Ritchie. The band is thinking if
they go ahead and played Ritchie has to come out and play at some point. So
they’re going on and on and on with the backing track of “Highway Star” without
a guitar.”
“Ritchie says, “That’s it!” He went out with a glass
of water and threw it right into the camera and it was taped. The guy’s camera
was ruined, and I think somewhere along the way when he threw that water it got
Ian Gillian’s wife at the same time. It was not international but it did
happen. So that was the story behind that.”
Ray
Shasho: Deep Purple will never capture the excitement it once had; especially
now that Jon Lord has left us. Did you and Ritchie attend Jon Lord’s funeral?
Candice
Night: “We actually got the news five minutes before we
stepped on stage one night. We didn’t
go; we were actually on tour at the time but we were invited to it. We actually
made a large contribution to pancreatic research in his name and obviously sent
condolences to his family. But it was just devastating for Ritchie.”
Ray
Shasho: Blackmore’s Night recently released A
Knight in York and will be releasing “The
Beginning” box set sometime in mid January of 2013. I really want to chat
about “Reflections” your first solo
album …it’s an awe-inspiring CD.
Candice
Night: “Wow, that’s so nice thank you. When you do
something solo you kind of take off the training wheels, you’re doing the whole
thing by yourself. Ritchie didn’t even know I was going to the studio and doing
that, I would book time when he wasn’t in the house with the producer, and
didn’t even ask his advice or want him knowing it. If I had asked his advice it
would have been the same as a Blackmore’s Night song. So it was really
important for me to do that one hundred percent by myself.”
Ray
Shasho: The second track on the album “Gone Gone Gone” can easily be sitting on
top of the country charts, are you a big fan of country music?
Candice
Night: “I love country music; Richie stays far away from that
stuff, I obviously have different influences than he does, he’s much more into
the renaissance purist aspect of things and I get more involved with the
fantasy aspect of things. And I’ll listen to radio tracks, even on “Dangerous
Smile” I was getting inspiration from a Kelly Clarkson track at that point
which was “Walk Away” as far as instrumentation and production was concerned.
Yea, I love country music and listen to it often. As a matter of fact it’s
probably almost the last passion of music where I feel they really craft their
songs and their lyrics. Sometimes I listen to some of those lyrics and it
brings tears to my eyes. I can’t think of another genre of music that makes me
feel that deeply at this point.”
Ray
Shasho: The DVD of Blackmore’s Night:
A Knight in York is so important
because it captures the full essence of the concert experience, not only the
music, but the beautiful set and wardrobe. How do you determine the on-stage
wardrobe?
Candice
Night: “I have a lot of different colored outfits that I
mix and match so it looks like I’m wearing all different outfits every night. On that show, I was five and a half
months pregnant. My daughter comes out in one of the songs and I did not know
that they were going to bring her out at that song. We’re in a brilliant opera
house and she’s walking out onstage while I’m playing the shawm towards the
microphone and there’s a big huge drop where the orchestra pit was. So I’m
watching her frantically as she’s walking out and I’m having a mommy- moment. (All
laughing) So I finally scooped her up while I finished the song because I knew
she was in my arms … but it was so funny.”
Ray
Shasho: A lot of your audience also dresses up in renaissance garb as well?
Candice
Night: “We’ve seen everything from five year old little
girls dressed up in fairy outfits to knights and shining armor, peasants, kings
and queens, minstrels, and eighty five year old jesters in full bells in
England. Actually in England, I’ve seen men dressed up like women coming to the
shows. But it always adds to like a costume party type of event and makes the
show a lot of fun. It’s always so interesting to me to see what these people
wear, when they wear their personality on their sleeves.”
Ray
Shasho: Candice, you are an awesome songwriter, where do you usually receive
your inspiration for writing?
Candice
Night: “Nature is my number one inspiration. I think there
is just so much complexity and simplicity in dealing with nature. You go outside
and see a flower and really get involved with the intricacies of that flower ….
Like the bees going into it. Nature provides miracles and magic every single
day and so many people are caught up on survival mode, or survival techniques,
so we don’t get a chance to see it, enjoy it, or appreciate it. And if you king
of unplug everything and just step outside …listen to the crickets, feel the
wind in your hair or face, see the stars or sunset … all these things are in
front of you all the time. If you just unplug and give yourself to that moment
….it’s incredibly inspirational. So if I ever feel low on inspiration, I just
take a walk through the woods and it all comes back to me.”
“The other thing I like to do is when we are
travelling, doing our touring, I always like to get absorbed in the legends,
the myths, and fairytales of the regional area, which I always find
fascinating. That’s where songs like “Benzaiten” about one of the Goddesses
from Japan wound up coming to me. She actually lived at the bottom of a lake
and played this sixteenth century instrument and married the dragon king and I
thought … huh, that’s kind of close to my life. But she’s an incredible legend, out of the seven Gods of good fortune; she’s the only Goddess from
Japan. So I reworked that legendary story and put it into a song.”
Ray
Shasho: We’ll be
looking forward to “The Beginning” box
set coming out in mid January 2013. The set also includes footage from your
early castle tour?
Candice
Night: “For
the fans who really want to see where our roots came from and where it all
started, I think it’ll be a great collector’s piece for them and they’ll really
appreciate it.”
Ray
Shasho: Candice,
thank you so much for all the great music you and Ritchie have given to us over
the years. And please come down to Florida … Imagine Blackmore’s Night
performing at Epcot or the Magic Kingdom?
Candice
Night: “We love Epcot! Ritchie use to have a house down
there on Marco Island about twenty years ago.”
“It was great talking with you Ray!”
Candice
Night official website http://candicenight.com/
Blackmore’s
Night official website www.blackmoresnight.com
Order
now…Blackmore’s Night: A Knight in York at
amazon.com or on Blackmore’s Night official website.
Order
now … Candice Night’s incredible solo release Reflections at amazon.com
Coming
in mid January 2013! Blackmore’s Night will be releasing “The
Beginning” A documentation of their early period. -Including Shadow
Of The Moon and Under A Violet Moon as
well as rare video footage of their early tours "Live In Germany
1997-1998" and "Under A Violet Moon - Castle Tour 2000” -Available
for the first time on DVD and only in the "The Beginning” box.
Special
thanks to Chip Ruggieri of Chipster PR & Consulting www.chipsterpr.com
Contact
classic
rock music journalist RAY SHASHO at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com
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