RURAL ROUTE
BAND RECORDS IN STOWE eep Purple. Remember them? Smoke on the Water … Perfect Strangers … Highway Star … crowned in 1972 by The Guinness Book of World Records as the “globe’s loudest band,” when in a concert at the London Rainbow Theatre their sound reached 117 decibels. Three fans lost consciousness from the intense pressure created by that much sound in such an enclosed space. Maybe you don’t remember Deep Purple or don’t especially care for eardrum-piercing music, but clearly some people do. This British hardrock band, which first formed in 1962 and has gone through several phases and band members, is still going strong with a loyal following. Deep Purple has 24 albums to its credit, and two were made in Stowe, Vermont: Perfect Strangers in 1984 and The House of Blue Light in 1986. According to a 1987 article in the Chicago Tribune, “Deep Purple recorded their latest album (The House of Blue Light) in Stowe, Vt., where they also made Perfect Strangers. They were planning to use Long View Farm Studios in central Massachusetts—where the Rolling Stones rehearsed in 1981—but couldn’t find sufficient accommodations for their families. So they again became unlikely celebrities in Stowe, where a plaque commemorating their stay hangs on the wall of a pub they frequented.” A few local hard-rock fans remember the Deep Purple days. Lamoille County Sheriff Roger Marcoux remembers them well, but not for the reasons that come to mind. Marcoux was a young police officer in Stowe in 1984. “As part of my duties I would visit the bars,” Marcoux explains.
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band known as “Mark II.” Members included Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Paice (drums), Ian Gillan (lead vocals), Roger Glover (bass), and Jon Lord (keyboards), who has since died. They didn’t intend to cut an album when they landed in Stowe, but the reunion soon became more than happy memories and clever toasts. Jam sessions ensued, songwriters collaborated, and next thing you know they were recording Perfect Strangers. Picking up where they left off, Perfect Strangers was met with generally favorable reviews. Their fans welcomed them back, and the album went gold and platinum around the world. Colin Hart, Deep Purple’s tour manager who now lives in Longwood, Fla., says Stowe was recommended as an out-ofthe-way location for the band’s reunion, and he came up on a scouting trip to find a place for the band to stay. Hart worked with a local real-estate agent and found The Horizons, a property at the top of Weeks Hill Road. It had a huge basement where the band could practice and compose new songs. With no recording studio at hand, they hired Le Mobile Studio, a Canadian recording studio housed in a tractor trailer, and recorded the album using Le Mobile’s equipment. “We had such a good time in Stowe,” remembers Hart, who has maintained a long-lasting friendship with Roger Marcoux. “The people were great, the pubs and food were great. No one bothered us. The people of Stowe gave us all the privacy we
“They were good guys, not pompous or superior. They were just guys who were in a band, they liked to play soccer, have a drink, and party. We were not allowed to hang out with them when they worked, but they always said they’d see us for a drink later.” —Glenn Jones, Stowe
“The band liked to hang out in one bar called The Pub, owned by Richard Hughes, and he introduced me to them.” Marcoux was 25 back then, and came from a musical family. “I was into that kind of music and Deep Purple was my favorite band. I jammed with them a couple of times during practice,” he says. He also helped organize local athletes to play soccer with them. “They took their soccer very seriously. I have very fond memories of that time. They were on top of their game, successful, and also very gracious.” Deep Purple’s reunion stay in Stowe in 1984 followed an eight-year hiatus. This was not the original Deep Purple, but the incarnation of the 52
needed. It was a really comfortable situation. Very relaxing and totally different from the usual rock-and-roll lifestyle. The reunion album was special. Lots of smiling and happy faces.” In a 1985 Boston Globe story about the release of Perfect Strangers, Deep Purple’s bassist Roger Glover said, “In Stowe, people accepted us as just a bunch of long-haired idiots that rented the house up the road. Stowe is a small town and most people didn’t give a damn who we were.” It was such a good experience that Deep Purple returned in December 1986 to record House of the Blue Light. They rented