Reunion culture is everywhere in hard rock right now: anniversary runs, “one night only” sets, surprise guest spots designed to light up social media and sell a few thousand extra tickets. So when the idea of Steve Morse popping back in with Deep Purple comes up, it’s an easy fantasy for fans to build a whole tour around in their heads.
But Morse isn’t playing along with the idea. Not because the music wouldn’t work, and not because the fans wouldn’t show up. His answer is a lot more human, and, honestly, a little messy.
He’s already hinted at how the gig could feel creatively limiting, saying only “one out of 20” of his ideas “might get used,” which aligns with how a legacy band protects its core identity night after night. Still, for nearly three decades, Morse managed to leave fingerprints all over Deep Purple’s modern era: the harmonic detours, the quicksilver picking, the moments where the band sounded like it had new corners left to explore.
And yet, by Morse’s telling, not everyone in the room valued that extra color, especially as some members aimed back at old-school rock “roots.”
Here’s what he said to Guitar Interactive when asked about possible future one-offs: “I think if the band felt differently, I would feel differently. But I think that there’s a couple of guys in the band that were really glad for me to be gone, because they were sort of heading back to their roots and wanted just to be a rock band, and ‘don’t give me any of that fancy crap.'”
“And when you look at me as a writer, I definitely give you that fancy crap. I can’t help it. [Laughs] So I think the band’s happier the way they are, and it would be kind of a step back for them to wanna do something like that… Anyway, they’re happier and better off. And I think the same here,” he added (via Blabbermouth).
If you’re a heavy rock lifer, you’ve seen this split before: one camp wants the band as a tight, familiar machine; the other wants the version that takes chances, even if it risks a wrong turn. With Morse, Deep Purple got a guitarist who could play the classics, but also couldn’t resist upgrading the language when the song opened a door.
That tension has always been part of the Deep Purple conversation, dating back to the shadow of Ritchie Blackmore — and the diehards who never stopped treating the post-Blackmore years like a debate to be won. Some fans accepted Morse as the guy who kept the band vital; others never stopped measuring every solo against a memory.
Still, Morse wasn’t an awkward fit with everyone. One relationship in particular mattered, and it’s the one longtime fans still speak about with real warmth: his musical chemistry with Jon Lord. Morse didn’t come in trying to cosplay the past; instead, he connected with the part of Deep Purple that always had a bit of classical muscle under the riffs.
“Jon Lord had that classical-meets-rock connection. That’s why we gelled so well when I first got with the band; Jon‘s improv with me was what was driving me to be laughing and smiling at the end of our jam session,” he remembered.
That’s the version of Deep Purple some listeners miss: the one that could be heavy, bluesy, and sophisticated in the same breath: not “prog” in a precious way, just a band with enough confidence to stretch.
Then real life hit hard. In July 2022, Steve Morse stepped away to care for his wife as she battled cancer, and Deep Purple moved forward with Simon McBride. After his wife’s passing, Morse has been gradually finding his way back, focusing mostly on Steve Morse Band, which just released Triangulation — their twelfth studio album, and the first since Out Standing in Their Field.
And even that comeback hasn’t been simple. Alongside grief and a massive career reset, he’s been adapting to arthritis and reworking the most basic mechanics of how he plays.
“So, that’s a big challenge when you talk about losing your wife, losing your band for 28 years, and starting over with a new technique. I changed my picking position about 10 years ago, to include three different ways of holding the pick so I could change the angle and [adjust to] the pain level,” he shared.
So if you’re still hoping for a surprise walk-on, it might be time to let that one go. Not in a bitter way, more like a grown-up way. Deep Purple gets to chase the version of itself it wants to be right now. Steve Morse gets to protect his peace, his hands, and whatever music comes next.
And for the rest of us? We’ve got the records, including the era where “fancy crap” showed up in a band that was never supposed to need it, and somehow made them feel wider.
