WHAT RITCHIE SAID

“The hardest thing in this business is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’re laughing.”
 Manchester 1974

“I used to practise a lot, so speed to me was no problem. It wasn't until the age of, I think 20, that I started trying to slow down.  I always felt that I was playing too fast. Everything that I did, it became like a nervous reaction - 
a bit like Mariah Carey. It's like… this is meaningless crap. Slow down!”
Long Island 1998 
 
“The audience didn’t like it but that’s their problem. We’d done all we’d rehearsed.”
Explaining after Deep Purple’s show in Edinburgh 1991 why the band didn’t return for an encore. 

“There are times I think someone else is playing for me. Once at the Star Club, Hamburg, I felt two hands coming round from behind me as if someone else was playing, someone who was very good. I’ve never had that sensation since, but I’ve never forgotten it.”
Disc, March 1972

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