, former bassist and vocalist for English rock band Deep Purple, slammed his ex-bandmates after a ‘very, very hurtful’ encounter eight years ago.
Hughes, 78, joined the rock trailblazers amid a long and messy history for the band chequered with several break-ups and an ever-evolving list of members.
In 2016, the musician reunited with the Smoke on the Water hitmakers – vocalist Ian Gillan, 78, bassist Roger Glover, also 78, and 75-year-old drummer Ian Paice (the last remaining original band member).
The reunion happened when Deep Purple was but the event was far from a joyous occasion.
In a new interview, Hughes hit out against Gillan, Glover and Paice’s ‘rude’ behaviour towards himself and fellow artist David Coverdale, 72 while at the ceremony.
‘I will never speak to any of them again, simply because they were rude. Both Roger, Ian and Gillan were rude to David and I. Very, very hurtful,’ the artist, who briefly fronted Black Sabbath in the mid-80s,
He continued: ‘I didn’t give a f**k, actually, because I knew they were rude to begin with.’ He added that Gillan was ‘rude to him on stage’.
‘I went to congratulate him. He looked at me in the eyes like I didn’t exist. The guy has a problem with me. Period. I’ll let him run with it,’ he said.
The guitarist admitted he ‘felt bad for him’ after his wife, Bron, died in November 2022 but there is no salvaging their friendship.
Hughes explained: ‘I’ve tried to reach out to him. He doesn’t wanna know. I’ve tried to make some kind of friendship with him over the last 40 years. David Coverdale and I don’t exist to him.
‘I wish him only the very best, but I have no time left for that behaviour.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Hughes shared his ‘difficult’ relationship with Deep Purple alum Ritchie Blackmore, 79, who he played with in the Mark III lineup.
When asked what it was like being friends with him, : ‘Difficult. When I joined the band, he flew me to Hamburg for a boy’s night weekend… drinking coffee and alcohol.
‘We were great together. Great time with him alone. As soon as he was around other men, he wasn’t personal.’
He added that although he was ‘very intelligent [and] smart’ he was a ‘difficult person to know and play with’.
Recently, Glenn admitted that an attempted Mark III reunion with the late Jon Lord, Blackmore and Coverdale failed after Blackmore didn’t pick up the phone.
‘About 15 years ago, David and Jon and myself – before Jon passed – had a three-week conversation about, wouldn’t it be great, maybe we could get Blackmore, we could do some kind of a reunion.
‘Who’s gonna call him? [imitates his former bandmates] “I’ll call him. No, I’ll call him. No, I’ll call him.” And we couldn’t get him on the phone, you can imagine,’ he said, .
Keyboardist Lord died in 2012 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Ian Gillan and Deep Purple for comment.
