He’s a living rock legend – but retirement? Not an option! In an exclusive interview, Glenn Hughes talks about raw studio sessions, new songs for the stage, old demons, and why he prefers to swim and write rather than stand still. Glenn Hughes has a clear message: Creativity knows no age. Ahead of BCC’s concert on June 19, 2025, at Cologne’s Tanzbrunnen, he talks about working with Joe Bonamassa, spiritual strength, and the courage to make peace with his past.
By Dylan C. Akalin
Glenn, how does it feel to be back on stage with Black Country Communion and playing an open air show here in Cologne?
Glenn Hughes: It’s great. It’s just like, you know, it’s a band that is remarkable in every aspect, the friendship, the togetherness, the brotherhood. It’s a band that is exceptionally gifted.
What can fans expect here in Cologne? Will it be a classic best of set or are there some surprises planned? Will you perform some songs from the new album as well?
Glenn Hughes: I do firmly believe in new material. That’s why I keep writing new music for new albums. For me, new music is very important. Don’t get me wrong, I think classic songs are very important, like „One Last Soul“ and „Black Country“ and „Sista Jane“, these songs are very important, but for me, new music is very vital.
What’s the songwriting process like in BCC? Who brings the first ideas? How does a typical BCC track come to life? Can you explain that?
Glenn Hughes: All songs are written in my home studio. We’ve done five albums, as you know, and each album has been written in my studio. Primarily, I do a lot of the writing alone, and then Joe [Bonamassa] comes and we work together. My main thing is that I am a songwriter, you know, I consider myself to be a songwriter and then a singer. So I write all the time. So a lot of music is created, and then Joe comes to my home and we finish the songs together, but I do spend a lot of time working on these songs as I do really enjoy the songwriting process.
Isn’t it very hard to manage to work with those guys? I mean, you are an All-Star-Band and I‘m sure, you all are very busy. How do you manage that?
Glenn Hughes: Joe and I set a window of time to do the pre-production. Each time we make an album Joe comes down to my home at the beach for one week. And in that week, we’ll get 10, 12, 15 songs written. It’s an incredibly spontaneous, really hard working week together. We spent a lot of time in that week, in each other’s company, and we come up with the material.
That means you have to be very disciplined.
Glenn Hughes: Yes. But don’t get me wrong, Dylan, it’s discipline, but with fun. I really do believe life shouldn’t be taken that seriously. I think you have to have spontaneity and laughter and love and Jokes, you know, but the music is very serious, as you can imagine. But surrounding the atmosphere when Joe and I work together, it’s in my home. It’s very, it’s very, it’s cool. It’s great, and Joe loves coming down to see me. And again: When he comes to see me, he’s never late, he’s always on time. We are disciplined, yes.
Your new album „V“ came out in May. How does the new material feel to play live for you?
Glenn Hughes: I love it. Well, hopefully you’ll see the show. I think, what you’ll hear from the new album, I think, you know, the songs we’ve chosen to play live really work well. You know, they fit. Again, I write songs that I feel are going to be played live. For me playing new songs is very important.
When I first listened to that album, I had the feeling the sound is more raw, more, I mean, rougher, it’s more direct than the previous album. Was that a conscious decision?
Glenn Hughes: Yes, it was definitely conscious. all the albums are recorded live. Everything we do in the studio is done very ridiculously quickly because Joe is super quick when he’s working and it’s normally one take. We only record each song twice. So we have the availability to choose one or two takes, you know. This is the way we are, and by the way, that’s the way I did it in Deep Purple. And of course, that’s in the 70s, in the 80s it became Pro Tools, and it became working with computers in the 90s, and it was wrong. For me, going back to playing live is the only way to record music. Yeah, I’m not a computerized songwriter. I like to record spontaneously.
Glenn, you are incredibly active and creative and you have just recorded a new solo album. Where do you get that energy from? What drives you to keep creating new things again and again and again? I mean, I’m 66 myself and I know what it’s to get old. How do you keep your energy?
Glenn Hughes: Well, it’s a really good question, but I have to answer you honestly. You only have to look at Wikipedia to see how old I am. It’s just a number, you know. And I must say to you that becoming older now. I only wanted to write. I write music to keep me healthy, to keep me spiritually inclined. I don’t believe in shutting the body and the mind down. I don’t believe in sitting around doing nothing. I believe in healthy lifestyle. That means mentally, physically, with the ability to move both my body and mind. I like to keep in shape, you know, and part of that is to keep busy doing things I love. And that is like, you know, swimming and reading and writing music. So, yeah, I just recorded a new album. The first single came out last week, and the album comes in September and it’s just another extension of who I am.
So, music is something like a medicine for you?
Glenn Hughes: It is medicine. Look, I have been put on this earth for a reason. I know I help people who are recovering from drugs and alcohol. That’s part of why I am the person I am talking to you. Yes, we all know that I’m a singer and songwriter, we know this, and it’s great, but I really do believe I am helpful to other people that are maybe struggling with their own addictions.
That’s cool, Glenn! What sets BCC apart from your other musical chapters – whether it’s Deep Purple, Trapeze, or your solo work?
Glenn Hughes: Well, that’s another great question. Before Deep Purple, you know, in the early years of my teenage years, I was in this band called Trapeze – before you were born. When you look back at my career as a young, young child it was the beginning of this now. Before the drinking, before the girls, before anything, it was simply music. And then comes the success with a big band Deep Purple global success, and then comes the women and the booze and and the games and the scary shit. And you’re in a different environment with people you don’t really know. This is my family, or can I be friends with these people? Being in a band sometimes is not easy. So many different personalities. So for me, being in a band is not exactly something that works for me. I’m a very much a solo artist. I write pretty much alone, as you know. So you’re asking really good questions because music for me is born within. I don’t write for anybody. You know, most, I wrote this song for you. Now, I write this for me. Hopefully it feels good for me, then you will like it. So that’s what I feel about music.
Where does it come from, this feeling for music? Is it somehow influenced by your British background?
Glenn Hughes: I have a guitar in every room in my home. I can be walking through the house and I can hear a melody. I hear melodies, not so much lyrics. I hear melodies all the time. I’m hearing them, I’m singing them. I have my iPhone on and I’m recording. I’ve got over 3000 ideas on my phone, ideas for songs that have not been completed. And this energy has been now for 20, 30 years of constant channeling. If you want, look, we won’t talk too much about God, but I really believe in a higher consciousness. I believe in awareness. I believe in a spiritual condition. I believe in opening the doorways to the path that I am chosen, you know. And I believe that good things can happen if you believe in good things.
That’s interesting… I mean, you’ve experienced not only highs, but also lows. How has your perspective on music and your career changed over the years?
Glenn Hughes: All those years ago, I talk about the late 60s and 70s, when music was very raw and very real, it was men in jeans and t-shirts, you know, no lasers, no nothing. It was just simple t-shirts and jeans and music, talking about girls and sex and all that stuff. Over the years I’ve become older and wiser and recovering from the bad things I used to do all those years ago. I’m a different human being now. There are many different versions of me. While talking to you now I’m becoming another version, I believe in the growth and awareness of the human kind. I believe in the kindness of the human spirit. And all I want from us as humans is to just love each other. That’s all I care about.
It sounds like you’re a man with a faith.
Glenn Hughes: I have a lot of faith! I have a lot of faith when I walk through the fears of life. I think as humans we are driven by 100 different forms of fear, ego, resentment, expectation, health, death. And I believe in living in this. As I’m talking to you, this is the way it’s supposed to be. If I can stay in this moment, then my day will be fine.
Have you ever thought about quitting this music business?
Glenn Hughes: No, I spoke to my wife, who’s a very intelligent woman, about ten years ago, I was going to retire. And my wife and I had dinner, and we sat down to talk about what would happen if I retire. And she said, honey, you know, she doesn’t want me to sit around and do nothing because you know yourself, if you know a studious person. When people retire, some people die because they’re bored and they don’t have any exercise. I spoke to my friend Ringo Starr about retirement. He said, why would you retire if you are a real musician? Tony Bennett, my friend Frank Sinatra said to me in the 80s, he wants to continue sing until the end and he was 92, I think so. And I’m following that road, Dylan. Traveling is not easy when you get older, it’s difficult. But I have a lot more to say as a singer and writer.
Is there anything you regret, something you wish you had done differently?
Glenn Hughes: Of course, I’m not proud to say I may have had too many drinks all those years ago. But I think in my opinion, everything that has happened to me, good or bad, weird or wonderful, every single thing is a lesson to be taught and to apprehend, to realize that there are curves in the road. All the nos, all the yeses, all the maybes, all the what ifs. All of these are obstacles in the road. If I can overcome them by embracing the fear. Because we’re driven by fear. If I can just continually understand what’s going on, then I’m OK.
You’ve played in Germany many times. I saw you with Black Country Communion I think about maybe ten years ago in Bonn…
Glenn Hughes: 14 years ago…
What do you associate with Cologne and German audiences in general?
Glenn Hughes: Well, I have a lot of good friends who come to see me in Cologne from the Netherlands and Belgium, but I have friends in Cologne, I love that particular city and that part of Germany. I have fond memories of your region of Deutschland, so it’s always a special occasion for me.
Will BCC continue after this tour, some plans for another album, more concerts?
Glenn Hughes: This is an even better question because I may have said this before over the years and every time I say this.And that’s why I say to you, Dylan, it’s really difficult to make plans in today’s world with what’s going on politically and with what’s going on on our planet in this really ridiculous time. It’s my desire, Dylan, to continue, but all I wanna do is continue writing my music, sometimes alone. For my own solo arts and sometimes with Joe for BCC, but I can say to you now that Joe and I are planning to do more work together. But what I don’t want to do is give any my friends in Deutschland any optimism that things could continue because you just never know. But right now, the band and Joe spoke to me this morning, he said the band has never sounded this good.
Last question, if you had to give a young musician one piece of advice today, what would it be?
Glenn Hughes: Do not listen to other people when you are trying to investigate your own work. Do not allow others to stop your growth, both as a human, also as an artist. Have no fear. Embrace the fear, because fear is surrounded you and walk through it and open your own doors, but please be careful and don’t listen to too many people who are jealous of your art.