Purple Rainbow, what's in a name?
Purple Rainbow is a tribute to the legendary rock bands Deep
Purple and Rainbow. They, and especially guitar player Ritchie
Blackmore, inspired Mario Roelofsen to form Purple Rainbow.
And don't be fooled, Purple Rainbow isn't one of those 'cover'
bands.
Purple Rainbow is a real 'Tribute" to the one and only
Deep Purple and Rainbow.
A band that sounds 'as close as it can get'!
Purple Rainbow is:
For more info on the band members, click
on their name above or on the pics on the right!
Mario - guitars
MARIO'S GEAR
Lot's of Fender Stratocasters:
- Black Fender 1970
- 2 Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Srats (blond en cream colored)
- Ritchie Blackmore Signature Strat
- Left-handed Strat
- ShoreLine Gold (very rare !!)
- American Standard Strat (four of those, with DiMarzio pickups
en scalloped fret board).
Lots of guitar accessories, which are mostly used as spare parts,
in case things don't survive on stage ;-)).
Amps: Marshall JMT 45 (I love it, I need it!). Marshall 4x12"
speaker cabs.
Bunch of pedals (view the pictures above).
MARIO'S EXISTENCE
Born and raised in Hoek van Holland, a place where lots of good
bands were 'born'. One of them was called JENNIFER. A great band
with a very skilled guitar player (also called Mario ;-) The band
played a lot of covers, one of those was the song 'Black Night',
and I fell in love with that song. I was 14 years old and played
for about two years already. I started to practice for about 6
hours a day, 'till my fingers bled. Very soon I was able to play
all the things that Ritchie played. Then I started to search for
skilled musicians who also wanted to play the 'In Rock' stuff.
The searching really was a nightmare ;-(
EARLY INFLUENCES
Of course Ritchie, but also Jimi Hendrix, Jan Akkerman, Jeff Beck,
Michael Schenker, Uli Roth. Later George Lynch and Yngwie Malmsteen,
I still listen to those guys. I really hated the grunge 'hype',
(Curt Koppijn ;-)), they all were posers and not real musicians.
MARIO'S PAST
Really too much to mention, but a few of my previous bands are
DEALEN, BIG ANOUSHKA SESSIE BAND (the band where I met Sabine)
and A.J.MHARYO.
I also studied two years on the Rotterdam Conservatorium, but
that was not my piece of shit because I wanted to play live on
stage instead of playing in front of a class. Funny thing is that
I taught guitar during my whole life as a guitarist. At the time
I was working for "Music Store", I had about 60 students
in one week in my class.
HOW MARIO STARTED PURPLE RAINBOW
When I was young everybody said to me: "You stole that riff
from Ritchie". Mostly I got mad because I didn't steel the
riff. I just played the same style funny enough. Later I got used
to it and took it as a compliment. Two years ago I thought: "Why
not play it official, and play some of the best songs that where
ever written?!". The only problem was to find good musicians
and they also had to like Deep Purple and Rainbow songs. In the
mean time I had the first gig organised, but still not completed
the band. At that time I had lots of nightmares about it, but
all things fell in place when I finally met the other Purple Rainbow
boys, (and of course lady Sabine). The rest of the story is history...
LAST OVERWHELMING EXPERIENCE
When I stayed in Miami at the home of Yngwie Malmsteen [also view
pictures above and on my "Mario's gear" page]. He let me listen
to his 'Inspiration' cd, which was not for sale at that time.
We talked about Ritchie and jammed together. It was really a dream
coming through!
DESPERATELY IN NEED FOR
More Fender Strats ;-)), "you can't have enough of them"
my mother always said.
LIST OF OLD TIME FAVOURITES
Everything of Deep Purple and Rainbow, my favourites are 'In Rock'
and 'On Stage'.
LIST OF 'NEW' FAVOURITES
Blackmore's Night and G3 ;-)
FAVOURITE PHRASE
'Play with your fingers, but listen with your heart'.
Thanks for reading, greetings Mario.
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