Hailed for their skills by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple, Rainbow) and singer/multi-instrumentalist, Candice Night, Blackmore’s Night has released ten studio albums over their twenty-year career. The band continues to captivate audiences in venues and castles alike. Their live show is a passport to a time gone by; a  world where eclectic troubadour folk and Renaissance rock meets visual melody and deep emotion. Inspired by legend, nature and love, Blackmore’s Night is more than just music by a guitar legend and his beautiful wife. These are meaningful songs that paint storytime pictures in your mind.

Blackmore’s Night is about to kick off a string of East Coast tour dates, and AXS recently caught up with Candice Night to discuss the new tour, music and more in this exclusive new interview.

AXS: What can fans expect from this new Blackmore’s Night tour?

Candice Night: Expect it to be predictably unpredictable. We never play the same setlist twice. So, if people have seen a show before, the songs they hear will be different almost every night. We even ask for requests from the audience. It’s like an intimate gathering at our home and an escape from the pressures of the modern-day world through music.

AXS: It’s been more than twenty years since you and Ritchie formed Blackmore’s Night. What inspired the project? 

CN: We started writing songs in this style back in 1995 when Ritchie reformed Rainbow and the rest of the guys were in the studio doing their backing tracks. It was our escape from what the rock world had become and all the pressures that the corporations in the music industry had created. We wrote songs strictly for ourselves as an escape from what the world of music had become. It wasn’t long before record companies started asking to hear our new songs and wanted to put them out.

AXS: Most know Ritchie for being the “hard rock guy” from bands like Deep Purple and Rainbow, but Blackmore’s Night is a big departure from that. How would you describe your sound?

CN: I think what’s kept Ritchie in this band for more than twenty years is the fact that he has the creative freedom to play whatever he wants to, whenever he wants. He isn’t in a box that fits neatly into a genre. We play rock, renaissance, folk, tavern gypsy music, instrumentals, ballads. It’s a great variety of music. He likes to call us Renaissance rock. There’s truly something for everyone within the songs.

AXS: In your opinion, what makes Renaissance music so timeless and special?

CN: I don’t think it’s just the music. Renaissance faires go on all year round. There’s something magical about looking through the veil to a simpler time. To castles on the hills and bonfires lighting the countryside. To star-filled skies with no ambient lighting. To escaping modern day technology. The best thing about being in this time period is to be able to look back at eras gone by and figure out what you appreciate and relate to and incorporate those things into your life now.

AXS: Last summer, you released the compilation album, “To The Moon And Back: 20 Years And Beyond”. How did you determine which songs to include?

CN: It was hard for us to be able to narrow down songs, so we took to our greatest resource: our fans. We asked then via social media what songs meant the most to them, and they all had amazing stories about songs that helped them through hard times or songs that were with them celebrating their happiest times. We also revisited some songs that we’d already released and added new songs and instrumentals. We even included some backstage, never-before-seen antics on the DVD footage that was included.

Read the rest of my
Interview with Candice Night by Clicking Here!