(Rock News Desk) Glenn Hughes says he wanted Tommy Bolin to join him in Deep Purple so he could have a drinking buddy in the band – although he didn't realise that was his motivation at the time.The guitarist died of a drugs overdose in 1976, just 18 months after he and Hughes became close friends. And the bassist, now with Black Country Communion, still feels the pain caused by three deaths in the Deep Purple camp that same year.
"Unbeknownst to me, I wanted to have a relationship in the band with somebody I could drink with and get high with. Tommy was that guy," Hughes tells I Heart Guitar. "Before he played a note with the band I said this to him, because he had the green and yellow and red hair: 'I don't care if you get the gig or not – you're coming home with me.' Because he looked so cool." more on this story