Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' Finally Gets A Music Video

03-02-2024

Deep Purple legendary classic "Smoke On The Water" now has an official music video, which has been released to promote the Super Deluxe Edition of their "Machine Head" album that will be released on March 29th.

The new video is set to a 6-minute-plus 2024 remix of the song by Dweezil Zappa who shared in the liner notes, "It's one of those records where I think, 'How did they come up with this?' It's got classical influences in the guitar and the keyboard, but then it's got the blues and there's little bits of funkiness. And you have this singer who has the most killer voice. All these things come together in a way where it doesn't sound like commercial music, yet people got really excited about it. It's a fascinating recipe."

Shorefire shared these details about the video: Conceived by UK-based Chiba Film, the animated production faithfully interprets the story of the song's inception. As the legend goes, Deep Purple were in Montreux to record some tracks in a mobile recording studio rented from The Rolling Stones. They were due to record at the casino there after Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention played. However during the concert a member of the audience shot a flare gun toward the roof which instantly caught fire. The entire building burned down, and the song recounts the events of that fateful evening.

"It's been an honour to put visuals to this song, undeniably one of the greatest rock tracks of all time. The fact that the song is itself a story meant we had no shortage of inspiration for the scenes that accompany the music. Our idea for the video follows the fact that the band were under pressure to make this record on time after the events that unfolded at the casino. We wished to depict all these events and band members accurately, but also elevate the animated video into an exciting action packed chase that sees the band pursued by the stylus as they ride along the deep grooves of the record. On their journey we visit the places and heroes mentioned in the song, as well as encounters with fire, water, smoke, police and even dragons as they strive to take control of the record stylus and cut their track into the vinyl. The writing of the album was an adventure summed up in the lyrics, and we hope we have created an accompanying adventure that existing and new fans will enjoy." - Dan Gibling & Luke McDonnell, Directors, Chiba Film.