Simon McBride — born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1979 — has been Deep Purple's guitarist since 2022, having replaced Steve Morse. His musical origin is blues rock, a strong tradition in Northern Ireland that produced before him names such as Gary Moore and Rory Gallagher. He built a solo career and worked as a studio musician before reaching Purple, and had already played in Don Airey's solo band — it was through that connection that he came in. Taking the seat means dealing with a double inheritance: Ritchie Blackmore's repertoire, with its classically inspired phrasing, and Morse's, which brought American technical precision to the band for nearly three decades. McBride chose to imitate neither — he plays with the direct attack and wide vibrato of the blues, which gave the band back a roughness it had not had in some time. He recorded SPLAT! (2026), the group's most recent album.
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