More than half a century after its birth, the British hard rock giant is still flexing its muscles. Led by the legendary Ian Gillan, Deep Purple is releasing its 23rd studio album, featuring a new guitarist, Simon McBride. In an exclusive interview, Gillan looks back at the Deep Purple of yesterday and today. A fascinating interview.
To say that Deep Purple are a monument in rock history is an understatement… When you’ve penned such anthems as Smoke on the Water, Highway Star, Speed King, Fireball, Into the Fire and Child in Time, one could easily rest on their laurels. But singer Ian Gillan – 78 years old – and his band have never thought of retiring, and continue to tour the world, covering their legendary heavy hits as well as new songs, such as those on =1, a 100% Deep Purple album produced by wizard Bob Ezrin.
There are no surprises here, but there are plenty of solid tracks, thanks in particular to new guitarist Simon McBride, Purple’s fourth pyrotechnician after legends Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin and Steve Morse. What does Deep Purple look like in 2024, how did McBride fit in and how do we deal with this bygone golden age? Ian Gillan, anything but jaded, talks frankly about all these subjects, as well as his meeting with… Luciano Pavarotti!
“I’ve played Smoke On The Water with some heavy metal drummers and not one of them has played it right. Ian lets the music do its work. He’s probably the most important member of the band”: Ian Gillan bigs up Deep Purple colleague Paice
In an interview with the Sun, Ian Gillan gave props to the two other long-standing members of the band – drummer Ian Paice and bassist Roger Glover. “Without them, you wouldn’t have a rhythm section and without a rhythm section, all the solos mean nothing.
“Ian Paice grew up as a child in a musical family, the same as me. And he’s been the rock behind the band since it started. He’s the founding father now that Jon [Lord] is gone, and the only rock drummer I know that swings. That’s because of the way he grew up and his influences.
“I’ve played Smoke On The Water with some heavy metal drummers and some very famous drummers and not one of them has played it right. They were all bashing the hell out of the drum kit. Ian lets the music do its work. It’s in his bones and he’s probably the most important member of the band.”
Gillan and Glover go back even further. Before joining Purple, the singer and bassist were both in Episode Six together. “(He) was almost my mentor because he started writing before me,” Gillan recalls. “We spent days and weeks and months practising the craft of writing, learning about the percussive value of consonants, learning about which vowel sounds to use on a high note.”
Meanwhile Glover himself has been talking to Billboard about =1, the band’s 23rd album. “We can’t stop,” he insisted. “We love what we do; that’s the bottom line. And we’ve had the opportunity to carry on.
“Most bands don’t get that opportunity…well, I don’t follow bands that much, but certainly for us that’s been the case.
The band have a three-week US tour coming up with Yes next month, which led Glover to recall the last time Purple crossed paths with them: “We worked with them years ago in the ’70s,” the bassist said.
“We did some festivals together – one in particular called the Plumpton Jazz and Blues Festival in ’71. Ian Gillan and I had only been in the band a couple of months at that point.
“There was an argument about who’d be closing the show, and they won the argument and were closing the show. Ritchie (Blackmore) set fire to his amplifiers and made them explode on stage. So they were delayed a lot and weren’t very happy with that.”
This year’s tour is likely to be friendlier affair. “We’ve met them since. They’re a great band. We saw Steve Howe a couple years ago. We got on, no hard feelings. I don’t know which state they’re in now, which combination of musicians they have, so I’ll be happily surprised.”
