Deep Purple Interview

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....................... ...........2004

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INTERVIEW WITH ROGER GLOVER OF DEEP PURPLE

..... This band was formed in 1968, the british line up include Rod Evans in vocals, Nick Simper in bass, John Lord in keyboards, Ritchie Blackmore in guitar, and Ian Paice in drums. The album debut was Shades of Deep Purple, the band´s first succes was a cover. In 1970 they released Concerto for Group and Orchestra in wich they took a turn for loud. With their new metal sound Deep Purple reach succes in 1972 with the album Machine Head, and produced the hit single Smoke on the Water. In the mid 70´s Gillan went to Black Sabbath and David Coverdale joined the band, whom later have fame in Whitesnake.In 1984 the band released Perfect Strangers taht reached the Top 20. In the 90´s Deep Purple continue releasign album compilations like "the best of" in 1992.So many artists (new and old) play it too safe these days. Not this band, Bananas is amazingly well done. This album finds Deep Purple discovering and reinventing who they are. And Ian Gillan's vocals? You just can't find any better, anywheree.

ROGER GLOVER

Q: So how long have you been touring.
A: 30 odd years.
Q: So has it been tough to adapt every time you get a new band ?
A: Actually no. Well yeah, we've had a few tough times in the past but this particular time around, since Steve (Morse) joined the band, which was about 10 years ago, I think the band's actually been at it's longest period without a change in it's entire career. So its actually been real stable of late. John retired a couple of years ago - a couple of months ago, and then Don Airey has been with us. Don Airey is an old friend. I was with him in Rainbow. But it feel like he's part of the band anyway. Certainly in the last year or so we've been touring with him. It's just been seamless. The band is actually playing really well. Someone said the other day ... well a couple of months ago ... "the band's had a great past. But as a band, it's never played better as it has now." That was a great compliment.
Q: Listening to your new album Bananas. You really have some good songs .
A: Well it's what we do. Presumably the more you do something, you get better at it. I don't know if that's always true, but I think this album sounds like a Deep Purple Album really because Michael Bradford, the first time we've used Mass Hard Producer for a long time, and he brought with him to the table, kind of an idea of what he saw as Deep Purple. And when you're in a band, it's difficult to actually realize who you are. And there's also kind of an unconscious desire not to be a parody of yourself. So you try to change and move and progress, etc. etc. and sometimes you can lose sight of really what it is that is the core of the band. And he brought that back to us I believe. We recorded, wrote the album very quickly, which is how we used to things in the old days and it has that kind of rawness to it. That large spontaneity. Each tract on the album had one or two or takes done live. It has freshness on it. But to me, it almost sounds like vintage Deep Purple.
Q: I understand that you have an emotional song here about the Columbia when it went down.
A: Yes. Yes. We had some connection with them for that particular mission. They'd been to see us at Houston, about 8 or 9 of the people, including Kalpana and then J.P. Harrison. Kalpana of course was on board and J.P. has become a friend since. He was sending us email reports and we felt we were invited to the launch but we were making the album at the time. But of course, when the tragedy happened, I went into the studio that day in a bit of a daze and Steve was already in and playing this tune. I said what is it? And he said "I wrote this as I watched the television this morning on the Columbia." He said "I just want to get it down. It won't take long." So I said okay. So he jotted it down. But we loved it so much, we all decided to work on it and keep it on the album.
Q: I find it very interesting that going back in time, you guys did something with the England Symphony - like a whole chorus of music before anybody else ever did. Was that done in London?
A: Yeah. That was done in 1969 at the Albacore. Ian Gillian and I had been in the band a matter of weeks and it was piece John Lauder had written and it wasn't Deep Purple's music with just violins sawing away behind it. It was actually a serious attempt at a classical piece in which the group plays a small part. It's really an orchestral piece featuring a group and it was quite revolutionary at the time and it in fact, it kicked Deep Purple off as a name in Great Britain because it made all the newspapers. Everyone was writing about us. And there was some confusion as to what kind of band we were after that, which is why Deep Purple in Rock is such a hard unbending album of really furious hard heavy rock. Heavy metal hadn't been invented at that point. And that's really what gave Purple it's start and impetus. And we've revisited that piece of classical music in 1999 - 30 years later and did it again with ... the first time which would be the Royal Philharmonic and this time we did it with the London Symphony Orchestra, which is a superb orchestra and it was really a fantastic occasion. It's on DVD. It can be bought.
Q: I saw the one with Metallica here in San Francisco and that was interesting just to combine.
A: But that's not a classical piece. That's Metallica's music with the orchestra behind it.
Q: You're right.
A: It's just padding really. Or as we call it, sweetening.
Q: Actually if you're in a recording studio, you could do the same thing that they did.
A: Well, what's important really is the image and the image of Metallica with an orchestra behind them is a glorious image. And you can be taken in by the image because the image is great. But our thing was a different kind of thing. It was a different piece of music entirely.
Q: Like you said, it's revolutionary. And even the Scorpions tried something like that last year over here. Now that you guys are all together, happy and working well - like Steve Morse seems to be an incredibly easy going guy... (laughter).
A: He's a lovely guy actually and he's lovely man.
Q: I was just thinking back to the year with Richie Blackmore and used to hear about a lot of infighting and all kinds of stuff going on. A: Well, we were not a happy band. There was always an edginess to our relationship, even in the early days, but it was edginess that gave birth to a lot of creativity as well. But the edginess kind of took over and it became destructive rather than creative. And so, without knowing it really, we've spent many years kind of going down the tubes and it wasn't really until Richie left and Steve joined that we kind of found ourselves again and we've spent the last ten years actually kind of building up the bands reputation because I think the band actually suffered a great deal from what happened in the late '80s and early '90s.
Q: Was he leaning towards doing that Renaissance thing back then?
A: Well he's always been fascinated by that kind of music anyway. He always had that in him, so it didn't surprise me when he did that. Q: I know he was kind of a perfectionist on stage and if somebody hit the wrong tune, he used to give you a glaring look and I'm going on my gosh Richard, lighten up.
A: We had good nights and bad nights.
Q: When you're on live, you have such an incredible catalogue of music, do you have a hard time deciding what to play sometimes.
A: Yes, we do.
Q: I can imagine if you played every song, it'd probably take you 6 to 7 hours.
A: Well the thing is you can't please everyone. And we basically please ourselves. The nature of the American audiences, especially during the tours, it's kind of meant that we've had to just really bang out the hits, because that's what that kind of audience wants to hear. Q: You're right about that. Especially if its something that's been on the radio for a while, that's usually the last one you played.
A: Yeah. All the bands go out doing the shit. They're all just banging out a half dozen of their biggest hits. Always. It's kind of difficult not to do that, because that's really what goes down well. So, it's kind of difficult to introduce new music knowing that it's not going to get a reaction, or at least not the same kind of reaction. But that actually hasn't happened in Europe, so maybe that'll happen the same here. You know, the new material from Bananas has slipped seamlessly in between the older songs.
Q: You do feel a different vibe between American audiences and European audiences?
A: Well, they're generally older, because we're a classic band here. Whereas, there we're a band. It's not very difficult to be before an audience like a Czech audience or a Polish audience or Slavinian audience. It's just amazing. They've been so starved of music - years. They really know how to have a good time. You go to a concert there and it's just an overwhelming reception you get. And places like Singapore and Korea.
Q: Do a lot of the members still live in Europe?
A: Yeah. Three still live in England. Steve and I live in the states.
Q: I was trying to figure out the timing of this CD - I was wondering why it was done now, or not a few years ago.
A: We've been a long through albums, but a lot of that was due to the fact that we did the concierto again which led to a concierto tour - we toured with an orchestra. We did all of South America and we did all over Germany and we used different orchestras in different countries. It took up about a year and then we always thought that was going to be John Lord's last tour and we really didn't want to an album with John if he was going to retired. But he wasn't going to retired, so we just went back on the road.
Q: Did you come to North America with the orchestra?
A: No, we didn't do that. No. We didn't perceive that there'd be much of an audience for it actually. It wasn't us who perceived that, it was the promoters who perceived that. I think we could have done one gig in New York and one in Los Angeles, but it would have taken sponsorship and a bit complicated so we never bothered. But we did South America and Europe.
Q: The Scorpions did it over here but you're right, they only did a couple of places.
A: Right. And they did the same thing Metallica did. It was Scorpions music with a bit of sawing away behind it. It's a spectacle.
Q: I notice a lot of time musicians have to have a certain drive to continue like this. Is it really the tour and live audience that keeps your hunger going?
A: Well I don't know really. It's just what we do. That's what we do. I can't imagine doing anything else. And we enjoy what we do. I mean we really love to play. It's pretty simple. And when there's an audience that wants to hear you, you don't really have a lot of choice. You just love it. I love everything about touring. Obviously, there's downsides to touring, boredom, journeys and bits and pieces like that, but I think it was Count Basie I think it was who once said "I'll play for free. I get paid to travel." The plain heart of it is it's just so much fun. We have a great time. I'm in a great band and we have great reception. It's just a lot of fun and I value it more now than I ever did. I think I took it all for granted when I was a kid. But the fact that I'm still here doing it, doing what I did as a kid and still loving, I'm getting more out of it every time, every day. I appreciate it more.
Q: That's incredible. You see a lot of musicians come and go and some that went on the way side because of overindulging in drugs. Maybe that's what you really enjoy too, because you're actually alive and able to still express what you really feel.
A: Yeah. I guess I'm a survivor. There's always temptations. I guess it's very true in many ways. I think we're all tested. Our characters are tested by various things in life. And certainly drugs, sex and drink are all big tests as is fame and power and money is a test. All these things are tests of your character and some people just don't pass that test. Some people can't handle that. With fame, comes money and power and its amazing what that can do to you. I've seen people actually turn their heads and become different people from what they started out and its sad to see that, because they just become assholes. They actually believe they're something special. Fortunately, I've always had ... I am a country boy at heart. I think I was brought up well and raised with pretty good values in life so I think that's helped me a lot through all the turmoil of my life. This being on the road, success and failure and all the things that go along with it. I don't want to get too philosophy bound.
Q: I think it's great what you just said there. I interview a lot of young bands and you see a lot of cockiness and some kind of thing taking over them sometimes when I've interviewed them 6 months afterwards.
A: Maybe everyone has to go through that. Maybe I was like that once. But I think the important them really is your motive. Why you're in the band. Some people join bands because they genuinely love the music. But I think a lot of people join bands because of the attraction of the fame, the attraction of sex, of fun, of party all the time, and making tons of money - is a very attractive prospect. But that's not the reason to do anything. The reason to do anything really is because you love doing it. Not for any other motive. If that's the case - because you want to be famous and you want to be on television a lot, it can be successful, but it's kind of a hollow life. It doesn't have meaning. It's following something that's shallow. You've got to love the music is all I'm saying. The music is the source.
Q: It must be a good feeling to have the audience know the songs and follow along with you.
A: We have actually some fantastic fans. The fans really played a major part of what kept the band going. Because if the band ceased to be in '76, there's 8 years before you've got the reunion, during that 8 years the music just didn't die. People kept playing it, requesting it and buying.
Q: It's always great to have a good singer. Ian is just incredible.
A: Not only is he a great singer, he's a great front man and that's a very difficult thing to find because that's a character thing. That's not something you can measure. Most front men are so careful about what their image is, they don't have a sense of humor about it. It's all kind of very humorless. Ian is one of those guys who goes out and he talks to the crowd. He never shouts or any of that crap. He never does that. He talks to the audience and he tells them stories. And sometimes the stories are so bizarre, the band starts the song because we can't take it anymore. People come to the show just to see what he's going to say between songs. So he doesn't care if he makes a fool of himself. And that's a very important ingredient is humor. Humor is hugely important, especially on stage. I can't imagine going through a show and being brought down. You go to a show to be uplifted. Maybe that's me being old fashioned, I don't know.
Q: The name Bananas, is that because things are going bananas? A: It came from a photograph I saw in a newspaper in Australia about three years ago. It was in the travel section and it was Vietnam and there was this guy pushing a bike with a bunch of bananas in front and I turned to Ian who was sitting next to me and I said this is our next album cover - we'll call it bananas. And he thought it was a brilliant idea. I was in India - Bombay about a year later, stuck in a traffic jam behind a lorry full of bananas. There were two old guys sitting there and we took a photograph of that. And it became the stronger image to be on the album. It's nice starting an album with a name already in place. It kind of gives you focus. We thought, can we actually call an album bananas. Then we say, dare we? And then we thought we can, so let's do it. Let's be bold.
Q: I guess Japan is a very hot place to play now.
A: We haven't played there for a couple of years. The place I'm looking forward to playing China. We played Hong Kong before. Hong Kong is notorious for being a lousy quiet audience.
Q: Is it just their discipline?
A: I have no idea actually. But it's notoriously quiet there. But I will be interested to see what happens when we go into China proper and go to places no one has ever played before.
Q: Is that coming up this year?
A: This is happening in April, springish.
Q: I've heard that there are some audiences that don't do anything until the end when they clap.
A: Japan is actually like that. They're very quiet in Japan. Even in Tokyo they're probably a bit louder than anywhere else. But you go out in the provinces, somewhere like Singuy or Tokyoko, and they are very very quiet and attentive. It's not that they don't like you, it's just that they're controlled. They don't want there sound mixing up with your sound because they want to hear every little sound. It's kind of uncomfortable to walk out on the stage to silence. The lights go down and you hear this roar and it stops almost immediately. It's a different experience. They used to have karate experts sitting in front of the stage all facing the audience, about 20 of them standing there with their arms crossed right in front of the band.
Q: Just a little intimidating.
A: Yeah. A little.
Q: So when you're off touring and your home, are you in one of those abandoned castles like a lot of rock stars?
A: No. Extremely ordinary. Right now, I'm changing homes, but that's a whole other story. It's just a home. I have a little studio downstairs where I write my music - when I can get in there. I have kids.
Q: How old are your kids?
A: They're 20 and 22 now. They love the studio.
Q: Are you going to put them on the album and have them tour with you - father and sons?
A: Well they're my two stepkids and I also have a daughter who's 27. She lives in London and she's singing on my last solo album called Snapshot last year.
Q: Its really great to keep it in the family.
A: She's not on the album because she's family. She's album because she's good. She impressed me. And she just happened to be my daughter.
Q: I guess that's the reason why a lot of people go solo. They cut loose and do what they want to do for a while.
A: I suppose. I suppose that different people have different reasons. I never particularly wanted to cut loose from Deep Purple. Actually, I was forced to leave. So I kind of left the situation because of was frustrated with it. I've always been good at working with him. But what I've been given is a lot. I got to work with some of the finest musicians in the world, so that's a great piece of good fortune.

By Randy Cohen

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