![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan2.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/airey3.jpg)
Where was the fire? A different perspective
Frank Zappa bassist Jim Pons was onstage performing with Zappa when someone in the audience fired a flare gun into the ceiling of the casino in Montreux and burned down the building in December 1971 – the inspiration for Deep Purple’s “Smoke On the Water.” Hear him tell his version of the story here.
With thanks to Chris.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
(I’m no longer at the below email address – JG)
From: James Gemmell [mailto:j.gemmell@comcast.net]
Sent: 29 May 2013 13:45
To: Ian Gillan
Subject: Flare Gun Shooter
Ian: This chick claims her father shot the infamous “flare gun”. I don’t know if this
—————-
Gillan:
Well he should shut up about it; if he did do it he’s a total asshole and belongs in jail.
It’s only because of Claude that many people weren’t killed; as it is many were lacerated and badly hurt.
Maybe he should come to Montreux on the 19th July this year and see what the police have to say about it.
I’d be happy to put him up on stage to make his ‘confession’.
Sorry James, just arrived in Rabat and have a press conference any minute so haven’t seen the youtube yet.
July 3rd, 2024 at 23:28Got to run, ig
Yo,
So that’s what really happened……
Peace !
July 4th, 2024 at 00:16Great insight to Frank’s life around Smoke
July 4th, 2024 at 00:25Jim Pons is an amazing guy. He was there to record Happy Together with the Turtles. While touring with the Turtles in the UK he met the Beatles and had a long chat with Paul M – Jim talks about it in the interview; played with Zappa and was on stage for the inspiration of Smoke on the Water – he saw it go down! And even more serendipitous winds up working for the New York Jets and designs their helmet logo that they wore from 1977 to 1997 and our now wearing again in 2024!!! What a life!!
https://www.newyorkjets.com/video/the-story-behind-the-jets-sack-exchange-era-logo
July 4th, 2024 at 01:52Help me, what is new in this account? That the fire first developed at a balcony and not at the ceiling and that burning debris then fell to the (I presume wooden) floor and ignited another fire source?
That seems all very much in the usual range of how people remember these things.
July 4th, 2024 at 02:04Lovely interview with Ian Gillan on German-British friendship – in German only!
https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/pop/deep-purple-im-interview-ueber-ihr-neues-album-1-19836862.html
July 7th, 2024 at 16:13Yup, that was a good interview, I came across it too. Treads some ground not usually trodden in DP interviews:
How Big Ian first came to Germany in 1965 with Episode Six and gigged in Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich living on hot dogs and, yes, dog food (‘Frolic’ dog pellets were a popular staple among younger people when they ran out of money to buy real food, they didn’t taste that bad and were nourishing).
https://petri.dimaster.io/assets/cache/1920/1080/media/Artikel/2021/03/Frolic/20151113_132007_.jpg
And how WW II damage rubble sites were still prevalent everywhere – as they were in London where he had grown up. I actually remember that too, in the 60s and even 70s rubble sites and burned out ruins in larger German cities were still a frequent sight like here in Frankfurt the Old Opera House which wasn’t rebuilt until the early 80ies:
https://www.fnp.de/assets/images/12/925/12925064-1343085295-1422232-1Nfe.jpg
Plus how his parents encouraged him to go to Germany (rather than have second thoughts given how the memory of war was still fresh) “and find some friends there”, it was his first trip to another country ever.
Also how Purple rehearse for their tours in Europe with TDA Rental in Bottrop (and have so for several years).
https://tda-clair.com/en/wilkommen/
https://tda-clair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/dp11-
2048×1365.jpg
Bottrop is a 120.000-population-city in the Ruhrgebiet, sort of like the British Midlands (mining and heavy industry heritage) of Germany.
July 8th, 2024 at 00:08