(From Kerrang! No 81 Nov. 15 - 28 1984, pp. 22)
Ian Gillan: Probably the best way I can answer those questions is to backtrack a little; to put all of my rock'n'roll lifetime into perspective for you. You see, when you're a nobody and you haven't achieved anything, then any career gaffes you might make don't really matter. I went through five or six bands before I joined Deep Purple and all the failures I had were anonymous failures; nobody knew about them except a handful of people in a few local towns. Failures happen. You give something a year, you do your best and it doesn't work out. So you call it a day and start doing something else.
Now when you eventually become better known, then people's eyes are upon you and, suddenly, you dare not make a mistake. Now I haven't managed to be quite so infallible. I've made a lot of very public mistakes since leaving Deep Purple. You can go back to the earliest days of the Ian Gillan Band and experimental, jazzy, albums like 'Clear Air Turbulence' and 'Scarabus', for a start. I can remember the very first gig I ever did with that band. It was in Scandinavia, and the audience went berserk as soon as we walked out onstage; they were hyped up, ready to headbang and everything else. And our opening number went... dink-dink-a-dink, dink-dink-a-dink, it was a jazzy, funky thing. And the crowd didn't know what was happening. They were going, 'Eh? What the hell's that? But we stuck with it. You've got to do what you believe in. You've got to take risks; you've got to aim to win but be prepared to fail.
GB: But what about my original question concerning Black Sabbath?
IG: It got to the point where I was reading so much rubbish about the end of Gillan, so much personally nasty stuff. There were some diabolical lies told about the state of my voice and everything else. It hurt, but I didn't see the point in getting involved in a slanging match...
GB: You're talking about comments made by John McCoy and Mick Underwood?
IG: I read the things they said and they were untrue. I've no wish to become involved in some kind of low-life squabble, but they were untrue. The fact was, when Gillan started its last tour in 1982, there were no plans to end the band in any way at all. But we did two or three shows and we ended up in Portsmouth and... for the first time in my life I couldn't even croak my way through a show. There was nothing coming out at all. The audience was great, phenomenal, but... I was just knackered. I'd been doing 200 shows a year for God knows how long and suddenly the voice had gone.
So I went to a specialist and he diagnosed nodules on the throat. It's a common singer's complaint, he was surprised I'd never had it before. Anyway, he said the best thing to do would be to cancel the whole tour. I didn't want to do that, it would've meant letting too many people down. So, together with my manager Phil Banfield, I devised a plan to try and complete the date schedule. We wouldn't announce anything, we thought we'd just go ahead and if my voice broke down completely we'd cancel individual shows. So I went on a strict diet of self-discipline: no smoking, no nothing. And I managed it.
After that, I thought it'd be a good idea to take a long time off, six months, to get back into shape. But almost immediately I started getting overtures from Black Sabbath. I kept on saying 'No, no, I'm not interested', but finally I was persuaded to meet them. I spent an afternoon in a pub with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler and just got totally arseholed. I thought, this is just great, I'm really getting on with these guys, and... I don't know, wouldn't it be nice to just be a singer in a band once again, with no leadership responsibilities. It felt good, so I thought, yeah, I'll do it.
GB: Wasn't that a little impetuous?
IG: Maybe. But I'd be lying if I said life had been sweet and dandy with Gillan. Something was wrong, the band wasn't vibing like it used to. We weren't moving forward creatively or artistically... it was all becoming one big moan session, in fact.
GB: What did you think of the album you recorded with the Sabs, 'Born Again'?
IG: It was brilliant. Absolutely f**king sensational... until it was mixed, when it was totally destroyed. I went away for holiday after we'd finished recording it, I was well pleased. I thought, I'll leave the guys to it now, they've been around for years, they know what they're doing. But as soon as I went away - as I understand it , anyway - all these outside influences started creeping in.
When I came back off holiday I found they'd sent me a bundle of 20 'Born Again' albums. I looked at the cover and puked. I put the LP on the turntable and was disgusted by it. It was just garbage. In a rage, I smashed all of the 20 albums to pieces.
GB: What happened then?
IG: Well, to be honest, things went from bad to worse. Halfway through the European tour the guys decided they didn't really want to play Europe at all. And then, in America, we had Quiet Riot supporting us. At that time they were a happening band and just not compatible with Sabbath... Maybe people will feel funny about my connection with Sabbath, maybe not. I don't know. But I think the time has come for people to realise that the only way for rock'n'roll to be procreative is for singers and musicians to indulge in their own whims and fantasies and actually try these things.
GB: So now you're back with Deep Purple. And raring to go?
IG: Absolutely. 'Perfect Strangers' is the best album we've ever done, if I've played it once I've played it 40 times. Really, I'm that proud of it.
GB: That's some statement. What was your favourite Deep Purple LP prior to 'Perfect Strangers', then?
IG: 'Fireball'. That was one of the most important albums Purple ever did. After 'In Rock', it was imperative that we did something progressive. Apart from tiredness and overwork, one of the reasons I left the Mark Two Purple was because we were beginning to write songs in the vein of public expectation, we weren't being innovative enough. That was a great anathema to me. Whereas, on 'Fireball', we were really pushing ourselves to the limits with songs like 'Fools', 'No-One Came', 'Anyone's Daughter' and 'The Mule'. 'Fireball' is seen as an interlude by most people, but I think it laid a cornerstone for 'Machine Head', I really do. There would never have been a 'Machine Head' if there hadn't been a 'Fireball'. I never thought I'd be more proud of an album than 'Fireball' - but 'Perfect Strangers' is it. And it's a good album title too, don't you think? Very apt; better than 'Smash Your Head In' or something...
GB: So you really do feel 'born again' this time around?
IG: Yeah. Each one of us is playing better than ever before... really, the enthusiasm is incredible, probably more apparent than when we first got together, way back in 1969.
[ PART 1 | JON LORD | IAN PAICE | PART 2 ]
Transcription and HTML by Benjamin Weaver