(From Kerrang! No 81, Nov. 15 - 28 1984, pp. 21-22)
Geoff Barton: Just talking to Jon Lord, he seems to be having the time of his life, in the reformed Purple. Does that hold true for you, too?
Ian Paice: Oh yeah, yeah! How can you explain it? I suppose it's the rapport we all seem to share as individuals... it's just a lot of fun, you know? Mind you, it's hard work as well; it's difficult trying to remember what you actually played that long ago. And it's even more difficult trying to do something slightly different and improve on it.
GB: Whats's your own, honest assessment of 'Perfect Strangers'?
IP: To me, it's a natural progression from those earlier records, but with a ten year growth period in between. My hobby is racehorses, you know. And there's a saying in horse racing which goes: 'that's in a different class'. It's like when you have a moderate race, but there's one outstanding horse in the field; that horse is in a different class. That's what we are, not through any particular intention or design, but when we come together - that's it, we're in a different class.
GB: Is this something you have to strive for, or does it just come together naturally?
IP: No, it's luck. Luck and chemistry. As soon as we got back together again things happened very simply and very easily - no problem, you know. It was a revelation to capture the spirit of the Mark Two Purple once again. It's very refreshing - like the ideas we're coming up with, the tracks we're doing, the songs we're writing, there really isn't a minus to it. It works, we're having a wonderful time and we believe that people will want to see and hear what we're doing.
GB: How do you think that the average Kerrang! reader views the Deep Purple reunion? WIth enthusiasm? Cynicism? Or a complete lack of interest?
IP: The last couple of years I've done a few drum clinics for the people who're nice to me and give me something to play with. Obviously you meet the kids and they ask you things. And, like, one out of three questions would be: 'Why don't Deep Purple get back together again?' It was always very hard for me to give a straight answer. I'd say, 'Well, it's very difficult, you see, some of the guys are doing this, some of the guys are doing that, we've got commitments...'
When it takes three minutes to give an answer, you start to realise that you're making excuses, not giving reasons. But it made me realise how many people still look at what we did as a kind of blueprint for what goes on now. So, when we finally did manage to get back together in March or April of this year, it was like - thank God for that! We're all talking sense at last!
There are so many people out there who want to see what it was all about. I'm not saying they're necessarily converts, but they're curious as hell. Mind you, we've got a lot to prove. If someone comes along to see us, and at the end of the evening they go: 'OK, it was alright, so what?'... then we'll have failed. Totally. But if we're as successful as I think we're going to be and that same person goes: 'Yeah, it's true... ', then we vindicate everything.
This is what is was; there's an amazing magic and chemistry that makes Deep Purple work better in this sphere of music than anyone else. Don't ask us why, it just does.
GB: How do you view the prospect of your first live shows?
IP: I can't wait. We've been rehearsing here for six days and it's great, we're still getting tons of things wrong. As I say, it's difficult trying to lend a new slant to those old songs.
GB: How many Purple classics do you anticipate including in your set?
IP: I'd say there'll be about two old numbers for every one new song. We're starting off in Australia, then we're heading off to America and Europe before hitting the UK in the Spring or Summer of next year. The oldies will all be from the Mark Two line-up - tracks from 'Machine Head', 'In Rock' and maybe even one from 'Who Do We Think We Are?', we haven't quite decided yet. Basically, all the classics the people will want to hear will be in there somewhere; maybe not all in their entirety, but we'll do the best we can.
GB: You're not bored by the prospect of having to resurrect a stack of oldies.
IP: Not at all. They're all fun to play - even more so now, because we haven't played them together for ten years! having said that though... we haven't even got around to 'Smoke On The Water' yet, no-one's even thought about that one. We want to keep it exciting and fresh; we'll maybe run through it just a couple of times before hitting the stage. We haven't played 'Woman From Tokyo' or 'Speed King', either. We've played 'Highway Star' once. 'Lazy', 'Black Night', 'Strange Kind of Woman'... they're all going to have to come from memory, from the heart. We mustn't get them too polished, because Purple have never done things that way. That's what made the band work in the past - every night was different. We'd get into a song and suddenly Ritchie would stop playing and it'd be 'No... we'll do something else instead!' That was the magic of it - there were no rules. And what we have to do to make sure it works is learn to forget the rules again!
GB: Do you think onstage spontaneity is something that's lacking in modern rock bands?
IP: I don't think spontaneity is possible, the way most people are playing heavy rock'n'roll at the moment. It's basically choreographed, a straight duplication every night - which is totally the wrong way to go about things; every show should be different, a unique event. That's what we have to try and recapture. These days, people are playing to a formula - we never had a formula - we made it up as we went along. What we ended up with was a formula - but for other people, not for us!
People seem content with to emulate part of what we did, part of what Black Sabbath did, part of what Led Zeppelin did - the frantically fast heavy rock'n'roll tune. But there are so many other facets to what we did - to what we do - that they're not even touching on.
GB: What do you think this is?
IP: Because a heavy ballad or a bluesy-type number or whatever is harder to play. The trouble with today's bands is that they find they can do one thing, they can get a certain amount of success with it... so they think: 'Why change? Why experiment?' There's a lack of innovation in heavy music at present. If we only do one thing now we've reunited, and that's broaden people's horizons, we'll have succeeded.
[ PART 1 | JON LORD | IAN GILLAN | PART 2 ]
Transcription and HTML by Benjamin Weaver