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Importance of getting to the pub
Ian Gillan gave an interview to Classic Rock on the occasion of, ahem, 27th anniversary of The House of Blue Light release. He spoke about doing crosswords, cooking breakfast, fixing his roof (and he did’t mean a hair transplant), and the importance of always ending up at the pub. And what’s a good interview without some amusing anecdotage?
I remember when we did Perfect Strangers I was still signed individually to Virgin, and I went to London to play Richard Branson my new solo album. I went in and he and his team were all there in a playback room. I gave him this cassette with all the tracklisting on it and he put it in the deck. There was all this feedback, and then you heard ‘Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black-and-white cat…’! My daughter had recorded over the thing. Un-bloody-believable!
Read more in Classic Rock.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Great,great stuff by Big Ian!
January 12th, 2014 at 05:01Really, he did an interview for this occasion and wasn’t asked anything about it and we see no questions because they were not asked for this occasion because they are from past interviews? Major yawn.
January 12th, 2014 at 09:08I call bull, who conducted it, CRM takes the credit for that being? 🙂
January 12th, 2014 at 09:09Always loved the house of blue light some great tracks even tho lan is not keen on it. I think he lives in Portugal these day’s.
January 12th, 2014 at 11:37Shhh,dont let Ritchie know where he lives. LOL!
January 12th, 2014 at 13:18always loved the house of blue light, mitzi dupree, bad attitude, black and white its a shame the band dont rate it! this is a good interview but I THINK ITS out of date now as I BELIEVE ian lives in portugal now.
January 12th, 2014 at 17:12There is evidence an interview was conducted for this particular article? I see none.
January 13th, 2014 at 02:00Love the fact he is as normal as any dude out there. Enjoying life in between job, hustle and bustle, and honey-do-lists. Rock Star? My kind of Rock Star. On a more musical note, him referring to having all these tapes that he is digitizing…….. LIKE WHAT???? Share them with us Ian!
!Ch-BeerZ?
January 13th, 2014 at 03:47Interesting comments from Ian Gillan, man it is hard being a rock star isn’t it? Not that I would know of course, damn & blast on missing out on that fame & glory, oh well maybe in my next life! Regarding the writing all the time comment & Blackmore querying Gillan. In my humorous look at it, I wonder if it was when Gillan was writing the lyrics for Smooth Dancer? Aren’t they about Blackmore from what I have read over the years. Seriously though, a lyricist/poet should always be dotting down things, that is the way to come up with the next thing, inspiration is often on the spur of the moment, the same with music & art, get it down quickly before the moment passes.
January 13th, 2014 at 04:47Blackmore not being interested in the lyrics I would think, would not understand that at all. Many guitarist in rock bands don’t have anything to do with the lyrics & even find that part of songwriting tediously boring.
I didn’t realise Mr Gillan was such a home handy man type of guy! Maybe it is his past reputation for hedonistic partying, that make me think that. He had better be careful climbing up & down ladders though! Cheers.
Hair Transplant? Really? Still knocking Blackers,? Good interview with Ian, but give the picking a break!!!
January 13th, 2014 at 12:39@10: Where are the comments about hair transplants?
January 13th, 2014 at 21:07Where is the proof these questions were asked specifically for this interview? If you haven’t read them before you’re probably not following much. They pitch it like they sat down with him for this HOBL article. I say they did no such thing, it’s old stuff to me except for one of the last comments, having never read that.
January 14th, 2014 at 06:59I’m pretty sure that this is a very old interview. My guess is that it is from the late 90’s.
January 14th, 2014 at 14:00Have read it before and it’s definitely not a new one. I can almost guarantee that.
Would be interesting to get more info where it comes from.
I am very sure I have read most of that “interview” somewhere before. About 5 or 6 years ago at least, if not more. I recall that particular statement about transferring tapes to digital format from about 2007, because that is what prompted me to go out and find software which would allow me to do the same thing for my cassette collection. There is hardly anything new at all in this interview, it is all comments from other interviews in previous Classic Rock Magazine or elsewhere. It is like old leftovers warmed up again for the 3rd time….very stale and bland. And I don’t see how any of it relates to HOBL.
Very sad indeed that the only magazine that gives any coverage to Deep Purple ( albeit very scant as compared to other major bands, and in this case, very dated), stoops to this kind of poor effort. Disappointing.
January 15th, 2014 at 02:26I think it could be a recent interview as he injured his leg not that long ago, hence the falling down the ladder comment. I may be wrong of course, but another comment from him I really enjoyed was his passion for Test Cricket, Hooray! Loved it! Cheers.
January 15th, 2014 at 07:50Recognition could also be due to the fact that IG tends to repeat himself. 🙂
January 15th, 2014 at 13:03@16 you right about that,but don’t you think that this interviewers are asking the same boring questions as well ?! I’m just saying.
January 15th, 2014 at 19:08He still looks like a fat Frank Worthington,for those unaware of the fabled Frank he was English footballer of great skill in the 70’s but even more famed for drinking and shagging
January 17th, 2014 at 16:05Hilarious, i guess during their recording career i wonder how many times were spent at the pub for “inspiration”, either way you look at their “body” of work, it speaks volumes. John your comment is perhaps spot on, i must admit i would have dome the same thing.
January 18th, 2014 at 07:05Hilarious, i guess during their recording career i wonder how many times were spent at the pub for “inspiration”, either way you look at their “body” of work, it speaks volumes. John your comment is perhaps spot on, i must admit i would have done the same thing.
January 18th, 2014 at 07:05Re: #10
That was my first thought as well.
January 20th, 2014 at 01:10