DEEP PURPLE
Artist Interviews
DEEP PURPLE GO RAP … RAPTUROUS THAT IS. NEW ALBUM ‘RAPTURE OF THE DEEP’ IS MAKING BOTH THE BAND AND THEIR FANS LOOK FORWARD TO A PURPLE HUED FUTURE.
GARRY SHARPE-YOUNG RECEIVES A 6AM WAKE UP PHONE CALL FROM DEEPEST MEXICO.
10 November 2005
There are three undisputed giant cornerstones of Rock – LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH and DEEP PURPLE. Remove those bands from the equation and suddenly the Rockdetector database would be a very barren environment indeed. There are few bands who can honestly claim no influence from this mighty triumvirate.
Like all creative unions, DEEP PURPLE has had a troubled past (who mentioned Blackadder?) but of late the group has been basking in its own glories and has moved onto an almost tranquil plane of existence. Since ‘Abandon’ the albums have got better and better, the world tours have got longer and longer. It looks like DEEP PURPLE will be satisfying fans worldwide for many years to come. The new record ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ might not be clad in the most edifying of album sleeves but the music within is certainly up to par.
The band has just embarked upon yet another leviathan global tour so time to talk to bassist ROGER GLOVER before he gets too world weary.
DEEP PURPLE spent late October in Mexico on a short run of dates breaking in some new material. Roger calls from Juarez, where he’s enjoying the food and the music.
“It’s such a relief to be playing new songs again” he gushes. “This is the really exciting bit, when we can put these new songs onto a stage and in front of an audience. We’ve got three tracks from ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ in the set at the moment.”
How do you gauge if they are working?
“We generally just go on how we feel about a song. It’s a great learning curve too because these songs are already evolving. They are already different to the record. I’m finding new ways to play the bass and I know the other guys are working things around too. It’s very organic up there believe me!”
It must be next to impossible for the band to put together a set list these days.
“Oh it is. It’s a battle. Obviously, as musicians, we just want to play all the new stuff but I don’t think the audience would look too favourably on us for that. It is difficult. People come to a DEEP PURPLE gig to hear songs they know, and we have the hard core fans who want to hear us do something new.
We have to accept that is a certain group of songs we have to perform, and that’s OK, we still get a buzz out of playing them, but when you put a set list together it can sometimes be a matter of what time do you have left to squeeze something in? Fortunately we’re not the kind of band that performs like clockwork either, so each time we play a gig it’s a bit different to the last one.”
Do you put the set list together at rehearsals?
“Try not to rehearse if we can help it!”
Seriously?
“I’m serious. We don’t need to rehearse really. We do, but probably not anywhere near as much as other bands might. We’ve been doing this for so long there is not too much to gain by rehearsing. We all hold our private time to be very precious so anything that takes us away from the family outside of touring or recording makes us very grumpy. I can speak for all of us on that one. No one wants to do it.
We have a great crew, the best. They work bloody hard and make sure everything is running smoothly and on time. All we have to do is turn up and play. That’s our job.
We put the set-list together on a piece of paper – bang, bang, bang. We have a discussion, write it down and that’s it. This time we’re opening up with ‘Fireball’”
Let’s talk about the album. There are a few longer songs on there this time, which I’m sure will make fans happy.
“Yes, we just thought it was time maybe to give our fans exactly what they want.”
I think it’s a frustration for many Rock fans to get into a song only to hear it trail off after three and a half minutes. After all, they want long guitar solos, intros and outros.
“I think you’re right. What’s the point in cutting a song back for radio when radio won’t play it anyway?”
Was the songwriting process any different from ‘Bananas’ to ‘Rapture Of The Deep’?
“Not really. We all put stuff together before we meet up but in a strange kind of way it writes itself really. The songs take on their own life when everyone starts chipping in. We really feed off each other. Sometimes that means they get taken off in a direction you might not of thought of, but that’s OK.
Ian writes about 75% of the lyrics and his stuff is often very wild and wacky, whilst my lyrics are more wistful and poetic I suppose. Just those two different ways of looking at things makes for some interesting results. Sometimes you have to fight a bit if it’s one of yours, sometimes you just let it go because it becomes something rather special. If it’s a song that needs to be kept faithful then we all have the luxury of being able to do solo work too, so everybody’s happy.”
You’re in Mexico right now as we speak. Are you getting to see much local culture and history? Looking at your tour schedule you visit a lot of exotic places that would make many people very envious.
“Let me correct you Garry – we visit a lot of exotic hotels! No, even today we just don’t get the time. The machine has to keep running and a day off is not really that, it is always a travel day. It’s bloody hard work and getting up on stage is our break. I think it was Duke Ellington who said he gets paid for travelling, not for playing. It really is like that.”
‘Rapture Of The Deep’ marks a significant career step for the band, breaking away from EMI. It’s hard to believe they got so complacent with a band like DEEP PURPLE.
“We’ve always been in and out of love with EMI, so it was long overdue for a change. As it worked out, circumstances forced our hand but it really has turned out for the best for DEEP PURPLE. It was a total mystery to me why EMI decided not to continue the relationship.”
You mean EMI let you go? I understood, from the language of the press releases, that DEEP PURPLE simply wanted to move on with some fresh impetus?
“No mate. EMI decided to end it. Why? I have no idea but it left us all scratching our heads for a while.”
That’s incredible. Especially when you think of the huge revenues DEEP PURPLE must have generated for EMI over such a long career.
“Well, that’s right. It was especially mysterious because these days it’s accountants and lawyers that run record companies. There is very little passion for the music like the good old days. I could understand what was going on if the figures were not working out but obviously that was never an issue.
So, just on that level, you have to ask yourself what on earth they were thinking. How much money has DEEP PURPLE made for EMI? You are obviously talking huge sums of money there. I think any other label would be glad to have just one of our classics in their catalogue don’t you?”
Did this decision come out of the blue or did you sense some unrest?
“Hmmm, actually, yes. EMI decided they were not going to put out the live album (‘In Concert with The London Symphony Orchestra’) from the Albert Hall. That was a surprise at the time. So, OK, we gave it to someone else and it actually was very, very successful. It even sold more than our last studio album for EMI.
Then EMI turned around and became very accommodating again. The guy that made the decision to pass on the live album got sacked by the way. With ‘Bananas’, EMI were out to prove themselves once again. They made commitments and promises to market the album to our satisfaction and, I have to say, they did a great job on that one.”
‘Bananas’’s succeeded in raising your profile once again certainly.
“Yes it did. I think everyone was pretty happy with the result. Everyone was all smiles then EMI just decided that was that.”
So, in essence, EMI dropped DEEP PURPLE?
“I don’t know if that’s the correct term but it was not our decision.”
I’m still amazed.
“Yes, maybe it was a clerical error.”
I guess you had no trouble finding a new home.
“That was never a problem. Not wishing to blow my own trumpet, but this is DEEP PURPLE. You know what I mean? Edel seemed the best pick. They were really enthusiastic and could back it all up too with the network around the world that a band like us needs. To cater for DEEP PURPLE is no small undertaking and Edel can back us up all around the world. They are so hungry to impress us it’s just great. I guess it’s a bit of a honeymoon period but it has injected new life into everybody.”
Ian told me that the world tour for ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ could last two years.
“I’m certain it will. I don’t know the schedule yet as it is all being put into place. I know that we have been offered a very long tour of Russia, probably in 2007.”
You’re doing Europe with ALICE COOPER.
“I’m looking forward to that. It’s nice for us that we can work with people like Alice, just like we did with Ronnie James Dio before. It’s a good match.”
Will you be spending a good chunk of time performing across Asia again?
“I’m sure we will. I hope so because I love playing those places like Singapore, Bali and South Korea.”
I made the mistake of saying to IAN GILLAN that those gigs were in ‘obscure’ places, but he corrected me and said they are not obscure if you live there.
“That’s right. If you are lucky enough to put on a genuine world tour like DEEP PURPLE it really does change your perception of what the world is. Too many people in America and the UK hold a Westernized view of the world. What I notice is that the enthusiasm for music is often far greater in places like Russia, South America and Asia. We get great audiences too, a lot of people come out and they are often very young. If we play in the US, the audience age is a lot older. Same for UK and Australia, where we are perceived as a “classic” band I suppose.”
There are not many bands that can put on a real world tour.
“We’re very lucky we can do that. We played over 40 countries last time I think and playing to enormous audiences in places most bands that are in the charts in the UK and America just never go to. It’s not like the World Series of Baseball, where it’s just one country! When DEEP PURPLE does a world tour then a world tour it is.
Russia surprised me. I never had any idea, until we went there, about how many fans we had there. It’s simply astonishing. I remember in the 70s reading a few fan letters from Russia. It was just a few though, so I had no idea how popular we were. Who could have guessed that a handful of letters represented millions of album sales? When we first went there I just could not believe how many people were coming to see us. They were not just music fans either. They were DEEP PURPLE fans that had been waiting decades to see us.”
You have defied all the fashions and fads too. I mean, Grunge, Thrash, even Punk, these things never really affected DEEP PURPLE.
“That’s because we were never in fashion and never motivated that way. People in record companies were, but our fans, even when we were not around for a period, just stuck with us. It’s about good music, not your haircut. When the people who buy our records sometimes showed a little displeasure it was generally because they thought the album was not up to the quality of the last one, never because we wore the wrong pair of trousers. DEEP PURPLE fans are not so fickle. They’ll always be interested in what we have to give them so long as we are passionate about it I think.”
Having a unique inside track, how do you view the highs and lows of the band’s career?
“It’s probably more difficult for me to say, because songs and albums hold memories for me that are completely different to a DEEP PURPLE fan. When we were looking back at everything for the 25th anniversary series it made us focus on that period again and look at the music in a new light. 25 years is a long time! There was a very real magic there.
You know, you have to recognise that what we achieved during the 70s was something really rather special but I think that for the last few albums we have really enjoyed a renaissance period for the band. Everything is just so comfortable now.”
Fans often question how a band that has produced bona-fide classics can then deliver an album that is severely lacking. What do you think?
“Which album are you talking about? Ha Ha!”
Well, let’s just say I love the Mk2 classics, ‘Perfect Strangers’ and I think that ‘Abandon’ and ‘Bananas’ are very strong.
“Ah, OK. I won’t press you. Everyone has a different view of what’s good and what’s not. The world would be a very dull place if we all agreed with each other. I think albums are really like snapshot in time, they capture a lot more than just the music.
In the 70s we were very hungry, very keen to show the world what we could do. After that, well, everyone knows. We were obviously just buzzing once again with ‘Perfect Strangers’.
I used to like the old way of putting out an album. It was roughly 20 minutes a side and that to me seems like an optimum time span to keep someone’s attention. Now the music business, for younger artists, is more geared toward an individual song. I miss that albums used to be an event.
You always want to give your very best every time you go in the studio because you want to make an artistic mark, you want your fans to appreciate it and you then need to go out and present that new music on tour. Sometimes though it’s just not possible.
Now it’s just very relaxed, which is bringing out a different set of qualities to the music. Things in the camp are running very smoothly and I think a dedicated DEEP PURPLE fan can get a sense of that. With ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ in particular, we’ve really clicked with this one. There’s a real harmony and respect for each other. This album was a joy to make and it was great to push each other too.”
You mentioned harmony there. How about synergy?
“Oh yes, that’s so important. We all get on well now, there’s no friction, none of that unnecessary crap to deal with. It's no use having a musical genius in the band if there is no synergy with the rest of the guys. Of course we argue, but it’s always over a creative issue, and those things should be argued about.
The way I see it is very simple. How lucky am I? I get to write songs, record and perform with four of the best musicians in the world. These guys, Ian Paice, STEVE MORSE, DON AIREY and IAN GILLAN are amongst the very, very best at what they do. It’s a unique situation. I could not want for anything better.”
Do you get a warm glow when you see how many Hard Rock and Heavy Metal bands DEEP PURPLE has influenced?
“DEEP PURPLE was never Heavy Metal.”
I’d agree, but you’ve influenced a lot of those bands. I mean, with the riffs and the volume there are a lot of common factors.
“Oh, I see. Yes. The Heavy Metal thing is very strange. I can’t deny it because a lot of those people buy the records and turn up for the shows and we’re thankful for it. Onstage, we are hard as nails, but not Heavy Metal. To me, Heavy Metal is all about the show, it’s a very theatric thing. You know, all that leather and studs business. DEEP PURPLE is about playing music and I don’t think we need any of that stuff really.”
Just to close off, you were very prolific during the 70s with a whole range of solo records and projects, like 1974’s ‘The Butterfly Ball’, 1978’s ‘Elements’ and ‘Mask’ in 1984, and a lot of production work, such as JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Sin After Sin’. You’re not so prolific on that front anymore. Your last solo record was ‘Snapshot’ in 2002. Is there more to come?
“There is. I’ve got roughly a dozen solo songs I’m working on so there will be another record. Maybe next year I hope depending on the our schedule. I’m very lucky to be able to do this. I would not envy being a musician outside of a band like DEEP PURPLE trying to get his music heard these days. DEEP PURPLE gives me that opportunity and I’m very thankful for that.”
Credit/s: Garry Sharpe-Young
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Last updated: 10 November 2005