DEEP PURPLE Frontman: 'Our Record Company Is Thrilled With Us'

antiMUSIC's Morley Seaver recently conducted an interview with DEEP PURPLE frontman Ian Gillan. An excerpt from the chat follows:

antiMUSIC: You said you're pulling in the crowds...how is the record ["Rapture of the Deep"] doing globally?

Ian Gillan: "Biggest-selling record we've had since 'Perfect Strangers'."

antiMUSIC: That's great to hear.

Ian Gillan: "In a climate of the sales being what they are, retail…it's unbelievable. It's absolutely incredible. Our record company is thrilled with us, and it's made a big impact. It's absolutely fantastic."

antiMUSIC: So when you go back and examine this at any point in time, do you think there's something special or is it just a matter of timing, climate? Or can you put it down to one thing?

Ian Gillan: "I think there's a lot of interconnecting things. I have to go back now to '91 when Ritchie [Blackmore] left. '92. Can't remember. Anyway early Nineties. That tour we were playing small halls in Europe which is traditionally strong territory for us. Small halls, they were half sold out. And Ritchie was doing 40 minutes or an hour and then walking off, whatever he felt like and we were playing awfully. There was such a bad atmosphere in the band. Everyone was looking down. Everyone was tense. [Ian] Paicey was all over the place. I was singing horribly. Tense. Tight. No expression. And Roger [Glover] and Jon [Lord] were just keeping their head down and it was awful. We were very depressed and talking amongst ourselves — not Ritchie, of course, but the rest of us were saying: I don't think I can't take much more of this, this is so depressing. After all the glorious years we had and it's just not… it's just not fun. So the band was about to end. We were approaching terminal velocity. And fortunately, Ritchie left. He just sort of exploded because we wouldn't do what he said. And I think that was one of the main problems, Ritchie isn't a team player. He wants everyone to do what he tells them to do. And I think if he didn't have that attitude, then I think things would be a lot easier (laughs) for him. Anyway he left. And the day he left the sun came out. It was unbelievable and so we survived with the help of Joe Satriani. And what happened then we had to rebuild entirely. It took a few difficult years. We did 'Purpendicular', which was a welcome album for Steve [Morse] and it was a welcome change of direction, if you like, in life. I think it was then we made some hard decisions. Jon left, he was tired of touring and I think his spirit had been drifting away for a while. Fortunately, his departure was very amicable…and I still enjoy a glass of champagne and a wonderful evening over dinner with Jon. And he still phones us up in the dressing room to find out what we're doing on stage that night. So that's very good. But Don [Airey] brought a tremendous amount of energy. Then of course we got the producer in because I think it was not possible to continue with an in-house, in band producer. The whole perspective is so subjective you can't see what we needed to do. We needed some discipline, some framework in order to release us from those other containments. So I think that changed a lot. Steve Morse brought in a whole new generation of fans. They suddenly saw on stage a band that was smiling, that actually enjoyed each other's company. That actually were making an effort to get a great sound, that were interacting and were bringing back that weird but very important element and that's improvisation. You can go and see a band on different nights and the set list might be very similar but the show will be completely different. That is what I think changed things. So now we've built up to…I still don't know the answer but I'll put it this way: we did Wembley, a venue in London. An arena in London, about three or four years ago. And my daughter came along, after the show back to the dressing room and I said, 'Grace, who let all the kids in tonight?' And she 'Dad, you just don't get it do you. DEEP PURPLE is REALLY cool.' (Laughs) Well, I can't analyze this more than the fact that I know the ingredients have changed, and I know certain things have happened. But that doesn't always work, it just happens to be working. I think what happens is we've stayed underground. We were …I think the best definition I've ever heard for DEEP PURPLE is, apart from being a rock band, is that we're an underground band because that's what we were in '60s and early '70s. I'm not talking about the 'Hush' period, cause that was something entirely different. But afterwards when I joined we went deeper underground for quite a while. All of our success was built on live fans following us around. I think we've gone back to that route. That's probably what happened."

You can read the whole interview here.