DON AIREY Confirms DEEP PURPLE Has No Plans To Stop: We 'Do What We Do Without Too Much Fanfare'

In a new interview with Dawn Osborne of TotalRock, DEEP PURPLE keyboardist Don Airey confirmed that there are no plans for him and his bandmates to stop anytime soon. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "We did the farewell tour in 2017, and at the end of it, [DEEP PURPLE drummer] Ian Paice goes, 'Well, thank God that's over. We can just get back to being a normal band again.' And that's what we've been ever since — let's just make another record. Let's go out on tour. Let's do what we do without too much fanfare. Just let's be ourselves and see if we can keep the audience happy. We'll soon know if we don't."

As for DEEP PURPLE's plans for the after the completion of the band's world tour in support of PURPLE's upcoming album, "Splat!", which will arrive on July 3 via earMUSIC, Airey said: "Well, the thing about PURPLE is that they don't seem to plan in the long term. It's just you plan in the short term to do the best thing you can. If we're gonna make an album, let's make a good one. When we do a show, let's make it a good show, not do a bad show. And that's what keeps you going."

Don continued: "It's called the music business. It's half music and half business. And if you take care of the music, the business side of the business will take care of you, because they see they can make some money out of you. And that's how it works. It's simple, but that's why PURPLE, that's why we still record albums. You've got to keep yourself fresh, and you've got to keep yourself humble. And if you're working with someone like [legendary rock producer] Bob Ezrin [KISS, PINK FLOYD, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper] in the recording studio, you've gotta have a sense of proportion about who you are and what you're doing. I'm just a bloody keyboard player, and I've got a job to do, and it's well to keep that in your head rather than, 'Oh, I'm gonna travel the world, and I'm very important.' Because you're not. You're just in a band. And that's the best thing I know about being in a band."

Airey also said that there are still plans for him to release an autobiography. "Well, I'm writing a book," he confirmed. "I'm always halfway through because the career keeps extending. But, yeah, it's taking shape. I didn't realize so many funny things had happened to me. When you sit down and you look back at all the... At the time it just seems like absolute chaos, but when you look back, you can see the thread that runs through everything."

Produced once again by Ezrin, "Splat!" has been described in a press release as "the heaviest DEEP PURPLE album in many years".

DEEP PURPLE has released two singles so far from "Splat!", "Diablo" and "Arrogant Boy". On "Diablo", DEEP PURPLE is joined by a special guest, global superstar and Grammy-winning guitarist, singer and songwriter Keith Urban on second guitar.

"Splat!" has already received enthusiastic first fan and media reactions, with early press praising the album's DEEP PURPLE spirit. Uncut calls "Splat!" "distilled, high-octane PURPLE at its finest". Classic Rock praises the album for delivering "everything that makes DEEP PURPLE one of the greatest acts in hard rock."

DEEP PURPLE recently kicked off a major run of European summer dates, starting in Finland, followed by shows in Norway, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Italy before the "Splat!" world tour heads to North America. The touring schedule includes 86 shows across 28 countries.

"Splat!" is available for pre-order in multiple formats including CD, vinyl, and limited editions. Further exclusive fan items are only available on the official "Splat!" shop.

With more than 120 million albums sold since forming in 1968, DEEP PURPLE have long secured their place in rock history. Rather than simply preserving their legacy, they continue to extend it, driven by the same spirit that defined their earliest work.

At the heart of "Splat!" is an idea conceived by DEEP PURPLE singer Ian Gillan. Rather than treating the end as destruction, the album imagines it as transformation: "Splat!" explores the end of humanity not in any crude apocalyptic sense but as a metamorphosis beyond physical existence.