Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan says the band would no longer exist if guitarist Ritchie Blackmore hadn’t quit in 1993 and he added that he has no desire to speak to his former colleague ever again.
Asked recently whether he might consider picking up the phone, in the light of keyboardist Jon Lord’s death last year, Gillan tells Vorterix Rock: “Not in the slightest.”
He continues: “If you want to talk about Ritchie, I guess we have to. Not many people do these days.
The truth of the matter is: the band was dying. If Ritchie had stayed it would have been the end of Deep Purple. The shows were getting shorter and shorter, the audiences were getting smaller and smaller.
We were playing in small halls, they were half-empty, and Ritchie was walking off stage every night. When he left it stopped raining and the sun came out.
Jon Lord, among others, started walking up straight – his personality re-emerged. So did Roger Glover and Ian Paice. They became the people they were originally, instead of cowering in case they upset Ritchie.”
Gillan says the band spent some time rebuilding after Blackmore’s departure. Now, that nearly two decades have gone by, they can live with the events of the past.
“The distance of time is so great that we just remember the good times,” he says. “We remember Ritchie as a great player, great performer, a great writer. I remember him as my roommate – I used to share rooms with him. But something happened with Ritchie.”
Gillan continues, “I have no desire to pick up the phone to Ritchie, or have dinner with him, or meet him “I hope he’s well and I hope he’s happy. And that’s the end of it.”
Listen to the audio below.
Blackmore’s wife and bandmate Candice Night recently said he was a better songwriter now he’d disengaged himself from “inspiration from darker places.”
Deep Purple – who launched 19th studio album Now What?! earlier this year – will release a live DVD shot during their Perfect Strangers Mark II reunion tour on October 14th.
additional source: classicrockmagazine.com
19 Responses
Ian better watch out, or Ritchie might go all medieval on his ass!,… Oh, that’s right, he already did.
Price is right they’ll regroup….they saw Sabbath numbers in ’13.
I picked up the new album last week and it is awesome. Too bad the radio stations aren’t (won’t?) play anything from it. Conflicts between past band mates notwithstanding, the latest lineup is doing it right. Get the album!
Reguardless of what happens, THANK-GOD we have a great catalog of DP music to enjoy!!
No Blackmore, no Lord. No Deep Purple. It’s the Ian Gillan Band revisited.
I agree 100%. Just like Tony Iommi shouldn’t have called his solos albums “Black Sabbath” records, same goes with Gillan. I heard the first “single” off the new DP and it sounded very contrived or forced. When does a band no longer be a band? Imagine Paul McCartney touring as “The Beatles” – it’d never happen.
FWIW – Steve Morse is a band killer. In every band he plays with, he adds that Dregs feel of cold calculation. Can’t stand his riffs or his solos. Where’s the personality? And then he does a solo and starts playing cover tunes! It’s laughable – turning DP into a cover band! Hey Steve – in case you forget, Deep Purple is a legendary band. You don’t need to try to impress the audience with your Zeppelin and Hendrix tributes. Geez. He turned Kansas into a Dregs- sounding band and now has done the same with DP. He’s a way better country-fusion player than rock player. I guess the rock pays his bills. With Jon Lord gone, they should’ve moved on.
John G you got that right. Morse is an accomplished guitarist but better suited for a southern rock type outfit than a legendary British act. I saw them with Blackmore and it was great and I saw them with Morse and it was like a 1950s type oldies act just touring the circuit with an orchestra. It was sad. One of the 3 MAIDEN guitarist would make it interesting but that wont happen. Maybe Ian Gilllan and friends would make sense but he often loses his voice while he s singing so he cant be the star. These guys aren’t the ROLLING STONES but they deserve respect nevertheless so keep burning down that gambling house. A long shot Gillan Coverdale Hughes Joe Lynn Turner type show would be an event but just a fantasy.
I read an article about how the producer of the new Deep Purple album had to work with Steve Morse. Steve claimed he liked to play “technical solos” – I think the producer was trying to find a nice way to say to Steve that his solos basically sucked.
At one point in time I had a Dregs album and tapes of Steve’s first two solo albums. Not a single track stuck in my head. To my ears, it’s music from the head, not the heart or soul – or whatever you want to call it. And I like listening to great players as much as anybody. When I first head Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “Between Nothingness and Eternity” my head was blown off! That’s a guy who, at his best is as technical (maybe too much) as anyone, but the passion was very evident.
I applaud Steve’s talent – he is a heck of a player, but I just wish he’d do what he’s most comfortable with. I just don’t believe it’s rock and roll.
Morse is a skilled player indeed, but all of his solo albums from 1984 to today are indistinguishable and the Dregs(who I did like) were never as mind blowing as Mahavishnu, RTF(Connors and DiMeola) or Larry Coryell could be. The Dregs were bound to be also rans.
As for Morse in these other bands, I again concur and think his presence is often negligible. Been with Purple since ’94 and still feels like he’s Steely Dan session man.
Gillan is far over the hill. The voice vanished long ago, at least 20 years, and his spite for Ritchie is pathological.
HA!
I wouldn’t walk across the street to see the new version of the Ian Gillan Band. Ritchie did the right thing in walking away from this farce. I also wouldn’t pay a penny to see this version of DP either. Gillan is an arrogant, full of himself jackass who deserves what he gets. I back Ritchie, and I always will. Joe Lynn Turner is by far a better vocalist than Gillan. Just sayin’.