Ian Gillan – Metal Express Radio

DEEP PURPLE (Live)

November 8, 2024 Mick Burgess

It’s quite incredible to think that over 55 years after cracking the American singles chart with “Hush”, rock legends, Deep Purple, have, 23 albums and 100 million album sales later, have finally landed a UK Number One single with “Lazy Sod” from their latest release =1. Quite an achievement for a band in the twilight of their career. Kicking off with traditional set opener “Highway Star”, the first of four from their classic Machine Head opus and the finest driving song of them all was always going to set things off with a bang. Guitarist Simon McBride’s interplay with keyboardist Don Airey was astonishing. Close your eyes for a moment, it was if the originals Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore were duelling as if their lives depended on it. They were that good. While most bands of their generation seem content to sit on their laurels and live off their past glories, Deep Purple are no ordinary band and with =1 they may well have delivered their best album in 40 years, since the stunning reunion album Perfect Strangers. Maybe some of that comes from the introduction of new guitarist Simon McBride who replaced the previous incumbent Steve Morse. McBride has brought a new vigour and fire to the band with a sense of dynamism and passion which nods towards their illustrious glory days while keeping them relevant in the 21st century. His solos paid homage to the originals yet with his own vision stamped right through them. It’s no surprise therefore that six songs were aired from their new album including “A Bit On The Side” and the powerhouse drive of “Now You’re Talking” sitting proudly next to those glorious classics “Space Truckin’” and “Lazy”, where drummer Ian Paice’s effortless swing was a joy to behold aided and abetted by …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE (Live at The First Direct Arena, Leeds, U.K., October 23, 2022)

IAN GILLAN (DEEP PURPLE): “[SIMON MCBRIDE]’s Given Us Our Mojo Back”

November 1, 2024 Mick Burgess

With the release of their 23rd album, =1, Deep Purple may well have delivered their best album since Perfect Strangers in 1984. Mick Burgess caught up with lead singer, Ian Gillan on the eve of their UK Tour to chat about the album and what they have planned for the tour. In a few week’s you’ll be embarking on a five date UK arena tour. Are you looking forward to it? Absolutely. We’re very much looking forward to it. This tour actually started in May but we are finishing in the UK so we are definitely looking forward to it for sure then we’ll be off the road for Christmas and then I’ll get a holiday but we will be working after the tour is finished. You’ve called it the One More Time Tour. Is this really going to be your last tour or do you still intend to play select dates as and when you want? We actually changed the name to the =1 Tour when we realised what everyone was thinking because that’s what it sounds like but we didn’t think of it like that. We meant it more in musical terms of “let’s go again”. We had a previous tour with similar problems called The Long Goodbye Tour so this is definitely not going to be our last tour. Many of your peers have long since retired from the road. What is it that keeps you inspired to travel the world to play? We’ve never stopped playing live. That’s how we started. I’ve been on the road since I was 16 years old and I’ve lived out of a suitcase since then apart from a period in the ’70s but since 1978 or 1979 I’ve been on the road and I can’t think of a better life. It’s very …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE – =1

August 8, 2024 Bryce Van Patten

The legendary band that helped pave the way for the creation of Heavy Metal, the hardest working band with over 100 million albums sold has given us another great record. Deep Purple is easily one of the most influential bands in the world, as anyone visiting a guitar shop is still very likely to hear someone playing the classic riff to “Smoke on the Water” still to this day. The band has no quit in them, as the recent departure of guitarist Steve Morse hasn’t slowed them down a lick. New Blood Enter Simon McBride (Snakecharmer, ex-Sweet Savage, Don Airey and Friends) to step in and step up to fill the shoes of not just Steve Morse, but also of legend Ritchie Blackmore. The north Irishman had already worked with Don Airey and friends in 2016, as well as Ian Gillan in 2019, making him a natural choice when Morse retired due to personal reasons in 2022. McBride feels like a perfect fit with the band, and the new album showcases his guitar work quite a bit. Final Notes =1 is once again produced by legend Bob Ezrin (producer for Kiss’ Destroyer, and many other classic albums), who definitely knows how to capture the essence of the band. Gillan still has an amazing voice, Airey is perfect on the keys, Glover is as solid as ever, and Paice is still one of the best drummers ever. The new songs sound fresh, yet still have that classic Deep Purple vibe that is unmistakable. =1 is a great album, and more than worth picking up in a physical format, whether it’s vinyl or CD. Two horns up for the continued great music from Deep Purple! Lineup Ian Gillan – vocals Roger Glover – bass Ian Paice – drums Don Airey – keyboards …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE / BLUE ÖYSTER CULT (Live)

October 24, 2022 Mick Burgess

Now this is what you call a tasty bill. Two of Hard Rocks legendary names on stage together with over a century’s worth of music between them, this was a veritable feast. For those lucky enough to have caught Blue Öyster Cult on one of their own headlining shows earlier in the week, tonight was an opportunity to catch them again. As a band who are no strangers to switching their set lists from night to night, those who had seen them on those earlier shows were treated to some songs not previously performed including opener “Stairway To The Stars”, the epic “Then Came The Last Days Of May” and the sizzling “Hot Rails To Hell” performed in spirited fashion by Richie Castellano. Occupying the “Special Guest” slot meant a shorter set for the New York veterans but for an hour they thrilled the large and appreciative audience with the Biker Rock anthem “Golden Age Of Leather” replete with the toast raising acapella intro and the riff heavy “Extra Terrestrial Intelligence” With original members Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma sharing the bulk of the lead vocals it was a night of quality music delivered in their own unique fashion with heavy weight riffs, beautiful melodic guitar work and mesmerising, dark harmonies. New songs “That Was Me” and “Box In My Head” were well received but it was the cacophonic riff of “Godzilla” and the wistful melody of their iconic hit, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” that brought the Arena to their collective feet. With the bar set unfeasibly high, Deep Purple had to pull out all the stops and an opening salvo of “Highway Star” swiftly followed by “Pictures Of Home” both from the classic Machine Head album were the perfect start. Coming bang up to date with “No Need To …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE – Whoosh!

August 18, 2020 Bryce Van Patten

Deep Purple still Going Strong With 50+ years making kick ass music and basically founding Heavy Metal in the 5 piece format it’s a pleasure to see that Deep Purple are still making music to please themselves, which means that we as fans are treated to more great music from our heroes. One could write and go on for hours about how important Deep Purple is as an influence to the heavy metal scene today, so when we get a new release from them we tend to look at things a bit differently than we might from a lesser known (not legendary) band. When I heard their 21st album Whoosh! I was both surprised and happy that it sounded just like the Deep Purple I grew up with. With Ian Gillan on vocals, Steve Morse on guitars, Don Airey on keyboards, Roger Glover on bass and founding member Ian Paice on the drums we have a line up of legends with one thing being very clear, these guys still love making and playing music. 3rd Time’s a Charm Legendary producer Bob Ezrin (Aerosmith – Get Your Wings, Kiss – Destroyer, Alice Cooper – Welcome to my Nightmare just to name a few) is along for the ride for the 3rd time, helping the band put together songs that all tell a story, and sound like they were crafted in the glory days of the early to mid 70s. I’ve never been a fan of older bands that try to sound modern by playing in a style that may be the sound fashion of the day, and in Bob Ezrin the band has found a kindred spirit to help them stay firmly in their wheelhouse of playing heavy blues based rock. Whoosh! is a collection of 12 new songs by the …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE (Live)

September 12, 2019 Bryce Van Patten

Deep Purple continues to amaze with incredible musianship Tuesday night the Portland, Oregon audience was blessed with one of the greatest heavy bands of all time playing at the Keller Auditorium. I am of course talking about Deep Purple: one of the most influential bands for Heavy Metal. Kicking off the show the band opened with one of their most revered classics: “Highway Star.” It was almost like being back in the 70s, listening to “Made in Japan” as the band rocked the house with an amazing wall of sound. Deep Purple features the Mach II lineup of Ian Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice joined by Steve Morse and Don Airey. Ian Gillan has always been one of the most influential singers in Heavy Metal, and he still puts on an amazing performance. Gillan teased the crowd at one point at the end of a song with the line from Jesus Christ Superstar: “I don’t want to taste your poison”, leaving fans hungry for more. Machine Head featured heavily in the set Next up, the crowd was delighted by “Pictures of Home” off of the epic Machine Head album. In fact, the band played 5 songs from Machine Head out of 13 total tracks, and rightfully so. “Pictures of Home” has always been a personal favorite, and the band did not disappoint with this incredible performance. With so much material to possibly pull from, it’s hard to include everyone’s favorite song, but for me the set was a perfect mix of their best work. Guitar virtuoso Steve Morse was fantastic, and on “Sometimes I feel Like Screaming” off of the Perpendicular album he really showed his emotion and brilliant technique. Don Airey was beyond incredible on the keyboards, doing justice to the legacy of Jon Lord on every song. As …READ MORE

IAN GILLAN (DEEP PURPLE, GILLAN): “I Want To Look Forward And Get As Much Done As I Can Before Everything Falls Off”

September 25, 2016 Mick Burgess

After leaving Deep Purple in 1973, Ian Gillan went on to form the Ian Gillan Band, an experimental jazz influenced band far removed from his Purple roots. By 1978 Gillan decided to form a new band and returning to a classic Hard Rock style. From 1979-1982 Gillan produced five albums over a particularly creative three year period. Mick Burgess called up Ian Gillan to chat about the Gillan years and the release of a new vinyl box set containing those classic albums. In October you’ll be releasing Gillan: The Vinyl Collection 1979-1982. Are you looking forward to get this collection out and released? I am very much looking forward to that. I haven’t seen the finished product yet but I’ve seen a photograph of the package and it looks great, it’s really good. I’m a big fan of the packaging of the vinyl records in particular. It’s a wonderful thing. Why did you decide to release this collection at this point of your career? Well if you think I had anything to do with it then you’re sorely mistaken!! I got a message a few weeks ago saying that the label was putting this boxed set out and asked if I’d do some interviews. They sent me a photograph and some details of what they were proposing and it looked good so I thought why not. Does this mean that you might make a few quid out of this one? Well I hope so. We’ll see about that. This collection is purely a vinyl only release. Is it going to stay like that or is a CD collection in the works? The CDs were comprehensively reissued with bonus tracks a few years ago so this will be just the vinyl. This will be special as it was the original format. …READ MORE

Interview with Ian Gillan (Deep Purple)

May 29, 2009 Mick Burgess

Ian Gillan, legendary lead singer with Deep Purple, talks to Mick Burgess about his newly released solo album, ‘One Eye to Morocco’.

IAN GILLAN – One Eye To Morocco

March 31, 2009 Guest Writer

If you’re ever in need of a slight reprieve from Hard Rock or Metal, MER is here to help. We’re not going to give you Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift or any of their contemporaries, (to hell with that shit) but surely there’ve been occasions where the most seasoned Metal fan is looking for something to lighten their mood. It’s okay to slow the breakneck pace that comes along with headbanging by listening to someone like Ian Gillan. The man’s work with Deep Purple has been well noted and those that are waiting for something new from them have a fitting alternative with this collection of tracks. One Eye to Morocco is excellent for fans of Purple and Gillan alike. It’s been ten years since the guy released an album of entirely new stuff, but his work here more than proves its value. This isn’t exclusively a Rock album; at times it’s got a southern fried bluesy style and some occasionally soulful flourishes to go along with it. In fact, there are also interesting electronic influenced genres that Gillan delves into. The overall vibe is a laidback one. As you listen, you’ll likely feel inclined to kick back and chill out. This isn’t an album that induces the anger, power, or fury that Metal can inspire. Rather, it’s about Classic, Old School Rock, and reverence for its foundations. Songs like “Better Days” see Gillan testing his skills as a blues vocalist. Unsurprisingly, he pulls things off without a hitch. “Deal With It” has the aforementioned electronic touch to it. Once again, the man succeeds in taking a seemingly strange style and incorporating it into his own personal sound. If you want some really catchy tracks, “Don’t Stop” and “Ultimate Groove” will be a source of satisfaction. They’ve got simple choruses, …READ MORE

DEEP PURPLE (Live)

November 26, 2003 Per Olav Heimstad

Good old Deep Purple, they really impressed me this time. This late night at Spektrum Concert Hall in Oslo they performed nothing less than six tracks from their recent album Bananas, and I respect them enormously for that! Being releasing albums since the 60s, and some very successful ones in the 70s, Deep Purple knows a lot of people show up at their shows just to hear their old classics. As you can see from the setlist below several standards/old hits were performed, but the constantly changing crew of Deep Purple sure paid attention to their present state of being. Therefore they insisted on feeding new material to the crowd, and you know what? –It worked just great. Energy and playfulness came in truckloads from the stage no matter if the songs that were played were old or brand new. Respect. Bananas might not be one of the top ten Purple albums, but believe me, the songs they’ve picked from it rocked! Especially the title track and “Doing It Tonight” were very cool. “I Got Your Number” was kind of dull, but led towards a high energy instrumental jam which seemingly was enjoyed by most of the audience. Those in the audience who weren’t prepared for this material had themselves to blame. The new album has been made available in music stores for months… There are all these troubles with Deep Purple that people write and talk about… Ian Gillan’s voice, “the new” guitarist, the new keyboard player… First thing first: If Gillan hadn’t been this tremendous singer 15 to 30 years ago, no one today would have doubted his abilities as a front man for a rock band with grown up musicians. ( …The way he dresses these days is a worse problem than his voice… ) Steve Morse …READ MORE