R13: Deep Purple have fans from 6 to 60+, how do you feel about having such a profound effect on music?
Ian Gillan: "I don't know what we feel about it. Probably when I'm long gone I'll be able to figure it. No one in the band has any ambition in commercial terms. We just want to have a good time really and play the music. We enjoy ourselves rehearsing almost as much as we enjoy ourselves performing. The great thing about a performance is that it's just left for us to figure it out for ourselves and for those who've been to a 'Purple show. For those who go twice, they can't believe the difference between the two shows, because it's different every night. A lot of improvisation goes on; it gets quite dangerous up there! The guys are still practicing for six hours every day and we do five cities a week on the road. They can have a conversation with you, and you know how conversations can twist and turn, well that's how the music goes every night. So I don't know what it is but if I was to make a guess why the band has been successful over all these years it's because we've avoided the commercial trap. I think we've remained underground pretty much. People keep trying to sell records for us, but the only reason we make records is that we've got some new material for the next tour. That's the way it's always been."
R13: Your new album 'Rapture Of The Deep' has a depth to it reminiscent of 'Deep Purple In Rock' and 'Machine Head' and yet it also displays a freshness that almost hints at a rebirth. How do you see the bands evolvement up to this point?
Ian Gillan: "Well it's an evolutionary thing- I wouldn't call it a rebirth or renaissance because it's something that's the result of one record that has a knock on effect and that record was called 'Purpendicular', which was the first one we made after Richie left. That was the rebirth and because you've got a history it takes a lot for people, particularly in the industry, to grasp what's happening because there is a lot of knew stuff and therefore you can't really battle it out commercially, so you really have to rebuild and get reborn from within your own audiences. So we started playing relatively small crowds and gradually the fan base grew and grew again, and the recording with it. The second important phase was when we took on Michael Bradford our producer for our 'Bananas' record, which was a very political record, and having done one we knew what to expect in the studio. So when you say it reminds you of 'Machine Head' and 'In Rock' maybe it's because of the vitality and the way it was recorded. We turned up at the studio, had a cup of tea, talked about the glittering prospects of Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest for the forthcoming season and went into the studio. Five weeks later we came out with a record. Six hours a day of improvisation. I've got a friend that bangs on about vinyl being better than CD's and I said "Why do you think that is Mike?" and he said "Well it's the vinyl isn't it." I said "No, I don't think so. When vinyl was the only medium for music, musicians used to rehearse a song, go in to a recording studio, get mic'd up, the producer would say right let's do a sound check, one for balance and one run through, i.e. that sounds great. Take One! Then the band used to play altogether in the same room at the same time and come out with a piece of music. That's why vinyl sounds good because it's a live performance. As opposed to when digital recordings came along, you didn't go in and do a performance; you went through a recording process, which is an entirely different thing. So the vitality is missing." So I think that's why it sounds like 'In Rock' because we are recording in the same way even though it's directly digital. I would say the rebirth was ten years ago and your just seeing the evidence of it now."
R13: Going back to the CD and vinyl issue; well now there's the download charts, and yet people still like to have something to hold in their hands...
Ian Gillan: "Something tangible, it's nice always to have something you can take home and read the lyrics and look at the pictures the first time you hear the record. Because it's a lot to do; to absorb all at one time on the first play, and I know the first play is the most important play for anyone. I suppose you can download the artwork as well as the music but it's not quite the same as sitting cross legged on the floor. You have to sit at your computer; it's a whole bunch of machinery now instead of being a simple thing. Going back to it, I don't care if it's downloading CD's or vinyl the idea of how the music is recorded is one thing and the idea of being important to anyone is another. The most important thing to me is that people actually get to hear the music."
R13: Where did the inspiration for the title track ('Rapture Of The Deep') come from?
Ian Gillan: "In actual fact there is a loose conceptual thread running throughout the album and that's a spiritual approach dealing with some very profound subjects in this record. Although they're not evident from what you might hear, they're things you've got to delve around for. I'm not Bono and this is not U2, I don't literally scream my message from the rooftops. If anyone wants to find it, it's there. I've got no answers, but I've got a load of questions that I wanted to delve into...'Rapture Of The Deep'? I think it follows a loose train of events of how things were triggering in my mind. I got a picture from a fan on my website that was a photograph of a sign on a village pond somewhere in the Midlands, with a sign saying 'Danger. Deep Water.' And somebody had crossed out the 'Water' and put Purple on it. Somehow in the back of my mind 'Rapture Of The Deep' came and first of all I thought, what a great album title that would be, and it has a litterative value it's got the word Deep in it too so that was cool. Then I started thinking about it. It's a very evocative phrase. Then I really started getting into the heavy work and I was up at five in the morning thinking about these things. I don't write lyrics straight away, I just write loads of stories, phrases, ideas and mental pictures about these things. So they're all grouped around and I can draw inspiration; then you employ the craft and start rhyme and meter, but basically you've got to have some substance there. The floor's covered in paper and I'm running around drinking coffee. Sometimes it goes wrong because I'm normally working on five or six songs at the same time so they can get confused. Especially at my age! It's very deep, very spiritual, but it's not certainly about nitrogen narcosis! It's not about where Jacques Cousteau brought the expression from. I've been in nitrogen narcosis myself and when you're down to three atmospheres or more, just breathing compressed air, it's a kind of wild, abandoned feeling, like being drunk or high and you want to rip all your clothes off and do really dangerous things, including throwing away your equipment and many people have been known to die. So I thought I can be like that when I'm completely straight. I was sitting there thinking all these ideas and I'm thinking, I'm moving into dangerous territory here with some of the subjects I'm covering. If I said these things out loud a few hundred years ago I could have my head cut off, I would be considered either a crank or a heretic. So it's in there for everyone to read, but I thought 'Rapture Of The Deep' was just a perfect title."
R13: And for the other songs, did the inspiration come in a similar way?
Ian Gillan: "Yes everything. 'Wrong Man' is about a guy who's been in jail. 'Before Time Began' is actually about the future when a new time will begin; "Every day of my life I discover/Someone murdering my sisters and brothers/In the name of some god or another" That gets it said as far as that songs concerned. 'Girls Like That' is a quirkish reference to behavioural pattern and it's just a bit of fun. But when you're in a certain mood and you're writing a lot of stuff over a short period of time it has a collective value. They're not just individual songs, they're a reflection of the mood of the band, musically, lyrically, and socially at that particular time. It's rather like a photograph album. You get a folder when you come back from your holidays and you've taken a load of photos of your mates cavorting and getting drunk then you go into this folder and that's your holiday folder for that time. Two weeks later you might be in someone's house, maybe having a serious conversation about something. You'll look different, behave differently, the topics will be different. That's why albums are important to be done in short period of time. Otherwise it's just a collection of songs."
R13: Has it always been like that?
Ian Gillan: "No. We've always tried to do that, but it rarely happens. It happened with 'Deep Purple In Rock', it happened with 'Fireball' and it happened with 'Machine Head'. Also to a certain extent finding our feet with 'Purpendicular' and with 'Abandoned' it took a little longer. But since we've had Michael Bradford as a producer, we've been able to get this focus back into the process and it's exciting.
I get butterflies every day when I go into the studio now because I'm expected to do a performance instead of an endless amount of overlaying. I've got to finish it and deliver it."
R13: Touring obviously is hard work...
Ian Gillan: "No. It's a preconception. It's easier than it used to be. We get nice hotel rooms now- I used to have to share with everyone. The equipment is great and we have fantastic technicians to look after everything. I get to have a nice tour bus with a bunk in it!"
R13: Living the easy life then?!
Ian Gillan: "I didn't say it was easy. It's fulfilling!"
R13: With this year seeing Iron Maiden taking the Reading/Leeds festivals by storm is there any chance of Deep Purple doing the same next year ?
Ian Gillan: "I dunno' what the plans are. I know we're going to be in 40 countries. This tour kicks off in January and it's gonna last for two years. I'm sure we shall be coming into the UK but I don't know what we're doing yet."