IAN GILLAN

{NOTE: This interview also appears at blah3.com. Used by permission: interviewer was the guy that works at that site whose girlfriend is a good friend of mine... long story, but here's the interview...}

In between stops on the 1998 Deep Purple World Tour and the ever-important World Cup Tournament, Ian Gillan found time to call me from Bochot, Germany and talk about his solo album (Dreamcatcher), the newly- invigorated Deep Purple, and his feelings toward making music for the better part of 30 years.

The first question I asked was about Dreamcatcher, which Ian built from what he calls the 'happy noise' he makes. "I'm singing all the time - I sing in the shower, I sing when I'm walking down the street or I'm on the beach. And I was in Portugal a few years ago, and I realized that I'd never sung anything that I've written. I realized you can't sing 'Speed King' to your little kid, and you can't sing rock and roll songs in the bath. It just doesn't sort of hang right. So I picked up my guitar and said, 'I'm going to write something which is melodically-led, lyrically-led'. The only time I had ever done that was with Roger Glover, when we made an album called Accidentally on Purpose, about ten years ago."

Ian says the results of this writing method were that "I started expressing things in a different way. There are certain elements that are quite elusive when you're writing with a rock band. They come a lot easier when you're just sitting down quietly on your own. Consequently, the arrangements stayed fairly gentle."

The centerpiece of the album is a song called 'Gunga Din', which is described by Ian as a 'sea chanty', and it's dedicated to Ian's late father. The liner notes of the CD contain a poignant story about Ian identifiying his father after an automobile accident, and it may lead the listener to expect 'Gunga Din' to be a gentle ballad. But because of the Gillan family outlook on life, the song itself is a rousing singalong. "I always remembered my dad as being extremely chirpy- we've always been a positive sort of family, and we never really look on the serious side of things, except perhaps in a spiritual way. The family motto is, 'We Laugh at Pain'. I don't have an overrriding adoration or worship of convention, and I do like breaking the rules now and again."

Another pleasant aspect of Dreamcatcher was Ian's relationship with Forbidden Records, whom he struck up a friendship with while working in Orlando with Purple a couple of years back. "We have no contract- we did things on a handshake, and I hope to spend many happy years with them. It reminds me of the music business as it was a long time ago, when it was based on music and enthusiasm, and it wasn't based on a lot of pre-conceptions and marketing niches. It's a fun way of working, so I feel very much at home at Forbidden Records."

That outlook resulted in an album you may not expect from Deep Purple's lead singer, and Ian seems truly excited to be able to define a different aspect of his talent. "Music is such a fun thing, but you can get absolutely pigeonholed. I think that must be terrible if you're that locked into something. It's like food, it's like anything you might appreciate. One day it's just time for a change. There's a lot of people I know would like to do it, but they haven't got the opportunity because they're locked into the image thing, and that becomes a problem."

"But the great thing about Purple is there's always been this freedom to work outside of the band. Jon Lord's always done his projects- he's got an new album coming out at the end of the year. And Steve Morse- every time he gets a weekend off, he makes another album."

Mentioning Steve Morse brings up the matter of Richie Blackmore's departure, and the band's rediscovery of groove theory since Morse came on board. "I think that's something that we used to do once, and we sort of forgot how to do, and the whole thing became somewhat acedemic. But if you talk about groove, Ian Paice grew up in the Buddy Rich school of music, and these guys are great players. I'll have to say that it was a problem with Richie, because he was very dominant, and he wanted very much to get into that production thing. I think the Eighties were wonderful for him, and that whole Rainbow thing was a very clear expression of what he likes to do, that sort of rock/pop stuff. A band that's been around as long as this, it's like a family. I think to coin the phrase 'We stayed together for the sake of the kids' is really quite accurate. And to do that creates a lot of pressure, and it also squeezes a lot of the potential life out of the band."

"These guys are such great players, they could always turn out some really good tunes and make some good albums, but I could tell that they haven't actually had the band's spirit. I think it's a combination of Steve Morse, and also the band being like a family again. When you've got a happy family, everyone's relaxed. And when you're relaxed, it breeds confidence and when you're confident, you can be expressive. It's obviously got a lot to do with having Steve in the band, but I think it's got just as much to do with the fact that Paicey and Roger are playing at their peak again. It's a damned great rhythm section. I could go on all day about it. It's an extremely wonderful situation right now, and we're making the most of it."

Ian has established a web site called Caramba!, which he contributes weekly articles to from the road. He also has an archive called 'Anecdotage', which consists of past articles he has written for the site. "I do interviews on the Net quite frequently and we get a colossal response to that, and we have a guest page as well, and a lot of interesting departmental eccentricities."

With all that's going on with Ian and Purple, it's evident that he's enjoying every minute of it. "There's no reason playing music, unless you can make your dreams come true. When I was a kid I used to lean on the edge of the stage watching Chris Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, thinking one day I'd like to be in a hard-rocking, professional band like that, and that was the only dream I ever had. We never had any other thoughts- we didn't want to be stars or anything, we just wanted to be in a hard-rocking band. We have to be sort of irreverent towards the business, and that puts noses out of joint sometimes, but we don't really mean any harm by it. We have to determine our own direction. Sometimes it seems like we're being arrogant, but, hey- we're not civil servants."