A Conversation with Deep Purple’s Ian Paice – HuffPost 11.3.14

Mike Ragogna: Ian, you’re one of the driving forces behind the Jon Lord tribute projects that have been released. Would you go into how these CDs came about and what inspired their creation at this point in time?

Ian Paice: The whole event was the brainchild of my wife Jacky in collaboration with Jon’s wife Vicky. They are twin sisters–very, very close–and Jacky has been running the charity event, called the Sunflower Jam, since 2006. Initially, she gets musicians from different walks of life or different bands the opportunity to play together on stage. And for this unique event, some very, very well-heeled people pay a lot of money, which we can then put to good use in trying to combat some of these terrible diseases which are taking too many of us away. Anyway, when we lost Jon in 2012 to pancreatic cancer, Jacky and Vicky decided–well, Jacky decided with Vicky’s collaboration–that the next Sunflower Jam would be focused on Jon. And all the proceeds will then be donated to a new fellowship–the Jon Lord Fellowship–in a hope to try and help battle pancreatic cancer, to beat the very thing that took Jon from us. So, my role in this was really to kick open a few doors to people who maybe Jacky couldn’t get access to, to try and get their collaboration and help. And really, it’s her brainchild, not mine. I’m just a blue collared guy, she is the genius behind it.

MR: Deep Purple is of course one of the iconic rock bands that contributed its fair share of classics. Briefly going back to the early days and right up until Jon passed, how did the band create the music?

IP: The creation of the music was always–nearly always–the outcome of a jam. We would get together into a room and then we would just hammer out ideas as they came into our minds. The good ones we would work on and try to find if they could be arranged into some sort of musical format, but Ian could find a top line too, and that’s the way we’d go on and we still do that, to this day. Occasionally, somebody would bring a more complete idea into the rehearsal room, but we’re still trying to bring it into the fold of co-operative composition, so that we keep the spirit and the identity of the music that Purple creates.

MR: How would you describe your relationship with Jon?

IP: Well, very close. I mean, I`d known Jon all my adult life. From the age of, I suppose, eighteen, when I first joined Purple. So, he has always been there and apart from the years we collaborated on stage musically, our wives being twin sisters, we were never far apart socially–geographically or socially. We were always close to each other and we saw each other every week. I suppose, more than anybody else in the band, the loss was closer to me than them. But maybe they disagree with that.

MR: There are quite a few famous musicians who contributed to the CDs beyond Deep Purple such as Rick Wakeman and Bruce Dickenson. What’s the story behind they’re getting on board?

IP: Everybody who was on that stage, on April the 4th this year, had a reason to be there, whether it was through musical collaboration with Jon, or actually being a personal friend of Jon’s. And that means, everybody from Jeremy Irons, who compared the night, to Rick Wakeman to Paul Weller to every guy in the house band, Paul Mann, the conductor, everybody had a relationship with Jon, so they had a very valid reason to be there and contribute their time to the event. Paul Weller first met Jon at the first Sunflower Jam at 2006. First time I really met him, we actually ended up jamming on stage with Robert Plant, Paul and Jon and myself and a bunch of other guys. So, there was a connection there and from that time, we became friends. Same with Rick Wakeman. The amazing thing with Rick and Jon is until the 2011 Sun Flower Jam, they had never met each other, they knew each other’s work and to the primary Rock ‘n’ Roll keyboard players from our country. But that was the first time they met. So again, Rick had a very good reason to be there; Jon and Rick became very, very close friends; same musical loves, same sense of humor, very similar characters.

MR: Why was the project divided into Composer and Rock Legend discs as opposed to perhaps a box set or other configuration?

IP: We had to get a construction for the night. It would have been no good, doing one classical piece, then a rock’n’roll piece, then another one or two classical pieces; it wouldn’t have flowed properly and also the logistics for the sound guys would have been horrendous. So, we decided we will break it up into the first half, being the more gentle orchestral and lyrical side of Jon’s work, and then giving the evening a natural crescendo for using the rock ‘n’ roll and blues parts of Jon’s life to finish it up. Even to the point to closing the show with “Hush”, which was the song, we first introduced Jon to the worldwide audience being a rather great keyboard player, and the duel between Rick and Don Airey is a fitting tribute at the end of the show to Jon.

MR: And, of course, video recordings were made of these sessions as well.

IP: Yeah, the camera crew were there throughout all three days of the rehearsals. And on one of the releases–I think it’s the Blu-ray–you get an hour plus documentary included in the whole thing. So you can see all mistakes, all the glorious wonderful things that happened and all the humor…and a touch of the sadness.

MR: From your perspective, what kind of legacy does Deep Purple have in popular and rock music history?

IP: I don’t know if you can isolate us. I think there was a movement from the UK in the mid-late 60ies where the musicians to just about being good enough to play three-minute-pop-tunes a couple of years before, when I becoming quite proficient, I was looking to do more with the instruments and we were able to do it. So I think ourselves, Jethro Tull, The Who, Led Zeppelin–just these here, I could go on for quite a few more, but they’re the ones that stick out in your mind. These bands, and Purple of course, all had some very, very good musicians, who were very good and at a very young ag. So, I think we were part of that, it’s not just us. We were part of this wonderful revolution that was inspired on your side of the Atlantic and changed and given back to you a couple years later.

MR: Do you have any particular Deep Purple highlights or favorite memories of the band to this point? And why do you think “Smoke On The Water” became such a monster hit?

IP: Well, over the course of like 46 years, of course, there are things that stick out in your mind. Sometimes, they are very personal and can’t be told outside the band; sometimes, they`re very funny, but you had to be there to see the humor in it, and, sometimes, they were devastatingly sad .You know we lost some people along the way, people in the crew, people in the band, who were in the band on times, there were tough times as well. Most of these memories have to stay within the band, that’s just the way it is. Why was “Smoke…” such a hit? Why is ‘Louie Louie’ such a hit, why is “Stairway to Heaven” such a hit? Certain songs just kept to the imagination of the listener. It may be a quirky top line, it may be an amazing riff, it may be a beautiful melody. I think the glorious “Smoke…” is that, on the face of it, it’s very, very simple. But I’d never heard anybody outside of Purple actually play it properly. Everybody tries to play it far too heavy and that really isn’t. The tempo is important, but the swing inside the straight eight beat is really important, too. If that’s not there, then it just plops along. So, I think it was the genius of Richie’s riff and the ability of the band and Jon to give it an extra dimension and I just think the simplicity with something indefinable is what connects with people on that song.

MR: What else are you working on?

IP: Well, I don’t do much alone so I do the old sessions for people, if I think I can do justice to the track they sent me, they want me to do. Most of my time is still taking up with Purple on the road and that’s really the way I want it. I do guest with cover bands sometimes between tours, just to keep my hand in.You know, it’s quite normal for us to have five, six, seven weeks between tours and for me, sitting in a rehearsal room, going through the motions, it is just totally useless. You know, in a rehearsal room, you can make mistakes, you don’t develop the same power, you don’t have the same discipline and control of what you`re doing. It has to be on a stage in front of an audience. So every now and again, you see me guesting in a semi-pro-/just-about-pro-band and I’m thanking them for that, ’cause it gives me a chance to actually play in front of an audience and that keep my chops up, where I think they should be.

MR: What advice do you have for new artists?

IP: Just remember why you start doing any artistic dough, whether it’s music or painting, sculpting whatever, drama, dance. You do it ’cause you like it, it`s something that really interests you and makes you happy. If you are lucky enough and success comes along and that then becomes your life and your career, that’s great! But really, you know, always remember why you started doing it. And if all you ever do, if you`re a drummer, you’re sitting in the garage with a pair headphones on and play along with your favorite musicians – You still have a wonderful gift that you’ve given yourself. Always enjoy, just remember why you did it.

MR: What’s next creatively and personally for you?

IP: Well, at this stage of my life, all I want to really keep doing is what I`ve been able to do in the past. And that means, I gotta stay healthy, I gotta stay sharp, I got to be aware that eventually the years will make things I do more difficult in the future and, again, keep enjoying the fact when I go on stage, those years disappear and I`m that 15-year-old-kid who started there again.