New guitarist, new power: Deep Purple in top form on 23rd album
Published: Tuesday, Jul 16th 2024, 10:30
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Deep Purple's new guitarist is around 30 years younger than his bandmates. Singer Ian Gillan raves about Simon McBride and tells us what has changed with the new addition.
Ian Gillan is more than satisfied. After over 50 years in the music business and more than a dozen albums with Deep Purple, the 78-year-old feels great anticipation and is enthusiastic when he talks about his band's new LP. "It's not always like that," the singer admits in an interview with the DPA news agency in London. "But in this case, absolutely, yes, I'm very happy."
Studio debut of the new guitarist
There really is fire in the old rockers' new album, which is entitled "=1" (pronounced "equals one") and will be released next Friday. It is the first studio album with guitarist Simon McBride, who has been a permanent member of Deep Purple since 2022 because Steve Morse retired for personal reasons. At 45, McBride is clearly the youngest member of the band. Don Airey is 76, bassist Roger Glover is 78 and drummer Ian Paice, the only constant in the band's 50-year history, is also 76.
"He's just a kid, isn't he?" jokes Gillan about his not-so-new bandmate, who was not yet born when cult albums such as "Deep Purple In Rock" and "Machine Head" were released. McBride has long since passed his baptism of fire at many concerts with Deep Purple. And his presence is also clearly noticeable on the new album.
New energy for the band
"He has enough energy for all of us," says Gillan and laughs. "He brings so much energy that it's an inspiration. And I think you can hear that in the music. I like to compare it to a football team or other sports teams: you add a new player and suddenly the whole team plays completely differently. It doesn't have to be a star player."
Right at the beginning, the newcomer delivers a rousing duel on the strings with keyboardist Airey in the song "Show Me". Compared to his versatile predecessor Morse, who shaped the sound of Deep Purple for almost three decades and incorporated elements of blues and jazz, McBride - at least on his first Deep Purple studio album - seems more focused on classic hard rock.
Versatile hard rock, first-class songs
Overall, "=1" sounds heavier and more powerful than the last, sometimes somewhat leisurely albums by the hard rock veterans. And it is full of first-class songs. "A Bit On The Side" shines with a powerful guitar solo and exuberant, progressive escapades from Airey on the keys. "Portable Door" is a riff rocker with a fat Hammond organ and typical Purple vibe. "If I Were You" surprises with an epic orchestral finale.
Although "=1" is versatile, everything seems to come from a single source. The title is presumably also intended to symbolize this. "For me, this album is really organic," says Gillan. "It feels natural and has an unadulterated energy." Producer legend Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Kiss, Alice Cooper), with whom Deep Purple have worked for a long time, also played a big part in this. "I've always loved Bob's sound since we started working with him," enthuses Gillan. "It's just great."
Singer Gillan in top form at 78
The fact that the new music sounds unmistakably like Deep Purple is of course also down to Ian Gillan himself, who is in impressive vocal form at almost 80. "I think my voice sounds better on the new record than ever before," says the singer quite immodestly. He can afford to be. In "Old-Fangled Thing" and the driving, fast-paced "Now You're Talking", Gillan even surprises with some powerful screaming. "It just came out. I didn't plan it."
During his career, he often struggled with his voice, reports the frontman, who played with Deep Purple from 1969 to 1973, from 1984 to 1989 and continuously since 1992. "The whole thing about getting older was pretty disappointing at the time," he says. He hasn't been able to sing the epic Purple classic "Child In Time" live for a long time.
"'Child In Time' went without a hitch until I was about 38 years old," he says. "Then the whole structure of my voice changed and suddenly it became strained. And it no longer sounded like honey, it sounded strained." However, he has found a better sound in his middle range, says Gillan. "It works really great."
New enthusiasm instead of retirement
Years ago, it seemed as if Deep Purple were preparing to retire. Their tour, which ended in 2019, was called "The Long Goodbye". But there's no more talk of farewell. On the contrary - it continues relentlessly. The band is currently on tour in Europe. Immediately afterwards, they will head to America and then back to Europe. No concerts are planned in Switzerland.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm in the band," says Ian Gillan. "You don't want to let go, do you? And I think we're not just reeling something off. There's still momentum and life in it and it has its place." If proof were needed that Deep Purple are not yet ready for retirement, then "=1" is it. The hard rock institution's 23rd studio album is their best in years.
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