DEEP PURPLE’s Ian Gillian Talks BLACK SABBATH’s Born Again Tour And RITCHIE BLACKMORE Contact: “We Were Arseholes, But We Do Pass Messages And The Atmosphere Is Quite Good”

October 12, 2020, 3 years ago

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DEEP PURPLE’s Ian Gillian Talks BLACK SABBATH’s Born Again Tour And RITCHIE BLACKMORE Contact: “We Were Arseholes, But We Do Pass Messages And The Atmosphere Is Quite Good”

In a new interview with the UK’s The Guardian, Deep purple singer Ian Gillian talks about the band’s new album, Whoosh!, and digs deep into his storied career.

“I think loyalty is overrated,” he says. “I’ve seen many musicians who have stayed with a sinking ship when their time has gone. Certain things have a natural lifetime, and unless they’re refreshed by a change in personnel or circumstances, they become tired, and I don’t want any part of that.” 

About his relationship with former guitarist Ritchie Blackmore: “We were both arseholes. Ritchie has nothing electronic in his house – no computers, no telephones, nothing like that. So he’s completely unreachable. But we do pass messages, and the atmosphere is quite good.”

And how a drunken evening got him the gig singing with Black Sabbath: “I was having a drink with Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. We got thoroughly pissed one night and my manager called me the next morning and said, ‘If you’re going to make career decisions, don’t you think we should talk it through first?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, Apparently you agreed to join Black Sabbath last night.’ I couldn’t remember any of it.”

“With all the money being spent,” Gillan adds about the Born Again tour and the infamous Stonehenge stage set, “they had never used dry ice at the rehearsals, but then this wall of shoulder high dry ice came out. There was the dwarf (from the album art) and the druids and the gong … the dwarf fell off, and then carried on screaming because someone had moved all the mattresses away.”

Read more at The Guardian.

(Ian Gillan live photo by Mark Gromen)



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