If you’ve got a wound, and it’s just about to heal up, and it’s got a nice scab on it, and you think in two or three days, that’s gonna be completely healed, then somebody comes along and pokes it with a stick, and it opens up again. And that’s what happens with the Ritchie-and-Deep Purple situation. Ian Gillan Read Quote
I remember my uncle, who was a jazz pianist, when we did Deep Purple ‘In Rock,’ he ran from the room screaming, holding his ears: ‘I can’t hear anything. I can’t hear any instruments.’ And I was rubbing my hands going, ‘Great.’ Ian Gillan Read Quote
In Poland, the whole saying is, ‘You’ve got one eye to Morocco and the other to the Caucasus.’ That’s the heart of the culture. In England, they say it less romantic: ‘You’ve got a wandering eye.’ The saying means my main stream in life must be Deep Purple. That’s my main job. Then every now, and I can wander off and have one eye to Morocco. Ian Gillan Read Quote
I love Buffalo. The people here are wonderful, genuine; they look you straight in the eye. Ian Gillan Read Quote
The thing to remember when you’re re-recording pieces from the past is that you have to have respect for the original performances, recordings, and arrangements. Ian Gillan Read Quote
You can never criticize a monumental musician like Jon Lord or Richie Blackmore, or the part they played in the group, but life goes on. Ian Gillan Read Quote
Smoke On The Water’ was ignored by everybody to begin with. We only did it in the shows because it was a filler track from ‘Machine Head.’ But then, one radio station picked up on it, and Warner Bros. edited it down to about three and a half minutes. It then started getting played by lots of different radio stations. Ian Gillan Read Quote
I think you function much better when you trust people and when you’ve got a sort of relationship where you can develop ideas within a framework. Ian Gillan Read Quote
There’s a wonderful woodland, spiritual song I wrote in Undercliff in Lyme Regis, and I used to walk up there with my dog and always come back with an idea. Ian Gillan Read Quote
