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We got to meet British legend rockers Deep Purple when they flew into Singapore for a one-night only concert at Fort Canning on Thursday, 9 May 2002. Deep Purple has been around for over 30 years and tproving hey can still get it up.

A strange location for a press conference, blues bar Crazy Elephant was where we got to meet Deep Purple up close and personal. These hard rockers were cheery and raring to go.

All in their fifties now, this legendary band was formed in 1968 in the UK. Having influenced metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden, Deep Purple has a huge fanatic following for its melodic hard rock.

Made In Japan, a live album recorded in the Land of the Rising Sun back in August 1972 was the beginning of Deep Purple becoming rock icons. They made live albums recorded in Japan hip and opened the doors for other bands to enter this market.

This album also helped Deep Purple break into the US that made it to the Top Ten upon its release. Deep Purple has since spawned classics like "Smoke On The Water", "Black Night", "Child In Time" and "Highway Star".

This superband came down to Singapore in 1991 and played to 30,000 fans at the National Stadium. However, while original guitarist Ritchie Blackmore was there, they had to settle for the lead vocals of Joe Lynn Turner from Rainbow. The concert on Thursday, 9 May 2002 marked original lead singer Ian Gillian's first performance in Singapore.

The line-up for Deep Purple has undergone several changes through their long and illustrious career. The rest of the band consists of Steve Morse (guitar), Ian Paice (drums), Roger Glover (bass) and Don Airey (keyboards). Airey just joined the band in August 2001 to replace John Lord when he got injured before their European tour.

An expected query on how Airey is fitting in with the boys, the smiley keyboardist said: "Oh great actually, I'm having a wonderful time. Musically, it's actually such a great band. It's one of the bands where it can't get any easier." With this new "family member", Deep Purple is enthusiastic to experiment with new ideas and their new album will be out sometime in Spring 2003.

Candid in all his responses, Gillian is a dynamic presence in Deep Purple. Gillian makes it a point to assert that Deep Purple is not heavy metal, though it did influence many metal bands.

Quizzed on how far is their band an influence on today's new bands, Gillian said with a chuckle: "It's odd because everything is influenced by everything else. We were influenced by the music that came before us. We're not sure when we listen to a new band, it's influenced by us or the music that came before us."

He continued: "Nothing is original. Everything is a stimulus of some sort. Rock itself seems to go in and out of popularity. There seems to be a sort of cyclical thing going on, where rock gives way to business which is usually pop stuff where you've got your boy bands and girl bands."

Cracking up the press and his bandmates, Gillian interrupts his Yoda-like stand on the state of rock music today with: "Pop and rock share the same industry and occasionally the same girls, but they don't have anything in common."

"They're really very different kinds of music. Pop is pure entertainment and rock music is an entertainment eye-opener. Rock is more of a commitment to a kind of music...to making music."

With such a huge following, it's also a given that Deep Purple songs are bootlegged and covered all over the world. One reporter asked: "Have you heard any cover versions of your band?" Gillian replied with a deadpan face: "About 3 million...It's flattering for someone to do your stuff."

To show how pervasive their covers are, Morse believes that a lot of kids between the ages of 18 and 20 probably heard more covers of "Hush" rather than the original one. The band joked about how they'd liked to hear an acoustic samba version of "Smoke On The Water".

Not at all like rockstar prima donnas, part of their long lasting success is probably due to the fact that they don't indulge in antics or drugs. Their only "vice" is probably beer, which makes them jolly rather than angry.

Besides Singapore, Deep Purple will perform in Jakarta, Australia, Bangkok and India. Very much the trailblazers of rawk, Deep Purple is still smokin' as rock legends.

source MSN


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Được sửa chữa bởi - Death_Eater vào 18/05/2002 06:40