story by Melanie Falina
photo by Soren McCarty / www.musicimagery.com
The world is being overrun by idiots. And it's up to Deep Purple
frontman Ian Gillan to stop them. Gillan's weapon of choice? Bananas.
Not the potassium-rich yellow variety admired by monkey and human
alike, but as in the new Deep Purple album Bananas - released 31 years
after the British supergroup rocked the U.S. with their enduring classic
"Smoke on the Water," a staple for any new guitarist shooting
for his or her first successful chord progression.
And, as Gillan explains in a wide-ranging, in-depth conversation with
Chicago Innerview, the inspiration behind Deep Purple's latest album
title is actually more complex than one might imagine.
"It was inspired by an evocative picture that we saw in an Australian
newspaper of this guy in Vietnam riding a bicycle piled up with bananas,"
Gillan explains. "And I think it conjured up pictures of exploitation.
But to take it one stage further, my declared enemy is the 'idiocracy'
that runs Europe. I've avowed, I've declared, I will fight to my dying
day - peacefully, of course - to destroy it."
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GILLAN'S INNER VIEW
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"My declared enemy is the 'idiocracy'
that runs Europe. I've avowed, I've declared, I will fight
to my dying day - peacefully, of course - to destroy it."
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Gillan then goes on to explain this "idiocracy" for us
idiots out there, who are idiots because we are letting the world
be overrun by idiots.
"We're being governed by idiots and therefore a lot of ridiculous
decisions are being made which affect every moment of our lives,"
Gillan continues. "One of them is the rule on bananas, which
conveniently make it possible only for the producers of genetically
modified bananas to actually meet the regulations. So you can't have
any of those lovely, tasty little Brazilian bananas or the little
African ones or Indonesian ones because they all have to meet new
specifications. There are pages and pages of these ridiculous regulations.
They've all gone nuts…sorry, bananas," Gillan chuckles.
"There's a regulation for everything, the world's turned into
a mad bureaucracy and so the album is dedicated to the destruction
of Europe...not literally, but the government of Europe."
Ever insightful, Gillan has also absorbed some personal lessons throughout
his three decades as a rock icon of the music business. "Not
to worry too much about what people think of you, and have confidence
in what you're doing…this is important. I think another thing
is to take a humility pill every morning when you get out of bed with
that first cup of coffee. As time goes on you realize you're not as
important as you thought you were when you were 25 years old, and
you're really part of the larger scheme of things. And so to take
your senses and your intellect and put them together and make sure
that what you're doing musically is actually expressive and not just
going through a motion or not being part of a category that people
expect - it's down to you individually to be expressive.
"We've managed to avoid being bagged, apart from in the United
States, by most people," says Gillan. "I think that's what
keeps it fresh. It's important to focus on not being a celebrity.
That's what's kept us lasting for so long."
So why such a negative outlook on America's role in the music industry?
"It's occurred to me, it's one of the most wonderful oxymorons:
'music' and 'business;' hugely contradictory. So I've often referred
to the music business as 'moronica.' You've just got to do your best
to make it work, but I'm so saddened by the unbelievably futile attempts
to actually employ anyone in the business at the top end who knows
what the hell they're doing. We seem to employ an endless succession
of idiots who run this business and can't foresee a thing.
"All things were not good a long time ago, some things were
terrible, but there was one thing that was good when the business
was youthful. They would choose acts they felt absolutely committed
to support and back throughout their career because they didn't sign
them lightly. What they'll do now instead of saying to the media,
'This is our new act, we've just signed it, we believe in it, here's
their new record, we're going to advertise, we're going to market,
we're going to promote it,' bang, bang, bang.
"And then, what would the media do? They'd either like it or
not, but at least they'd recognize that the company was behind it.
Now, what they say is, 'Okay, we've finished with that artist, what
would you like next?' And so consequently, the media has taken on
an incredibly powerful role in the creative side of the business,
which is one of the main reasons the business is pumping out so much
rubbish. It's because it doesn't have faith in itself. And with the
greatest respect to the media, it's supposed to be reactive, not proactive,
in someone else's business. This has become quite a problem right
across the board."
It would seem to Gillan that America's attempt to specifically categorizing
hard rock bands is really a matter of comparing apples and oranges.
Or is it bananas? "This 'classic rock' thing [is something that]
we have to adapt to in the United States," Gillan explains to
Chicago Innerview. "We're generally seen as a progressive rock
band [in the rest of the world] that happens to have been around for
a long time."
Considered to be one of the pioneers of rock music and one-time inductees
into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band,
Deep Purple has maintained a career spanning more than three decades
despite several line-up changes.
In support of Bananas, Deep Purple is now on its way to tour the States
after rocking all over the rest of the world from June to December
of last year. "It's been spectacular. Everything's been sold
out so far. We've been playing to between 25 and 30,000 people in
Brazil [and] Europe."
But because of the "classic rock" criterion, the band had
to change their approach for the American concert tour. "We are
restructuring [the U.S. tour]. It's basically just a gimmick; what
we're doing is saying that we're playing the Machine Head album (the
1972 classic which gave the world "Smoke on the Water")
from beginning to end in the show, which we are in fact doing. But
it's really just a question of presentation because we do all those
songs anyway, all but one or two. We're just kind of lumping them
together - actually just to get publicity, to be honest," he
laughs.
"And the rest of the show will be exactly as we've been doing
with new songs and obscure songs, and the emphasis mostly, of course,
is on improvisation because that's what the band is all about,"
Gillan says. "We tend to make up a set list about five minutes
before we go onstage. It gets dangerous up there [but] that's what
keeps it fresh. I think it must be hell if you're going to play the
exact thing every single night. You end up being in like a cabaret
act."
When asked if he's tired yet of performing "Smoke on the Water,"
Gillan replies, "'Smoke's one of those songs - it's different
every night." He continues, "Strangely enough, I was talking
to Luciano Pavarotti - we did a show with him earlier in the year.
He was saying, 'I'm so jealous of you being able to sing 'Smoke on
the Water' every night. I have to sing these arias.' In the classical
world you have to do it exactly the same. The only thing that can
be different is maybe the nuances of your delivery. But certainly
you can't lay different emphasis on the aria itself. But with 'Smoke'
[Pavarotti] said, 'I've seen you do it about 10 times and it's different
every time.'
"It just depends on the circumstances," Gillan continues.
"It's like having a really wild horse and you need to just go
and take a ride. You don't actually play the song, you just get on
it and ride it."
Gillan's role in Deep Purple has been a wild ride in itself. "I've
left [the band] of my own volition and I've also been fired. [But]
this is the most settled and peaceful situation I've ever known Deep
Purple to be in. I think if you draw the analogy of family relationships
- it's never an easy life. Growing pains and relatives falling out
with each other, we've been through a couple 'divorces' and things
like that. And it always takes awhile to resettle and it's not only
for the band but it's also for the fans. They become unsettled and
[ask] 'What's going on here?'
"Things have improved enormously and we still have a sense of
fun as well. There's a great atmosphere in the band. I think anyone
would love to be on our tour bus as it's hurtling through the night
at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. It's hilarious the number of jokes
that are being told. Just the conversation is really good - we all
get on really well."
Deep Purple will play at the Chicago Theater Feb. 24.