Ahead of his appearance with tribute band Purpendicular in Malta on Sunday, world-famous Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice spoke to James Cummings about his life in music and what keeps driving him forward.
For legendary drummer Ian Paice, performing now is just as enjoyable as it has always been.
“Oh, it’s always fun,” he said, speaking from his hotel room in Poland while on the road with Purpendicular, the Deep Purple tribute band which enjoys regular collaboration with Paice.
“Performing is important to me for two reasons: I always enjoy playing and [Deep] Purple won’t be doing any serious touring till late spring next year. So, I go out and I keep playing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s to 20 or 20,000 people, you have to have the same discipline,” Paice said.
“When I play with [Perpendicular founder] Robby and the boys, they’re doing me a great favour letting me keep my chops up,” he said, revealing a humility which belies the magnitude of his world-striding career.
A founding member of Deep Purple, Paice is the only permanent fixture of the band and has been its constant rhythmic powerhouse along its 55-year history.
Known for such iconic tracks as Highway Star, Child in Time and Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple’s impact on musical history cannot be easily overstated, having sold more than 100 million records and having performed to packed stadiums for decades.
And when, in 2016, the band was formally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, one could be forgiven for thinking this was probably just a formality.
So how does it feel to have been part of one of the biggest bands in history?
“Quite honestly, I don’t think about it at all. Those sorts of statements are made by other people; they’re not something the musician thinks about. We just get on with it and hope we can do it for as long as we can and have a lot of fun,” he said.
“But when you get those really good shows, you feel very satisfied you’ve done something a little special. That’s the important thing, that’s what makes it magic.”
Yet, despite a career to date that most musicians can only dream of, Paice shows no sign of slowing down, with Sunday’s appearance just the latest in his busy performing schedule.
Where does he find the energy to maintain such a busy workload?
“It’s the fun of playing and, over the course of the years, you learn to refine your playing and make sure you don’t waste energy,” he explained, adding that seeing some of his peers having to stop playing over time has reaffirmed his belief in the importance of a good technical grounding.
“They’ve been using muscles when they should have been using technique... I’m thankful that I can still do it and I’m thankful I learned to play the way I did.”
Outside of his work with Deep Purple, Paice is a regular performer with Purpendicular, the tribute group founded by Robby Thomas Walsh in 2007 that has since managed to successfully carve out its own identity while remaining faithful to the iconic band that inspired it.
The second of its two studio albums to have been released since 2017, Human Mechanic, is the namesake of the band’s current tour, which sees them visit Malta this December to perform classic hits by Deep Purple alongside material from the new release.
Paice says he is looking forward to returning to the country after having last visited Malta around 25 years ago but wishes he had the opportunity to stay for longer, an experience he explained is all too often the case when on tour.
“I’ve got a show with the Buddy Rich Big Band four days later and I’ve got to rehearse with them. Hopefully, in the future I’ll be able to spend more time in Malta,” he said.
“But, on tour, I often just see the airport, hotel and concert room... I might have seen the world but I haven’t seen the world, if you know what I mean.”
As a member of one of the world’s biggest ever rock bands, how does Paice see the future of the genre following the emergence and increasing dominance of electronic and synthesized music?
“Music has to be created by people, not machines, otherwise it’s just a facsimile of music. There’s no real human involvement, no human feel to it.”
“And, eventually, kids get bored with that. My kids did when they were growing up; they started looking at my record collection and lost interest in what MTV was showing. And that will always happen,” he said.
“Whether it’ll ever be the same as it was before, I don’t know. But so long as there’s a generation of kids who want to physically create something musically, there’s hope.”
Ian Paice will perform with Perpendicular at the Aria Complex, in San Ġwann on Sunday, December 3. For tickets, visit showshappening.com.