IAN PAICE Looks Back On DEEP PURPLE’s Career: ‘It’s Been Good, And I Want It To Be Good For A Little While Longer’

In a new interview with Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz, Ian Paice addressed the fact that DEEP PURPLE is largely considered to be an underrated rock band in America, unlike in Europe where they have always been able to headline bigger venues. The drummer, who turned 76 last month, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, well, there’s no logical reason to it. There’s times when you are the flavor of the month and times where you’re not the flavor of the year. You just have to accept that. And that can change with a border crossing. You can go from Germany to France and in one country you’re bigger than the other one. And next year it’s the other way around. It’s down to the public’s taste. It’s also down to what they are subjected to, what they hear, what they see. As yourself, you know, media has a great control in our lives these days. And if half a dozen really big radio stations want to start playing a track, you’re in with a chance. If they all ignore it, hey, not much you can do about it. Relying on social media will get you so far. But you need to be driving down the freeway and hear something come on the radio and crank it up and go, ‘I like that.’ If you’re not given the chance, well, there you go. And there’s not much the artists can do about that.”

He continued: “I don’t think we’ve actually seriously worried about any one particular market, although everybody understands the U.S. is incredibly important. It is the biggest market. And if you can get it on your side, it makes life a lot easier. But we’re lucky that we do have the rest of the world. And so long as we believe in what we’re doing, and the audience believe that we believe what we’re doing, we’re okay. ‘Cause that’s the real secret of it. If the audience don’t believe the artist, then the artist’s got no chance. You’ve got to let them know that you are doing it for the right reasons. And for us, it’s not even a financial consideration now, though nobody refuses a check. We have a great deal of fun, and we keep saying it could be one, two years and that fun won’t be there anymore. And so every day we can get on stage and be part of this circus, this glorious rock and roll circus, is a good day. We’ve been blessed with a life which has been superb to us and given us so much enjoyment, looked after our families. You can’t say anything negative about it. It’s been good, and I want it to be good for a little while longer.”