Their influence on other bands is huge. This week Deep Purple play in Nicosia
DEEP Purple front man Ian Gillan is looking forward to spending time with his family in the sunshine of Cyprus this month. Oh and he will also be playing a one-night concert with his band in Nicosia on July Friday.
The aging rockers are busy plans this summer: first they played in the Canadian edition of Live 8 along with Guess Who leaders Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings and Motley Crue before embarking on a European tour, which includes Nicosia.
For those unfamiliar with Deep Purple, they are band that hovered through the sixties with classic hits and are still going strong today with the release of their album Bananas two years ago. The current European tour is linked to that album. Deep Purple fans state that their music is timeless and few would deny that with songs like ‘Smoke on the Water’, ‘Child in time’, ‘Soldier of Fortune’ and ‘Strange Kind of Woman’ among the many that are described as being major influences for other songs by bands and even the makers of Hollywood movies.
Deep Purple are set to take us by storm in a concert expected to lure all ages across the island from rock lovers to some of us older folks who remember the good old, bad old days.
Sitting in his hotel room on the 35th floor in Atlantic City, 59-year-old Gillan spent most of the day speaking to journalists, myself included, ahead of the band’s upcoming European tour where apart from Cyprus, the band will also visit Greece, Spain, Germany, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and France.
But what can islanders expect from what is arguably one of the greatest rock bands ever?
“This will not be the first time that I have come to Cyprus and I was in fact on the island doing a concert with my own band. This time around, I will be in Cyprus with Deep Purple, and I will fly out here five days earlier with my family so we can have a holiday as well.”
But being on the 35th floor is not as glamorous as it seems says Gillan. “Being so high up is not all its cracked up to be. I don’t even go within five feet of the window or else I get dizzy.”
Gillan joined Deep Purple in 1969 with his first Purple album appearance on Concerto for Group and Orchestra but Gillan made his greatest vocal impact on ‘In Rock’, ‘Fireball’ and ‘Machine Head’. According to the band’s official website, the band’s most famous anthem ‘Smoke On The Water’ emphasises his ability to deliver a lyric with smouldering intensity and rock’n’roll exuberance.
And we will all be able to see that in full affect in July, he explains. “We will be doing roughly the same kind of material we always do when we are in concert. Obviously, we will play songs that people recognise from Deep Purple, but also some songs from our last album, Bananas, and some obscure material that isn’t heard on the radio. The musicians of the band are fantastic and will most likely do some improvisation on stage which fans will love. They usually plan it just before and then perform it on stage. It is a real treat.”
But Gillan, who lives in Dorset in England with his lives in England with his wife Bron and his 30-year-old Land Rover, wasn’t aware of the big following of Deep Purple in Cyprus and said that he was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was one.
l Deep Purple concert, Eleftheria Stadium, Nicosia. Friday, July 15. Tickets £25 or £30 at the door. Tickets available from Traffic Music Stores and Armenias Kisok in Nicosia; Acupella Music Stores in Larnaca, Ayia Napa and Paralimni; Musical Paradise in Limassol and Kalypso Music Shop in Paphos. For more information, tel: 22 720504