The album “Turning To Crime” is different from its predecessors. Ian Gillan explains in an interview why this can be viewed as a criminal offense.
For five decades, Deep Purple’s albums were mostly self-written songs. With the 22nd studio album “Turning to Crime” the band is now breaking new ground. The album consists entirely of cover songs that the musicians recorded separately from each other in studios around the world during the lockdown. The result will be published on November 26th. In an interview with the news agency spot on news, singer Ian Gillan (76) reveals why the new album is a criminal offense and why Deep Purple will not give digital concerts.
Their new album is titled “Turning to Crime” – the cover shows police photos of all band members. How did you come up with this concept?
Ian Gillan: It was a combination of several things. I gave an interview last year asking what I was up to in lockdown. I said as a joke: “Well, I’ve been turning to crime” (in German: “I turned to crime.”) I laughed and we talked about the phrase and it stuck in my head .
Then when a photographer took a picture of me looking like a refugee prisoner, I figured that police photos would look pretty good as album covers. We also produced a completely different album than usual, which people might think was criminal. It was meant to be a joke, but turned out to be a pretty good idea.
Have you ever done something criminal yourself?
Gillan: Probably my biggest crime is thinking about it in private. (laughs) I’m actually not allowed to say that because otherwise they’ll probably arrest me. But I looked at the world around me and made my own thoughts about it – and kept them to myself.
Why did you choose to record an album from cover songs only when this could be considered “criminal”?
Gillan: It’s a bit like when we jam on stage. You just do the first thing that comes to mind and if it works then you finish it off. We weren’t really sure at first. But to be honest, the word ‘cover’ has a derogatory meaning. It means something bad these days. It’s something we’ve done all our lives – Deep Purple’s first three hits were covers. We just never did a whole album with covers.
Our real doubt, however, was that you will never get to the original with a cover. You have to respect and understand that everyone has this song engraved on their mind. So you don’t try to do better, you try to show respect. To be honest, Deep Purple are primarily an instrumental band. So we tried to find a way to show respect for the songs, to sound like us and to give each other the chance to let off steam instrumentally.
In the making of the album, you say that the idea for a cover album had been in the room for a long time. What makes a global pandemic the perfect time to finally tackle the project?
Gillan: Well, there was nothing else for musicians to do (laughs). We haven’t been on tour for two years – I’ve never been off tour in my entire career! It was okay, I wrote a lot and kept busy. But there’s nothing like the chemistry of a band that knows each other as well as we do. So we decided to give it a try. We set out to record two to four songs and if that worked we would finish the album. When I heard the demo for “7 And 7 Is” I was blown away by the energy. It felt like I was on stage with the guys.
They democratically decided which songs would make it on the album. How well did that work?
Gillan: Democracy works in a fun way. It is thought to be the best solution, but sometimes it doesn’t work for you. Of the ten songs I suggested, not a single one made it onto the album (laughs). But I’m happy with that. I think it is right that those who play the instruments choose the songs. Because I can’t change the words, but you can change the backing track like they did. I can’t even remember which songs I suggested.
You said there were songs on the album that you would never have chosen. Did that make it harder for you to perform?
Gillan: I mean that I wouldn’t have chosen them because they weren’t part of my music history. But yeah, it was a challenge. When I think back to how I grew up … My grandfather sang opera, my grandmother was a ballet dancer, my uncle was a jazz piano player and I sang soprano in the church choir. In other words, when I started rock’n’roll, I already knew a wide range of music. So I can sing these songs though. What was quite a challenge, however, was to feel these songs and not just sing them mechanically correct.
“Turning to Crime” is the first album that Deep Purple recorded remotely – i.e. in separate studios. Were there any difficulties?
Gillan: Everything is so simple these days. You push a button and you can access hundreds of recordings. Everything went really smoothly. And it wasn’t that different from our usual recording process. You have to imagine that we are in the studio in the same room to record together. However, sound screens separate us so that each sound can be recorded accurately and does not mix with the others. This time we were just separated by national borders instead of sound screens. (laughs)
During the lockdowns, numerous artists played digital concerts online. Would that have been an option for you?
Gillan: I think the reason this album works is because we had some kind of control over it. If we had had some element of improvisation in it, which is about 25 percent of our live show, it wouldn’t have worked. When we jam together, it’s physical – we call it ‘horse eyes’. If we look at each other with ‘horse eyes’, i.e. a direct, challenging look, we want to show the other person:’ Now I’m going to change something. We make a different rhythm or whatever. Be prepared!’ Something like that only works when you’re in the same room.
If we had played such a digital concert in the same room, it might have worked. But it just wouldn’t be Deep Purple. We don’t construct music, we just play it. I’m not sure tech could capture that. Also, the idea that the audience is the sixth member of the band is very important to us. That would be very difficult remotely. You could enjoy such a concert intellectually, but not emotionally.
You have been in the music business for 50 years and have seen the changes over the past few years. Nowadays everyone just streams and artists earn less and less with their music. Is it even worth recording albums?
Gillan: The most important thing is the music and we have always written music. First and foremost, we’re a band that performs. So we always need new material for the stage. So I say, ‘I’ve just written 20 songs again. What am I gonna do with it Oh, I have an idea, we could do an album! ‘ (laughs)
The songs from it form the development of the band over years and decades. It is absolutely necessary for us. Yes, the medium has changed, but the product is the music. That is more than enough. The medium has always changed and unfortunately the product has adapted to it too often. When I signed my first record deal, we received less than one percent of the revenue – and that was split between six people and a manager. This is exactly what is happening to young artists again with streaming services. The old problems based on manipulation and greed have returned. I’m definitely skeptical about that and I’m worried.