Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan on playing Jesus, singing with Pavarotti and what’s on his bucket list

If there is one thing that is true about Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan, it’s that not everything he says is true. 

“Somebody once asked me, ‘Are you a truthful person?’ I said yes — except when I’m doing interviews,” Gillan said with a sly chuckle. 

Hard to believe that someone who so passionately played Jesus could be anything less than honest. 

Gillan was already rocking hard with Deep Purple when "Jesus Christ Superstar" lyricist Tim Rice asked him to sing the part of Jesus on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s must-have 70s album.  

“I remember (Rice) saying, ‘What we’d like you to do is extemporize on the melody, just the way you do with Deep Purple. Just sort of improvise a little bit, and do it in your natural style,’” Gillan said. 

But Rice’s idea was not exactly what Webber had in mind. 

“Andrew looked over and said, ‘Yes, but not too much,'” Gillan recalled. “Which pretty much set the tone for the session.” 

Gillan said he laid down the track to “Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)” in three hours and was out in time to hit the stage with Deep Purple that night. 

Many consider his soulful performance on "Superstar" as one of the best of his career, holding its own in sound and feel a world apart from the falsetto screams behind monstrous Deep Purple hits such as “My Woman from Tokyo,” “Highway Star,” “Space Truckin’” and, of course, “Smoke on the Water.” 

Deep Purple, Blue Öyster Cult to play at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Now, more than 40 years after "Jesus Christ Superstar," Gillan and Deep Purple will join Blue Öyster Cult at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla. on Feb. 10 for a night of non-stop classics. 

Gillan, who lives in England, said he is looking forward to seeing friends when he comes to Florida. The band wrote and rehearsed their 1996 album “Perpendicular” in Orlando, and guitarist Steve Morse, formerly of Kansas, is from Ocala. 

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The Hollywood show will be followed by one night in Saint Petersburg then the Rock Legends Cruise IX, departing from Orlando, before the band jets off on a world tour to Switzerland, Russia, France, Belgium, Norway, Germany and Italy, among other countries.

“These are going to be our very first shows, so all I can say is bring your flight jackets, because it’s going to be like an explosion on stage,” Gillan said of being on COVID-forced hiatus for two years.

The band used the time on lockdown after the truncated “Whoosh!” tour in support of their August 2020 album to record another album. “Turning to Crime,” released in November 2021, is the band’s first album comprised entirely of songs by other artists.  

“We’ll be bringing in a couple of songs that we haven’t played before, so all I've got to do now is learn the words,” Gillan said of the forthcoming show at the Hard Rock. 

Funny, maybe, but colored with truth. During one of several hiatuses from Deep Purple, Gillan joined Black Sabbath, where he was known for sometimes forgetting lyrics during live shows. 

But that was long ago, and today, he cites his days with Sabbath as some of the best of his life.  

“I had one year and made one album and one world tour and loved every minute of it,” he said. “It was wacky and was completely different to anything I’ve done before or since. It was like the longest party I ever went to.”

The sole album Gillan recorded with Sabbath, “Born Again,” never achieved the commercial success Gillan thought it deserved, largely because of poor production, he said.

“I was disappointed with the mixing of the album,” he said. “It was very bass-heavy and almost unplayable, really, at times.”

But if the recent rumors are true that Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has located the master recordings and plans to remix and re-release the album, Gillan said he would be into it. 

“If Tony’s going to do that then fantastic,” Gillan said. “That’s a great idea. Every other aspect of the album I thought was really good. I thought the material was fantastic.” 

No doubt, touring has changed since Gillan’s days with Sabbath and the early decades with Deep Purple. 

“Backstage is appalling now,” he said. “It used to be a lot of fun. I used to go early and enjoy the whole backstage experience. The only thing we get now is the joy of the performance.” 

While the backstage debauchery that became synonymous with the rock and roll lifestyle is largely a thing of the past, age can only mellow a die-hard rocker so much.

“All my friends say I am crazy and I’m not normal,” Gillan said. “I make my own mind up about things. I don’t follow popular opinion. I never have.”

Gillan said the things that make him happy today are simpler,  like building wooden furniture or hanging out with friends and sipping wine under the stars. 

And despite Deep Purple's 2016 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the honor did not top the list of the proudest moments of Gillan’s life. 

“Singing with (Luciano) Pavarotti a couple of times and becoming friendly with him was a real special time in my life, because he was such an amazing guy, amazing character,” he said. “So, I really hold that as a special place in my heart and my head. Working with him. That was very special.”  

Gillan, in many ways, might not be what people expect. But he is quick to concede that it is impossible to comprehend what anyone’s perceptions of him, or anything else, might be. 

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“I’m writing about the parallax effect on reality,” he said. “Basically, a judgment on something like this all depends on where you stand. If I’m standing here, and you're standing there, you’re getting a reflection of the moon entirely separate to mine.” 

Indeed, it is those types of abstruse ponderings that have informed Gillan’s writings lately. And while he is hesitant to discuss details just yet, he said he is writing a book that should be out in the next year or so. 

At 76, Gillan said he plans to keep touring for the foreseeable future — assuming, of course, he is able. 

“I go out every day and I hear a clang on the pavement, and something else has dropped off,” he said, laughing. “I just carry on in a diminished form and hope nobody will notice.”

Today, 54 years after its founding, Deep Purple remains one of the most in-demand international rock acts.

“I’ve been to the Taj Mahal, I've seen the Sydney Opera House, I’ve played at the Royal Albert Hall and Madison Square Garden, I’ve done huge festivals, I’ve played to a half a million people, I’ve performed in the Kremlin, I’ve traveled from St. Petersburg to Pakistan and the death of the Soviet Union,” said Gillan. “I’ve been pretty much everywhere and enjoyed every minute of it.” 

Even so, with all that success, there must be something Gillan still wants to achieve, right? 

“All done,” he said without hesitation. “I have no ambition. I never did have any ambition, actually. I’ve got a few more ideas of things I want to write about, so I’ll just sit in the sunshine and scribble. That’s my bucket list.”

@WendyRhodes

IF YOU GO

Deep Purple plays with Blue Öyster Cult at 8 p.m. Feb. 10.

Where:Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood, Fla. 

Tickets: $110, $80 and $60 via www.myhrl.com or through Ticketmaster.