Deep Purple’s Blackmore Moment Shows Their Spinal Tap Era is Over

Ian Gillan said Ritchie Blackmore’s onstage reunion with Deep Purple proved that the band’s Spinal Tap years were behind them.

The singer explained that their long years of disagreements had already been put to bed when the founding guitarist returned to play “Smoke on the Water” with his former colleagues last month.

He added that it was satisfying to have demonstrated that fact to the world.

"We've been in touch, Ritchie and I, for a few years now, and a lot of water's gone under the bridge,” Gillan told Joann Butler In Studio With… in a recent episode. Referring to the classic track Blackmore performed, he added: “I don't like using clichés, but that's a very apt one for this.”

He continued: “He wrote me a nice letter a few days before we got to New York and said… ‘What do you reckon if I step up in “Smoke?”’ So I said, ‘Yeah, of course!’ It brought an instant smile to my face.”

Noting that it was easy to arrange because Blackmore lives near the Jones Beach, Long Island venue where Purple were playing, Gillan added: “[I]t was just great when he stepped on the stage – that magic moment.

“[Y]ou kind of forget everyone out there when we've mended all of those problems ourselves. But, of course, not everyone is aware of that. So it was a wonderfully warm feeling.
“And we had a few drinks in the dressing room backstage afterwards. And I think he went home a bit tiddly. But it was great – really a magic moment.”

How Deep Purple Grew Out of Feuding

Gillan reflected that, to an extent, Deep Purple’s history of interpersonal relations had been experienced by most bands of their era. “Life goes through so many different phases, and you can’t really allow all these problems to continue to exist,” he said. “They become destructive forces in their own right then. We’ve grown out of all that.”

Turning to classic 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap – which took an amount of inspiration from Purple, along with other acts – the singer said: “[I]t was like that for most of us, including the Beatles and everyone else.

“When you get four or five guys in their late teens or early 20s, who form a band and go out on the road, there’s a camaraderie and a unit there that almost makes them inseparable; it gives them a great power and identity.

“But as things become enlarged… a lot of outside play comes into force. And human chemistry is the most complex of all the sciences, so we can’t cater for it. We can’t see it coming because we’re young… You’ve got to cope with stuff that you never did before, and it’s critical.

“So things go wrong – but that doesn’t mean to say they have to stay that way. As the years go by you put it all behind you.”