IAN GILLAN ON THE STATUS OF CLASSIC ROCK RADIO
Michael Senft
The Arizona Republic
Are the narrow play-lists on classic rock radio stations hurting classic rock bands? Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan seems to think so. In a new interview with Michael Senft of The Arizona Republic, Gillan says that fans aren’t offered the chance to hear classic rocker’s new material because radio stations focus on one or two past hits.
Deep Purple visits the Maricopa County Events Center on Aug. 17, but it isn’t a nostalgia tour. The group is wrapping up a two-year tour of 48 countries in support of its 2005 album Rapture of the Deep. But American fans probably don’t know that.
“You have this thing called classic rock radio over here,” says singer Ian Gillan in a recent phone call. “It’s been a death sentence for all sorts of older bands. They don’t play anything of ours other than Smoke on the Water and Highway Star. ”
Gillan even addresses the problem with a song on Rapture of the Deep, called MTV. The song was inspired by a real-life incident in Buffalo, N.Y.