Ian Gillan on Deep Purple’s New Album “Splat”: “The Best Record We’ve Made Since The ’70s”

Relaxed, humorous and in great spirits, Gillan guided me through the stories behind the album’s songs, revealing a collection of characters, dreams, and philosophical reflections.

Most striking of all was his enthusiasm for the record itself.

“My subjective view, purely from personal satisfaction,” Gillan told me, “is that this is by far the best record we’ve made since the 1970s. The enthusiasm, the energy and the contribution of the individuals are all at a very high level. It sounds like a band. I’m really, really pleased with this record.”

Here are the stories behind the tunes, in Ian’s words.

“Arrogant Boy”

Billy is an ordinary guy who sticks his head up above the parapet and says to the political elite: “Hey do something, stop arguing, just get on with it, make life better for us”.

And they look down and go: “who are you? Get back in your hole, you arrogant boy”.

“Diablo”

“Diablo is a town in my mind. It’s the most dangerous place on Earth.

I took my girlfriend there. She likes to fight bare-knuckle. She went into the fighting pit and had twenty fights in four days. On the fourth day she reached the final and she was facing the ferocious Guts Mackenzie, the world champion, and she knocked him out in the second round. So she got tipsy, drank a bucket of wine and fell into the glitter pool.

Then we went back home. She was a bit sore and had a couple of teeth missing, but she was very proud of her achievement.

This is the purpose of Diablo. Everybody goes there for one or two weeks in their life and comes home with a story to tell.”

“The Only Horse in Town”

I was in Toronto and it was in the winter. Every day we saw these vagrants and addicts on the corner of Noble Street, amongst all the rubbish, just living in the dirt.

It started to snow. There were two people living under a blue tarpaulin on the ground sleeping and the snow built up. After three days we drove past again and their heads came up and we gave them some food, but they didn’t want it.

They just wanted money for crack. So I imagined myself in the place of one of these guys who took his final hit and went into the spiritual world and I was in his footsteps and I started walking, looking for sanctuary. I walked across America, ended up on the high plains of New Mexico, in an old empty town.

It was a film set that had been deserted and there was nothing there, except for what the gipsies had left behind, which was a clapped out, bony old horse. So just me and the horse in town. We’d both been abandoned and we found our sanctuary

“The Lunatic”

“There’s two stories behind this.

One is inspired by the plight of Winston Smith, who is the protagonist in George Orwell’s very prescient book, 1984.

The other thing is that the NHS in England earlier this year proscribed the word ‘lunatic’. They said you can’t use the word anymore.

I got very offended, very angry and very upset because nearly all of my friends are lunatics.

So we’d all been banned by the NHS.”

“Sacred Land”

“It’s about two old Scottish Highland warriors, the famous Rob Roy MacGregor and John MacLaren. It’s based on the story of their feud.

They come into the glen tired and old, battle-scarred and weary. They put their swords down in a cross and talk about the futility and endless cycle of war and feuding. They kind of make peace.

Then they hear a disturbance. Intruders and Marauders suddenly appear. The old men slowly rise, pick up their claymores and they’re going to fight again.

But this time they’re standing back-to-back to repel the intruders.

It represents the endless futility of war. You just get things settled and someone else comes along wanting to fight you, take your land or take your spiritual home.”

“Guilt Tripping”

This is a story about God and Darwin having a pint together in a pub and talking about things.

God says:

‘Charlie, we’ve got to get the numbers right next time. It’s overcrowded here.’

“Splat”

“This was the last song written. Roger Glover and Ian Paice had this bass-and-drums Jam.

So we had this backing track, like Smoke on the Water. I had to write a song over it.

I was thinking about overpopulation and the possibility of Armageddon because we’re so overpopulated.

I thought about humanity and how we all go out into space as chess pieces and then pixelate into one energy force.

We’re no longer physical. We’re metaphysical. That’s the future of the human race if we metamorphosise.”

“Jessica’s Bra”

it was originally called Jessica’s Bar, but I made a typo and wrote B-R-A instead of B-A-R.

It’s how things used to be in the pubs in England. Lots of fun.

You’d get locked in, outrageous things would happen, but nobody got hurt and everybody would go home happy.

It was life as I knew it when I was a kid.”

“My New Movie”

“It’s a story about when I started my first band.

I was walking home when I was seventeen and I had nothing except my dreams.

I thought, ‘I’ll start a band.’

A guy was walking towards me. His name was Andy.

I stopped him and asked if he knew anyone who could play some sort of instrument.

Andy said he had a few friends who were just starting to learn.

So I scheduled rehearsals at my house on a Saturday morning. They all turned up.

They were jumping on the furniture with their acoustic guitars and not one of them had six strings on the guitar.

I was playing drums with knitting needles and a biscuit tin.

Needless to say we got thrown out of the house because we were wrecking the place.

I thought of that moment of magic. The dreams we all wish to come true.

So I imagined again that I’m walking down the street and I want to make a movie.

I stop a guy and say:

‘What are you doing Wednesday? If you’ve got nothing on, come around to my place and we’ll start working on a plot and make a movie.’

Dreams, right?”

Listening to Splat in the company of Ian Gillan himself was, in many ways, the fulfilment of a dream of my own.

An unforgettable experience.

After listening to the album, I agree with Ian. Splat may well stand among the strongest records of Deep Purple.

Splat will be released on 3 July.

Umberto New Rock – The Portugal News Rock Correspondent.