AFTER 50 YEARS, I STILL ASK HOW WE GOT HERE

Nearly 50 years and 20 albums in, Deep Purple’s Roger Glover is taking a moment to reflect. He talks to JOE NERSSESSIAN about going full circle, learning to embrace tough times, and why he’s not ready to hang up his guitar any time soon

SEVERAL years ago, Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover came off stage in Liverpool, and after escaping the noise and the lights, the fans and the photographs, returned to the haven of his hotel room.

Alone, he stood in stunned silence, as an overwhelming wave of disbelief rushed through him.

‘How the hell did I get here?’ he thought, as nearly 50 years in the music industry spun around in his head.

It’s something that still hits the 71-year-old, as the band prepare for the release their 20th studio album, Infinite, and the tour they’ve named, in teasing contradiction, The Long Goodbye Tour.

Strolling into a fifth-floor room in an expensive London hotel, Glover’s calm demeanour is immediately obvious (though he confesses to being a little hungover after attending a gig with his daughter the night before).

Sporting a black newsboy hat over his wispy, shoulder-length hair, he plonks himself down, and, leaning forwards, glasses tipped to the end of his nose, start to seamlessly reflect.

“It’s been 50 years of music, more. I can’t imagine life without that, but I do sometimes think, ‘How did I get here? How did I become part of this amazing music?’”

It was 1969, when Welsh-born Glover, who now lives in Switzerland, quit his previous band Episode Six to join Purple, alongside singer Ian Gillan, at a time when he admits he was yearning for a number one hit.

“It was all I wanted, I would’ve done anything for it. Pink tutus, halos, hanging from trees, whatever it took,” he admits. “And then I joined Purple and I met musicians who weren’t interested in having a hit single, they were just interested in playing and expressing themselves.

“And as soon as I stopped looking for success, whoosh, it came.”

The band, after guitarist Ritchie Blackmore took over their creative direction, are widely credited with pioneering the heavy rock movement, particularly following their fourth album, 1970’s Deep Purple In Rock.

The following few years saw much success, including the 1972 multiplatinum record Machine Head, which features what’s widely appreciated as one of the greatest guitar riffs of all time in Smoke On The Water.

However, at the height of Purple’s success, Glover and Gillan left the band in 1973, following disagreements with Blackmore.

Glover eventually rejoined in the Eighties, and while some 45 years on, he recalls feeling “pretty p**sed off” by the fallout, he enjoys the way he’s come full circle with a band, who’ve endured almost constant line-up upheavals to remain active just shy of a half a century.

This circus of the Purple line-up is something he now appreciates, as it means the name is bigger than any individual’s.

“I don’t want it to end,” Glover muses, aware that it can’t last forever. “I can’t imagine what it would be like without Purple, it’s been a huge part of my life, bigger than huge, so the hole after it would be even bigger, but it’s going to happen.

“We’re aware that we’re closer to the end than we are the beginning; we don’t want to specify when, because none of us can emotionally face it, and health and age are the only concerns really. As far as motivation is concerned, none of us want it to end.”

He ponders briefly, before deciding there’s probably “another album or two” to go.

“We’ve had such a good time in the studio, the last two have really been a joy to work on, especially with [producer] Bob Ezrin.

“We seem to have hit another seam of creativity that’s very much like Deep Purple but nothing like Deep Purple, nothing like our past. The