Ian Gillan: Ritchie Blackmore Reunion Ended Deep Purple's Spinal Tap Era

Ian Gillan says that Ritchie Blackmore’s recent onstage reunion with Deep Purple proved the band’s Spinal Tap years are firmly behind them. Reflecting on the founding guitarist’s appearance to play “Smoke on the Water” last month, the singer explained that their historic disagreements had already been put to bed long before Blackmore stepped back onto the stage with his former bandmates.

A Surprising Backstage Letter and a New York Reunion

Ian Gillan performing live with Deep Purple. (Corrado de Luca, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Appearing on a recent episode of Joann Butler In Studio With…, Gillan revealed how the unexpected collaboration came together. The vocalist noted that he and Blackmore have stayed in touch over the last few years, overcoming the baggage of decades past. Blackmore sent a letter just days before the band arrived in New York, asking what Gillan thought about him stepping up for their signature track.

“So I said, ‘Yeah, of course!’ It brought an instant smile to my face,” Gillan recalled. The logistics were aided by geography, as Blackmore lives near the Jones Beach venue in Long Island where Deep Purple was playing. According to the singer, the moment they shared onstage carried a wonderfully warm feeling, completely overshadowing the massive crowd present. Following the set, the musicians caught up over a few drinks in the dressing room, with Gillan noting that Blackmore eventually headed home “a bit tiddly.”

Moving Past the Destructive Forces of the Past

Discussing the broader history of interpersonal friction within the band, Gillan suggested that Deep Purple’s struggles mirrored those of nearly every major rock act from their generation. He pointed to classic 1984 movie This is Spinal Tap—which famously drew inspiration from groups like Deep Purple, the Beatles, and others—as a reflection of the pressures young musicians face.

“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,” Gillan said. However, he noted that as careers grow, outside influences complicate human chemistry, which he called the most complex science of all. While those pressures caused fractures in the past, Gillan emphasized that time heals those divides. “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.”