Grim little-known facts about Deep Purple

Deep Purple - one of the most legendary, yet darkest bands in the history of classic rock. Even their iconic hit "Smoke on the Water" was born under the influence of destruction and chaos: the story goes that the band arrived in the Swiss resort town of Montreux to record an album, and witnessed the central casino complex burned to the ground by a rocket launcher fired during a concert by Frank Zappa and his band. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the events inspired a song that would be considered a classic half a century later. However, this is not an isolated incident in the career of Deep Purple....

"It's like they have a curse on them."as one of Purple's biographers once put it. And his words, even if they were ironic, are not without meaning.....

Ian Paice has become the star of urban legends.

Ian Paice - is the only member of the band to have been in all of its line-ups (although he was never its leader). He is known as an incredible drummer-virtuoso, but he is also famous for his with a scar on his chestwhich the public could see "in all its glory" during live concerts (as Pace often "threw off the extra weight" in the form of clothes during intensive playing). But where did it come from? This scar made Ian the star of urban legends, as the theories were numerous (and not always adequate).

But the truth was more prosaic: Ian had part of his lung removed as a child! Here's what the rocker himself said about it:

"In Germany we lived in a very nice flat with central heating and lived very well. When we came back to England because of my father's job, we came back to the reality of post-war Britain, which was effectively broke. We moved into a house where there was no central heating, it was cold and a constant draught..."

As a result, Pace developed pneumonia, which worsened to the point where he was diagnosed with it tuberculosis - a disease that was not easily cured in the 1950s. The operation removed infected parts of his left lung and left a recognisable scar that has become iconic in its own way.

Their 1975 show turned into chaos

In the 1960s. Suharto led a military coup in Indonesia, proclaimed himself dictator, and then executed hundreds of thousands of suspected communists. When Deep Purple arrived in Jakarta in December 1975, Indonesian troops had just invaded neighbouring Timor and the Tindonesian consulate in Amsterdam had been attacked. The opposite of all the extreme political tension and fear were the thousands of fans who lined the streets to welcome the British rockers, the first Western rock band to perform in Jakarta!

Already their first concert was a harbinger of things to come: a backstage dispute over money led to the death of the band's bodyguard. But the second show, in which Deep Purple was forced to take part, ended up a terrible chaos. The fans, mostly teenagers and young adults, became overly rowdy due to the loud, heavy and frenetic rock music. The stadium security, Suharto's soldiers, responded by unleashing trained Dobermans into the audience, ordering them to attack while waving machine guns and flamethrowers.

"It was our worst experience... They wouldn't even let us leave, demanding money from us! You know, when you see a machete in front of you, you don't care about fees and stuff...," recalled Glen Hughes.

NASA Liaison

Kalpana Chawla was a specialist NASA and a huge Deep Purple fan. She took two CDs of her favourite band with her when she went on a spaceship mission in the early noughties: "Machine Head and Purpendular.. Her daily wake-up song in space was either "Machine Head" or "Space Truckin", and during the mission, Chawla emailed members of Deep Purple, sharing her emotions and impressions....

When the 16-day mission came to an end, the girl was finally returning to Earth. But catastrophic technical failures caused the spacecraft to split apart on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere... It was 1 February 2003. An hour after the news about Columbia (the ship) and Chavla, Deep Purple composed a song in honour of her called "Contact Lost."which became the final track on their album Bananas. Subsequently Ian Gillan will say:

"It's a musical version of grief. And it's an important tribute. It's special because it celebrates the great heroes, those people who gave their lives in the interests of pioneering work..."

"The guitarist's curse..."

In 1970, Deep Purple was scheduled to play a concert in San Antonio, and in preparation, each member of the band received a flu shot. The guitarist Ritchie Blackmore an unpleasant reaction that made him so ill that he was unable to go on stage. Promoter Joe Miller found a timely replacement: a local musician he managed named Christopher Cross. This is the same Christopher Cross who, a decade later, won four major Grammy awards with his ultra-soft debut album.

Two years later, Blackmore fell ill once more, but much more seriously, with an infectious disease. "I had hepatitis and was in hospital for a couple of months," the guitarist recalled. Unable to tour or fulfil most of his normal Deep Purple duties at the time, Randy California replacing Blackmore. A tough guy, the soul of the company! However, while swimming on a beach on the Hawaiian island of Molokai during the 1997 New Year's holiday, a sudden and huge wave dragged California and his 12-year-old son underwater. California rescued his son before he was swept into the ocean. He was never found. The guitarist was 45 years old.

To this day, the band changing guitaristsand each time they leave either with a loud scandal or due to grim circumstances - like a Steve Morsewho decided that he was obliged to be near his seriously ill wife. Of course, this is just a series of sad coincidences, but for many fans they look extremely strange, almost otherworldly....