When asked by fans if he thought 40 years ago he’d still be performing today, Roger Glover doesn't hesitate in his reply.
“Yes, it’s all going according to plan.”
Though the Deep Purple bassist makes light of his bumpy journey, he is grateful for the ride.
“I feel fortunate to have been born at the time I did,” he tells me over the phone. “I was in a band, living a dream and it wasn’t a dream.”
Branded the pioneers of heavy metal, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, Deep Purple ushered and created the soundtrack of hard rock for the 1970s.
“In the 1960s there was an explosion of music, but rock and roll had turned into this sort of boring pop,” Glover says. “Every generation borrows something from the previous one and works with what they have.”
After a career that birthed Smoke on the Water, one of the most iconic songs of all time, the turn-style line-up changes and infighting led to a band break up in 1976, which lasted nearly a decade.
Glover then made a home for himself in the producer’s chair working with bands like Judas Priest, Nazareth, and creating solo albums.
“I love being part of that creative process,” he says.
“It’s always a challenge to translate what could be a fairly abstract idea of a sound into reality.”
Deep Purple reunited in 1984, a time where the sound seemed to simulate the politics.
“The 1980s was an age when sound was bigger than everything else. It was an expansive time and the music mimicked that.”
Today, Glover takes the stage with the same grace and gratitude as when he started.
“It’s a rare thing for a musician to have this kind of career,” he says.
“There’s only one reason to be in this business and that’s because you love it.”
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