abgetippt und übersetzt von Lars Wehmeyer

Vor dem Konzert mit der Deep Purple Tribute Band Demon's Eye stellte sich Ian Paice am 23.02.2007 in Wilnsdorf den örtlichen Pressevertretern. Natürlich hatte auch der Aviator-Fanclub einen Vertreter zu diesem Medienereignis geschickt. Wie Andree Schneider bereits an anderer Stelle beschrieben hat, bestand meine Aufgabe u.a. darin, Ian Paice nach seinem "One Handed Roll" zu fragen, damit er ihn während der Pressekonferenz direkt vorführen kann.
Neben Ian Paice standen auch Wilnsdorfs Bürgermeister Werner Büdenbender und Andree Rede und Antwort. Neben dieser leicht gekürzten Original-Version gibt es, wie üblich, auch eine ins Deutsche übersetzte Version.

Werner Büdenbender: Meine Damen und Herren, ich begrüße Sie herzlich hier in den heiligen Hallen im Ratssaal der Gemeinde Wilnsdorf. Es ist ein sehr außergewöhnlicher Anlass heute, ich glaube, so etwas hat in diesem Ratssaal noch nicht stattgefunden. Gestatten Sie mir, dass ich zuerst unseren heutigen Ehrengast begrüße. Ich habe mir ein paar Zeilen auf Englisch zusammengeschrieben - ich hoffe, dass ich das so rüberbringen kann, dass zumindest Mr. Paice das verstehen kann.

Dear Mr. Paice, I give you a warm welcome here in the townhall of Wilnsdorf. We are very glad and proud to have a world star of rock music in our town. Mr. Paice, it is said that Deep Purple have set new standards for hard rock bands and much of the credit for that achievement must be given to you, whose drum style became one of the most influential in rock drumming. Countless drummers take you as example. Dear Mr. Paice, my own first Deep Purple album was the live album "Made In Japan" in 1972. That was the beginning of a love relation in music which lasts until today. For this reason, I am personally delighted to get the chance to meet one of the idols of my youth. Mr. Paice, I have now the duty to mention that we, you and me, are both born in the same year, namely in 1948 - it was a good year.

(Ian Paice stöhnt und winkt ab - Gelächter)

In the last few days I read two things about you in a paper. The first statement was "Without a doubt, Ian Paice has secured his place in the drummers' hall of fame". And the second was "Ian Paice is one of the icons of hard rock". I think that both statements have hit the nail on the head. Mr. Paice, I hope that you have a good time in Wilnsdorf. We are looking forward to a great rock concert with the drum legend Ian Paice and the band Demon's Eye, a band which has its roots in our town of Wilnsdorf, and is called the best Deep Purple Tribute Band in Europe. Thank you so much for your attention.

Ian Paice: Thank you very much.

Werner Büdenbender: May I now ask you to be so kind as to sign the visitors' book of Wilnsdorf?

Ian Paice: Certainly.

(Unterschrift - Fotos - Blitzlichtgewitter)
Anschließend begann die eigentliche Pressekonferenz.

Andree Schneider: Schönen guten Abend - wer möchte denn loslegen?

Dirk Manderbach von der Siegener Zeitung: Herr Schneider, hätten Sie sich das jemals träumen lassen, dass einmal Ian Paice hier in Wilnsdorf am Schlagzeug sitzen würde?

Andree Schneider: Ganz klares Nein. Wir haben gestern unseren ersten Auftritt in Holland gehabt. Ich manage ja auch die Band Demon's Eye und habe dadurch viel zu tun gehabt in den letzten drei, vier Wochen, und ich habe das noch gar nicht richtig realisiert. Und gestern abend, da steht man dann plötzlich auf der Bühne, neben einem der besten Schagzeuger der Welt, meinem Drummer-Idol, wegen dem ich angefangen habe Schlagzeug zu spielen - das war ein Gefühl, das sich nicht in Worte fassen lässt. Und als wir dann heute von Holland nach Wilnsdorf gefahren sind - ich bin gefahren, direkt neben mir saß Ians Agent, und einen Platz weiter saß Ian Paice. So unterwegs ist mir dann der Gedanke gekommen: "Was machst Du hier eigentlich? Du fährst jetzt hier den Bus und neben Dir sitzt Ian Paice." Das war auch wieder ein ganz merkwürdiges Gefühl. Ich hätte mir das nie erträumt.

Georg Mark von der Westfälischen Rundschau in Siegen: Wie war der erste Auftritt in Holland?

Ian Paice: When I get the chance to play with other musicians and I don't know them, I take a chance. If they're good, it makes my job very easy. If they're not so good, it makes my job very difficult. With Demon's Eye, it's incredibly easy.
Last night in Holland was the first time we played together. Not many shows go that well the first time around. We had a few little minor mistakes, but they were all my mistakes, not their mistakes. The mistakes you'll hear tonight will probably be my mistakes too.

Tim Plachner vom Siegerlandkurier: Mich würde interessieren, ob Mr. Paice auch schon mit anderen Deep Purple Coverbands oder Tribute Bands gespielt hat.

Ian Paice: Yes, I've played with other Purple coverbands, for two reasons. It started in Italy. They have many music schools in Italy, and they don't have much money. And to allow me to do the seminar, we would have in the evening a small show with a local band, for which we could charge a little entrance fee which would pay the expenses for the school for my airticket, for my hotel, to allow them to get me there. It was a little thing that grew, and over the course of the last five years I found two or three italian cover bands were very good. And it allows me to do the drum clinics without having to break the bank for the school. So that's the way it started.

Nobody's asked the question yet, but somebody will ask it, so I'll give you the answer before you ask the question. The question is "Why do I do this?". One of the reasons is a very selfish reason: It's because I need to play in the period when Deep Purple do not work. The last show I did with Deep Purple was before christmas, the next show I will play will be at the beginning of next month. That's nine to ten weeks with no playing. That's not good for any artist. So these four shows give me the chance to get the muscles strong, to make the brain remember what it's meant to do, and so when I go on stage with Deep Purple I'm as good as I can be for the first show. I don't have to play the first three shows getting stronger. Playing with Deep Purple is very very aerobic, you use a lot of energy, and so you have to be in tip-top condition. I like playing drums, that's what I do, I don't do anything else. I enjoy the show, and that gives me another chance to enjoy myself. I always love to come to Germany anyway, you have such great beer. I get the chance to get myself physically right.

Helmut Blecher, Westfalenpost: Ian, was ist der Unterschied zwischen großen Hallen und einem kleinen Auftrittsort wie heute abend?

Ian Paice: Playing a small hall is actually easier. When you're playing 10, 15, 20.000 seat venues, everything is controlled by electronics. You hear very very little acoustically. The sound just disappears, so you're relying on monitor systems and microphones to hear everything, and the nature of that is that it's all artificial. In a smaller room like today, you use the electronics to help, but you still hear the organic, acoustic instrument, which is always a much more pleasant sound, it's the way nature meant it to be. So it is easier because you're not in the hands of people off-stage, the monitor man, the sound guy, you have a little bit more control yourself. You always take the chance, some rooms have a good sound, some rooms have no sound. When the room has a good sound, you'll find the musicians play well. When the room has no sound, it's really a hard job. I think this room will sound very good with the people in. It sounds ok empty, so with the people in it should get better.

Lars Wehmeyer vom deutschen Deep Purple Fanclub "The Aviator": Ian, what does it feel like to be playing the Deep Purple songs with a different band? You've been a founding member of Deep Purple, and you've been with Deep Purple for most of your life, since '68, so I wonder what it feels like. You've created all these songs with the different incarnations of Deep Purple, and now you're on stage playing them with a completely different band. What does that feel like?

Ian Paice: The nice thing about Demon's Eye is they don't play all the obvious Deep Purple tunes. We play things from the Mark III lineup which is with Coverdale and Hughes, which are songs which I haven't played since 1976, and we play a couple of songs from the Mark I lineup, which I haven't played since 1969. That's why I said any mistakes you hear will be my mistakes because these guys learn from the record, and that's their piece of reality for the music. I probably haven't listened to those records in 25, 30 years. What is their reality, for me is maybe ten minutes in the studio. If you try to remember 10 minutes of your life from 25 years ago, I think you'll find it very difficult. They're playing different pieces of Deep Purple which, yes, I was instrumental in creating. That's great, because I would never get a chance to play those pieces of music ever again because they're not part of the Deep Purple that exists now. Just two or three songs we'll put in that are the classic big ones, but it's not just that. So it is different - it's not a matter of being on stage with a different band, I'm actually playing different music. It's not even in my consciousness that it's a different band, the whole thing is different, you know.

Jörg Schulz, Heavy Magazine, Deutschland: I'd like to ask you: I know that Demon's Eye did write a song in the style of Deep Purple. Could you imagine playing a song of them together with them?

Ian Paice: If they have a song they want to play, I'm quite happy to play anything. As I said, this is their show, I'm the guest. Ok, I have the big name, but I'm the guest of their show. Whatever they want to play is ok by me. They choose the songs, not me. They're the boss. I'm the blue collar guy. I'm happy just to be here and to be a part of it, and if they find something different for me to play, then that's great. It gives me something else to think about, it gives me another thing to try and create something. Drumming isn't just about keeping time. That's the difference between being a drummer and being a musician. If you're just going to keep time, you'd be a drummer, that's ok. But if you're going to create a piece of music within the music, then that's being a musician, that's being complete. So when I get something new to play, I have to start thinking first to make it better, if I can.

Dirk Manderbach von der Siegener Zeitung nochmal: Eine Frage an Herrn Paice: Hatten Sie heute vielleicht Gelegenheit neben den Vorbereitungen für das Konzert etwas von der Gemeinde, etwas von dem Ort zu sehen? Die Landschaft zum Beispiel? Oder ist Ihnen irgendwas aufgefallen? Hat Ihnen irgendwas besonders gut gefallen?

Ian Paice: I've already been here a few hours, we got in at about three o'clock. We went straight to the venue and found this incredible museum there. I was in there about half an hour, it's all the time I had, I was just so impressed. If you have a brain between your ears, your interest ist immediate. From fantastic pieces of prehistoric man-made weapons and roman coins, just so many wonderful things, you go from one room and you find somethings else fantastic in another room. And a little town like this, you think this is just incredibe. If you saw this collection in London you'd still think it was a fantastic collection. I was really really impressed with it. And the mammoth, I never thought they were that big. That's a big animal!

(schaut an die Decke - Gelächter)

(Applaus)

When we're gone, we're gone forever.

Lars Wehmeyer: Since you will be the special guest of Demon's Eye tonight, and you play the drums, I guess there will be some time for a nice little drum solo. I would like to know whether you will be showing your famous "one handed roll" on the snare drum tonight.

Ian Paice: Yes, there will be a drum solo, of course. I get more chance to play a drum solo outside of Deep Purple than I do in Deep Purple, the reason being there is only so much time at the venue when you are with two other acts. When Deep Purple play, the idea is to play as many songs as we can in the one hour fifty, two hours that we have. And sometimes a drum solo just isn't that important on the order of playing music. So yes, there will be a drum solo tonight, and yes, I will probably be showing you the one-handed roll. If you're very good and you pay me five Euros.

(Gelächter)

I'm cheap, I'm really cheap.

Andree Schneider: Dazu möchte ich noch etwas sagen: Ich habe mir ja schon fast gedacht, dass die Frage nach dem "One Handed Roll" kommt, und für mich ist das eigentlich unbegreiflich, wie man einen Wirbel mit nur einer Hand hinkriegen kann. Und weil ich schon geahnt habe, dass die Frage kommt, habe ich eine Snaredrum mitgebracht, und ich würde auch 5 Euro bezahlen, wenn Du uns den Wirbel mal zeigen würdest.

(aufmunternder Applaus)

Ian Paice: It just so happens.... (zieht Drumsticks aus der Tasche) I always carry a pair of those.

(Gelächter)

(Ian zeigt den One Handed Roll)

Ein Journalist: Ist das ein Trick?

Ian Paice: Trick is not the right word. But it's about knowledge. It's about knowing how your instrument works. It's about having the technique to keep the stick in exactly the right place with no movement, and you have to understand the laws of physics to make it work. And you need to have really really strong finger muscles. If you do all those three things, then you can do this thing.

Jörg Schulz: Could you imagine next year, with 40 years Deep Purple, for example to invite younger people who are playing Purple songs or even inviting the former members of the band? What will happen next year in Deep Purple?

Ian Paice: You know, when you're at this stage of your career as Deep Purple are - if a rock'n'roll band still exists five years after the beginning, that's a miracle. Ten years, it's a double miracle. But forty years is something you can't rationalize, you can't give a logical reason why we're still here. So I can't tell you in one year what will be happening at all. If everyhing is the way we want it, then Deep Purple will still be here, and the audiences will still be having a great time, but you can never tell. One year is a long time. I don't see any changes, I believe we will still be here for the next few years, doing what we do. Anniversaries are something other people talk about. We don't think about the 40th anniversary, we didn't think about the 30th anniversary. There's so many rumours of old members coming back into the band, but it's nothing to do with us. We have a situation where the Deep Purple that exists now is very happy. We are doing what we do with great joy and there's no reason we would stop that to change or try and put other members of the band back into a situation which would only be temporary. It's a lot of hard work for something, there is nothing in it for us, there's no plus side for us. Maybe when we decide that it's absolutely finished, this is the last tour, then somebody may say, why don't you all get together and play one big goodbye gig. Who knows, maybe that could happen. In my mind I don't think it will.

(Als keine weiteren Fragen kommen)

Ian Paice: Everybody happy? Should we go to the bar? It's just a suggestion.

(Zum Abschluss der Pressekonferenz bekommt Ian vom Bürgermeister noch den sogenannten "Wilnsdorfer Willkomm`" geschenkt, ein reichlich verziertes Bierglas der Gemeinde Wilnsdorf.)

Übersetzung: Lars Wehmeyer
Fotos: Manfred Stoffer, Moni Kircher, Horst Schaumann, Helmut Eich