Your card expires on .Update your payment information to continue being a member of elDiario.es.Your support is still needed.It seems that you had problems registering as a member in elDiario.es.Finish the process in just a few minutes.We need you more than ever.Your payment details are wrong or incomplete.Update your data to renew the fee and not cause cancellation as a member of elDiario.esAlthough Mick Jagger is the paradigm of a veteran singer unattainable by fatigue, there are other rock stars who have been on stage for more than half a century and still display amazing energy.Ian Gillan (Hounslow, London, 1945), leader of the legendary Deep Purple, is one of those cases worthy of study for science.The singer who recorded historical albums such as In rock or Perfect strangers will visit Spain this month with his band –on the 23rd at the Roman Theater in Mérida and on the 24th in the Plaza de España, at the Icónica Sevilla festival–, and for that reason he attended to elDiario.es by phone from his habitual residence in the Algarve, Portugal.When the name of the group is not the band's but the fastest to register itOn the other end of the line, his voice sounds young, like in the 70s or 80s, and he doesn't even allow himself a sigh that would be normal for a 77-year-old man.For Gillan, the secret to continue at the foot of the canyon and dazzle three generations of fans is none other than "staying healthy, that's all", he laughs heartily.“You need strength, and also enthusiasm.Those two elements allow you to maintain the level.And it helps a lot to be able to work with fantastic musicians, because that keeps you excited about the future, what's to come.That is the simplest answer that comes to mind, health, illusion... And accept the fact that over the years things evolve, they change so that interest does not wane.It's not the same as always.If it was like that, day after day, I think I would have quit many, many years ago."It cannot be said, of course, that Gillan has led a monotonous career.After gaining experience in youth formations such as The Javelins or Episode Six, he signed in 1970 for some Deep Purple that sought to get closer to harder records, a few years later he left the group and set up his own band under the names of Ian Gillan Band and Gillan, he passed briefly for Black Sabbath, he returned to Deep Purple, left again to join Garth Rockett and the Moonshiners, and in 1992 he returned – definitely? – with the Purple.The band he loves, he says."It's absolutely fantastic to be with them," he says.“Everything with them evolves organically, it's natural.We sit down to rehearse or go to a writing or rehearsal session for a day or ten, whatever... We start at noon every day in the rehearsal room and then suddenly we stop, we can spend a lot of time just chatting, we listen to things, we write.Everything is there, the elements are.The important thing is the orchestration, but we feed on folk, experimentation, jazz, blues, rock, everything.And little by little things are floating, little ideas are being developed... That's how it's worked all these years, and we continue working in the same way”.For many, Ian Gillan has the honor – shared only with very few idols, such as Ronnie James Dio or Ozzy Osbourne – of having played in no less than two of the founding heavy metal bands, but he does not seem too interested in the future of this music in recent decades.“No, I don't really like heavy metal that much.I mean I can listen to heavy stuff, I admire people who do it, but it's not my preferred style of music.I prefer a somewhat broader spectrum of sounds, with more dynamics and more texture.I like light and shadow, I like humor, and in that sense heavy metal is too narrow a channel for me”.The truth is that the vocalist was able to show off with two of the guitarists who are considered fathers of the genre: Ritchie Blackmore (with whom he clashed repeatedly, until he left the group) and Tony Iommi, the magician of satanic riffs.He assures that he maintains a good relationship with both: “With Ritchie we are in contact, naturally, I wish him all the best.He was sick some time ago, and I sent him a “get well” postcard, something like that.That is our relationship, it is good, although it does not go beyond that level.And with Tony Iommi I am also in contact, of course.On the other hand, and to underline the level of the interviewee, it should be remembered that next year will mark half a century of the successful film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, a conceptual project that had Gillan as its first singer, although it was limited to record the original 1970 album, refusing to be part of the film because he was devoted body and soul to Deep Purple.“I didn't realize it at the time, but it was a completely different type of project than what was done then.On the other hand, for me singing is something very normal, but in this case it was something different because it was a concept album, and I did it all in three hours.It was a very quick session, and there it was.He didn't become famous until the media took notice of the work, at which point I was already out.It was a very interesting project and I am very happy that it went well.And doing it was fun, also with its difficulties, with that funky, orchestral point”.He does not regret it: for him, his current group is the ultimate.“In music, every day is a joy, but I can personally say that as a band, Deep Purple have provided me with the most incredible things and I have felt the happiness with them, yes, absolutely.”Among other things, an uninterrupted activity until the forced stoppage of the pandemic arrived, which was also graceful for him: it gave him “some free time”, he laughs again.“I love working, I love touring, I love live shows, for me that is the essence of being a musician, but during that time of quarantine I had a lot to do.I had to redecorate my house, I had to write my book and I worked a lot and played a lot.It was fantastic".To go to Mérida and Seville, in short, Gillan will not have to travel too many kilometers.“We work around the world nine months a year, and the rest of the time I spend mostly in Portugal.Life is very calm here, I live in the hills, in the Algarve, very comfortable.And it's good for me to write, it's very nice.My family comes to visit me frequently, I also bought a small boat and I go out to have fun in the sea.It is a good place to play and a good work environment.I have many musician friends who come to visit me and we work in my studio.So it's a very, very good plan."The most read by members"The greater control of women in sexual relations has not been enough to induce the use of the female condom"Bioinformatics: the technology that will protect us from the next pandemicCan intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet make us smarter?Almeida is left without allies in the City Council to approve the budgetsFermin Muguruza directs his second animated film: “An exercise in memory in the midst of a battle for the story”Cunqueiro before being Cunqueiro: a book rescues the writer's articles in 'El Pueblo Gallego' during the RepublicJournalism despite everythingWe need your financial support to carry out rigorous journalism with social values