Exclusive: Deep Purple Drummer Ian Paice Talks the Concept Behind New Album, ‘=1,’ Reveals His Favorite Songs From the Record

As explained in an early press release, the new album’s title “symbolizes the idea that in a world growing ever more complex, everything eventually simplifies down to a single, unified essence. Everything equals one.”

Founding Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice recently chatted with American Songwriter about =1.

Paice explained that the concept for the album’s title came from frontman Ian Gillan, who also is responsible for writing the majority of the lyrics.

“[Gillan] just had this [idea] about this massive algebraic equation, and it all came down to just equaling the number one,” the drummer noted.

“And it seemed pretty interesting. You got people saying, ‘Well, what’s that all about?’ But Ian’s never really told us properly, so we all have our own idea what it might be.”

Paice then offered said his take on Gillan’s concept for the album.

“The important things we have, there’s one of,” he noted. “We have one sun. We have one planet. We have one life. And what that one life does, it’s sort of important. …

It all comes down to you, the one. What you do. You know, make [the world] a better place, not a worse place. … That’s my look at it. Ian might say that’s totally wrong. Well, it’s wrong for him, but it’s right for me.”

=1 features a mix of hard-rock tunes, mid-tempo songs and ballads. Prior to the album’s release, three advance tracks were made available—“Portable Door,” “Pictures of You,” and “Lazy Sod.”

Paice shared his own favorite tunes from the album with American Songwriter.

“I do like ‘I’m Saying Nothin,’ ’cause I think that harkens back to a couple of the tracks on the old In Rock record,” Paice said. “It’s got a sort of a similar vibe, and incredibly simple but catchy little riff, and a nice lyric.”