Drummer with Deep Purple and a whole lot more
Ian Paice was born in Nottingham, June 29th, 1948. He is the drummer with world famous rock band Deep Purple. A career that includes all the usual early years of apprenticeship with small groups, fame and fortune, other bands, session work and a life on the road. It is only the early part of his story that has any resonance with Nottingham as he only lived here for three years before the family moved. That is enough for him to have a beer named after him and it’s enough for us to claim one of the worlds greatest rock drummers. You can indulge yourself in a wealth of information about his career and a good place to start would be to hear it in his own words on his youtube channel. If you pick out his “Ian Paice Tales from the bar” episodes those early years are revealed. Link below for Episode 1.
ABOUT IAN PAICE From https://www.daddario.com/artists/evans-drumheads/Ian-Paice/
Ian was born in Nottingham on the 29th of June 1948. At the age of 3, Ian’s father’s job took the family to Germany for 3 years, Cologne and Berlin. Ian returned to the UK when he was 6. The family was now located in Bicester near Oxford where Ian stayed until turning professional at the age of 17. Before the war, his father Keith was a pianist in the “Rube Sunshine” dance band that played the Nottingham area, and the music that Ian’s father Keith loved was always on the record player, big band swing, piano jazz and the great vocalists of his time. So before Ian even thought about being a drummer these influences were sneaking into his consciousness. After beating up the furniture with a pair of his mothers knitting needles playing along to the tunes on the radio for a couple of years, Keith realised that (A) this was, not a fad that was going to go away, and (B) Ian was getting pretty good, and the furniture would, not last much longer. So on Ian’s 15th birthday, he was given his first kit.
Ian’s first gigs were with his father playing Saturday night dinner dances, waltz’s quicksteps, etc. And although he enjoyed the experience, it was, at the music of his generation. So like most young people he found other locals who wanted to form a band. This first band was called “Georgie And The Rave-Ons” During the next 2 years, Ian played 2 to 3 shows a week during which he met other bands slightly further up the ladder. One of these offered the drum seat to Ian as their drummer was leaving. This band was the M I Five an outfit working out of the Slough/Windsor area. Ian decided he had to make move to a full professional to increase his performances and therefore his skill.
During early 1967 the M I Five (like the Spy network).,now rechristened “The Maze” played a 3-week engagement at the legendary Star Club in Hamburg. Ritchie Blackmore a noted British guitarist was living there at the time, and let Ian know that he liked his playing. At the conclusion of the 3 weeks, Ian and the Maze returned to the UK and continued their touring. In early 1968 Rod Evans Ian’s band singer deduced that the band would get no further, and replied to an advert in the Melody Maker magazine for singers to audition for a new band that was being formed. When he arrived at the audition room he saw that the lineup already included Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord. When Ritchie saw Rod he remembered the Hamburg shows from the year before and asked if Rod still had the same drummer. Rod replied yes. So Ritchie insisted that Ian was given the chance to audition. Ian did and got the drum seat with the band that became Deep Purple.
To hear those early recordings of Ian in MI Five and The Maze they have been gathered together on this youtube link
IAN PAICE Here is a part of an article. Read the rest here including The Shindigs & The Maze here http://www.deep-purple.net/tree/the-maze/deep-purple-the-maze.html
Popular music was no stranger to the Nottingham home where Ian Anderson Paice was born on June 29th, 1948. His father Keith had spent fifteen years on the road playing piano with dance bands during the 1930s and 40s but turned down the opportunity to tour internationally in favour of marriage and starting a family (a decision his son never did understand!). When Ian was seven the family moved to Bicester, near Oxford. A fellow school boy, Ian Hollaway, recalls Paice’s dad encouraging his lad with plastic stretched across old biscuit tins. The local secondary modern curriculum, favouring science over the arts, proved to be at odds with Paice’s natural inclinations. After an equally frustrating experience at technical college, Ian had abandoned all academic aspirations by the time he was sixteen – drumming had taken over. “When I was 14 I was bashing around on the arms of sofas and biscuit tin lids and on my fifteenth birthday I got my first drum kit,” says Ian. That kit, a red glitter Gigster, cost his father £32 I 2s 6d. “It was brilliantly awful but it was the best he could afford. After a few months he realised that it wasn’t a passing fad and bought me a better kit, a (blue) Premier. After that I was away.” Ian’s first paid work as a drummer was with his father, Saturday night dinner and dance work, brush and hi-hat tapping to waltzes, foxtrots and quicksteps, for which he received £3 a night. “I never had any tuition on drums. My old man tried to teach me musical theory but I just wanted to go out and hit ’em.” His abilities were put to better use in his first rock and roll group, Georgie and The Rave Ons, who played locally around the Oxford area.
In mid-1965 The Rave Ons changed their name to The Shindigs. As well as Paice, they comprised Johnny Bosher on bass, Brian Nelson (no-one can remember what he did!), Ian and Stuart Forrest on lead and rhythm guitars, plus George (Georgie, the band’s namesake) Adams on vocals. The three resident Bicester area beat bands carved up the surrounding county; The Shindigs often played around the Banbury area, while The Apollos gigged out Oxford way and The Methods handled Aylesbury. The three groups would enter talent contests at the local Army base and often walk away with the first three prizes, much to the chagrin of other local but less talented outfits. Two singles sometimes attributed to the band, “One Little Letter” and “A Little While Back”, were actually by a Crawley based group of the same name.
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Ian Paice Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Paice
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From John Warburg:
Ian Paice.
The Slough, Berkshire based band The Horizons (1964 – 1965) included 17-year-old Rod Evans on lead vocals (b. Roderic Evans, Sunday, January 19, 1947, Slough, Berkshire, England) and 18-year-old Lenny ‘Chip’ Hawkins on bass (b. Leonard Donald Hawkins, Friday, November 2, 1945, Shepherd’s Bush, West London, England).
Evans had been leading groups since he was 17 and his first band was the Horizons that included Hawkins, who later joined The Tremeloes.
Evans had been to William Penn School, Manor Park a nursery with one Mick Angus (b. Michael Angus, c. 1947) who like Evans auditioned as lead vocalist in the original Deep Purple. Angus was singer in a Slough based band called Mark Barry. As for Evans, his family moved to the Priory Estate in nearby Burnham when he was five and went to Haymill Secondary Modern School.
The Horizons visited West Germany in 1965 and played at the famous Star Club, Hamburg, West Germany. As their drummer was too young to go, they took future Episode Six drummer John Kerrison (b. Monday, August 4, 1947). On their return the band split up as they were so young.
In 1965 The Jumping Jimmy Band was joined by lead vocalist Rod Evans. The band had Roger Lewis on lead guitar, Eric Keene on bass
and Chris Banham on organ.
Keene and Banham had been to the Royal Free College of Art, Windsor, Berkshire.
Later in 1965 The Jumping Jimmy Band became The M.I.5.
The M.I.5. formed in 1965 with a line-up of Roger Lewis on lead guitar (b. Saturday, May 5, 1945), Eric Keene on bass (b. Friday, November 9, 1945), Chris Banham on organ (b. Christopher Banham, Wednesday, January 30, 1946), Rod Evans on lead vocals (b. Roderic Evans, Sunday, January 19, 1947, Slough, Berkshire, England) and a guy on drums.
When The M.I.5. drummer quit they began looking around for a replacement and promptly offered the job in ca. June 1966 to Ian Paice who was in The Shindigs who then disbanded.
In October/November 1966 The M.I.5. changed their name to The Maze.
Wednesday, July 27, 1966: The Ricky Tick Club, Clewer Mead, Barry Avenue, Windsor, Berkshire, England
Oxford, Oxfordshire based band Georgie and the Rave Ons formed in 1964? with a line-up of George Adams on lead vocals, Stuart Forrest on lead & rhythm guitar, Ian Forest on lead & rhythm guitar, Johnny Bosher bass, Brian Nelson and Ian Paice on drums (blue Premier) (b. Ian Anderson Paice, Tuesday, June 29, 1948, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England).
Paice began his professional career in the late 50’s playing in his father’s dance band doing the Saturday dinner and dance circuit where he got £3 a night. He played brush and hi-hat tapping to Waltzes, Foxtrots and Quicksteps. He had got his first drum kit, a red glitter Ginster from his father on his 14th birthday, June 26, 1962. It cost £32 12s 6d. After a few months his father brought him a much better kit, a blue Premier, as he realised it was not a passing fad.
Paice’s first Rock and Roll group was Georgie and the Rave Ons, who played locally around Oxford.
The group was renamed The Shindigs in Mid 1965.
Saturday, September 12, 1964: The California Ballroom, Whipsnade Road, Dunstable Downs, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England
Also on the bill: McKinleys and the Sounds of Echoes, Cliff Adams and the Twilights.
The Shindigs formed in Mid 1965 with a line-up of George Adams on lead vocals, Stuart Forrest on lead & rhythm guitar, Ian Forest on lead & rhythm guitar, Johnny Bosher on bass, Brian Nelson and Ian Paice on drums (blue Premier).
In ca. June 1966 The Shindigs split when Paice was offered a job and joined The M.I.5. Two members of The Shindigs joined The Method.
The Maze formed in October/November 1966 with a line-up of 21-year-old Roger Lewis on lead guitar, 20-year-old Eric Keene on bass, 20-year-old Chris Banham on organ, 19-year-old Rod Evans on lead vocals and 18-year-old Ian Paice on drums (blue Premier).
On joining The Maze, Paice moved from Bicester to be nearer the group and would either lodge in Slough or in Windsor, Berkshire with organist Chris Banham’s family.
In January 1967 The Maze began a three-month season at The Piccolo Teatro di Milano in Milan. The band provided the live backing for a musical version of Arnold Wesker’s play ‘Chips With Everything.’
January – March 1967: The Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Milan, northern Italy
The Maze provided the live backing for a musical version of Arnold Wesker’s play ‘Chips With Everything.’