DEEP PURPLE’s IAN GILLAN On Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction’s Exclusion Of STEVE MORSE, DON AIREY – “Obviously This Is Very Silly”

Deep Purple will be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016, minus guitarist Steve Morse and keyboardist Don Airey, who the Hall have decided to exclude from the upcoming induction.

Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan has posted the following message via his official website:

“Dear Friends, Families and Fans,

Putting the past shenanigans to one side, the induction is not – in clear fact – for Deep Purple.

It is an arbitrary selection of past members, which excludes Steve Morse and Don Airey; both of whom have been with the living breathing DP for a very long time. Obviously this is very silly, and so my response is quite simple: ‘Thank you very much’.

And… what a coincidence… This morning I got an invitation to a wedding from some dear old friends. Unfortunately my family was not invited and they said that I would be required to sit next to my ex (we divorced decades ago) at the wedding feast.

They were shocked when I called to thank them and decline the invitation.”

“It’ll be interesting, won’t it?”, drummer Ian Paice, Deep Purple’s sole remaining founding member, told Billboard in regards to the band’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next year.

“It’s a somewhat complicated situation. The personalities that are involved didn’t always get on terrifically well, so that has to be taken into consideration. I don’t think there’ll be anybody swinging at anybody else – I think there’s a possibility that some people just won’t be there. We may all turn up and be happy on the night and it’ll go wonderfully well, or two or three people will be studiously ignoring each other. It could almost be like a reality TV show. I’d rather it wasn’t, but there we go.”

Read more at Billboard.

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has announced some long, long overdue inductions into the questionable institution as Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Chicago, and Steve Miller, along with hip-hop act N.W.A will be its class of 2016. The five acts, along with other honorees to be announced later, will be part of the 31st annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on April 8th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. HBO will film the ceremony for broadcast later in the spring. Tickets will go on sale to the public during February, with Rock Hall members receiving early access to a limited number of tickets.

The Rock Hall will try to recover from the black eye – hard rock legends Deep Purple –  who’ve been eligible for more than 20 years! The complete list of current and former members who are being inducted includes Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Rod Evans, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Glenn Hughes, Ian Paice and the late Jon Lord.