American-Italian lead singer, Umberto Urock, from the band UROCK, started by telling The Portugal News, “When I started my career as a musician, I would have never imagined I could have recorded a song with one of the greatest rock legends of all time, a personal hero of mine. I am talking about Ian Gillan, the legendary voice of Deep Purple. Ian has recorded and co-written, with my band, UROCK a new single called THE LINE.”


Umberto Urock went on to share more about his band's upcoming release, “The Line is the system, the structure that forbids normal people to find their own way in life but gives them an established road to follow since their birth. People´s destiny is already written by the system before they are even born. They are put in "IN LINE", to follow the same rules, ideas, tastes, behaviours that the system has decided for them to follow. They are trapped, they are in a cage. Mass mediocrity comes out of this system, with all the tragic consequences we see in today's society. THE LINE is the refusal to do what the system and the establishment wants you to do, and instead follow your own self and your own path.”


When asked why he accepted the invitation to work with a self-produced indie band like UROCK, Ian Gillan told The Portugal News, “It was not immediate. It was because all the elements were good. I mean, good band, good song. And I knew Umberto, which helped because you had to get over that initial question, “well, who are these guys?”, I knew who they were. I remember that Karma is a big thing in my life. The point is you go somewhere and they give you something special, they embrace you. And you feel warm spiritually. And it's not something you need to analyse or work out. It's not complicated. It's just a normal human feeling. And that little moment in Rome at Radio Rock with Umberto was one of those things. So, when I think of Rome and UROCK, I just thought, yeah, that's nice and those barriers were overcome.”


Umberto Urock affirmed that Ian Gillan’s artistic contributions to their new single IN LINE was absolutely fantastic, with Ian responding by saying “It’s a good song I like it. It has construction, verses, and chorus. Great solo. A great band, and great sound. So, what do you do? I think the dynamics of a song need a very important texture. It just needs a little moment that just lifts it. Harmonies are always really important to reinforce something and this song was crying out for a harmony.”


Speaking about THE LINE’S music video, in which he participated, Ian Gillan shared that “It is fantastic. Every part of it is great. I thought the editing was really good. The pictures are good. The research, the background, and the catalogue stuff was great. Really good. Well, put together. Nice storyline. I'm really happy that it all worked out well.”


He concluded by sharing “I would say to all the rock fans out there, you just got to get yourself tangled up with THE LINE and with UROCK. It’s fantastic. I wouldn't have got involved in this had it not been a great tune, had they not been a great band and I'm very proud to be on the video and on the recording, so get out there and get involved.”


Umberto Urock commented that Ian put a lot of effort into the music video, jokingly adding, you always remembered to bring the same t-shirt without us needing to tell you anything. Ian replied to this by saying “I think it's very funny because when we were kids we had no money. Roger (Glover) and I had one set of clothes between us. Not for the stage but to go out if you wanted to go out to a party or something like that. You want to look good but we couldn't go out at the same time because we only had one set of clothes between us. One shirt and one pair of trousers. For each. Can I have the trousers tonight? No belt. We had a piece of string. But that was cool. The rest of the guys, it was fashionable to wear dark clothes. And I always wore white. And they go, you just want to because you're the front guy, right? I said it's more than that. In a publicity shot or anything like that mine is the only signature that can be read. Because the rest of them are signing with sharpies on black t-shirts.”


Ian Gillan was asked if he has any suggestions to give to new generations of musicians out there having come out in the golden age of rock bands. Ian Gillan told The Portugal News, “If I was starting off today, I would look around and say there's nothing here for me. In terms of a commercial career. I wouldn't want to think that way. Because if you think commercially, which is what you're talking about, becoming successful, earning money, being popular, a huge amount of that is to do with manipulation by the business itself. Marketing forces and such like. If I was young now, and I had the advantage of learning the lessons that I did fairly quickly in those days, I would avoid fashion at all costs. What you should be looking at, if you were starting off now, is your own expression as an artist. What you're aiming for is something unique.


Adding, “That will be, number one, a good friend to you for the rest of your life. So, there will always be demand for that. And number two, when you do become successful, it'll be something that is going to start a new trend, a new fashion or whatever, and it'll be all yours. So even though it may be a small section or whatever, you'll always find an audience, if you're good. You need the business. You need good connections, good friends, and people who believe in you. But you have to put in the mileage first and get your own identity. And I would not fall into the traps of chasing success or commercial things. Stick to quality at all times. Wear your own clothes, and sing your own songs.”


Ian Gillan was also asked what his mindset is when collaborating outside of Deep Purple in which he shared, “There's no formula. And I don't really ever once think about those things, who’s famous, who’s not. I like things to be organic. And if you feel comfortable, you just do it and I'm not overwhelmed by big projects.”


To keep up to date with UROCK, please find them on social media where they will announce the release date of their new single: https://www.instagram.com/urockbandofficial/

https://www.facebook.com/UROCKBAND.official

https://www.youtube.com/@UROCKOFFICIAL

For Deep Purple updates, please visit https://deeppurple.com/.