I didn’t want to be part of the complete ripping of the Purple fabric.”Īccording to the vocalist, there was no band left to leave but, he was upset anyway. Then for me to turn around and see Jon Lord and Ian Paice, two founder members, playing with their f*ckin’ heads down instead of their usual proud and arrogant attitude, body language was just too much for me. But I was absolutely worn out emotionally and physically by the entire experience. That was an immense lesson for me that you don’t in big business, you don’t do friends favors of that magnitude. And I was talked into it by my friend, Rob Cooksey, who was at that time, acting manager of Purple. I felt that if you took Purple in the state that it was into the UK, it would have just broken an awful lot of hearts. “I wanted to finish after what I felt was a very difficult American tour. Here is how he concluded his last moments before he decided to quit:
That was the point Coverdale realized that he cared about the band too much to stand around and watch it get destroyed. According to Coverdale, the last drip was when the organ player Jon Lord and the drummer Ian Paice started performing with their heads down instead of standing up straight while on stage. One of the reasons the sinking ship metaphor fits Deep Purple’s situation is that aside from their declining musical success and switch in the genre, the band members had also lost their enthusiasm.