DEEP PURPLE’S IAN PAICE ROAD TESTS THE ROLAND TD-30KV

Ian Paice remembers the bad old days of digital drums. A time when the latency of lesser kits killed the groove. An age when dodgy triggering made audiences wince. But that was before the Deep Purple drum god pulled up a stool at the Roland TD-30KV. “I came across Roland’s V-Drums,” he explains in this exclusive video interview, “and I was absolutely blown away.”

As a founder member when Deep Purple set out in 1968, Ian has always been renowned for his world-class feel, which moves from a savage smash to a nuanced tickle. For him, a key advantage of the Roland TD-30KV is the ultra-sensitive triggering. “Every little contact is translated into sound,” he tells us. “These drums capture all those little drags, those little pushes, those little inflections. It now responds in a way that I never heard any other electronic drums respond before.”

Deep Purple’s nineteen-album catalogue might be eclectic, from the hard rock of Smoke On The Water to the epic balladry of Child In Time but switching drum tones is no problem thanks to the Roland TD-30 sound module that Ian dubs a “genius little box”. Check out the video to see the drumming legend dial up the maple/birch kit of his dreams – and to find out why he thinks “you’ll be as blown away as I was…”