Ian Paice 1966 Paice joined The MI5, which soon changed its name to The Maze. Primarily a club band, The Maze produced a number of singles, recorded mainly in Italy and France. The Maze featured vocalist Rod Evans, who alongside Paice was to form the original line-up of Deep Purple in March 1968. Evans had responded to an ad for a lead singer published by Deep Purple management, and showed up for his audition with Ian Paice in tow. Given that Deep Purple's first choice for a drummer, Bobby Woodman, had expressed dislike for the band's musical direction, the group hastily arranged
Ian Paice Matteo Filippini. The band performs on a regular basis mainly in Italy. They have also released two studio albums on which Paice has guested. "Time to Take a Stand", which was released in 2006, featured two songs that featured both Paice and Glenn Hughes, performing together for the first time since 1976. The list of Paice's declared admirers includes Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith. On 21 June 2004 Smith and Paice joined forces at the launch of the London Drum Company. The next year they also played together at the Modern Drummer Festival at New Jersey Performing Arts Center.