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 2014 2015 2016 Today Ian uses Pearl drumkits as his main performing drums, incorporating Paiste cymbals, Remo drumheads and Pro-Mark drumsticks. He used Ludwig kits during the seventies and early eighties in remarkable large sizes: 26" Bass drum, 16" Tom, an 18 & 20" floor tom and 14 x 6.5" Supraphonic snare which was a blueprint for his signature snare from Pearl. In 1982 he switched companies, because Ludwig's development stalled and he got a better deal from Pearl. He also prefers a single bass drum set-up, both live and in the studio. Pearl Drums produce his signature snare drum.