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
Elysia (band) Studios for the recording. Thus, they never re-released the album, although they are on a Tribunal Records sampler. They found drummer Jacob Durrett (now playing drums in Fate) to fill in for a 10 Day tour with Impending Doom and Moria. After returning home they found Steven Sessler to play drums, who is still in the band today. Alex Porte left the band in the summer of 2007, less than a month before their first full US tour. With Zak Vargas now the sole original member, the band almost breaks up, but continues due to contractual obligations to perform. They