Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water – ft. Ken Tamplin

I almost didn’t sing this song since it’s basically considered the national anthem of rock ‘n’ roll history.

Growing up, this song was basically “required learning” for anyone wanting to play rock guitar.
And the extremely distinct vocals of Ian Gillan were almost considered sacred.

It’s kind of funny, I have heard modern day classical composers refer to Beethoven’s Fifth in the same way.
Most modern classical composers said that they would not take on Beethoven’s Fifth until about 30 years into their professional career because of how the industry would grade them on how well they did.

Maybe the same could be said for Smoke On The Water.

So I thought about it, and instead of some tired rehash of this national anthem of classic rock, I decided to break all the rules as usual, and make my own contribution without straying too far from the classic version.

I thought I would go ahead and open up the piece with a little bit of one of the only few singers I felt would have been “forgiven” for actually daring to take on such an epic iconic classic.

Other than Ian Gillan himself those singers would be the following:

David Coverdale
Glenn Hughes
Paul Rodgers
Dio.

I chose Dio!

So to get everyone’s attention, before the traditional vocal even started, I went ahead and belted out my best Dio!
(I thought to myself: if that doesn’t get their attention, nothing will! And I fully expected the haters to come in full force 🙂

But I didn’t stop there.

I thought it would be interesting to do the entire song in the spirit of or in the style of all of the singers I mentioned including Ian, David, Glenn, Paul and Dio. I know there will be plenty out there that will say: “How totally audacious” and “Who do you think you are?”

At Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, we pride ourselves in taking on some of the most difficult songs to sing in all of pop and rock history.
We use these kinds of songs as the highest bar possible set for determining our progress as singers.

But I still didn’t stop there.

As I dug into singing across the original track from 1972, I realized how “far in front” or “in front of the beat” Ian Gillan’s original track was. But I thought it would be more interesting to put it in the pocket and behind the beat, more on the blues side of Paul Rogers and David Coverdale as opposed to Ian Gillan singing “on top” of the track. So as you listen to the song, notice the “feel” that I put by pulling the vocal back behind the groove with more of a soul swag than an energetic rock piece. I really do feel that Richie Blackmore would approve.

There are several nuances throughout the song like this, but I couldn’t resist the temptation at the very end to add my own “Space Truckin'” part two screams at the end.

In the end, I hope I did the song proud for all of you Deep Purple fans out there as I certainly am one of them 🙂

Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy – Where the PROOF is in the singing!