March/April 1968

Roundabout   

People involved

Ritchie Blackmore (gtr); Rod Evans (vcl); Jon Lord (kbr); Nick Simper (bss); Ian Paice (drm).

Rod Evans auditioned for Roundabout and took Paice with him. Blackmore remembered having seen Paice in Hamburg and wanted him in the group. Thus their then-current drummer Bobby Woodman was asked to go buy some cigarettes after which they quickly locked the door behind him - and let Paice audition. Both Rod Evans and Ian Paice got new jobs. As Roundabout, they toured Scandinavia in April before changing their name to Deep Purple.