Their new, 23rd album =1 follows a run of chart hits including top 10 records Infinite (2017) and Whoosh! (2020), suggesting a band in late-career resurgence. Driven, perhaps, by the fact that their audience seems to consist almost entirely of horn-waving Benjamin Buttons.

“It’s very exciting,” Gillan enthuses. “About 15 years ago, something weird happened. There was a whole new generation of fans. Our audiences from about 2009 or 2010 onwards have been mainly 15- to 22-year-olds. That’s been a great input of energy in the shows.”

“In the Seventies we just broke up,” he says. “Everyone’s seen Spinal Tap and that’s pretty much what happens. Outside influences come in, too much money, ‘we’re immortal’, all that rubbish. Then you go off and you try to do things individually and realize it’s the collective effort that really made it work.

See also:

• musicradar: Ian praises Paice, recall Yes confrontation
• loudersound: Ian touts Black Sabbath as more influential than Purple or Zeppelin
• short 2018 metalinjection piece with a bit more about joining Black Sabbath