The April 8 ceremony at New York's Barclays Center will honor most of the group's first three lineups, including Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Rod Evans, Roger Glover, David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes.

"Putting the past shenanigans to one side, the induction is not - in clear fact - for Deep Purple," writes Gillan on his website. "It is an arbitrary selection of past members, which excludes Steve Morse and Don Airey; both of whom have been with the living breathing DP for a very long time."

Morse has been the group's guitarist since 1994 while keyboardist Airey joined the lineup following the 2001 retirement of founding member Jon Lord.

"Obviously this is very silly," Gillan continues, "and so my response is quite simple: 'Thank you very much'. "And what a coincidence," the singer adds, "This morning I got an invitation to a wedding from some dear old friends. Unfortunately my family was not invited and they said that I would be required to sit next to my ex (we divorced decades ago) at the wedding feast. They were shocked when I called to thank them and decline the invitation."

Gillan has voiced his displeasure with the Rock Hall over the years and held nothing back upon word of the band's nomination in October. "I have no respect for them," said Gillan. "They're the kind of people that having seen A Hard Day's Night decided that The Monkees would be America's equivalent to The Beatles. They've no idea what goes on in the big, wide world outside of their self-arbitrating surroundings." Read more - here.

Deep Purple Music, DVDs, Books and more Deep Purple T-shirts and Posters More Deep Purple News Share this article Related Stories Deep Purple Recruit Yes For North American Tour Deep Purple Announce UK and Euro =1 More Time Tour Dates Deep Purple's 'Smoke On The Water' Finally Gets A Music Video Deep Purple's 'Machine Head' Expanded For Super Deluxe Edition Dimmu Borgir Cover Deep Purple's 'Perfect Strangers'