CFL Soundtrack: Can the Argos be highway stars, or will there be smoke on the Lake Ontario water?

Continuing with our CFL Soundtrack series of previews, here's a look at the Toronto Argonauts, who bear more than a passing resemblance to seminal English hard rock band Deep Purple.

We already laid out the case for Toronto Argonauts' defensive coordinator/assistant head coach/assistant general manager Chris Jones as the CFL Soundtrack universe's analogue for brilliant but oft-on-the-move guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, so we might as well make the Argonauts the most famous band Blackmore was in. The similarities don't stop there, either; this Argonauts' team has seen plenty of exits and entrances over the last few years, and some of them are quite comparable to the numerous lineup changes Deep Purple went through.

Most notably, consider how the band came up with its famed Mark II lineup. After some initial success with remarkably-altered covers like "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman," they wanted to go in a more-consistently heavy direction, so they axed singer Rod Evans and bassist Nick Simper, bringing in Episode Six's Ian Gillan and Roger Glover as replacements. Gillan's entrance carries similarities to that of Argonauts' head coach Scott Milanovich, a hot prospect in CFL coaching circles thanks to his success as the Alouettes' offensive coordinator who became Toronto's head coach in December 2011 and was seen as a potential franchise-saver. That's appropriately messianic, considering that one of Gillan's most famous projects outside Deep Purple was performing the role of Jesus on the Jesus Christ Superstar cast album.

As with the change from Evans to Gillan, the switch from Jim Barker to Milanovich also wasn't necessarily a reflection of one being a better coach, but rather of the team looking for a dramatically different style. Barker's 9-9 2010 team, which pulled off a surprising road playoff win over Hamilton (really surprising when Cleo Lemon's your quarterback), was built around defence and Cory Boyd's running, and his 6-12 2011 team tried the same thing (although occasionally deviating from it, to their detriment). Barker's teams had shown impressive potential at times, but never quite became consistently dominant. Milanovich came in with a very different approach, renowned for his high-accuracy passing-based offences in Montreal, and although his team got off to a bit of a slow start as they adapted to his style, going just 9-9 in the regular season, the new plan eventually led to a Grey Cup and a coach of the year award for him.

Similarly, Deep Purple slowly started to find even larger success with the Gillan-led lineup, recording the impressive Concerto For Group And Orchestra with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1969, breaking through onto the U.K. Top 10 with the "Black Night" single off 1970's In Rock (which also included "Child In Time," particular evidence of their evolution towards what would become heavy metal), reaching #1 on the U.K. charts with 1971's Fireball and then delivering their greatest success of all, 1972's seminal Machine Head. Machine Head's blistering hard rock/metal style, particularly shown on such tracks as "Space Truckin'," and "Smoke On The Water" is a remarkable change from the band's early days with Evans, but like Milanovich's Argos gameplan, it produced tremendous results.

Of course, Barker is still very much in the fold as Toronto's general manager, so Evans isn't a completely ideal comparison for him. He's actually much more like organist/keyboardist Jon Lord, who was arguably the band's dominant figure during the Mark I days, but began to trade off with Blackmore and Gillan much more as time passed. Lord's contributions were still crucial throughout the Mark II era and beyond, particularly as shown on "Lazy," and Barker's personnel efforts are also still vital to the Argonauts' success, but both stepped back from the spotlight a little, and it worked out for their groups.

Ray has also been vital to the Argos' success, and there's a good analogue for him in Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. Glover entered the band at the same time as Gillan, and his driving bass riffs (especially noticeable on Machine Head's "Highway Star") were critically important in propelling the band to a harder sound. "Highway Star" is often cited as one of the founding songs of metal (speed metal in particular), along with Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," and the Glover/Blackmore bass/guitar duet to open it is one of the most memorable starts to an album. (Oddly enough, that whole song was written on a bus en route to a show to demonstrate the band's songwriting process to a journalist.) As time went on, Glover began to take more and more of a role in producing Deep Purple (he produced both of the 1980s Mark II reunion albums, Perfect Strangers and The House Of Blue Light) and other bands and artists (everyone from Elf to Nazareth to David Coverdale to Judas Priest to Rainbow), and Ray is taking more and more of a role in creating Toronto's offence these days (with Milanovich and new offensive coordinator Marcus Brady).

There aren't too many figures who have been with the Argonauts throughout the whole Barker to Milanovich era, but 2012 CFL Most Outstanding Player Chad Owens (he of the MMA fights, new contract and charitable contributions) is one. Owens was one of the few offensive bright spots on the 2010 and 2011 teams (remarkable, considering that Cleo Lemon and Steven Jyles were throwing him the ball), and he took his game to a whole new level last year when partnered with a capable quarterback in Ray. That makes him an excellent comparison to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, the only man who's been with every iteration of the band.

Paice can sometimes get lost in the praise for Deep Purple, as there have been so many other incredible talents and big personalities in the band, but his solid rhythmic foundation was also crucial for them, and his versatility's shown in how he was able to adapt to every era of the band's history, from the experimental, keyboard-focused Evans era to the hard-rocking Gillan era to the funk- and blues-influenced Mark III era with Glenn Hughes and David Coverdale. Paice was arguably at his best when partnered with Glover, though, and that also fits for Owens and Ray. Coaching and executive figures like Jones, Milanovich and Barker get a lot of the press clippings, but a team needs crucial performances from its players too, and Ray and Owens will have to turn in big showings for this team to have an impressive year. In the end, it should be another solid campaign for Toronto. The main question's how they'll do when thrust into the playoff fire again:

Prediction: 11-7, first in East, loss in East Final.