Well it is a long, long story. Too long to tell here: so I'll just start off, set the scene, and let the pictures do the rest.
We started off in '79, just about nowhere, Ian able to do the Marquee, which at the time I did too with my own band: of course Ian got slightly more people. but in truth not that many more. Not enough to get a recording deal in the UK at the time, which I had got with my own band: and that must have been pretty rough if you had been at one time a member of the biggest band in the world. Coming down is always hard.
So Ian asked me to join: flattered? You betcha, I loved "In Rock" to death. But more than that: I'd seen the band about four times, and I KNEW I was what they needed. Steve Byrd, the previous guitarist, was really good, but in that band he was a bit of a fish on a bicycle, he seemed to miss the point. I wanted that job, that was my ground.
And so I got it. I was semi-famous enough in the UK at the time to merit press in Sounds, Melody Maker and even, God forbid, the NME over my joining Ian. I even had my picture in a few of them. The press ran along the lines of "Shock, Horror, Punk (me) joins Dinosaur (Ian)". To me it was made in heaven, just destined to be.
I was so into it I spent the start unpaid. I was also trying to get out of my recording deal with Jet Records. During this period we auditioned drummers, among them Terry Stannard (from Joe Cocker's Grease band), and Ian Paice. For whatever reasons, and they were both totally stunning, that didn't work out, and we finally found the magnificentally solid and under appreciated Mick Underwood. We started recording Mr Universe at Ian's Kingsway studios, under the guiding hand of Colin Towns, who, truth be told, was the real reason for Ian's rediscovery of his rock roots, and the real organiser of Gillan the band.
After finding Mick, we started to record the Mr. Universe album. It was great, we were all's equals, all mates, all partners. Ian never pulled rank, and was supportive of each and all of us. An ideal situation: it had something special, we were all sure it would be successful. I was at that time very proud to be a member of Gillan.
Soon after the completion of Mr Universe, which took about four weeks to record, we did the Marquee: things had changed, we did three nights, it was heaving, we were, as if by magical osmosis, suddenly the flavour of the month. It was unbelievable, a totally untouchable memory: at that stage we played mostly songs, not guitar/bass/keyboard/drum/flute/conga solos. (That seemed to proportionately change as time went on, as did many other things!). But still no recording deal. Here are some blurry pics from one of those first three marquee gigs
a quiet moment. Back of my head!
Ian (right) and John McCoy (left) in full effect. (The tranny's are 20 years old and unfortunately have some marks)
McCoy and Ian Gillan
Me, with a bright (jumping jack flash)light in my head, and Colin Towns in the distance (left).
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