Ian Gillan Band


The Ian Gillan Band were an English progressive jazz-rock band formed by singer Ian Gillan of Deep Purple in 1975. Their sound is a departure from the heavy metal of Deep Purple by featuring a progressive jazz fusion sound, more similar to bands such as Brand X.

History

After leaving Deep Purple in June 1973, Ian Gillan had retired from the music business to pursue other business ventures, including motorcycle engines, a country hotel / restaurant, and ownership of the Kingsway Recorders studio, where from April 1974 he began to work on his first post-Deep Purple solo tracks.
These ventures, apart from the recording studio, all ended in failure. This fact, combined with a warm reception to his guest appearance at Roger Glover's Butterfly Ball live show at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 16 October 1975 prompted him to resume a singing career and form a new band.
Initially called Shand Grenade, a combination of Shangri-la and Grenade, Gillan was persuaded by the management to change the band's name to the Ian Gillan Band. He recruited guitarist Ray Fenwick, bass player John Gustafson, keyboard player Mike Moran and Elf percussionist Mark Nauseef on drums. Using Roger Glover as producer and session musician, this line-up recorded their first album Child In Time in December 1975 / January 1976. In February 1976 Moran was replaced by Mickey Lee Soule, but for the recording of follow-up album Clear Air Turbulence he was dropped in May 1976 in favour of Colin Towns.
The band had some success in Japan but none at all in North America and only cult status in Europe, their jazz fusion direction unappealing to pop and rock fans alike. Their first album, Child In Time, reached 55 on the UK charts and 36 in Sweden. Their third album, Scarabus, had more of a rock sound but retained the jazz fusion direction. Released at the height of punk rock, there was no success beyond Japan and their label Island Records dropped them.
The following year Gillan dissolved the band but retained Colin Towns and formed a new band called simply Gillan. A live album was released after the breakup. John Gustafson said: "Gillan decided he didn’t like the band’s direction and wanted to do more rock stuff. In reality, he should have put his foot down a lot earlier. I personally was expecting Deep Purple stuff, but he let us do whatever we wanted."

Members

Ian Gillan Band

Timeline


ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:20
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:25
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1975 till:01/01/1978
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom
ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1975
ScaleMinor = increment:2 start:1976
Colors =
id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitars
id:Keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:Bvocals value:pink legend:Backing_vocals
id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_releases
LineData =
at:11/07/1976 color:black layer:back
at:15/04/1977 color:black layer:back
at:17/10/1977 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:IGillan text:"Ian Gillan"
bar:Fenwick text:"Ray Fenwick"
bar:Moran text:"Mike Moran"
bar:Soule text:"Mickey Lee Soule"
bar:Towns text:"Colin Towns"
bar:Gustafson text:"John Gustafson"
bar:Nauseef text:"Mark Nauseef"
PlotData=
width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:
bar:IGillan from:start till:end color:Vocals
bar:Fenwick from:start till:end color:Guitars
bar:Fenwick from:start till:end color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Moran from:start till:01/02/1976 color:Keyboards
bar:Soule from:01/02/1976 till:01/10/1976 color:Keyboards
bar:Towns from:01/10/1976 till:end color:Keyboards
bar:Towns from:01/07/1977 till:end color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Gustafson from:start till:end color:Bass
bar:Gustafson from:start till:end color:Bvocals width:3
bar:Nauseef from:start till:end color:Drums

Discography

Studio albums

Child in Time Clear Air Turbulence

Live albums

Live at the Budokan Live: Yubin Chokin Hall, Hiroshima

Compilation albums

Anthology Rarities 1975–1977,

Singles

  • "You Make Me Feel So Good" / "Shame"
  • "Down the Road" / "Lay Me Down"
  • "Country Lights / Poor Boy Hero"
  • "Twin Exhausted / Five Moons"
  • "Mad Elaine" / "Mercury High"
  • "Smoke on the Water" / "Mad Elaine"