BONUTTO ON GILLAN
When Ian Gillan left the ranks of Episode Six for Purple pastures new, it was 1969. Quite a year; Richard Nixon was voted US President, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, and Concorde took off on its maiden flight. All major happenings, no doubt, but for any true follower of the spanked plank and the hairy-palmed howl, it's The Great Gillan Manoeuvre - executed in conjunction with Roger Glover - that stands as most significant. By a clear (banged) head and shoulders… Having decided to give the 'Spanish Archer'to original frontman Rod Evans, Deep Purple gathered together as much discretion as a bunch of late- Sixties long-hairs could muster, and went along to check out the Gillan 'pipes' for themselves. And… well, that particular night is just one of many watershed events discussed with refreshing warts-an'-all candour in the course of 'Ian Gillan: Highway Star' - a no-stone-unturned examination of its celebrated subject matter that should provide answers to all, and I mean all, of those stories you've doubtless heard on the rock'n'roll grapevine (a hardy perennial, if ever there was one) but never been quite sure about. Courtroom fact or barroom bragging? The answers lie within…
Extract taken from Highway Star DVD booklet
GLOVER ON GILLAN
I was once in a band called Episode Six. Our professional debut was at a club in Frankfurt in April 1965, but by May of that year we were an outfit in tatters - in need of a lead singer as ours had left. That's when I first met Ian Gillan. He was a veteran of several groups gigging around the West London area and he fitted the bill perfectly; he had a great voice, was very handsome, didn't live too far away and had gallons of charisma.What's more, he knew his way around a stage and, conveniently, was between gigs. We hit it off and he joined... Our personalities, predictably enough, were (and are) quite different,but that is probably the point. Where I was the more sensitive and poetic, he was the more bold and unafraid (my folk to his rock 'n' roll), and we complemented each other on a certain creative level. The songs we wrote together in those days vary alarmingly between possessing a naïve yet adventurous strength and, well... just being plain boring! But it was fun, and we sparked off each other.
Extract taken from Highway Star DVD booklet
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