Gillan (band)

Gillan
Ian Gillan, frontman and leader of the band in 1983
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal
Years active	1978–1982
Labels	Virgin, RSO, Acrobat, Edsel, Angel Air
Associated acts	Deep Purple, Ian Gillan Band, GMT, McCoy, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, White Spirit
Past members	Ian Gillan John McCoy Colin Towns Steve Byrd Liam Genockey Pete Barnacle Mick Underwood Bernie Tormé Janick Gers

Gillan were a rock band formed in 1978 by Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan. Gillan were one of the hard rock bands to make a significant impact and commercial success in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s, with 5 albums in the Top 20.

In July 1978 Ian Gillan had become dissatisfied with the jazz fusion style of his band Ian Gillan Band and dissolved it, retaining only keyboard player Colin Towns, and formed this new band entitled Gillan. He added Steve Byrd on guitar, Liam Genockey on drums and John McCoy on bass, and initially pursued a progressive rock direction, releasing their eponymous debut in September 1978, although they could only get a record deal in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. This recording has subsequently become more widely available as The Japanese Album as a CD re-issue by RPM Records in 1994. However, the RPM CD issue replaces the original opening instrumental "Second Sight" with another instrumental, "Street Theatre". Genocky was unable to commit to the band beyond the recording of the album and the band's live debut at the Reading Festival in 1978. He was replaced for the subsequent tour by Pete Barnacle.

At Christmas 1978, Ian Gillan turned down an offer from Ritchie Blackmore to join Rainbow, but Blackmore did make a guest appearance for Gillan at their Christmas show. It was the first time Ian Gillan and Blackmore had performed together since 1973.

The album was sufficiently successful to attract more attention and in 1979 the band secured a European deal with Acrobat Records. Before a new album was recorded, Byrd was replaced by Bernie Tormé and Barnacle by drummer Mick Underwood, Ian Gillan's former colleague in Episode Six. Torme's "screaming guitar" sound fundamentally altered the dynamics and Gillan took a more heavy metal direction. This line-up's first album was released as Mr. Universe and contained many re-worked songs from The Japanese Album. The album went straight into the UK album charts but stalled as Acrobat Records went bankrupt. This led to a multi-album deal with Virgin Records.