Deep Purple's sound was not forged only in the pubs, clubs and studios of 1960s Britain. Its early threads also run through Beirut, where 20-year-old Ian Gillan spent three months in 1966 perfecting his vocals and building stage stamina in the glittering showrooms of Casino du Liban, then one of the region's most glamorous entertainment venues.
Three years before joining the British band that is regarded as one of the pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, Gillan was singing the harmonies of American jazz and doo-wop groups with Episode Six, a band that also featured future Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover. The Lebanon summer residency was Gillan's first official international gig.
“I still remember the smell of the cedar trees when we landed on a Boeing 707 at the airport,” Gillan, 80, tells The National ahead of Deep Purple’s Dubai return to Coca-Cola Arena on Thursday. “I was there for three months and Casino du Liban was probably even bigger than Vegas and Paris put together at the time. In the three months we spent there, I absorbed the culture of Lebanon so much.”
Part of that memory is the contrast between the venue’s glamour and the city’s rough edges. “It was still a raw country, but the casino was very cosmopolitan, very international, and we had everything we wanted,” says Gillan. “We were staying in a derelict farmhouse up on the hills overlooking Lebanon. Not much there, but we had some good parties and a lot of stories to tell. We would do five shows a night and then a matinee show with no alcohol on the weekends, so it was full of kids. It was full-on and we learnt a lot.”
That Beirut period may be a footnote in Gillan’s career, but he regards it as important for perfecting his stagecraft, gaining confidence and learning how to win over unsuspecting crowds. It was an early lesson in commanding a room, and it proved useful when Deep Purple formed in London in 1968, with Gillan and Glover joining the following year to complete what would become regarded as the classic Mark II line-up.
The hard, aggressive sound they conjured helped shape the first wave of heavy music and, alongside Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin (both also formed in 1968), Deep Purple became one of the groups that defined the era’s shift towards louder, sharper and more technically driven rock.
“For Deep Purple, we were not doing it as some form of rebellion against anything. While we were aware that fans and managers liked this kind of sound, we just did it because it felt natural to us,” says Gillan. “We never felt like we were on to something because every time, in those days when we finished an album, we would get down on our knees and pray that the fans liked it.”
Those instincts led to a run of songs that would define the next decade of rock music. Classic album Machine Head arrived in 1972 with tracks such as Highway Star, Smoke on the Water and Lazy, songs underscoring the signature interplay of Jon Lord’s sweeping, sometimes macabre-sounding organ lines, Ritchie Blackmore’s percussive guitar riffs and the swing-driven pulse of drummer Ian Paice.
On top of that mix is Gillan’s voice, moving from plaintive wail to guttural roar to the kind of neat, phrased delivery shaped by his love for singers such as Elvis Presley and the jazz crooners he grew up hearing.
“I learnt so much from listening to Elvis. His voice was incredible. It gets right through to you,” he says. “I grew up with that, along with opera from my grandfather and boogie-woogie records from my uncle, so it all fed into how I sing,” says Gillan.
It was a period Gillan describes as one of camaraderie, particularly with Black Sabbath, who came from the industrial heartland of nearby Birmingham.
The bands often crossed paths in the same clubs and studios, and Gillan remembers the relationship as friendly rather than competitive. That bond deepened in 1983 when he joined Sabbath as frontman for a year, long after Ozzy Osbourne’s departure from the group, a stint Gillan recalls with a mix of disbelief and affection.
“There was never any competition among the musicians and many remain great friends,” Gillan says. “My year with Black Sabbath was the longest party I ever went to. It was quite incredible. I have worked with some crazy people, but never anyone quite like Sabbath.”
Those wild years are long behind him, Gillan says, and Deep Purple are better for it. After returning to Beirut with the band in 1997, and with a number of Dubai shows since, the group continue to release music that resonates with their fan base, including the 2024 studio album =1.
“It is the biggest-selling record we have had since [1984's] Perfect Strangers,” Gillan says. “So things are picking up enormously, and we did not expect that. Everyone is perceived to be of their time and you become a fixture rather than an excitement.”
Gillan confirms that a new Deep Purple album has been completed and will be released next spring, produced by long-time collaborator Bob Ezrin.
Now, with fewer musicians of his generation still touring at the same intensity as Deep Purple, Gillan recognises the weight of time and how a new generation of rock fans are seeking out the originators of that sound.
“You look back and think about how many tours, how many territories, how many lives this music has touched. Longevity gives you that view,” he says.
“When you have been doing it for this long, you start to realise the scale of it and how people keep finding the music, even decades later. We started off as a hard rock band, and that was the definition at the time.
“But now there are so many subgenres, and eventually the tombstone around our neck is the label classic rock. The fact is, over the years, people are still out there seeking the music, so it always feels alive.”
That is about as far as Gillan is willing to go in reflecting on legacy – another lesson gleaned from those nights at Casino du Liban.
“I learnt to just keep going. I never really sit and take stock,” he says. “And if people keep showing up, then that is wonderful.”
Deep Purple performs at Coca-Cola Arena, Dubai on Thursday. Show starts at 8pm; tickets are from Dh249
