Did you know that Ian Gillan and Roger Glover have been together since 1965? They started their careers with Episode Six. The group recorded many singles but not a true studio album. They got snatched up by Deep Purple, Episode Six fizzled after their departure. Together with the rest of the Deep Purple recorded some of rock’s classic albums under the Mark II line-up. The group is now on its Mark IX lineup.
Deep Purple has a long revolving door of musicians. The last original member of the Mark I line-up is drummer Ian Paice, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover have been with the band for many line-ups. Ian Gillan claims that he and Roger have written many songs together. At least 250 in total according to his estimates as he told recently to Goldmine: The Music Collectors Magazine.
Episode Six was an English rock band out of Harrow, London. The band never had commercial success in the U.K., releasing nine singles that all failed to chart. Members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left in 1969 to join Deep Purple, while Mick Underwood founded Quartermass and later collaborated with Gillan.
“Roger and I have worked together since ’65. And it’s like the odd couple, I suppose (laughs), in that sense. I think Roger’s style is more romantic. He’s a much nicer person than I am. In fact, I complain about it all the time: “I hate you, Roger, ‘cos you’re just too nice.” And, well, he’s the nearest thing I ever had to a brother. He’s more poetic. And he’s very good at narratives. I’m probably more aggressive than Roger, and probably more cryptic. Roger is much more straightforward when he’s telling a story. I tend to bury meanings in two or three layers. Of the songs, we’ve written, over the years… I mean, I’ve written 500 or more songs now, and probably half of them are with Roger. Of the songs we’ve written, you know, he’s probably written 30% and I’ve written 30% on my own and the rest we’ve written together. We don’t actually count. If somebody has a good idea, we go with that.”
Of interest: Smoke on the Water is Beethoven’s Fifth Backwards