Ian Gillan July. As the band had only been rehearsing for a few weeks, they relied on older instrumentals such as "Wring That Neck" and "Mandrake Root" to fill in a set. Unsure of what to do, Gillan found a pair of congas onstage, and decided to play them during these instrumental sections. Deep Purple Mk.II continued rehearsing at Hanwell Community Centre. One of Gillan's first contributions to the band during these rehearsals was the vocal melody and lyrics to "Child in Time". At Hanwell, the band wrote what would eventually become most of "In Rock" during 1969, though were interrupted in
Ian Gillan with Mickey Lee Soule and then Colin Towns on keyboards, Mark Nauseef on drums and John Gustafson on bass. Their first album, "Child in Time", was released in July 1976, followed by "Clear Air Turbulence" in April 1977 and "Scarabus" in October. The sound of the band had a distinct jazz-rock aspect which, although interesting to Gillan, proved unpopular, particularly since punk rock was in vogue at that time. Gillan then formed a new band, simply called Gillan, retaining Towns (who would co-write most of the material), and adding guitarist Steve Byrd, bassist John McCoy and drummer Pete Barnacle. Byrd