Ian Gillan band, who had not had any holiday since their initial rehearsals at Hanwell. He started drinking, and relationships between him and the rest of the band became strained, particularly with Blackmore. On 6 November 1971, he collapsed with hepatitis while waiting to board a plane in Chicago, cancelling the remainder of a US tour. By December 1972, having recorded "Machine Head", "Made in Japan" and the yet to be released "Who Do We Think We Are" with Deep Purple, Gillan finally decided the workload had driven him to exhaustion. Unlike some band members, he was unhappy about "Made in Japan",
Ian Gillan Like Me". Although the band played several local popular music venues, they did not find success, so in April 1965, he decided to join Hatch End based Episode Six. Gillan had been contacted by Episode Six's manager Gloria Bristow, who worked for Helmut Gordon, original manager of The Detours, later to become the Who. He replaced original lead singer Andy Ross, who left to get married, and joined keyboardist and singer Sheila Carter, guitarists Graham Carter and Tony Lander, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Harvey Shields. Gillan considers Episode Six to be his first truly professional band, and in their