Ian Gillan on how Beirut helped shape Deep Purple’s sound 60 years ago

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