Jerusalem Band Gillan

Paul Dean: Interview with Paul Dean of Jerusalem band by Klemen ...

Paul: In 1967 when Ray and I were 16 and still at school we went to see John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers and were absolutely blown away with a form of music we had never heard before. The next day we decided to form a band along with another friend Chris Skelcher. None of us had ever played an instrument before, Ray took drums, Chris guitar and I took bass and vocals. Paul: None of us had any major influences, so we actually learnt how to play as we went along. I started writing as we decided we didn’t want to do any covers and liked the idea of creating something of our own that was a bit different. We practised at every opportunity and did part time and holiday jobs to pay for equipment. Our only focus was the band. Hardwork, but well worth it in the end. Paul: No, none of us had ever touched an instrument before or had done anything musical. Even when Ray and I brought in Bill, Phil, Bob and Lynden at different times, none of them had actually been in another proper band. All performing virgins. The first recording we ever did was when Ian brought Roger Glover to Salisbury to do some recording on Rogers newly acquired Revox 2 track. Don’t know what happened to the tapes. Phil was the singer at this time. Paul: Deram (Decca) contacted me and decided they wanted a single, but not something off the album. We literally had 2 days to put something together. I put a song together and got Lynden to write some lyrics that afternoon at my mother’s house. We then went to Decca’s studio in London two days later after hours of practise and recorded it within a few hours. Paul: The album was actually finished already, that’s why there was a panic about a single. The album took about 2 weeks in total, recording, mixing and mastering. It was an exciting time for all of us, our first real recording session and Ian’s first production. We camped out at Ian’s house in Pangbourne and travelled up and down to London every day. Each day we started early afternoon and finished in the early hours of the morning. Bands become nocturnal creatures, so always better to record late in the day. It was a great time, hardwork, but also really good fun. A great time was had by all. Paul: He was an old friend of my sister Zoe. She brought him home one night to stay at our mother’s house during a Deep Purple tour and we got talking.