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Alan Davey
(06.01.2011)
Alan Davey is of course familiar to all the Psychotropic Zone readers as the longest-running bass player of the legendary UK space rock band Hawkwind. He was part of the mothership from 1984 to 1996 and then again from 2000 to 2007 writing many classic Hawkwind songs and also doing much of the vocals in the band. Alan has been releasing and playing music with several other outfits and as a solo artist, as well. Motörhead’s Lemmy has named him Bass Assassin No 2, with himself of course being No 1... Alan Davey’s heavy hard rock band Gunslinger is playing their debut Finnish gig at Psychotropic Caravan Festival III in Helsinki on February the 5th, so it was time to ask a few questions from one of my favourite bass players in the world...
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Aqua Nebula Oscillator
(28.12.2010)
Aqua Nebula Oscillator is a band from Paris, France, playing heavy, loud, dark and psychedelic rock that has elements from the 60’s psych, fuzz and garage rock bands as well as some 70’s space rock vibes but all saturated with a heavy dose of occult and paranormal. The band has just gone through some major personnel changes and are going to play at the Psychotropic Caravan Festival in Helsinki on the 5th of February with OM, Alan Davey’s Gunslinger, Steel Mammoth etc. Since they are still relatively unknown in Finland (if you don’t count the die-hard psych heads, of course...), we thought a little interview with the main man David Sphaèr'os, a psych freak extraordinaire, was in order.
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Fruits de Mer Records
(15.03.2010)
Fruits de Mer is a small English/American record
label specialized in releasing forgotten and also a bit more known
psychedelia, acid folk, progressive rock, kraut and space rock
treasures from the 60’s and seventies on coloured 7" vinyl.
The trick is that the music is recorded by today’s bands that
can appreciate the old songs and get some fresh life into them. All
the singles (eight volumes so far) are limited editions of 300
copies but still reasonable priced. Most of the releases are
already sold out. The label seems to really appreciate their
customers by sending free gifts etc., and since I really love what
they are doing I decided to make an interview with one of the label
heads, Andy Bracken.
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Alisa Coral (18.01.2010)
Alisa Coral is a Moscow-based multi-instrumentalist and song-writer
who is most-known for her psychedelic space rock/metal project
Space Mirrors. She is a big Hawkwind fan but also likes ambient
music, industrial sounds and even extreme metal, which all shows in
her quite unique music. She has recently released a couple of
CD’s (Space Mirrors: Majestic 12 and Psi Corps: Tekeli-li),
so it was a good time to find out a bit more about this interesting
lady.
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Rod Goodway (29.09.09)
Right after doing interviews with Nick Saloman (The Bevis Frond),
Adrian Shaw (The Bevis Frond, ex-Magic Muscle, ex-Hawkwind etc.)
and Bari Watts (Outskirts of Infinity) back in 2003, I had the idea
of also interviewing “Rustic” Rod Goodway since
he’s been very much associated with these aforementioned
musicians and has done lots of stuff with them.
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Vibravoid (05.02.09)
Germany’s Vibravoid have been producing their electric mind
poison for the whole of the 21st century and the band
has been one of my absolute favorites since their debut album. The
band is coming for their first ever trip to Finland later this
month, so the time definitely was right to ask some questions from
the band’s leading figure, guitarist/singer Christian Koch
though email.
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Stephen Palmer (07.03.08)
Stephen Palmer is an UK based musician and sci-fi writer
who’s the main man behind the psychedelic space ambient band
Mooch that has gone for a rockier direction on the couple of last
albums. He’s also making music as Blue Lily Commission and
under his own name. Mooch has an excellent new album out called
1967½, so it was a perfect time to ask a few questions to figure
out what it’s all about.
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Helios Creed (28.02.06)
Coming from Hawaii, the guitarist legend Helios Creed was
originally known from a San Francisco band Chrome who operated in
the change of the 70's and 80's to do pioneering work on combining
psychedelic rock, industrial, punk and new wave. This very
influential guitar player has also made a lot of excellent solo
albums with extraterrestrial music about aliens and other abnormal
things that's been left a bit outside of the mainstream...
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Øresund Space Collective
(22.01.06)
Øresund Space Collective is a great new band with members both from
Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden. They play totally
improvised psychedelic instrumental space rock. The name of the
band comes from the bridge that combines these two countries. They
will release their debut CD this week, so it was a good time to ask
them a few questions. My questions were answered by a long time
space rock fanatic Scott "Dr. Space" Heller.
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Octopus Syng (19.09.04)
Octopus Syng is a one-man psychedelia orchestra by a Finnish guy
called Jaire. Under this name, he has released two 7"'s, one MCD
and a fresh full-length, that was released in Finland on CD and has
just been issued on vinyl by Nasoni in Germany. Jaire's music is a
wonderful mix of Syd Barret era Pink Floyd, acid folk and this and
that other hippie oriented, and it was time to make an interview
with this enigmatic guy who has stayed in the shadows for far too
long...
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Blandbladen (13.03.04)
Blandbladen is a very interesting new band from Malmö, Sweden
playing instrumental psychedelic and progressive space rock a bit
in the Gong/Hillage/Ozric Tentacles tradition. This great, but so
far rather unknown act is coming to play at our club on the 3th of
April, so a short interview was definitely in order...
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Spiha (28.10.03)
One of the hottest bands in Finland right now is Spiha from
Helsinki. These guys have played their hard rock for many years
now, and they are starting to get a bit wider success with their
recent releases. Timo Paavola (aka Demon P.A. Volume), the original
guitarist of the band, answered my questions through email in
October 2003...
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Bari Watts (26.04.03)
Bari Watts is one of the best Hendrix styled guitar player that I
know. He had an excellent band called The Outskirts of Infinity
from the late 80's to early 90's. He also played in The Bevis Frond
live band for a couple of years. Just when I though that it would
be really cool to interview my old hero I heard, that The Outskirts
have reformed, and that they will support the Frond on a gig very
soon, so I feel this makes this interview even more reasonable...
Thanks a lot for Bari for taking the time to answer my questions!
You rule!...
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Nick Saloman (09.04.03)
The first Bevis Frond track I ever heard was 'Reflections in a Tall
Mirror' in '91, and it totally blow me away. I've been a die-hard
Bevis Frond fan and collector ever since. Nick Saloman is the
fellow who, more or less, is the Bevis Frond, writing all the music
and lyrics, and playing all the instruments on the early albums. I
really admire his ability to write good, catchy songs with hints of
pop, punk, 60's psychedelia and folk rock. He's also one of the
best guitar players I know, especially his skilful solos are just
absolutely marvellous. Nick was nice enough to answer a few of my
questions in early April 2003...
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Adrian Shaw (24.03.03)
Adrian Shaw (ex-Hawkwind, Magic Muscle, Crazy World of Arthur Brown
etc.) is one of the bass players that I admire, and he also happens
to play in one of my top 5 bands called The Bevis Frond, so it was
time to interview him. Ade also runs Woronzow Records one of the
best underground labels in the world, along with Nick Saloman,
whose interview should also appear shortly. I sent Ade the
guestions through email in the middle of March, 2003, and to my
surprise he answered the next day! Thanks mate!...
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Sun Dial (20.03.03)
Sun Dial from the U.K. has been one of my favourite artists for
about ten years now. They have won a lot of fans all over the world
with their 60's, kraut, and new wave influenced psychedelic rock.
This legendary band released five excellent studio albums, one live
album and a lot of singles and 12"'s in the early to mid 90's. Now
the band is activated again, so it was time to ask Gary Ramon, the
bandleader, singer and guitarist, a few questions...
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Gas Giant (08.03.03)
Gas Giant is a heavy Danish group from Copenhagen playing groovy,
bluesy stoner rock with psychedelic touch. They are coming to play
at our club on the 19th of April 2003, so I thought that some kind
of introduction was needed. Their excellent lead singer Jasper
answered my questions in the beginning of March...
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Kuusumun profeetta (08.03.03)
Kuusumun Profeetta from Pori has brought their original,
progressive flavour to the Finnish rock scene for almost ten years
now. This very regenerative and many-sided band used to perform in
English under the name Moon Fog Prophet. Some earlier stages and
moods of the group were dealt with an interview in Colossus
magazine #7. I now thought, that it was time to find out, how our
Prophets are doing today. The bass player Mikko Elo answered these
questions in March 2003...
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King Black Acid (17.01.03)
The American band King Black Acid from Portland, Oregon, has gained
cult following in the psychedelic circuits all over the world. The
band was founded in the mid 90's, and is more or less in the hands
and control of the guitarist/vocalist Daniel Riddle. The band is
known locally for its amazing live shows that are often formed of
long tracks with slow and devotional changes in the mood...
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