With their second work after the death of band founder Daevid Allen, the new Gong have to show their colours. Will the heirs manage to keep the Space Continuum, created in 1967, alive? Together with their frontman and guitarist Kavus Torabi we go on a little philosophical journey around the new trippy album "The Universe Also Collapses". To say it to Timothy Leary: Turn On! Tune In! Drop Out!
Gongs are cult. Already active since 1967 her journey went from Caterbury-Prog to Fusion to Space- and Jazzrock. And the Gong family is big. Tens of formations passed through the musical ether. Even after the death of Daevid Allen in 2015, a young incarnation floats through the room, because the soul of the band empowered Kavus Torabi to continue his vision of Gong in a last e-mail.
eclipsed: What's the deal with the album title "The Universe Also Collapses"?
PINK FLOYD - The early years
Half a century after the founding of the band and two years after the end of Pink Floyd announced by David Gilmour, the art-rock legend presents "The Early Years 1965-1972", a box full of 27 CDs full of rarities from her early years. We take this publication as an opportunity to recapitulate these eight formative years - the prehistory of a world career. We also let Nick Mason speak in detail about the huge archive box and his memories of that phase.
GROBSCHNITT - Rockpalastrevolte
Guitarist/vocalist Kavus Torabi has played a big part in the success of the new gong record. He is now the bandleader and also feels very comfortable in this role. He is one of the most sought-after guitarists of the English music scene. In 2014 he joined Gong, where he initially replaced Daevid Allen, who had cancer, on tour. But the musician with Persian roots could not have dreamed that he would lead the band soon afterwards. The re-strengthened gong line-up can be heard on "Rejoice! I'm Dead! in impressive form - a work of which Torabi can be justifiably proud.
eclipsed: The past two years have been quite exhausting for Gong and her followers: Daevid Allen passed away in March 2015, and last August band co-founder Gilli Smyth followed. What role did they play in your musical development?
"Rejoice! I'm Dead!", in English: "Frohlocket, I'm dead". Of course, the album title alludes to Gong-Oberguru Daevid Allen, who died in 2015 at the age of 77, but still worked hard on the last band album "I See You" (released at the end of 2014). Shortly before his death Allen is said to have sent a mail to his band colleagues expressing the wish that they continue with Gong without him.
STEVE HILLAGE reminds exclusively in eclipsed of his friend and band mate DAEVID ALLEN, who died in March...
eclipsed: What was your first impression of Daevid when you met him?
Steve Hillage: I first met Daevid in the autumn of 1972, in London, in the apartment of the hippie poet and musician Lady June, where Kevin Ayers lived. I first met Daevid as a fan of his work, but soon he seemed to me like my long lost big brother. I told him very quickly that I would love to perform with him. He in turn said that he had heard a lot of good things about my guitar playing and that he might come back to my offer earlier than I would like. And so it came: Within a few months I was promoted to a permanent gong member. I was warned against Daevid being unpredictable. But I experienced him from the beginning as rather gentle. Later Daevid told me that he wanted me to be a gong guitarist because he wanted to rejuvenate the band.
SUPERTRAMP - 40 years "Crime Of The Century"
Actually they were already dead. Even dead as a doornail. After two albums that sold as well as soap-flavoured chocolate and, according to guitarist/singer Roger Hodgson, didn't sound much better, the chapter Supertramp seemed to be over in 1971 - because everything really went wrong. The band, which at that time consisted of Kevin Currie, Frank Farrell, Dave Winthrop, Rick Davies and Hodgson, fell apart after a disastrous Scandinavian tour.
AC/DC - Temporary power outage
The psychedelic clan Gong delivers a masterpiece with "I See You". With a completely new line-up it should be presented live in Germany in autumn. But Mastermind Daevid Allen fell seriously ill. The band still wanted to play, but some promoters waved away: Gong without Allen? No way! So the whole tour was cancelled - and "I See You" from a wonderful old work to a legacy. At least that's how Allen's statements can be interpreted. We spoke to the 76-year-old Australian before the start of his six-week radiation therapy, which, according to his own statement, offered him a "good chance of complete recovery".
eclipsed: Who's the "me" in the album title?
PINK FLOYD
30 years "The Wall"
After the fat years of rock, a feeling of crisis, disillusionment and weariness prevailed at the end of the seventies. Pink Floyd placed their most pompous project into this climate. A sign of unprecedented arrogance? Symbol of the progressive loss of reality in rock nobility? Or was the concept work "The Wall" published thirty years ago on the contrary a wide awake critique of the times? Tracing the anniversary.
GENESIS
Gimme live!
