Free to Be Stoned! Shindig! Quarterly (1)
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This is a peer-reviewed, final published version of the following document: Deakin, Rich (2011) Free To Be Stoned! Shindig! Quarterly (1). pp. 56-61. Official URL: http://www.volcanopublishing.co.uk/SD-back-issues/SQ1.html EPrint URI: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/3711 Disclaimer The University of Gloucestershire has obtained warranties from all depositors as to their title in the material deposited and as to their right to deposit such material. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited. The University of Gloucestershire makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights. The University of Gloucestershire accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR TEXT. SQ1-05 05/02/2011 16:53 Page 56 56 SQ1-05 05/02/2011 16:54 Page 57 Alcohol, Albert Hofmann’s “problem child”, Aldous Huxley’s “first love” and marijuana. Mick Hutchinson of lysergic rockers CLARK-HUTCHINSON gives RICH DEAKIN the inside dope on music, booze, cycling, LSD and THC in no particular order. or the uninitiated, Clark Like so many bands and musicians of their Hutchinson recorded a trio of era, they eventually disintegrated amidst a albums for the welter of spiralling drink and drug use. But Decca/Deram/Nova stables first we pick up the story in the mid-60s between 1969 and ’71 – four if soon after Mick Hutchinson had played in you include their Blues album, a mod influenced R&B/beat combo called unreleased at the time. Lauded The Sons Of Fred who released a string of by John Peel and Miles of the singles between ’65 and ’66. Prior to being underground newspaper in The Sons Of Fred even, Hutchinson had International Times, anyone who read the nurtured an interest in the musical styles hype surrounding Clark Hutchinson of India and the East, “I used to tune the could be forgiven for thinking that the 3rd string down to D and play it like a new saviours of rock ’n’ roll had been sitar.” So when he was introduced to an discovered, albeit suffused with hints of exceptional tabla player called Sam Gopal, jazz, flamenco and Indian ragas. That he jumped at the chance to play with him. their LPs were received with only a modicum of success confirms that they Perhaps more famously, they even played failed to live up to their expectations, at that most epochal of British commercially at least. This, however, is counterculture happenings – The 14 Hour certainly no reflection on their musical Technicolor Dream at The Alexandra prowess. Andy Clark was a talented Palace in April ’67. It was around this time multi-instrumentalist adept at playing that Mick Hutchinson was staying at the organ, saxophone, bass, guitar, flute, Middle Earth club in Covent Garden. In his harmonica, percussion and bagpipes, own words, he’d been thrown out of home whilst guitarist Mick Hutchinson received for being a “filthy hippy”. “I didn’t have the kind of plaudits usually reserved for anywhere to go, so they let me live in the guitar maestros like Hendrix, Clapton or club, which was nice of them. Pete [Sears] Beck. With comparisons to Django and I used to stay in there and get Reinhardt and predictions that completely fucked. We sometimes used to Hutchinson would be a guitar legend borrow Graham Bond’s Hammond organ within two years of releasing their debut and jam all night!” Then Hutchinson had a album, it seemed that the world was chance encounter with a kindred spirit Clark Hutchinson’s for the taking. So why called Andy Clark at a bus stop. Both had L to R: Mick Hutchinson, Andy Clark, Del Coverley, Steve Fields didn’t it happen? long hair so they struck up conversation 57 SQ1-05 05/02/2011 16:55 Page 58 and it turned out that they were both Sippen persuaded Clark and Hutchinson don’t believe in regretting things. Chas musicians with shared interests. to sign for them after much cajoling with Chandler asked me if I wanted to try out cannabis, and also on the understanding on bass for Hendrix. I don’t regret turning It wasn’t long before Clark joined Sam that they would produce a blues LP that one down either.” Then in May ’69, Gopal’s Dream as vocalist, but the together, before making an Indian having dispensed with the rhythm section partnership with Gopal came to an end influenced one. that backed them on Blues, Clark after legendary hell-raiser and ex-Pretty Hutchinson were booked into Recorded Things drummer, Viv Prince, joined. In With a little help from Seymour Stein, Sound Studios to work on their next addition to management issues, it soon Shertser and Sippen negotiated a deal album, and gamely tackled all the became apparent that Viv’s drums and with Decca Records in the UK, and instruments between them in two 12-hour Sam’s tablas weren’t compatible, and Viv, reconvened to Decca’s West Hampstead sessions. Still smarting about the Andy, Mick and Pete left Gopal to form Studios with the, by now, renamed Clark disagreement over Blues, it was all that Decca allowed them. At least they were afforded the relative luxury of an eight- track studio for the entire recording this time, and they produced what is now generally regarded as their tour de force album – the legendary A=MH2. Suffused throughout with a range of global musical influences as diverse as Arabic, Indian, Spanish and blues-rock, A=MH2 was a truly innovative fusion of Eastern and Western musical styles – it even has a bagpipe chanter on it! Although it was certainly not unheard of for western folk and rock musicians to experiment with Indian musical styles at that time, when Peter Shertser today describes A=MH2 as “the first true ‘world music’ album by a another short-lived outfit called Vamp. Hutchinson to record the mooted “blues” rock band”, he may have a point. They released one single on Atlantic, the album. Aided and abetted by Walter marijuana-influenced ‘Floating’. Monahan and Franco Franco, it is an Today, Mick Hutchinson says that A=MH2 Hutchinson was never happy with the final album of heavy guitar blues as is not the album it should have been. result. “They tried to turn us into The exemplified by the likes of Led Zeppelin, “Mixing it with jazz, blues and sort of Monkees... They didn’t understand that the Groundhogs and Fleetwood Mac to name Bachy things, A=MH2 doesn’t really reflect hippie psychedelic thing was happening. a few. When asked if he thought that if all of it. It was much more complex than ‘Floating’ is about pot.” Hutchinson also Decca had actually released Blues in ’69 that. With A=MH2 we were just told to go infers that Viv Prince’s increasingly erratic and promoted it properly, Clark in and make an album – quick. No time to behaviour also contributed to the demise Hutchinson might have capitalised on the stop or plan, just do it. So A=MH2 is what of Vamp. blues-rock boom then currently in vogue, happened. ‘Improvisation On An Indian Hutchinson responds, “Maybe if we had Scale’, in particular, is nowhere near what With Sears leaving to play with redone it, but it’s just nowhere near as I could do. It had some of the techniques, Steamhammer, Clark and Hutchinson good as we could do, so it’s not really like the pedal tone fast picking thing that formed a blues group called The Dogs. representative.” But it does have its fair all the metal bands do now, and all the They attracted the attention of two share of moments though, the most fast runs, but it doesn’t hold together. It’s aspiring music entrepreneurs, Peter notable of which being the wistful scrappy. Now, if we could have recorded Shertser and Ian Sippen, who signed ‘Summer Seemed Longer’. Not ranking too the best bits of The Sam Gopal Dream, it them to their fledgling production highly in the pecking order of Decca’s would have showed something a lot more company Underground Recording roster of artists, the quality of the like I’m doing today!” At least he is not Enterprises. Prior to becoming involved recording suffered when Clark totally self-deprecating, though, stating, in the music business Shertser and Hutchinson were demoted from the 8- “The rest of the album tracks hold up Sippen had a reputation as being part of track studio to a 4-track. If Decca also much better.” a gang of Jewish mods from Essex called objected to the finished product on the The Firm. They had cut their teeth on the grounds of one track in particular called There was a considerable delay between music scene variously as roadies for ‘Make You’ (originally called ‘Fuck You’), the recording of the album and its bands like Savoy Brown, and, perhaps then the band were just as unhappy with eventual release in January ’70, but if more famously, helping with the the finished product. Hutchinson recalls, nothing else, this gave Clark and production, distribution and release of “It was just a sort of demo. There’s no Hutchinson plenty of time to recruit a new the first truly underground record Ptooff! reverb on it so it’s a bit harsh sounding.