swimming accross the tide
The nineteen eighties were a peculiar time to be coming of age in Britain, the music scene was equaly strange. Past genres and followings saw repeated reawakenings and followings -punk drifted in and out of the decade being partialy revitalised by 'Crass' records (a kind of DIY 'Britains got Talent where everyone and anyone sent in their own demo's to be slapped on vinyl),The Cure reinvented their own darker version of the punk and glam rock era giving birth to 'Gothic', Mods and rockers again became a familiar site in the coastal and market towns boosted by cult cinema headliners such as the Who's 'Quadrophenia' and Pink Floyds 'The Wall'..then, as Margret Thatcher banned the free music festival at stonehenge, a new underground subculture ( the origins of the 'illegal raves', trance, house and dance in the uk )began to grow hidden from the glare of the worlds media.
These genres hidden roots were originaly planted in the late sixties and early seventies (alongside the Stonehenge festival) by the space aged, psycodelic, 'goon show' and 'Monty Python' styled musical humourism of bands such as Gong and Hawkwind (who were the first bands to bands to fully incorporate synthesisers, sequencers and 'electronic ' music as a major 'foreground' instrument), but..once the ' music' and festival was pushed underground the roots grew deeper. The Mods, punks, goths,hippies and rockers began to merge in the mid eighties, often growing dreds and ditching the 'fish-tailed' parkers and leathers for army surplus trousers and T shirts. White boys were carrying ghetto blasters, but this time the music was much more Gong than Marley. The underground free music 'mushroom' festivals and raves were taking hold throughout the British Isles and some hidden bands were begining to surpass their musical mentors and attract their own huge cult followings.
Because of the supposed close affiliation to the drug subculture the mainstream music industry ignored them all for years hoping it would all go away .... But nope! and one exceptional pioneering band birthed in this era, still going strong and deliberately swimming across the tide of the musical industry is the exeptionaly talented and highly colourfull Ozrics Tentacles. I first stumbled accross them when they were setting up a practice session round a mates house in 1986/7- and even though the name was a regular among old freinds and the festivals for years I was surprised to find that they now have a live set that at times easily rivals anything Pink Floyd could put on. They also seem to be physicaly regenarating 'Dr Who' style as you'd never guess these guys have been gigging for over twenty years .I guess that second hand Hawkwind synth they were fiddling about on in 86 has been truly mastered and upgraded. Just take a peek at these fantastic videos... but if you suffer from EPILEPSY- PLEASE CLOSE YOUR EYES WHILE PLAYING 'FRACTALISCIOUS'(which contains the Ozric's track White Rhino Tea).
