Zorch, who formed in 1973, were an early English totally electronic band, pioneering integrated performances of synthesizers and lightshow. Originally a four-piece, by 1975 Zorch were performing as a duo: Basil Brooks and Gwyo Zepix played three monophonic EMS analogue synthesizers, but were augmented by Silver (dance) and a full-on psychedelic light show, provided by John Andrews under the name of 'Acidica'. At times reminiscent of Tim Blake as well as Tonto's Expanding Head Band, their repetitive melodies, extended improvisation and thumping sequenced bass created a unique musical style that anticipated techno and trance. In the days before polyphonic synthesizers and personal computers, they filled out the sound using two reel-to-reel tape machines as a delay line.
The duo played at a number of 1970s free festivals including Windsor in 1974, Meigan Fayre in 1975 and Stonehenge Festival in 1974 and 1975. Zorch were the only band to record in Peter Zinovieff's EMS studio in Putney — in 1975 they used the EMS Synthi 100 to record the "Ouroboros" Suite, recently remastered for CD. Some of this music was used as the soundtrack for the short filmMother Earth with synthetic visuals from the EMS Spectron Video Synthesizer.
Zorch split up in 1976. Brooks joined the Steve Hillage Band and provided the live sound effects for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy stage shows. Gwyo Zepix joined Bristol jazzrock band Skywhale before moving to Germany in 1979. He returned to the UK in 2000 to join Gong on keyboards and guitar. Zorch also reformed at this time, and have since played a few UK gigs including The Garage with Daevid Allen on guitar, and Hackney Empire supporting Gong. In 2001, they played at the Assembly Rooms in Glastonbury, and recorded a live album of this event (Glastonbury Live).
More recently, Zorch took part in the three-day 2006 Gong Unconvention at the Melkweg, Amsterdam, where Basil Brooks also took part in the Steve Hillage Band set with Hillage, Miquette Giraudy, Mike Howlett, and Chris Taylor.
Gong are a psychedelic rock band that incorporates elements of jazz and space rock into their musical style. The group was formed in Paris in 1967 by Australian musician Daevid Allen and English vocalist Gilli Smyth. Band members have included Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Tim Blake, Pierre Moerlen, Bill Laswell and Theo Travis. Others who have played on stage with Gong include Don Cherry, Chris Cutler, Bill Bruford, Brian Davison, Dave Stewart and Tatsuya Yoshida.
Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambient music. Formed in Somerset in 1983, the band has released over 30 albums selling over a million copies worldwide despite never having signed to a major recording label. Throughout many line-up changes over the years, co-founder and guitarist Ed Wynne has remained the only original member of the band. The band is now credited as one of the major influences of the UK festival scene's re-emergence, becoming particularly associated with the Glastonbury Festival and their handmade series of cassette releases, mostly sold at gigs and through a fan club.
Stephen Simpson Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo recordings he has been a member of Khan, Gong and System 7.
David Lloyd Stewart is an English keyboardist and composer known for his work with the progressive rock bands Uriel, Egg, Khan, Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Bruford. Stewart is the author of two books on music theory and wrote a music column for Keyboard magazine (USA) for thirteen years. He has also composed music for TV, film and radio, much of it for Victor Lewis-Smith's ARTV production company. He has worked with singer Barbara Gaskin since 1981.
Didier Malherbe, is a French jazz, rock and world music musician, known as a member of the bands Gong and Hadouk, as well as a poet.
System 7 are a UK-based electronic dance music band. Due to the existence of another band called System Seven they were initially billed as 777 in North America. System 7 was also the name of the current version of the Macintosh operating system at the time, although this was not the reason for the temporary name change.
Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British-American electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were influential in the development of electronic music and helped bring the synthesizer to the mainstream through session and production work for other musicians and extensive commercial advertising work.
Glastonbury Festival is a greenfield music and performing arts festival on farm land near Pilton, England. It was first held in 1970 and has been held in the majority of years since then in the summer. Its line-up is diverse, including music, comedy, circus and theatre, taking place on many different stages and performance areas.
Miquette Giraudy is a French keyboard player and vocalist, best known for her work in Gong, and with her partner Steve Hillage. She and Hillage form the core of the ambient band System 7. She has also worked as an actress, film editor and writer, in each role using different stage names.
Gong est Mort, Vive Gong is a double live album by the progressive rock group Gong, recorded on 28 May 1977 at the Hippodrome, Paris, France, and originally released in 1977 as a double LP by Tapioca Records, France.
Uriel were an English psychedelic blues-rock band formed in 1968, consisting of Steve Hillage (guitar/vocals), Dave Stewart (organ), Clive Brooks (drums) and Mont Campbell (bass/vocals). The band produced their sole album under the name Arzachel in June 1969.
You is the fifth studio album by the progressive rock band Gong, released by Virgin Records in October 1974. It is the last album by Daevid Allen's iteration of the group until 1992's Shapeshifter. Recorded at Virgin's Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, England, side 1 was mixed at Pye Studios, Marble Arch, London, while side 2 was mixed at The Manor. It was produced by Simon Heyworth and Gong "under the universal influence of C.O.I.T., the Compagnie d'Opera Invisible de Thibet", and also engineered by Heyworth.
Gong Live Etc. is a live album by Gong, recorded between 1973 and 1975 and originally released in 1977. It is a set of live recordings, studio out-takes and BBC session recordings spanning the years 1973 to 1975.
Pierre Moerlen was a French drummer and percussionist, best known for his work with Gong and Mike Oldfield and as Pierre Moerlen's Gong.
Xitintoday is a studio album released by Nik Turner's Sphynx in 1978. It was produced by Steve Hillage.
Motivation Radio is the third studio album by British art rock musician Steve Hillage. Whilst touring in the United States in promotion of his previous album L (1976), Hillage grew disillusioned with the progressive rock tag attached to him by the media and fans, and disliked their attitude towards funk music, which Hillage was a big fan of. Hillage wanted to create a funk-influenced album as he was predominately listening to artists such as Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire. Originally written as The Red Album in early 1977, it was retitled Motivation Radio prior to recording.
Green is the fourth studio album by British progressive rock musician Steve Hillage. Written in spring 1977 at the same time as his previous album, the funk-inflected Motivation Radio (1977), Green was originally going to be released as The Green Album as a companion to The Red Album. However, this plan was dropped and after a US tour in late 1977, Green was recorded alone, primarily in Dorking, Surrey, and in London.
Inventions for Electric Guitar is the first solo studio album by guitarist and composer Manuel Göttsching. Initially, it was released with the subtitle Ash Ra Tempel VI, technically making it the sixth and final album under the Ash Ra Tempel name. This record marked a change of direction, inspired by Göttsching's foray into minimalism and technological experiments with his new studio equipment.
Skywhale was a Progressive Rock band formed in Bristol UK in 1974 by musicians from Huddersfield. Skywhale members were Steve Robshaw on guitar, violin and synthesizer, Stan Thewlis on Flute and Tenor Sax, Howard Scarr also known as Gywo Zepix on keyboards, EMS VCS 3 and ARP Instruments synthesizers, the late Paul Todd on Soprano Sax, Flute and Penny Whistle, Dougall Airmole on Bass, Mick Avery on Drums and John Schofield on Percussion. Skywhale played at Glastonbury Festival in 1977. They recorded one L.P. of original compositions, The World at Mind's End in Bristol. The L.P. was re-released as a CD in 2006 on CD Baby.
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