Ethereal Counterbalance #2

On the 25th September 1 attended a Terence McKenna lecture in London with Richard Allen and Ivor Trueman (courtesy of 'Evolution') I wholeheartedly agree with McKenna. No plant or organic drug should be illegal in fact: end the drug war and legalise everything We should be free to make up our own minds, we do anyway, it’s our choice whether we use or abuse.

So although I had promised myself that the years 1991 and 1992 would be devoted to building up my mail order business, I still managed to record a lot of new music as well as overseeing the release of two retro Magic Muscle albums. The first musical expedition of1992 was to London (again) to perform a special "guest spot" with The Bevis Frond Band, singing "Radio Bloodbeast" at The Underworld on 10th January. I also did other guest spots with the band at London's "T&C 2" on 9th February, The Nags Head (High Wycombe) on 21st March and 18th July, and The Standard (Walthamstow) on 9th May.

Also, on January 13th, Phil Smith (Rod's companion in The Scratch Band, L.) visited me here at my home with a tape of his new album, "Something For Now" by his Fluke band. I thought Phil's voice was really ‘peaking’ and his guitar sound and drummer truly excellent, so I sent a copy of the tape to Claus at SPM for his opinion. Claus signed the band immediately and the CD was soon released (the tracks had been recorded at Stable Studios, with a lineup consisting of Phil Smith (guitar and vocals), Dan Tilbury - drums, Nick The Jacket (bass, keyboards) and John Fielding (bass), L.) I asked Phil if he and his band would be interested in helping me put a live band together and he said yes. We got together for some rehearsals and the sound was just what I had been hoping for. Of course Fluke had a number of their own promotional gigs to perform and I attended a couple of them. We even tried out a few of my numbers on the audiences and the reaction was good.

 Although my business was taking up most of my time (hopefully getting to the point eventually when it would almost run itself and leave me more time to concentrate on my music whilst making enough money to fund the projects as well as pay the bills) the rehearsals began to intensify. Nick Saloman had said to me back in the summer that "Ethereal Counterbalance" would soon see CD release and we actually discussed the bonus tracks which could be added. Then, midsummer Nick said that he wouldn't be able to release the CD straight away... maybe in November, but it would get released (I had sent him a tape full of songs and he had chosen the bonus tracks personally - as named in Crohinga Well number 1). So anyway, I put the band on "hold" for a while but we started rehearsing again in earnest in October/November and even did a couple of low-key gigs. The word was out and promoters were contacting me (there was even a "mini" European tour coming together) but without the elusive CD release, nothing was finalised

 I resolved to take the band into the studio early in '93 and pay for the sessions myself out of my business, but alas, the taxman hit me really hard and I was back to fighting to keep my business afloat again. However, on March 13th The Ethereal Counterbalance Band (consisting of Rustic Rod Goodway, Phil Smith, Tony Orchard and Dan Tilbury, L.) supported The Bevis Frond Band at The Standard in Walthamstow and the audience reaction was very favourable (in fact, the gig was recorded by Mark Burgess (from Reckless) so if any record company mogul reading this would like to release some (or all) of our first live London gig: just get in touch). I was offered several gigs that night, on the strength of just the one performance... and nobody cared whether we had a new record out or not, they just wanted to see and hear us live again as soon as possible. Especially prestigious is a headline gig in Margate on May 29th for the Alternative Tunings  organization, who have also booked Ozric Tentacles, Magic Mushroom Band and Dr. Brown recently (amongst many others) so we are in the right sort of company.

Earlier this year I got a phone call from John Peel (a long-time hero of mine) who has since given my mail-order company some nice plugs - so I must be doing something right with my business too. Also Wee Mee Nit studios were booked again, with Steve Broughton as our chief engineer, for a session on August 18th. The current Ethereal Counterbalance band (Rustic Rod Phil Smith, Dan Tilbury and new bass player Steve Chew) recorded an album's worth of music, including a dreamy Magic Muscle-type extended improvisation called "Flight 49" plus (amongst others) "Train of  Thought" "The Link" and (on vinyl at last) “Drongo Thief”  Present at the session was my old pal Ade Shaw, who beamed cozmic encouragement, as always.