UglyDog Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 [url="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/05/gong-founder-daevid-allen-has-six-months-to-live"]Bugger[/url]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickeyboro Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 A lovely, lovely man. I interviewed him once and he had a great story about meeting Hendrix. 'We had the same management originally when he first arrived from America; he arrived right in the room where I was sitting. He started playing the guitar left-handed and filling the room with amazing sound. He was a very easy person…I got to know him immediately really easily, he was one of those sunshine personalities. And so yeah, we were both guitar players. We used to play chess. He once brought me…I had my guitar stolen, he once travelled across London in a taxi to bring me his. It was the wrong way round, of course, cos he was left handed, I smashed it on the ground in frustration but he didn’t give a sh*t, you know. It was fairly brief, though, because when fame took hold of him he disappeared into a cloud and that was that. It was really only just the early time, but it was a really lovely connection, I felt.' Good luck, Daevid... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I heard about this yesterday. Sad news indeed. They don't make 'em like that anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drax Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Very sad news, and a poignant letter. Great legacy behind him though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 (edited) Camembert Electrique was a seminal album. I bought it in 1974 for 59p (the price of a single at that time - Virgin were promoting various albums this way to give more exposure to artists). It introduced me to psychedelic rock and blew my little teenage mind. Edited February 6, 2015 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Met him once, seemed a nice man and as he was going off for a run and was pretty fit, this was at odds with the perception of a doped up hippie. Now, his bongo-player, mind..???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacDaddy Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Hopefully he'll do a Wilko. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gary mac Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1423241216' post='2682726'] Camembert Electrique was a seminal album. I bought it in 1974 for 59p (the price of a single at that time - Virgin were promoting various albums this way to give more exposure to artists). It introduced me to psychedelic rock and blew my little teenage mind. [/quote] You brought back a memory for me there Mark, going to the local record shop and getting that for 59p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I'm so sad about El Alien. But his positivity lightens my heart at the same time. One of my earliest musical influences. Golden vibes for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 [quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1423244265' post='2682777'] Hopefully he'll do a Wilko. [/quote] You never know - the return of Bert Camembert! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Very sad news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthedoghouse Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Very very sad to read this! :-( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 His statement in that article is beautiful. I hope I can be that centred when my time comes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Daevid has meant so much to me, it is heartening to realize I was not alone in my immersion in his wonderful world. I still treasure the letters I had from him 40 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonestar Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Thhats sad I photographed him a couple of years ago during a music impro workshop type of thing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/wysingartscentre/8680797484/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tullfan Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 So sad to hear, been a fan for 40 years. One of my favourite bands of all time ! May God bless him and be with him in the time he has left with his friends and family. So lets all - 'have a cup of tea, n'have another one, have a cup of tea!' ...... Cause 'I am, you are, we are, crazy !!' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Lovely statement , have another Cup of Tea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I've never had heroes, it doesn't work for me. If anyone has ever come close, it's Allen, Edgar Broughton and Alex Harvey. The letter is typical of Allen's beautiful mind and persona - it brought shivers. He'll never be gone, none of us will. Be good and love your sisters and brothers - we're all we have and all we need (that and a bass and a brew) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 One of those peoples material I've overlooked, but I do feel sad for him. Must be horrible to be told you have a ltd life expectancy left. Sad to hear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raslee Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Yes I heard about this the other day, so sad but an amazing legend who's wonderful music has been a big influence on me from when I first started playing...i'm a bit of a Gong geek actually, fan club and all that. Met him briefly at Gong conventions, lovely chap. You are I, and I am you ...he will live forever....big Gong meditation ahead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madshadows Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Just read in the paper that Daevid Allen passed away yesterday, MOJO piece on him [url="http://www.mojo4music.com/19359/daevid-allen-1938-2015/"]http://www.mojo4music.com/19359/daevid-allen-1938-2015/[/url] RIP John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTUK Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I saw FB statuses yesterday but not sure why it went unnoticed here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinnDave Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Still a bit shocked, I expect. He was an important figure in my life as he was in many others, I treasure the memories, the music, the letters I have from him, the times I met him...a wonderful man indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3below Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1423241216' post='2682726'] Camembert Electrique was a seminal album. I bought it in 1974 for 59p (the price of a single at that time - Virgin were promoting various albums this way to give more exposure to artists). It introduced me to psychedelic rock and blew my little teenage mind. [/quote] Bought at the same time. A massive driver for me getting a band together at the same time. Music that is as fresh to me today as it was then. He (they) changed my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1426366443' post='2717454'] I saw FB statuses yesterday but not sure why it went unnoticed here [/quote] Gong and Daevid's other works are a big deal for me and I thought about starting a thread, but wasn't sure I could put things in a coherent enough way to do him justice. I'm too young to have heard the early Gong material when it came out, but I happened across it in around 2000. I loved the way it was wilfully absurd yet had serious musicality and feeling behind it. Usually we divide the serious from the absurd, considering that anything as silly as that must be a passing novelty, but Gong sort of blew away that division in my head and that had a big influence on the music I was making at the time, not so much in sound but in attitude. I saw him play with Gong in Glasgow around the time I was first getting into them, a couple of other times with the University of Errors and solo projects, then again with Gong in 2009, and I'm glad that I did. The couple of times I bumped into him offstage he seemed like a lovely man too. I was impressed that rather than constantly re-visiting what might be perceived to be his heyday, Daevid always seemed to keep things interesting for himself. Even the very last album from 2014 has some real vitality about it and stands up by itself rather than being an exercise in nostalgia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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