Shindig! No.38

NIGEL WAYMOUTH
By hatching up London’s first psychedelic boutique, the iconic and chameleonic Granny Takes A Trip, NIGEL WAYMOUTH – along with Sheila Cohen and the young tailor John Pearse – would go on to create one of the definitive looks of the ’60s British underground. A heady combination of Edwardian nostalgia, Art Nouveau floridness and neon-drenched pop facades, Granny’s was a place for the beautiful people to play dress up; a boutique that was, according to Jonathan Aitken’s 1967 account of Swinging London, The Young Meteors, “run by bizarre eccentrics for bizarre eccentrics”.
As Hapshash & The Coloured Coat – Nigel and art student Michael English’s psychedelic poster group cum avant-garde conceptual rock outfit – they’d prove to have an equally lasting impact.
SOPHIA SATCHELL-BAEZA sits down with Nigel to talk about those heady days.
“It was intense”

LINDA PERHACS
In 1970, dental hygienist LINDA PERHACS created a unique, forward thinking album, Parallelograms, produced by one of her clients, avant-garde composer and film scorer, Leonard Rosenman. Now recognised as a psych-folk masterpiece, it’s a singularly heady, cosmic record, full of sunshine and rain and Topanga Canyon otherworldliness. Upon its release, it was either too odd, too poorly pressed or too badly promoted, and quickly dropped off the radar, followed by Linda herself.
After a break of 42 years – a brace of low-key guest appearances and collaborations notwithstanding – Linda embarked on American and European tour dates to promote the release of a second album,
The Soul Of All Natural Things.
MARY EPWORTH enjoys an audience with this unique and beguiling artist.
“I love the universe – they have some very funny sounds out there”

JOHN McLAUGHLIN
JOHN McLAUGHLIN remains one of progressive jazz’s pre-eminent figures. He worked alongside Miles Davis, Tony Williams’ Lifetime and Carlos Santana, became an international rock icon with The Mahavishnu Orchestra, enjoyed Top 20 albums, Grammy nominations and the universal esteem of his peers, before abandoning the rock world to pioneer world music with Shakti and espouse the path of Bengali mystic Sri Chinmoy.
Yet Yorkshireman McLaughlin had already enjoyed an 11 year professional career in Britain before leaving for America, a career that encompassed trad jazz, British rock ’n’ roll, the beginnings of the R&B boom, British soul, psychedelic rock, free jazz and mainstream pop sessions. Georgie Fame, Graham Bond, Tony Meehan, Duffy Power and others claimed him as a band member – Tom Jones, Donovan, Herman’s Hermits and David Bowie used him on their sessions.
As a new biography reveals in detail for the first time the story of John McLaughlin’s incredible path through the golden age of British pop, its author COLIN HARPER takes us down the road to devotion

LEAF HOUND
LEAF HOUND’s moment was fleeting. Born of late ’60s UK blues boomers Black Cat Bones (who also begat Free’s Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke), the London quintet added a heavy dose of pulp horror fiction and urban grime to their sound to craft one of the era’s best-loved and most valuable long-players, Growers Of Mushroom.
Their pedigree afforded them a major label deal but crooked management killed their promise. The band had split before the album was even released.
Years of cult acclaim led to a surprise rebirth in 2004 and a new version of Leaf Hound has been on the road ever since.
DARIUS DREWE meets front man PETE FRENCH

MARY LOVE
MARY LOVE’s career spanned three decades but only produced a modest handful of recordings, most of which are now considered beacons of ’60s soul.
On the eve of the first comprehensive overview of her work, PAUL RITCHIE investigates the highs and lows of this enigmatic singer

TWINK
As the man who occupied the drum stool in The Fairies, The In Crowd, Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Pink Fairies and Syd Barrett’s Stars, who pioneered the use of mime and performance art in psychedelic rock, and who embraced punk like few of his ’60s peers, TWINK has lived the life of 10 men.
Here, the psychedelic renaissance man waxes lyrical on his formative years in Essex, the white heat of the London underground scene and converting to Islam.
ANDY MORTEN marvels at a unique and hedonistic artistic journey