Daevid Allen

Daevid Allen
Daevid Allen, 2009
Background information
Also known as	Divided Alien, Bert Camembert, Dingo Virgin, Ja Am
Born	13 January 1938 (1938-01-13) (age 73) Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Progressive rock, Psychedelic rock
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1960–present
Associated acts	Gong, Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers
Website	universityoferrors.com

Daevid Allen (born Christopher David Allen, 13 January 1938 in Melbourne, Australia), sometimes credited as Divided Alien, an Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist is co-founder of psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong (in France, 1970).^[1][2]

Biography

In 1960, inspired by the Beat Generation writers he had discovered whilst working in a Melbourne bookshop, Allen travelled to Paris where he stayed at the Beat Hotel, moving into a room that had recently been vacated by Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. While selling the International Herald Tribune around Le Chat qui Peche and the Latin Quarter, he met Terry Riley and also gained free access to the jazz clubs in the area.

In 1961, Allen travelled to England, renting a room in Lydden near Dover and soon began to look for work as a musician. He first replied to a newspaper advertisement for a guitar player to join Dover-based group the Rolling Stones ( (no connection with the later famous band of that name) [1] who had lost singer/guitarist Neil Landon, but he did not join them. After meeting up with William S. Burroughs, and inspired by philosophies of Sun Ra, he formed the free jazz outfit, the Daevid Allen Trio, which included his landlord's son, 16-year old Robert Wyatt. They performed at Burroughs' theatre pieces based on the novel The Ticket That Exploded. In 1966, together with Kevin Ayers and Mike Ratledge, they formed the band Soft Machine, the name having come from the Burroughs novel The Soft Machine. Ayers and Wyatt had previously played in Wilde Flowers.

Following a tour of Europe, Allen was refused re-entry to the UK because he had overstayed his visa on a prior visit. He returned to Paris where he took part in the 1968 Paris protests which swept the city. He handed out teddy bears to the police and recited poetry in pidgin French. He now admits that he was scorned by the other protesters for being a beatnik.

Fleeing the police, he made his way to Deya, Majorca, with his partner Gilli Smyth. It was here that he recorded Magick Brother (released on BYG Actuel in 1969), the first album under the name Gong. They were joined by flautist Didier Malherbe, whom they claim to have found living in a cave on Robert Graves's estate.

In 1970 Allen recorded and released his first solo album, Banana Moon (sometimes spelled Bananamoon). The album featured Robert Wyatt, amongst others.

In 1971 Gong released Camembert Electrique. They formed somewhat of an anarchist commune in rural France between 1972 and 1974. In 1972 they were joined by electronics musician Tim Blake and later, after signing with Virgin Records, Steve Hillage and Pierre Moerlen joined to record the Radio Gnome Trilogy which consisted of Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg and You.

David Allen, 1974

Allen left this incarnation of Gong and recorded three solo albums, Good Morning (1976) and Now Is The Happiest Time Of Your Life (1977) and N'existe pas! (1979).

During these years, Allen lived in a hippie collective in the village of Deià (Majorca) and contributed to the production of the Book of Am, the album of a band called Can Am Des Puig, by loaning them a four-track TEAC reel-to-reel tape recorder.

In 1977 he performed and recorded as Planet Gong, and rejoined the early-70s version of the group for a one-off show at the Hippodrome in Paris. Portions of this concert (which was several hours long) was released on a double-LP entitled Gong Est Mort? Vive Gong.

In 1980 Allen teamed up with Bill Laswell for the punk-influenced New York Gong. This effort yielded an LP called About Time. More projects followed, including Invisible Opera Company Of Tibet, Brainville, Ex (not to be confused with the Dutch punk band The Ex), and Magic Brothers.

In 1981 Allen returned to Australia, taking up residence in Byron Bay where he worked on performance pieces and poetry. He performed with performance artist David Tolley using tape loops and drum machines. He is currently involved with a project entitled you'N'gong (a play on the phrase "Young Gong") with his son, Orlando, and members of Acid Mothers Temple (the collaborations are performed under the name Acid Mothers Gong), as well as an improvisation outfit entitled Guru And Zero.

For many years now, Daevid Allen has been a member of the University of Errors, who have released four albums, and of the jazz rock band Brainville 3. He has also recorded with Spirits Burning, a space rock supergroup whose members include Alan Davey, Bridget Wishart, Karl E. H. Seigfried, and Simon House. Some of Daevid Allen's most experimental work has been with the long running noise band Big City Orchestra including live performances, and more than a half dozen CD releases.

In November 2006 a Gong Family Unconvention was held in Amsterdam, which included a reunion of many former Gong members from the "classic" early 70s lineup. Further Gong concerts were held in London in June 2008, featuring many of the same lineup, including Allen himself, Gilli Smyth, Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy, and Mike Howlett.

In November 2007, Daevid Allen held a series of concerts in Brazil, with a branch of Gong, which was called Daevid Allen and Gong Global Family (Daevid Allen on vocals and guitar, Josh Pollock on guitar, megaphone and percussion; Fred Barley on drums and percussion; Fabio Golfetti on guitar, bass Gabriel Costa, Marcelo Ringel on flute and tenor saxophone), along with his other band University of Errors (Daevid, Josh Pollock, Michael Clare, Fred Barley). The presentations took place in São Paulo on 21 and 22 November and San Carlos on November 24. These musicians—less Marcelo—recorded some new songs in the studio Mosh, in São Paulo. The São Paulo concert—21 November—was then released only in England as DVD and CD by Voiceprint Records.

It has been hinted that Allen may be creating a record label to realise new material.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

• 1963 Live 1963 (Daevid Allen Trio)
• 1971 Banana Moon
• 1973 BMO Vol.16 : Gong on Acid 73(w/Gong)
• 1976 Good Morning (w/Euterpe)
• 1977 Now Is the Happiest Time of Your Life
• 1977 BMO Vol 1: Studio Rehearsal Tapes 1977 (w/Euterpe)- Released on CD in 2008
• 1978 Mother - Gilli Smyth (Daevid Allen guests on a few tracks and produced the album.)
• 1979 N'existe pas!
• 1980 BMO Vol 9: Divided Alien Playbax Disk 2 Released on CD in 2009
• 1980 BMO Vol 8: Divided Alien Playbax Disk 1 Released in 2009
• 198- BMO Vol 3: Self Initiation
• 1982 Ex/Don't Stop (w/David Tolley)
• 1981 Divided Alien Playbax 80 (Reference original album cover for the 1981 release date as Import from the UK)
• 1984 BMO Vol.14 : Radio Art 1984
• 1988 Live Spring '88: The Return
• 1989 The Owl and the Tree (Mother Gong)
• 1990 Stroking the Tail of the Bird (w/Gilli Smyth & Harry Williamson)
• 1990 Australia Aquaria
• 1990 Seven Drones (VoicePrint)
• 1990 The Australian Years (VoicePrint)
• 1990 BMO Vol 10: Melbourne Studio Tapes (w/Invisible Opera Company of Oz)
• 1992 Who's Afraid (w/Kramer)
• 1992 Live at the Witchwood 1991 (Magick Brothers)
• 1993 12 Selves
• 1995 Hit Men (w/Kramer)
• 1995 Dreamin' a Dream
• 1995 BMO Vol 4: Bards of Byron Bay (w/Russell Hibbs)
• 1998 Eat Me Baby I'm a Jellybean
• 1998 22 Meanings (w/Harry Williamson)
• 1998 BMO Vol.11 : Live in Glastonbury Town (w/Magick Brothers)
• 1998 BMO Vol.15 : Solo @ The Axiom, Cheltenham '98
• 1999 BMO Vol 2: Live in the UK (w/Brainville)
• 1999 The Children's Crusade (Brainville)
• 2001 Sacred Geometry (w/Micro Cosmic)
• 2001 Nectans Glen (w/Russell Hibbs)
• 2002 BMO Vol.17 : Beauty the Basket Case(w/Guru and Zero)
• 2004 Makoto Mango (w/Guru & Zero)
• 2004 BMO Vol 6: Live @ the Knit NYC (w/Nicoletta Stephanz)
• 2004 BMO Vol.7: The Mystery Disque (w/das)
• 2004 BMO Vol.13: Altered States of Alien KWISP(w/Altered Walter Funk)
• 2005 Sacred Geometry II (w/Micro Cosmic)
• 2006 BMO Vol.12: Glissando Grooves (SFO Soundtribe 3)(w/Don Falcone)

University of Errors

• 1999 Money Doesn't Make It (University of Errors)
• 2000 e2x10=tenure (University of Errors)
• 2000 BMO Vol 5: Live in Chicago (w/University of Errors)
• 2001 Live at Schuba's 2001 (University of Errors)
• 2002 Ugly Music For Monica (University of Errors)
• 2002 Go Forth and Errorize! Live in the USA (University of Errors)

BMO(Bananamoon Obscure) series are official bootleg series his rare recordings

Please see Gong and Mother Gong discography also

Bibliography

• Allen, Daevid. Gong Dreaming 1 (SAF Publishing) ISBN 0946719829
• Daevid Allen's first volume of memoirs Gong Dreaming 1 was reissued in January 2007. Previous edition ISBN 1899475001

References

General

• McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Whammo Homepage". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1865080721. http://web.archive.org/web/20040405231007/www.whammo.com.au/index.asp. Retrieved 29 January 2010.  Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality.
• Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1865038911. ^[3] Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.

Specific

1. ^ Mc Farlane, 1999, 'Daevid Allen' entry.
2. ^ Spencer et al, (2007) ALLEN, Daevid entry. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
3. ^ "Who's who of Australian rock / compiled by Chris Spencer, Zbig Nowara & Paul McHenry". catalogue. National Library of Australia. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2090055. Retrieved 29 January 2010. 

External links

• University Of Errors website
• Planet Gong website
• Daevid Allen Performances website

Persondata
Name	Allen, Daevid
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 January 1938
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death