The Open Mind

For the television show, see The Open Mind (TV series). For the Jean-Luc Ponty album, see Open Mind (disambiguation).

The Open Mind
1969 promotional material
Background information
Also known as	The Drag Set
Origin	London, England
Genres	psychedelic rock, Freakbeat, Garage rock
Years active	1968-1973
Labels	Go, Philips
Members
Mike Brancaccio Timothy du Feu Phil Fox Ray Nye Terry Martin Jon Anderson

The Open Mind were a London-based psychedelic rock band active in the 1960s and 1970s.

Overview

The band was formed in the mid 1960s by four musicians from Putney, South London. Initially named The Apaches formed by Tim du Feu, Mike Brancaccio and Philip Fox and their friend Ray Nye. Nye left in 1965 and another friend joined instead Terry Schindler. The band became The Drag Set, who released a little-known single in February 1967, "Day and Night" / "Get Out of My Way". Shortly thereafter, they changed their name to The Open Mind and in July 1969 released a self-titled LP which has since become a highly sought-after collectible. The band, however, is best known for its druggy August 1969 single, "Magic Potion" (which also marked the introduction of double-bass drums in rock music), which did not appear on the album.

The Open Mind disbanded in 1973; its members wanted to move into jazz-influenced music, but The Open Mind was too well-known as a psychedelic band. The band members (minus Phil Fox) went on to form Armada, which lasted about three years but did not release any recorded material.

Despite their paucity of recorded material, The Open Mind have proven to be influential in the psychedelic rock genre. The noted 1990s psych group Sun Dial paid tribute to the band with a cover of "Magic Potion" on their 1993 album Return Journey.

Band members

• Mike Bran, a.k.a. Mike Brancaccio - guitar, vocals
• Timothy du Feu - bass guitar
• Philip Fox - drums
• Ray Nye - guitar, vocals
• Terry Martin, a.k.a. Terry Schindler - guitar, vocals

Jon Anderson briefly sang in the band but left to form Yes.

Discography

Singles

• "Day and Night" / "Get Out of My Way" 7" single (Go AJ 11405) May, 1967
• "Horses And Chariots" / "Before My Time" (Philips BF 1790) May, 1969
• "Magic Potion" / "Cast A Spell" (Philips BF 1805) August , 1969

Albums

• The Open Mind LP (Philips 7893) 1969)

The Open Mind was reissued on CD on the Phantom, Acme Records and Second Battle label. The two non-LP songs from the single are included as bonus tracks.

External links

• The Open Mind discography at Discogs
• Allmusic entry for the Open Mind
• June 2001 interview with bassist Timothy du Feu
• The Open Mind on Myspace