PARADISE 9

— First review of this album —

Recorded towards the end of 2014 at The Amersham Arms SheepDog Bash2, the band has already changed since the album released the previous year with the core trio of Gregg McKella (vocals, guitar, glissando guitar, clarinet and space FX's), Neil Matthars (bass) and Tyrone Thomas (lead guitar, backing vocals) now joined by Jonas Golland (Tiger Lillies/I am Meat) on drums and backing vocals. The underground scene lives and breathes with gigs like these, and I certainly see way more bands perform in pubs than I have ever seen in arenas. I know the first time I ever saw Neil play was at The Red Lion in Brentford when he was in the Casuals, about 30 years ago!

At the time of recording, they may have had a new drummer in the ranks, but the band were flying high after the success of 'Take Me To The Future' which had been released the previous year, and it is no surprise that the majority of tracks in this 7-song set are taken from that album. This is space rock with huge nods towards punk and indie, very much of the underground, with Nik Turner and Inner City Unit some of the musical references. Even though there are two guitars they are never overtly heavy and there is a huge amount of space within the layers, with Neil often providing the melodic structure with the others playing around the edges. It is not hard-hitting music but instead is something that often is thoughtful and basic with the punk element strongly shining through. Gregg has been pushing his music and this band for well over 30 years with no sign whatsoever of stopping, and this is a great way to discover the band. This is available for just £4 on Bandcamp so why not pop over and give them a listen?

Since the last Paradise 9 album there have been some changes in the camp with the departure of both drummer Carl Sampson and percussionist Jaki Windmill, who have been replaced by Wayne Collyer. This means the band have slimmed to a quartet, with the rest of the line-up still Gregg McKella (vocals, guitar, clarinet, Fx), Tyrone Thomas (lead guitar, backing vocals) and Neil Matthars (bass). Colyer was a member of the ban when McKella formed it originally back in 1988, which makes Neil the newbie as he has only been there 14 years, so here we have a band with a stable line-up and a long pedigree.

Even though they have been going in one form or another for more than 30 years this is only their third album, released in 2021, eight years on from the excellent 'Take Me To The Future'. As one has come to expect from Paradise 9 this is very much space rock, with the bass often providing the structure of the songs, even though there are two guitars. Take the title cut for example, it is Neil who keeps it all together with some chorded riffs which allows the two guitars to be sparse and going off at tangents while the drums work through different patterns.

Paradise 9 have had a strong relationship with bands like Inner City Unit and approach their space rock with a far more independent and punk attitude than many in the scene. Keyboards provide an important element but it is more of a nuance and a facet of the sound as opposed to being right in your face. This is an album from the underground which feels just like that, with a title which clearly states what this is all about. Honest and with integrity, this never pretends to be anything more than it is and is all the more enjoyable for that.

— First review of this album —

Here we have an album that pretty much does exactly what the title suggests, namely that it is an album comprised of live recordings taken from the band's 20-year career to date. The first CD is subtitled 'These Days' and includes tracks recorded in 2016 at the Blind Cat and Kozfest Festivals with the current line-up of Gregg McKella (vocals, guitar and synth FX), Tyrone Thomas (lead guitar, backing vocals), Neil Matthars (bass) and Wayne Collyer (drums). The second disc is "Those Days" and includes ex-members Andy McDonald, Steve Teers Mufa, Carl Sampson, Jonas Golland, and Jaki Windmill plus special guests the legendary Nik 'ThunderRider' Turner, Jeanette Murphy, Tracey Morais, Mike Mishra and Kev Ellis. The CD also comes with a tour poster and family tree, to help make sense of the comings and goings. But at the heart of this band is Gregg McKella, who has been the driving force from the very beginning when he formed Paradise 9 in 1997 at the Acoustic Revolution songwriter's nights with bassist Andy Macdonald.

Although we don't have any recordings from the very first year, we do have one from 1998, which shows that Paradise 9 have been following the same path of psychedelic space punk rock for a long time now. That they have been influenced by Hawkwind is never in doubt, but it is a more punk-influenced 'Wind than the standard space rock copyists. They have worked with Judge Trev and Nik Turner alike, and have a great deal of punk and edginess in their music, almost as if they were coming to it twenty years earlier than when they did. This is independent underground music that will never hit the charts, but the refusal to conform is one of its strengths. I first saw Neil play bass with the Casuals some twenty-five years ago, and I did smile when I realised that not only was Carl Sampson on the album, but that Mike Mishra also guests on one song from the Nineties.

Paradise 9 are now a staple on the underground and festival circuit, and one of the delights of this collection is the diversity of the songs on show, as well as the way they were arranged with the different line-ups and guests. This is undoubtedly the best way to discover one of the hidden gems of the British music scene

So there I was one day perusing the latest issue of Gonzo, and at the very end there were some photos of a band called Paradise 9. I had never heard of the band before, but then noticed that the photos had been taken by the wife of the bassist, whose surname was Matthars. That got me wondering, surely this couldn't be Neil Matthars who used to be in the mighty Casual Affair with that nice man Mark Colton? A quick search of the internet later and I had discovered that not only was it the same person, but fellow ex-Casual Carl Sampson was the drummer. That was more than enough for me to start swapping emails with band leader Gregg McKella and grabbing a copy of the CD (I paid by giving him photos of Neil from 20+ years ago..)

It is of no surprise, given the artwork and the title, that this is psychedelic space rock. But, to my ears it is more than 'just' that. There is a real punk element to this, combined with reggae and loads of different styles all coming into space rock to make something that belongs in the Seventies but is also timeless. Nik Turner became involved in the proceedings, as did Judge Trev and other guests, and the feeling is of an album that is the underground personified in one shiny disc. As well as those already mentioned, the band is completed by Tyrone Thomas (Olympic Clamp Down/ex-Alternative TV) on lead guitar and Jaki Windmill (Mick Farren's Deviants /ex-Space Ritual/ex-Whimwise) on djembe, percussion and backing vocals, and it is the very different backgrounds of those involved that make it such a melting pot. For those who don't know, Casual Affair were probably the most important prog band to come out of West London in the early Nineties, and regularly sold out haunts such as the Red Lion at Brentford, before singer Mark Colton and guitarist Mike Mishra formed Freewill. Carl was later in Rook, another prog band, before he and Neil were involved in some one-off Casual gigs, yet this band has a very organic sound and one would never guess that the rhythm section cut their teeth playing a quite different form of prog.

"Ocean Rise" is probably the favourite, with clarinet, wonderfully bass and guitar lines, all complemented with swathes of space rock and different rhythms. All spacerock bands are going to be compared to Hawkwind at some point, but these far more in common with Inner City Unit and it is no surprise that they often gig together. If you enjoy this style of music, then this is a keeper. www.paradise9.net