Gong To Release New Studio Album

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For Immediate Release
Prog Legends Gong To Release New Studio Album “Rejoice! I'm Dead!”

Their first album since the death of Daevid Allen - Released on Madfish September 16, 2016!

London, UK - Some say it couldn't, or shouldn't, be done. How could Gong exist without Daevid Allen? A few minutes into listening to the title track of their brand new album, “Rejoice!”, aspersions will be cast aside. It is undeniably Gong

Gong have had many, many line-ups. Formed when Australian beatnik/freak Daevid Allen quit The Soft Machine and moved to France at the tail end of the '60s, before debuting in 1970 with Magick Brother, the band have remained fluid, even playing without their founder from the mid-to-late '70s, fracturing and reassembling and constantly taking on new shapes and forms: an undeniably amorphous unit. David Bowie told Vanity Fayre in 2003 that Daevid Allen's Banana Moon is one of his favorite albums, and today everyone from indie artists Temples and Ty Segall to hip hop artist Madlib and techno DJ Surgeon are inspired, and borrow, from Gong's music and ideology. The funky grooves, avant-garde flourishes and counter-cultural stance is timeless. So timeless that Gong fully exists even without their creator and guiding light. For those who are unaware Daevid Allen died in March 2015.

“I have been co-presenting The Interesting Alternative Show with Steve Davis for the last six years or so,” begins the story of how Gong's new singer/guitarist Kavus Torabi met Daevid. “In 2011, Steve rang up excitedly saying 'You'll never guess who we've got as a guest next week... Daevid Allen.' I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd met Daevid briefly a couple of times with Tim Smith (Cardiacs) but never properly. As a lifelong Gong lover, this filled me with delight. Straight away the two of us seemed to really click, within minutes the conversation had taken a turn for the absurd and I was more than a little flattered when he told me, after about an hour, 'You're a poet man, I can tell.'

“Over the forthcoming months we would text each other on a fairly regular basis, whenever Daevid was in town playing a gig he'd get in touch to see if I wanted to come along. 'I've been thinking about this a lot,' he told me, 'Do you want to play guitar in Gong?' This came somewhat out of the blue. 'But you've never actually heard me play, Daevid' I told him. 'I don't need to,' he replied. 'I felt the same way about Mike Howlett when I met him too and I'm never wrong about this stuff.' Of course I said 'Yes' instantly. 'You know, I can't play like Steve Hillage,' I told him. His response was priceless 'I don't care about what you can't do, I care about what you can do.'

“Since being a teenager, I have often come up with riffs that, while I loved them, had to be shelved because I always felt they sounded a little TOO much like Gong. One of which I started playing. Daevid got up and started improvising lyrics and melodies over the top, his beautiful eyes twinkling. This would become 'When God Shakes Hands With The Devil (from I See You).' 'Wow Kav!' Daevid said afterwards, 'Got any more like that?' Realizing that 20 years or so of shelved riffs had not gone to waste, I blurted out 'Yeah! Loads!'

Kavus joined Gong in 2014 in time for the last album the “new” band made with Daevid, “I See You,” unaware of the direction his new gig as a guitar player would take. “It was shortly after our Brazilian tour in March 2014 that, following a broken arm, Daevid told us that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would be unable to fulfill the 47 date world tour that had been booked to promote (the album). To my, and I guess all of our, minds there was no question that he would beat this thing. The most enlightened and switched on guy I ever knew, with light shooting out of every pore, he seemed indomitable. Nonetheless, he started making noises about how he wished the band to continue without him. I think everyone in the band felt ambivalent about this, particularly as we watched the majority of the gigs get canceled upon news that he was too unwell to fulfill them. I certainly had no desire to front it. I have my own band Knifeworld in which I play this role. We did, however, have a new album to promote, so we reluctantly agreed to play the remaining shows and bow out gracefully after that. Each night we sent Daevid recordings or links to YouTube footage and, from his sick bed in Australia, he wrote gushing praise about what had happened to the band and how this was exactly what he had hoped. By the end of the tour and with the full blessing of Daevid we decided to carry on.

“ 'Rejoice! I'm Dead!' came together over several weeks in an East London rehearsal studio. In terms of the writing, the songs became very elastic, what may have been brought to the band as a fixed idea, through experimenting, discarding, expanding and mutating evolved into the songs as you hear them now. Every member was key in the development of each song,” closes Kavus. Thus, Kavus (vocals/guitar), Fabio Golfetti (guitar/vocals), Dave Sturt (bass/vocals), Ian East (sax/flute) and Cheb Nettles (drums/vocals) took on the mantle of steering the Teapot further into outer space and the inner ear.

On the album you'll also notice the voice of Daevid in an early song idea rehearsal, along with Gong alumni Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe and Graham Clark. Fans of the “Virgin trilogy” won't be let down! 

In the words of bassist Dave Sturt: “You bet it's a Gong record!”

It depends on your knowledge of Gong history and what constitutes as a Gong record, but if “Rejoice! I'm Dead!” is classified as their 28th album the Gong legacy is the strongest it has been since 1974. Consider the differences between “Angel's Egg,” “Gazeuse!,” “Floating Anarchy” and “I See You,” the various splinter projects and collectives… what is it that make Gong who they are? Their spontaneity and numerous Phoenix-like rebirths – this is just the latest installment. Nothing more, nothing less. New members and old coalesce, the sound unmistakably Gong.

Even without Daevid Allen Gong will continue ….. And long may it do so.

Fans can have a hint of what's to come with a clip from the song “Rejoice!” featuring Steve Hillage:
https://soundcloud.com/madfishmusic/gong-rejoice-clip

Check out the video teaser for “Rejoice! I’m Dead!” here: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOapU-WdLXg
https://vimeo.com/181632625

“Rejoice! I'm Dead!” will be released on CD, a double LP and as a limited edition deluxe 3 disc hardback book edition featuring 44-page book, CD, DVD-AV & Bonus CD and digitally.

CD/LP & deluxe edition are available to pre-order here: http://www.planetgong.co.uk
Digital pre-orders: http://smarturl.it/REJOICE_IM_DEAD

For more information: www.madfishmusic.com

Gong Online:
www.gongband.net  
www.planetgong.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/officialgong/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetgong/

Press inquiries (North America): Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, [email protected] 

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glassonyonpr Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: July 12 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2208	Topic: Gong To Release New Studio Album Posted: September 15 2016 at 12:07
	For Immediate Release Prog Legends Gong To Release New Studio Album “Rejoice! I'm Dead!” Their first album since the death of Daevid Allen - Released on Madfish September 16, 2016! London, UK - Some say it couldn't, or shouldn't, be done. How could Gong exist without Daevid Allen? A few minutes into listening to the title track of their brand new album, “Rejoice!”, aspersions will be cast aside. It is undeniably Gong Gong have had many, many line-ups. Formed when Australian beatnik/freak Daevid Allen quit The Soft Machine and moved to France at the tail end of the '60s, before debuting in 1970 with Magick Brother, the band have remained fluid, even playing without their founder from the mid-to-late '70s, fracturing and reassembling and constantly taking on new shapes and forms: an undeniably amorphous unit. David Bowie told Vanity Fayre in 2003 that Daevid Allen's Banana Moon is one of his favorite albums, and today everyone from indie artists Temples and Ty Segall to hip hop artist Madlib and techno DJ Surgeon are inspired, and borrow, from Gong's music and ideology. The funky grooves, avant-garde flourishes and counter-cultural stance is timeless. So timeless that Gong fully exists even without their creator and guiding light. For those who are unaware Daevid Allen died in March 2015. “I have been co-presenting The Interesting Alternative Show with Steve Davis for the last six years or so,” begins the story of how Gong's new singer/guitarist Kavus Torabi met Daevid. “In 2011, Steve rang up excitedly saying 'You'll never guess who we've got as a guest next week... Daevid Allen.' I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'd met Daevid briefly a couple of times with Tim Smith (Cardiacs) but never properly. As a lifelong Gong lover, this filled me with delight. Straight away the two of us seemed to really click, within minutes the conversation had taken a turn for the absurd and I was more than a little flattered when he told me, after about an hour, 'You're a poet man, I can tell.' “Over the forthcoming months we would text each other on a fairly regular basis, whenever Daevid was in town playing a gig he'd get in touch to see if I wanted to come along. 'I've been thinking about this a lot,' he told me, 'Do you want to play guitar in Gong?' This came somewhat out of the blue. 'But you've never actually heard me play, Daevid' I told him. 'I don't need to,' he replied. 'I felt the same way about Mike Howlett when I met him too and I'm never wrong about this stuff.' Of course I said 'Yes' instantly. 'You know, I can't play like Steve Hillage,' I told him. His response was priceless 'I don't care about what you can't do, I care about what you can do.' “Since being a teenager, I have often come up with riffs that, while I loved them, had to be shelved because I always felt they sounded a little TOO much like Gong. One of which I started playing. Daevid got up and started improvising lyrics and melodies over the top, his beautiful eyes twinkling. This would become 'When God Shakes Hands With The Devil (from I See You).' 'Wow Kav!' Daevid said afterwards, 'Got any more like that?' Realizing that 20 years or so of shelved riffs had not gone to waste, I blurted out 'Yeah! Loads!' Kavus joined Gong in 2014 in time for the last album the “new” band made with Daevid, “I See You,” unaware of the direction his new gig as a guitar player would take. “It was shortly after our Brazilian tour in March 2014 that, following a broken arm, Daevid told us that he had been diagnosed with cancer and would be unable to fulfill the 47 date world tour that had been booked to promote (the album). To my, and I guess all of our, minds there was no question that he would beat this thing. The most enlightened and switched on guy I ever knew, with light shooting out of every pore, he seemed indomitable. Nonetheless, he started making noises about how he wished the band to continue without him. I think everyone in the band felt ambivalent about this, particularly as we watched the majority of the gigs get canceled upon news that he was too unwell to fulfill them. I certainly had no desire to front it. I have my own band Knifeworld in which I play this role. We did, however, have a new album to promote, so we reluctantly agreed to play the remaining shows and bow out gracefully after that. Each night we sent Daevid recordings or links to YouTube footage and, from his sick bed in Australia, he wrote gushing praise about what had happened to the band and how this was exactly what he had hoped. By the end of the tour and with the full blessing of Daevid we decided to carry on. “ 'Rejoice! I'm Dead!' came together over several weeks in an East London rehearsal studio. In terms of the writing, the songs became very elastic, what may have been brought to the band as a fixed idea, through experimenting, discarding, expanding and mutating evolved into the songs as you hear them now. Every member was key in the development of each song,” closes Kavus. Thus, Kavus (vocals/guitar), Fabio Golfetti (guitar/vocals), Dave Sturt (bass/vocals), Ian East (sax/flute) and Cheb Nettles (drums/vocals) took on the mantle of steering the Teapot further into outer space and the inner ear. On the album you'll also notice the voice of Daevid in an early song idea rehearsal, along with Gong alumni Steve Hillage, Didier Malherbe and Graham Clark. Fans of the “Virgin trilogy” won't be let down! In the words of bassist Dave Sturt: “You bet it's a Gong record!” It depends on your knowledge of Gong history and what constitutes as a Gong record, but if “Rejoice! I'm Dead!” is classified as their 28th album the Gong legacy is the strongest it has been since 1974. Consider the differences between “Angel's Egg,” “Gazeuse!,” “Floating Anarchy” and “I See You,” the various splinter projects and collectives… what is it that make Gong who they are? Their spontaneity and numerous Phoenix-like rebirths – this is just the latest installment. Nothing more, nothing less. New members and old coalesce, the sound unmistakably Gong. Even without Daevid Allen Gong will continue ….. And long may it do so. Fans can have a hint of what's to come with a clip from the song “Rejoice!” featuring Steve Hillage: https://soundcloud.com/madfishmusic/gong-rejoice-clip Check out the video teaser for “Rejoice! I’m Dead!” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOapU-WdLXg https://vimeo.com/181632625 “Rejoice! I'm Dead!” will be released on CD, a double LP and as a limited edition deluxe 3 disc hardback book edition featuring 44-page book, CD, DVD-AV & Bonus CD and digitally. CD/LP & deluxe edition are available to pre-order here: http://www.planetgong.co.uk Digital pre-orders: http://smarturl.it/REJOICE_IM_DEAD For more information: www.madfishmusic.com Gong Online: www.gongband.net www.planetgong.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/officialgong/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/planetgong/ Press inquiries (North America): Glass Onyon PR, PH: 828-350-8158, [email protected]

Guldbamsen Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Retired Admin Joined: January 22 2009 Location: Magic Theatre Status: Offline Points: 23098	Posted: September 15 2016 at 12:12
	This is awesome! Btw I moved your thread to the New Prog Releases part of the forum
	“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams

Barbu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: October 09 2005 Location: infinity Status: Offline Points: 30845	Posted: September 15 2016 at 12:17
	Order placed.

Progosopher Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: May 12 2009 Location: Coolwood Status: Offline Points: 6393	Posted: September 15 2016 at 22:45
	Well, they have released several albums without Daevid, and good ones too, so this should not be too surprising. Rather exciting, actually.
	The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty"

Man With Hat Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Collaborator Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team Joined: March 12 2005 Location: Neurotica Status: Offline Points: 166178	Posted: September 15 2016 at 22:52
	Bought
	Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.