Daevid Allen speaks

Gong is touring again, and The Scotsman talked to Daevid Allen (24 November 2009). Allen, who was in Soft Machine before they did their first record, claims that Brigitte Bardot hired them to play at a party, and that they played the same song over and over again. "We had no money so Brigitte took pity on us and hired us for her party. We played one song, We Did It Again, over and over for a joke. We did it again and again for an hour and the next day we were the darlings of France's hip set and that enabled me to go off and form Gong." I like Allen´s version, but I can´t find any info on Bardot in connection to the St Tropez concert, even if both Wikipedia and Graham Bennett ("Soft Machine. Out Bloody Rageous") mention it. Buy Soft Machine´s "Jet Propelled Photographs" (demos from 1967) with Robert Wyatt, Daevid Allen, Mike Ratledge and Kevin Ayers, right away!

The video shows Gong in Germany earlier this month, with Steve Hillage, Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Theo Travis, Chris Tayler and Miquett Giraudy.