Psychedelia started a bit earlier than in 1967 but by that year it was in full swing. The Beatles did it, Pink Floyd got in with it, even The Rolling Stones did it (remember “Her Satanic Majesties Request”?).
Exactly fifty years on, and almost every decade onwards there is a wave of musicians being inspired by the heyday of psychedelia. No exception these days and usually the references keep on reappearing.
Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd (smack dab in the middle of 1967) probably top that inspirational list. At least they are on the top of the list that inspired Indiana’s “Heaven’s Gateway Drugs”, whether it is the name of the band itself, their appearance, album covers (three of them), or the music these albums contain.But what does “Rubber Nun”, their third outing show? Are they just simple copycats, or are they able to present some fresh ideas and breathe new life into a more than a half a century old genre?
I tend to be quite uncritical towards new psychedelic bands even if they to keep on regurgitating old ideas, just as they show even a modicum of good musicianship and at least a good feel and sense for the genre. So I usually start out with quite low expectations.
With “Heaven’s Gateway Drugs” I got much more that expected. Now, these days the purveyors of “new psychedelia” are almost dime-a-dozen, particularly the ones that take what you can call the Syd Barrett route (watch out guys, some of those substances can burn your brain!) and you don’t get much more than a re-“hash” of old ideas. Ok, I’ll take that too. Injection of new ideas is rare and far in between.
Along with Holland’s Jacco Gardner, “Heaven’s Gateway Drugs” can stand on that rare list of psychedelia inspired music that tries to skip “just pure imitators route.
In difference to Gardner, who puts his accent on the “mysterious woods” aspect, leaning more to the more gentler, folkier side of Barret and heyday psychedelia in general, Gateway guys are more for the direct, even rockier approach without losing touch with the original inspiration. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the original source of inspiration is a bit further away from Indiana. For Gardner, it is just across the pond.
But the band’s music does have a natural flow as if they were born into it and they still bring something to the sound that is more 2017 than 1967. Take, for example, The opening track “Thee Heathen Twist”, “Fun & Games”, “Utah Spirit Babies” with its slight heavier leanings or a personal highlight here “Dear Charlotte”.
What you get is music that is not only inspired by a bygone genre but inspired, period. Well played and sung too. It might even inspire you to look into some of the previous masters from half a decade ago. Enjoy.
