SAM GOPAL - ESCALATOR

Sam Gopal (aka Sam Gopal's Dream) was an underground British psychedelic rock band named after its founder and tabla player, Sam Gopal (born in Malaysia). The varying line-up featured many musicians, including, at one time, Lemmy. The first line-up was Sam Gopal on tabla, Mick Hutchinson on guitar, Pete Sears (ex-Les Fleur de Lys) on bass guitar and keys, and later towards the end, Andy Clark on organ and vocals. On 28 April 1967, the band performed at The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, a UK Underground event organised by the International Times at Alexandra Palace. Other performing bands included Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, Savoy Brown, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine and The Move. The band (then called Sam Gopal's Dream) played at the UFO Club (their first headline show), The Electric Garden in Covent Garden (later to become Middle Earth), The Roundhouse, and Happening 44. They later played the Christmas on Earth Show at Olympia in London with Traffic, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. Jimi Hendrix later sat in with them at London's Speakeasy Club. At some point in 1967 the band recorded a few tracks for Screen Gems with Gus Dudgeon as engineer. Andy Clark later joined on organ and keyboards and they soon changed their name to Vamp with the addition of Viv Prince on drums, and released a single called, "Floatin", on Atlantic. After the original band broke up in 1968, Sears went on to session work and formed his own band Giant, while Hutchinson and Clark recorded three albums as Clark-Hutchinson. Gopal formed a new line-up with vocalist-guitarist 'Ian Willis' (better known as Lemmy), Roger D'Elia and Phil Duke. The album "Escalator" was recorded in late 1968 and released in March 1969. Managed by Robert Stigwood, the band released a single "Horse" / "Back Door Man". Lemmy went on to be the bassist of Hawkwind and, in 1975, the founder, singer and bassist of Motörhead. Roger D’Elia (the grandson of the actress Mary Clare) later turned up in a mid-1970s band called Glider, which included Twink (ex-Pink Fairies), Andy Colquhoun and Chas McKay. A further line-up of the band featured Alan Mark, Mox Gowland, Mickey Waller (also known as Mickey Finn) and Freddie Gandy (ex-Pink Fairies). In 1969 a new line-up with Alan Mark (vocals), Mox Gowland (harmonica & flutes), Micky Finn Waller (guitar), and Freddie Gandy (bass) recorded a few tracks for Stable including "Somebody stole the Sun". Following this, Gopal spent some time in Amsterdam and changed the name of the band from to "Cosmosis". Managed by R.Cole/Peter Grant, and brought in Bernie Holland (guitar). Recorded a few tracks for the Led Zep people. Around this time in '71, Gopal had a bad motor accident and sidelined for a couple of years. During this period, recorded an album "Building B". In 1976 went to Paris, and there recorded for Radio France "Feedback" and "Backfeed" with Didier Malherbe (sax) and Patrice Lemoine (piano). From 1981 to 1988, Gopal spent time in Nepal where he had been studying Tablas the previous years, and to continue further, and also allowing his own music to come through. In 1988, Gopal moved to Berlin and started in 1989 his next "one off" band "SANGIT" with a live recording at the Berlin/Philharmonie /Kammermusiksaal. "SANGIT" recorded the soundtrack for "The Great Moghuls", six documentary films for Channel Four. In 1990 Gopal recorded an album "Soap Opera" with Andy Clark (Keyboards & vocals) in Berlin. In 1991, he recorded the next album "Not For Sale" (working title) with Andy Clark (Keyboards & vocals) and studio musicians, also in Berlin. In the 90s Gopal extended his music into the 12-tone Tabla direction. Gopal self-released another album Father Mucker in 1999 (GPS CD 001, Munchen, Germany). Songs from that album were recorded in 1990 (many with Andy Clark) but not mixed and overdubbed until 1999, in which year he recorded one more song for the album. There are as many as six albums recorded with professional musicians and mastered that remain unreleased. Other recordings: In 1980 recorded in Olympic Studios London, few tracks including "Sell out Joe" (Vocals), "Falling In" and "Showdown". In 1989 recorded an album "Largo" in Zurich. In 1992, a Live Recording of Sam Gopal's one-off Band "Brain Tonic", also called Brain Tonic. In 1993, recorded an album "Blind Man's Movie" in Munich. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.