Wednesday 16 November - LEICESTER, 02 Academy2
Thursday 17 November - BRIGHTON, Concorde 2
Friday 18 November - SHEFFIELD, 02 Academy2
Saturday 19 November - LIVERPOOL, 02 Academy2
Sunday 20 November - BRISTOL, Trinity
Wednesday 23 November - LONDON, Electric Ballroom
Thursday 24 November - OXFORD, 02 Academy2
Friday 25 November - LEEDS, Brudenell
Saturday 26 November - MANCHESTER, Academy 2
Sunday 27 November - GLASGOW, Garage
Tuesday 29 November - BIRMINGHAM, 02 Academy2
Wednesday 30 November - NORWICH, Epic Studios
Thursday 1 December - CAMBRIDGE, The Junction
Friday 2 December – EXETER, The Phoenix
OZRIC TENTACLES FULL BAND TOUR
Alongside label-mates Gong
Ozric Tentacles are regarded as one of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture. After a prolonged hiatus the band released the 2020 album Space For The Earth (Kscope).
Ed Wynne is particularly looking forward to the tour: “I recently toured with Silas Wynne as an Electronic version of the band, but the opportunity to put together a full live again band after such a long hiatus is both daunting and exhilarating. One thing’s for sure though, this tour will be an amazing experience to share with all our fans.”
GONG
From its beginnings in a French commune in 1967, through the Virgin Records years, mismanagement, court cases, break-ups and rejoinings, deaths and rebirths – there has always been a continuous thread of beautiful, dangerous and extraordinary music. GONG recently performed with the Steve Hillage Band (himself a former member of the 1970s GONG line-up) and released the critically acclaimed album The Universe Also Collapses (Kscope, 2019). Gong’s musically diverse world includes shades of psychedelia, space rock, jazz, avant-garde, krautrock and surreal soundscapes. Gong have recently released a stunning new live album Pulsing Signals (Kscope, 2022) drawn from their 2019 UK tour.
Says Gong’s Kavus Torabi: “Gong and Ozric Tentacles have a long history together, but this is our first fully fledged, psychedelic double-dip, joint headline tour. Ever since The Ed Wynne Band played with Gong on our 2019 tour, we all agreed what a wonderful partnership this would make. I'm so happy that this will see fruition in November 2022. You can expect an outpouring of radiance and joy from both bands, it can't come around soon enough.”
The first Ozric Tentacles full-band tour for 8 years and the very first time both bands have shared the bill on a UK tour.
Order/Save Now
CD1 Pungent Effulgent
CD2 Erpland
CD3 Strangeitude
CD4 Jurassic Shift
CD5 Demos & Rarities
CD6 Live Underslunky
CD7 Remixes
DVD Live at the Fridge, Brixton 1991
Plus an 80 page hardback book
Ozric Tentacles
‘Travelling the Great Circle’
OUT NOW
8 Disc Remastered Set Encompasses Music From Pungent Effulgent to Jurassic Shift
Iconic British band Ozric Tentacles have announced ‘Travelling The Great Circle’, an expansive new earbook release, featuring remastered music from one of the bands most creatively thrilling and acclaimed periods.
Travelling The Great Circle brings together the first four official studio albums released by Ozric Tentacles, one of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne; ‘Pungent Effulgent’, ‘Erpland’, ‘Strangeitude’ and ‘Jurassic Shift’ are widely regarded by fans and critics alike as among the most important albums within the Ozrics’ rich catalogue and beyond it within the pantheon of psychedelic rock music.
This new 8-Disc set showcases a band in the ascent and at their most inspired. Fans are invited to delve into the Ozrics world with a collection of rare content collected from band members old and new, personal artifacts from close associates of the band and new Erpmen drawn by Ed Wynne. The 80-page Earbook also features original liner notes by Dominic Blake, rare photographs as well as hard to find audio and visual material.
Following the initial period of DIY cassette releases, the band formed their own label ‘Dovetail Records’ in 1989 with the release of their first “Official” album ‘Pungent Effulgent’. The album release combined with a busy touring schedule in the UK helped them gain an even wider following and catch the attention of the national music press.
Albums ‘Strangeitude’ and ‘Jurassic Shift’ were received to critical acclaim and charted in the UK at numbers 70 and 11 respectively. Now, in 2021, Kscope is bringing together the first four studio albums for the first time in one package, along with a bonus disc of ‘Demos & Rarities’ hand-picked and remastered by Ed Wynne. 1991 live album ‘Live Underslunky’ is also included, which showcases the band in scintillating form. The Earbook is rounded off with a DVD featuring the band at the height of their powers, performing to a sold out crowd at Brixton’s Fridge in 1991 along with various TV appearances from the era.
Space For The Earth Released as a 2CD Limited Edition With Bonus Disc Featuring 30 Minutes Of New Music
"Ozric Tentacles still inhabit that part of the sonic landscape where Gong rub shoulders with Jean-Michel Jarre." The Arts Desk
One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, Ozric Tentacles formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture. Space For The Earth represents the next harmonic step in the unfolding Ozric journey.
Written, programmed, recorded and produced throughout 2019/20 by Ed Wynne in ‘Blue Bubble Studios’ by the sea, this exploratory and diverse musical adventure comprises seven tracks spanning 45 minutes. Wynne feels that lockdown in a strange kind of way provided space for the Earth to breathe for a while and for people to rediscover its resonant healing frequency. "This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy".
These recordings find Ozrics’ synth player Silas Neptune and drummer Balázs Szende join forces again with Wynne on the album which also features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers.
The album ebbs and flows through blissed-out soundscapes featuring incendiary guitar solos, space grooves and ambient atmospheres.
Initially released in 2020, Space For The Earth is now repackaged alongside a bonus disc featuring 30 minutes of new music spread across 6 parts. A chance to revisit this modern classic from the psych-legends.
O-Card 2CD edition of this album is available in limited quantities via Kscope now.
Ozric Tentacles - Vitamin Enhanced
Six CD book edition of the classic Ozrics cassette albums is out now
Pioneering British band Ozric Tentacles have announced a special reissue of their classic cassette album collection ‘Vitamin Enhanced’ will be released on 9th April via Kscope. A six CD edition complete with a carefully curated book, each album has been lovingly remastered by the Ozrics long-time leader, Ed Wynne at his Blue Bubble studios in Scotland, the first time in their long history he has been able to personally mix and master the tracks. A mainstay of the UK festival scene since the early 80’s, Ozric Tentacles weave psychedelic audio-tapestries that captured the far reaching musical diversity of the free festival scene, blending acid rock with dub, reggae, ethnic world music and electronic, jazzy experimentation. This was the soundtrack to the herb fragranced, alternative lifestyle that wound its way around country lanes looking for a place to set up and party, away from the psychoses of corporate life.
A raggle-taggle, unpretentious assortment of punk-infused, dreadlocked hippies, the band was formed at the Stonehenge Festival in 1983. Ed and Roly Wynne, Nick Van Gelder (Tig) and Gavin Griffiths (at that point known as the Bolshem People) were joined for a jam by Joie ‘Ozroonuiculator’ Hinton - a synth wizard who had just returned from India loaded with ethnic sound recordings that he had collected.
At some point, having attracted an audience, someone asked what the name of the new ensemble was, and Ed responded ‘Ozric Tentacles’ mainly because he couldn’t think of anything else. The name stuck and a mainstay of the UK festival scene for the next 30 years was born. Without any desire or need for a record label, it was the Ozric Tentacles' cassette releases that funded and supported their journey through the ‘80s. These simple artefacts with photo copied inserts and rainbow, spray painted labels were sold in vast quantities at festivals, on the merchandise table at Club Dog and through a mail order outlet called Better Days Tape distribution.
So treasured were the bands six cassette albums that in ‘94, just after the Ozrics hit the big time, the albums were remastered and packaged together in a six CD box set called Vitamin Enhanced which was sold in a limited edition of 5000 copies on the band’s Dovetail Records label.
More than 30 years after that initial jam, the band are still going strong despite many line-up changes and the everchanging vagaries of the music industry and Vitamin Enhanced is to be reissued, bringing confusion to breakfast buyers once more. All six of the albums have been carefully remastered, ensuring that they have never sounded better.
Space for the Earth
Space for the Earth, the latest Ozric Tentacles album is OUT NOW!
Written, programmed, recorded and produced throughout 2019/20 by Ed Wynne in ‘Blue Bubble Studios’ by the sea, this exploratory and diverse musical adventure comprises seven new tracks spanning 45 minutes. Inspired by the Scottish hills, valleys and beaches surrounding his studio, Wynne feels that lockdown in a strange kind of way has provided space for the Earth to breathe for a while and for people to rediscover its resonant healing frequency. ‘This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy’.
Ozrics’ synth player Silas Neptune and drummer Balázs Szende join forces again with Wynne on the album which also features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers.
The album ebbs and flows through blissed-out soundscapes featuring incendiary guitar solos, space grooves and ambient atmospheres. Wynne plays his recently revived Ibanez Jem, a new 8-string guitar, all kinds of synths and bass. Van Gelder uses the original snare he played on the first six cassette albums and early live Ozric performances. One tune features Champignon playing kaval, a traditional wooden Balkan flute.
The album artwork was inspired directly by these seven tracks and realised by arboreal artist Kitty (Twisty-Trees) with help from Ed and cosmic artist Ivy.
Ozric Tentacles 2020 remaster series
Jurassic Shift
Jurassic Shift was the fourth proper release from the band and the first album to be recorded in their own studio The Mill. The album reached #11 in the UK national chart when it was released in 1993. This version of Jurassic Shift will be released on pink heavyweight vinyl as the fourth title in the Ed Wynne remasters series on Kscope.
Erpland
Erpland, the band’s 1990 eighth release, is considered one of their finest works. This 2LP set presented in wide spine packaging, will be released on turquoise heavyweight vinyl as the third title in the Ed Wynne remasters series on Kscope.
Strangeitude
Strangeitude was released in 1991 and featured the band’s first single, Sploosh! which reached number 1 in the UK independent chart. This LP edition is pressed on green coloured heavyweight (180g) vinyl.
Pungent Effulgent
Pungent Effulgent is available on heavyweight audiophile vinyl. The band's early influences from peers such as Hawkwind, Gong and Pink Floyd are evident in this transformative release.
Arborescence
It’s an open exploration of music and the soul. The band's last release to feature Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton, who left to form Eat Static, Arborescence was the Ozrics' fifth studio effort in as many years. Soundscape textures remained their focus and their strength, with the now trademark Steve Hillage-esque guitar, gurgling and whirling synths and tight rhythm section all wrapped around rave, techno, African and Middle Eastern influences.
Classic Ozrics then. Arborescence will be released on 180g red vinyl as the fourth title in the Ed Wynne remasters series on Kscope.
Curious Corn
Curious Corn is a classic Ozrics album, blending rock, ambience, world music and expert bass lines with a trademark groove that will remind fans of the band's remarkable festival performances.
Including fan favourites “Oddentity” & “Spyroid”, Curious Corn will be released on purple heavyweight vinyl as the fifth title in the new Ed Wynne remasters series on Kscope.
Become the Other
The band's first release after Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton left to form Eat Static, Become The Other still possesses the cool, psychedelic spare rock of its predecessors. With hints of techno, psybient and world music, the album kicks off with some fine guitar and bass on 'Cat DNA', followed by the atmospherics of 'Ahu Belahu' and 'Ghedengi'. 'Wob Glass' is all synthy techno whilst 'Neurochasm' is a cool trippy rock track and so very Ozrics.
Become The Other, a 2LP set presented in wide spine packaging with a D side etching, will be released on yellow vinyl as the third title in the Ed Wynne remasters series on Kscope.