“Pussy Plays Again”: A 55-Year Odyssey from Debut to Revival
After over five decades, fans of British psychedelia finally have their much-anticipated follow-up as ‘Pussy Plays Again’ emerges from musical history, ready to enthrall audiences once more.
Steeped in the same psychedelic ethos that characterized its predecessor, ‘Pussy Plays Again’ offers a mesmerizing blend of fuzz-laden guitars, swirling keyboards, and mind-bending studio effects. Led by original Pussy drummer Steve Townsend and former Iron Maiden guitarist Bob Sawyer, along with the talented contributions of Paul Jackson and Rick Cullen, the album revisits the magic of the ’60s while carving out its own unique sonic territory.
The recording techniques employed in ‘Pussy Plays Again’ harken back to a simpler era, resulting in a raw, lo-fi sound that captures the essence of the band’s creativity and imagination. While the production may lack the polish of modern studio technology, it more than makes up for it with its authenticity and charm.
Available on both CD and vinyl, ‘Pussy Plays Again’ comes packaged with a bonus free CD featuring 12 tracks of psychedelic goodness. The vinyl edition includes an insert with comprehensive sleeve notes, providing fans with insights into the creative process behind the album.
From the hypnotic grooves of ‘Pussy Redux’ to the lysergic odyssey of ‘Cosmic Carousel,’ each track on ‘Pussy Plays Again’ invites listeners on a journey through time and space.
“Morgan wanted a band which could play live and be more “progressive”
It’s wonderful to have you again. I would love it if you could share some recollections from writing the material for ‘Pussy Play’.
Steve Townsend: Barry Clark had been part of a band called Fortes Mentum who had been recording at Morgan Sound Studios and were under contract to Morgan. Another member of the band, Danny Beckerman, was also a producer for Morgan. The company wanted to join the vibrant psych/prog scene so set up a new label – Morgan Blue Town – in 1969. They needed bands for this project. Three of the studio engineers formed Bobak, Jons, Malone and made an album called ‘Motherlight,’ a band called The Academy made ‘Pop-Lore According To The Academy,’ and Morgan wanted a band which could play live and be more “progressive”. So I guess Danny Beckerman was given the job of producing an album by this third band and Barry was, presumably, tasked with getting it together. He advertised in Melody Maker – and I answered the ad.
Barry and I jammed together and seemed to be on the same page, so he recruited Peter Whiteman, a keyboards player and an old school friend, and I brought along vocalist Dek Boyce and bass player Jez Turner – both of whom had been part of my last, newly-deceased band, We Shake Milk. Barry already had his contract with Morgan and the rest of us were signed up in double-quick time. I don’t know if Danny and Barry were working to a deadline but everything seemed to happen pretty fast. Danny – whose writing was more pop-orientated – had the bare bones of most of the tracks already written and our job was to take them away and make them “progressive”. Although the writing credits on the album mainly go to Danny, in actual fact he really did only come up with the barest outlines of the tracks and most of the lyrics – all the instrumental parts and most of the formats came from the band. And the only recognition of this was the inclusion of Barry’s name on some of the credits – with the exception being ‘The Open Ground,’ for which I wrote the lyrics. For this track, we laid down the jazzy, fairly complex instrumental track, and I think we didn’t quite know what to do with it. And I’m still not sure where the idea for the recitation came from – probably from me – and how we were allowed to do it. I do remember Dek and I – armed with the lyrics – went to Morgan by bus – after a few pints – and recorded the recitation and the choruses.
After 55 years, the follow-up album is being released. It’s extremely exciting to be talking about the follow-up. Tell us how much time and effort went into it.
After the new album had been recorded, we had a hundred CDs copied and sold them mainly via Facebook. I took out a year’s subscription to DistroKid, and they distributed the CDs to all streaming services. And we had a good response all around. Everyone who heard or bought the CD liked it, and we had a good review in Shindig magazine by Lenny Helsing.
We really wanted to get the album onto vinyl, but the cost of privately pressing it was prohibitive for us. Then a friend told me that Secret Records had just pressed a new run of ‘Pussy Plays’ at a plant in Luton. He knew the manager of the plant and suggested he might be amenable to come to a deal on our new album to maybe press fewer than their normal runs. But that gave me pause for thought. Why go to the pressing plant – why not approach Secret Records themselves?
I found their website and email address and sent them a message outlining what it was all about and saying that, if they were not willing to take on the project themselves, could they give us any useful advice. Anyway, admittedly to my surprise, they said they were interested – could I send them the tracks? Could I! My fingers couldn’t move fast enough on the keyboard! Contracts were signed fairly quickly, artwork was finalized, they polished up the tracks, and announced that 22 March 2024 would be the official launch date for both vinyl and CD – and on the Morgan Blue Town label. Actually, they originally wanted 29 March – until someone pointed out that is Good Friday.
Would love it if you could add some further words about the recording process.
Bob had shedloads of half-written and fully-completed tracks either buzzing around in his head or on CD at his house. He jumped at the chance to get some of it out to the listening public. We heard some of his work – one track in particular, ‘Rain Grey Town,’ jumped out at me – and between June and September 2022, we booked four sessions at Apollo Audio Studios in Hertford and recorded the basic tracks for the album. We used our own portable recorders, then Bob took the tracks away and added more guitars, synths, vocals – whatever – and mixed the songs down. Bob’s mixing technique meant that the finished results were effectively mono, but that suited the feel we were trying to create. One track was recorded differently – ‘New Age Dystopia,’ by Paul Jackson. Although we weren’t in lockdown, we recorded it in a lockdown manner – each adding his own bit at home and then Paul bringing it all together.
Since then, we have produced various remixes and attempted to create a kind of pseudo-stereo effect, but in the end, in consultation with Secret Records, we all agreed that their remastering of the original recording was the way to go.
“I just provide the link with the past – and sit at the back and hit things as hard as I can”
How did you get ex-Iron Maiden guitarist Bob Sawyer, along with friends Paul Jackson and Rick Cullen to record it? When did you originally meet?
In February 2018, a couple of friends persuaded me to go to a monthly Open Mic session – The Guitar Club – at Hertford Corn Exchange. I was gigging regularly, and it wasn’t the sort of event I would normally attend. I had no intention of taking part, but they put my name on the list, and I got up and played a few numbers with the House Band. And that was my first encounter with ex-Iron Maiden guitarist, Bob (Rob Angelo) Sawyer. I didn’t go again until May, and the guys in the House Band told me of another monthly session that they played at – the Heavy Fuel jam at The Herald pub in Harlow. So I went to the next one, later in the month, and from then on, I became a regular at both events, and eventually, I took over the drum stool for both House Bands.
Before I became the house drummer at Heavy Fuel, I walked into one of the sessions wearing a T-shirt on which my daughter-in-law had printed the Pussy Plays logo. Bob saw it and immediately said, “What’s that all about?”. I told him I was the drummer on the album. He was gobsmacked! Bob was really into that British psychedelia and had a CD copy. We talked about the album, and over the months, became firm friends.
In April 2022, I was at Bob’s house in his music room, and he was playing me original tracks he’d written and recorded. He had been producing his own sort of ambient psychedelic music for ages and selling a few CDs. He played one track, and I half-jokingly said, “That would be good for the follow-up album to Pussy Plays.” The next day he messaged me, and we chatted about making a follow-up – but again still half-jokingly. A few days later, Bob invited me to a meeting at a local pub to discuss a new project – which was producing a Pussy Plays follow-up album. Also at the meeting was Rick Cullen, the bass player from the Guitar Club and Heavy Fuel House Bands. The Guitar Club House Band also played gigs under the name Sidewinder, and we decided to call in the fourth member of that band, Paul Jackson, to play guitar and possibly keyboards. Both Rick and Paul are excellent players, and we knew we all work together well.
Are you planning to play some live shows in the near future?
We are organizing an Album Launch event for the release date of 22 March at Bedford Esquires. Tickets are on sale now at See Tickets – Pussy Plays Again Album Launch Tickets | Friday, 22 Mar 2024 at 8:30 PM. We have secured the services of a wonderful band – Carbon Daydreams – as support. Signed copies of the new album will be available – and hopefully, copies of the original ‘Pussy Plays’. We are working on a live set incorporating material from both albums. The material is evolving from the original every time we play it so there are plenty of improvisations and new ideas floating around.
We’ve already played one warm-up gig – a showcase session at Apollo Audio Studios in Hertford. There was a good audience who really liked both the band and the material. It made us feel very positive about the future. For our next outing, we are joining with other bands for a fundraising event at Hertford Corn Exchange on 15 February. Local drummer Trevor Stephenson collapsed and died at the venue last year while waiting to go on stage, and the event is to raise money for a defibrillator at the site in his memory. We are honored to be included in the lineup.
The Album Launch show will be a test bed for where we go next. ‘Pussy Plays Again’ has a lot of internet support from far and wide – it will be interesting to see if that support can be translated into people standing in front of the stage.
What would be the craziest gig that Pussy played in the late ’60s/early ’70s?
The band played so few gigs that the only one I remember with any clarity was the actual Album Launch Event. This was held at the Two Decks Club in Soho – which no longer exists. The event was to launch the actual Morgan Blue Town label along with the three initial albums – Bobak, Jons, Malone; The Academy; and ‘Pussy Plays’. We were in a slightly mutinous frame of mind. Apart from Barry, the band hadn’t heard the finished record – or seen the artwork – until that day. And we weren’t best pleased with what was presented. It had all turned out somewhat differently to what we’d envisaged. I can’t remember too much about the event – I don’t know if the other two acts performed – but I know we played a set. And that caused a bit of a problem. At the time, I was playing a double bass drum Premier set-up, very like Keith Moon’s. But, unlike him, I had terrible problems trying to keep the two bass drums from moving. We tried a variety of solutions. We used to carry four 56-pound weights, one for each spur – but sometimes even they weren’t man enough to stop the drums sliding. By the time we got to the launch event, I was using two concrete lintels – supplied by our pig-farmer manager, John. And, when we set them up, Lena Davies – the Morgan publicist, I believe – objected rather strongly. She said they made the place look like a building site – which, in all honesty, they did. In the end, some sort of compromise must have been reached which enabled us to play to a roomful of totally uninterested music hacks who just seemed to be there for the freebies. Not exactly the craziest kind of gig but somehow rather symptomatic of how things were.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
I may be able to claim some sort of record for 55 years between the first and second albums. I have no idea. This ‘Pussy Plays Again’ project has been built on chance and coincidence from the very start. The chance of me meeting Bob Sawyer at The Guitar Club in 2018 – and the coincidence of me wearing the Pussy Plays T-shirt and him being a fan of the album. From then on, each step has taken us further than we ever thought we would go. All credit must go to Bob for the music on ‘Pussy Plays Again’ – and to the other two real musicians, Paul and Rick. I just provide the link with the past – and sit at the back and hit things as hard as I can.
A great barrow-load of thanks must also go to Secret Records who took on the album – and guided us through one or two technical difficulties along the way. And to have the record coming out on the Morgan Blue Town label is just the cherry on the top.
I’ve really enjoyed doing this interview with you, Klemen – keep up the good work with your excellent It’s Psychedelic Baby! Magazine.
So who knows where we go from here. We want to write new material and to keep the band going. But will it be live shows, recordings, tours even – all will be in the hands of the musical public. It’s been a total gas so far…
Klemen Breznikar
Morgan Blue Town Official Website
Pussy | Interview | Stunning Late 60s Psych Prog
Early Iron Maiden Guitarist Bob ‘Angelo’ Sawyer Remembers His Power Trio ‘Big Ladder Woman’
