The UFO Club ( ') was a short-lived British counter-culture nightclub in London in the 1960s. The club was established by

Joe Boyd Joe Boyd (born August 5, 1942) is an American record producer and writer. He formerly owned Hannibal Records. Boyd has worked on recordings of Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, Nick Drake, The Incredible String Ba ...

and

John "Hoppy" Hopkins John Victor Lindsay "Hoppy" Hopkins (15 August 1937 – 30 January 2015) was a British photographer, journalist, researcher and political activist, and "one of the best-known underground figures of 'Swinging London' " in the late 1960s. Life ...

. It featured light shows, poetry readings, well-known rock acts such as

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, avant-garde art by

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, as well as local house bands such as

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

and

Soft Machine Soft Machine are a British rock band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966 by Mike Ratledge (keyboards, 1966–1976), Robert Wyatt (drums, vocals, 1966–1971), Kevin Ayers (bass, guitar, vocals, 1966–1968) and Daevid Allen (guitar, 1966– ...

.Rockin' in Time, p. 166. The club operated for the nine months from December 1966 to August 1967, and an additional seven months at 31

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road t ...

Fitzrovia Fitzrovia () is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urban ...

, followed by a further two months at the Roundhouse in

Chalk Farm Chalk Farm is a small urban district of north London, lying immediately north of Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. History Manor of Rugmere Chalk Farm was originally known as the Manor of Rugmere, an estate that was mentioned ...

History

The UFO Club was founded by John Hopkins (usually known as "Hoppy") and

in the Blarney Club, an Irish dancehall in the basement of 31

, under the Gala Berkeley Cinema. It opened on Friday 23 December 1966. Initially the club was advertised as "UFO Presents Nite Tripper", because Boyd and Hopkins could not decide on "UFO" or "Nite Tripper" as a name.Boyd, Joe, ''White Bicycles – Making Music in the 1960s'', Serpent's Tail, 2006. Eventually they settled on "UFO".

and

performed on the opening night and the next Friday, and were re-engaged as the club continued into 1967, after initial success. The first events combined live music with light shows, avant garde films and slide shows, and dance troupes. Pink Floyd's tenure at UFO was short, because as their fame grew, they were able to play bigger venues for higher fees. Boyd protested that their increasing fame was largely due to the success of UFO, but the band's management wanted to move on and an agreement was made for just three more Floyd performances at UFO, at an increased fee. Hopkins and Boyd had to cast around for a new "house band" for UFO. They settled on Soft Machine but also started booking other acts who were attracted by the club's reputation. Amongst them were The Incredible String Band, Arthur Brown, Tomorrow, and

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

, the latter of which played there when " A Whiter Shade of Pale" was No 1 in the charts. An advertisement featuring the Flammarion engraving in the Feb 13–26 issue of ''The

International Times ''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John "Hoppy" Hopkins, David Mair ...

'' for "UfOria! Festival of Love 10.30 till dawn" icannounced "feb.10 – the bonzo dog doodah band • flix– dali– bunuel •

ginger johnson George Folunsho "Ginger" Johnson (1916 – July 15, 1975) was a Nigerian percussionist and bandleader who was a prominent musician in London from the 1950s to the early 1970s. He led Ginger Johnson and His African Messengers, and recorded and per ...

african drums" as well as "feb 17 –

• mark boyle projections • movies • food • erogenius 3 + 4". Hapshash and the Coloured Coat, consisting of Michael English and Nigel Waymouth, designed psychedelic posters to advertise events. Waymouth said, "We were trying to give a visual concept of what we were experiencing, which was like hallucinations." The food was macrobiotic and included brown rice rissoles, vegetarian stuffed vine leaves and felafel, supplied by Craig Sams, who went on to co-found Whole Earth Foods and Green & Black's.

Jack Bracelin Jack Leon Bracelin (2 June 1926 – 28 July 1981) was an English high priest of Gardnerian Wicca. He was an influential figure in the early history of Neopagan religion, having been initiated into the craft by Doreen Valiente in 1956. He was a me ...

's (Fiveacres Lights) created some of the light shows with equipment that ranged from 16mm projection of early "

art house An art film (or arthouse film) is typically an independent film, aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience. It is "intended to be a serious, artistic work, often experimental and not designed for mass appeal", "made primarily ...

" films (often projected sideways or projected into smoke) or 5 kW 'Pani's' (effects projectors) borrowed from Samuelsons at Pinewood or Elstree film studios (or Strand Electric at Vauxhall) to overhead projectors with transparent trays borrowed from refrigerators and filled with water/indian ink/beer/whatever. A favourite was to use 'Aldis' slide projectors with dual layer 2×2 glass specimen slides with basic designs created with wax crayons (drawn by Lou – the oft naked lady) and then various substances introduced with syringes – Indian inks, snot, semen – in fact anything of imiscible viscosities. Bubbles made by injecting air between the glass plates which were then squeezed (by a pair of long nose pliers – in time to the music) would send folks even further off their heads! After a sordid article published in the ''

News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one ...

'' on 30 July, the landlord told Joe Boyd the UFO could not continue at the Blarney.

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...

offered the Champagne Lounge at his Saville Theatre but Boyd decided on the larger Roundhouse venue. In October 1967 the UFO Club at the Roundhouse folded. The UFO Club's success was its downfall – being too small to accommodate the increasing number of visitors. If a big name such as

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a fo ...

was playing, UFO broke even, but the club usually lost money. The hard rock band

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

is named after the club.

Billings

Blarney Club

* 23/30 Dec: Nite Tripper under Gala Berkeley Cinema; Warhol movies;

;

; Anger movies; Heating warm; IT god * 13 Jan:

; Marilyn Monroe movie; The Sun Trolley; Technicolor strobe; Fiveacre slides; Karate * 20 Jan:

; Anger movie * 27 Jan: AMM Music;

; Five Acre Light; Flight of the Aerogenius Chpt 1; International Times; IT Girl Beauty Contest * 3 Feb:

; Brown's Poetry; Flight of the Aerogenius Chpt 2; Bruce Connor Movies * 10 Feb:

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, ...

; Ginger Johnson African Drums; flix – Dali – Bunuel, WC FieldsIT08 – 13 February 1967
/ref> * 17 Feb:

; Indian Music; Disney Cartoons; Mark Boyle Projections; Feature Movie; 'erogenius 3 + 4' * 24 Feb:

; Brothers Grimm * 3 Mar:

;

* 10 Mar:

* 17 Mar: St Patrick's day off * 24 Mar:

* 31 Mar: Crazy World of Arthur Brown; Pink Alberts; 'spot the fuzz contest' * 7 Apr:

* 14 Apr: Arthur Brown;

Social Deviants The Deviants (formerly The Social Deviants) were an English rock band originally active from late 1966 to 1969, but later used as a vehicle for the musical work of writer Mick Farren until his death in 2013. Farren has stated that The Deviant ...

; Special: the fuzz * 21 Apr:

* 28 Apr: Tomorrow; The Purple Gang * (29/30 Apr:

The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream was a concert held in the Great Hall of the Alexandra Palace, London, on 29 April 1967. The fund-raising concert for the counterculture paper ''International Times'' was organised by Barry Miles, John "Hoppy" Hopkins ...

at the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Origi ...

) * 5 May:

; Arthur Brown * 12 May:

The Graham Bond Organisation The Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) were a British jazz/rhythm and blues group of the early 1960s consisting of Graham Bond (vocals, keyboards, alto-saxophone), Jack Bruce (bass), Ginger Baker (drums), Dick Heckstall-Smith (tenor/soprano saxo ...

;

* 19 May: Tomorrow; Arthur Brown; The People Show * 26 May:

The Move The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their car ...

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...

* 2 Jun:

;

; The Tales of Ollin dance group; Hydrogen Jukebox * 9 Jun:

; The Smoke * 10 Jun:

* 16 Jun: Crazy World of Arthur Brown; Soft Machine; The People Blues Band 4.30am * 23 Jun: Liverpool Love Festival; The Trip * 30 Jun: Tomorrow;

; Dead Sea Fruit * 7 Jul:

Denny Laine Denny Laine (born Brian Frederick Hines, 29 October 1944) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1 ...

; The Pretty Things * 14 Jul: Arthur Brown; Alexis Korner; Victor Brox * 21 Jul: Tomorrow;

* 28 Jul:

; CIA v UFO;

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

; Shiva's Children

Roundhouse

* 4 Aug:

Eric Burdon Eric Victor Burdon (born 11 May 1941) is an English singer. He was previously the lead vocalist of R&B and rock band the Animals and funk band War. He is regarded as one of the British Invasion's most distinctive singers with his deep, pow ...

& The New Animals;

Family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

; The Hydrogen Juke Box * 11 Aug: Tomorrow * 18 Aug: Arthur Brown; The Incredible String Band * 1/2 Sep: UFO Festival:

;

; Arthur Brown; Tomorrow; Denny Laine * 8 Sep: Eric Burdon & The New Animals;

Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ronso ...

* 15 Sep:

; Family * 22 Sep: Dantalian's Chariot w/ Zoot Money & His Light Show; The Social Deviants; The Exploding Galaxy * 29 Sep:

;

Ten Years After Ten Years After are a British rock group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, the band had eight consecutive Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, they had twelve albums enter the US ''Billboar ...

; Mark Boyle's New Sensual Laboratory; Contessa Veronica

References

External links