Zorch, who formed in 1973, were an early English totally electronic band, pioneering integrated performances of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s and lightshow. Originally a four-piece, by 1975 Zorch were performing as a duo: Basil Brooks and Gwyo Zepix played three monophonic

EMS Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

analogue synthesizers, but were augmented by Silver (dance) and a full-on

psychedelic light show Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic hallucin ...

, provided by John Andrews under the name of 'Acidica'. At times reminiscent of

Tim Blake Timothy Blake (born 6 February 1952, in Shepherd's Bush, London) is an English keyboardist, synthesist, vocalist, and composer, who is known for working with Gong, Hawkwind and his synthesizer and light performances as Crystal Machine, with th ...

as well as Tonto's Expanding Head Band, their repetitive melodies, extended improvisation and thumping sequenced bass created a unique musical style that anticipated techno and trance. In the days before polyphonic synthesizers and personal computers, they filled out the sound using two reel-to-reel tape machines as a delay line. The duo played at a number of 1970s free festivals including

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

in 1974, Meigan Fayre in 1975 and Stonehenge Festival in 1974 and 1975. Zorch were the only band to record in

Peter Zinovieff Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British composer, musician and inventor. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pi ...

studio in Putney — in 1975 they used the EMS Synthi 100 to record the "Ouroboros" Suite, recently remastered for CD. Some of this music was used as the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the short

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

''Mother Earth'' with synthetic visuals from the EMS Spectron Video Synthesizer. Zorch split up in 1976. Brooks joined the

Steve Hillage Stephen Simpson Hillage (born 2 August 1951) is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. Besides his solo sound recording and reprodu ...

Band and provided the live sound effects for

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

stage shows. Gwyo Zepix joined Bristol jazzrock band Skywhale before moving to Germany in 1979. He returned to the UK in 2000 to join

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

on keyboards and guitar. Zorch also reformed at this time, and have since played a few UK gigs including The Garage with

Daevid Allen Christopher David "Daevid" Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015) was an Australian musician. He was co-founder of the psychedelic rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong (band), Gong (in France, 1967).McFarlane, 1999, Biograp ...

on guitar, and

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

supporting Gong. In 2001, they played at the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

, and recorded a

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

of this event (''Glastonbury Live''). More recently, Zorch took part in the three-day 2006 Gong Unconvention at the

Melkweg Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way") is a music venue and cultural center on Lijnbaansgracht, near Leidseplein in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is housed in a former dairy and includes four music halls as well as a cinema, a restaurant and an exhibitio ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where Basil Brooks also took part in the Steve Hillage Band set with Hillage,

Miquette Giraudy Miquette Giraudy is a French keyboard player and vocalist, best known for her work in Gong (band), Gong, and with her partner Steve Hillage. She and Hillage form the core of the Ambient music, ambient band System 7 (band), System 7. She has also ...

Mike Howlett Michael John Gilmour Howlett (born 27 April 1950) is a bass guitar player, record producer and teacher based in the United Kingdom and Australia. Career In the late 1960s, Howlett was the bassist in Sydney pop band the Affair, which included ...

, and Chris Taylor.

External links

planetgong

zorch home

howard scarr aka gwyo zepix

zorch Myspace

* http://www.meiganfayre.co.uk/
"Zorch - Ouroboros"
on YouTube {{Authority control English electronic music groups