Jacco Gardner: Raider of the Lost Art

Raider of the Lost Art! Jacco Gardner is carrying on the torch from Syd Barrett!

September 13th, 1967, Copenhagen Star Club, Denmark.
Pink Floyd – England’s hotly tipped new band are playing their third and last of three shows in Copenhagen. Tonight’s set includes a string of early hits, including top twenty single ‘Arnold Layne, London club favourite ‘Instellar Overdrive’, and a bunch of other delicate songs. The Floyd’s debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn – with its title taken from a chapter in Graham Greene’s Wind in the Willows – is the epitome of the psychedelic movement of the day.

However, this is only months short of the decline and fall of one of the world’s biggest psychedelic visionaries, Pink Floyd’s astral voyager, original front man and songwriter Syd Barrett, who would soon after – due to the pressure of fame and, most likely, a heavily increased intake of LSD – turn his back on the music industry, retreat into a world of his own and become a recluse in his Cambridge home for the rest of his life; a life which sadly ended in 2006 due to pancreatic cancer.

Syd Barrett remained silent for almost four decades and didn’t release any new music. His second solo album Barrett, in 1970, was to be his last. His short contribution to the bible of popular music is, nevertheless, an important one, the Holy Grail of Psychedelia, from which his disciples carry on drinking. His haunting and sometimes djingly djangly melodies and lyrical wit, continue to inspire artists all over the globe. Painters. Poets. Musicians. Isn’t it good to be lost in the woods?

Jacco Gardner is a Syd-Crusader from the Netherlands, whose debut album Cabinet of Curiosities, is a must have for anyone with an interest in late sixties releases by bands such as Love, Traffic and The Beach Boys, but also newer bands such as Temples, Horrors and Tame Impala.

Imagine Love’s Bryan MacLean backed by The Zombies with Frodo on tambourine, and you’re not too far off from stepping into the mysterious, magical world of Jacco Gardner. The lyrics are simple but strong. The lullabies come from a place between sleep and awake, where – as Tinkerbell would say – you still remember dreaming.

Puppets dangling on golden strings
Her controlled by many things
Pushed around by heavy winds
Trees stand tall and start to sing

‘Puppets Dangling’ – Jacco Gardner

When listening to his forthcoming album Hypnophobia, you instantly get draw back into the wicked wonderland, that is Jacco Gardner. Musically the album continues his quest for psychedelic wisdom, and thank god for that – there is not a finger to point at anything. The arrangements are great and the soundscapes overly beautiful, and one can easily imagine Arthur Lee and his holy ghost turn in joy from beyond the grave. It’s an album that as a whole seduces you into a dreamy fairy tale, a childish orange coloured underworld.

It’s nice to think that 48 years after Syd’s last (and only) visit to Copenhagen, the message is still intact and our beautiful city can once again play host to another psychedelic wunderkind.

You’ll lose your mind and play
Free games for May

‘See Emily play’ – Syd Barrett

The game is on! Jacco Gardner is playing at Loppen, Christiania, Friday, 29th of May.

New album, Hypnophobia, is set for release 4th May

FULL LIVE DATES:

April
22 – Point Ephémère, Paris, France
24 – 100 Club, London, UK
29 – Paradiso Noord, Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, Netherlands
30 – Hedon Kleine Zaal, Zwolle, Netherlands

May   
01 – VERA, Groningen, Netherlands
02 – De Helling, Utrecht, Netherlands
05 – London, Rough Trade, London, UK (in-store, free show)
06 – Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing, France
07 – Rockhal, Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg
08 – L’Epicerie Moderne, Feyzin, France
10 – Botanique – Orangerie, Brussels, Belgium
11 – Rock School Barbey, Bordeaux, France
13 – La [2], Barcelona, Spain
21 – Mattatoio CultureClub, Carpi, Italy
24 – Vienna Arena, Vienna, Austria (w/ Fatso Jetson)
26 – Feierwerk / Kranhalle, Munich, Germany
27 – Privatclub, Berlin, Germany
28 – Molotow, Hamburg, Germany
29 – Loppen, Copenhagen, Denmark
30 – Revolver, Oslo, Norway
31 – Debaser Strand, Stockholm, Sweden

June 
04 – Rotown, Rotterdam, Netherlands
05 – Effenaar Grote Zaal, Eindhoven, Netherlands (w/ The Soft Moon, Moon Duo, and 15 others)
05/06 – Eindhoven Psych Lab 2015, Effenaar Grote Zaal + Kleine Zaal + Café + Foyer, Eindhoven, Netherlands
10 – Milkboy Philly, Philadelphia, PA, US
11 – Rough Trade NYC, Brooklyn, NY, US
13 – The Press Room, Portsmouth, NH, US
14 – The Middle East Downstairs, Cambridge, MA, US
17-21 – NXNE 2015, Toronto, ON, Canada
20 – Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL, US
24 – Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA, US
26 – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR, US
29 – The Wayfarer, Costa Mesa, CA, US
30 – The Echo, Los Angeles, CA, US

July   
01 – The Casbah, San Diego, CA, US (w/ Calvin Love)
03 – Lowbrow Palace, El Paso, TX, US
05 – Club Dada, Dallas, TX, US
09 – New Mountain Avl – Theatre, Asheville, NC, US
15 – Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton, UK
16 – The Louisiana, Bristol, UK
17 – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, UK
18 – The Tin at The Coal Vaults, Coventry, UK
19 – The Leadmill, Sheffield, UK
20 – The Bodega Social Club, Nottingham, UK
26 – The Workman’s Club, Dublin, Ireland

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Words: Anders Knudsen