Wales’ premier gathering spot for the wide world of underground psychedelia is The Cellar Bar in Cardigan, where The Doctor Sardonicus weekender takes place every year. Julia Deli was on the spot to check out The Bevis Frond, Sendelica, Nick Harper and oodles more.
“Something happens when you come down those stairs. You aren’t in Cardigan any more, you’re in some strange other place… or have suddenly stepped back in time.” The words of Nick Harper express the fitness of the Cellar Bar as host venue for The 19th Dream Of Doctor Sardonicus Festival Of Psychedelia.
This event was co-imagined by Pete Bingham, of west Wales band Sendelica, and the Fruits De Mer label, who have released several of Sendelica’s records. Named Crabstock for its 2014 debut year, the coalition envisaged a Psy-Holiday-By-The-Sea; now, with a name change paying homage to psych icons Spirit (increased numerically each year, from 13 onwards), a cask full of treasures washes up on the piratical coast for what Bingham calls “our yearly party”.
People from all over the world make their way here, with the furthest travelled in 2023 coming from the Bahamas. At the pre-festival meet and greet on Thursday, Mick from Runcorn tells me what draws him back repeatedly: “I’d told my daughter what a friendly crowd and great atmosphere you find here, then she came with me one year and caught the bug. My sister soon joined us, and now my nephew comes as well. We meet up with this club of mates from all over Britain and abroad.”
Dr Sardonicus’ 2023 weekender begins with an eclectic lineup
Opening the weekend’s bill that evening, Swansea’s Derek Cook – one-time keyboardist for two tribute acts, Welsh Floyd and Pure Floyd – performs his programme Spectral Sounds on a bank of five synthesisers. Capturing lost sounds from the psych repertoire, Cook eases us into a gentle altered state in readiness for more transcendence.
Gathering again on Friday, we browse arcane delights and rarities at the merch stalls, where helpful enthusiasts are on hand to answer convoluted discographical questions and find you that missing album. Discussing the wide range of influences the movement encompasses, Sardonicus regular Terry from Essex says, “If you tell people you’re going to a psychedelic festival, they think it’s all beads and hippies, and sounds like the 60s. Of course, we love all those greats from the past, but psychedelia is so much more than that.
“We’re all sitting together, fans and musicians. I found myself next to Bevis Frond’s Nick Saloman earlier, then the next minute, I was chatting to Nick Harper at the bar.”
Demonstrating this eclecticism, Hanford Flyover’s British-American fusion of raw indie guitar, swirly, twinkling electronica, folky close harmonies and progdelic values make for intricate and heart-warming set. The Milanese Pinhdar showcase their Parallel album in its entirety: conceived in their home studio over lockdown, bassist Max Tarenzi describes how the songs reflected “claustrophobic times”, its darkwave, art-pop and postpunk styles full of moody minor chords. Keyboardist/vocalist Cecilia Miradoli told me of Pinhdar’s link with the Bristol trip-hop scene, the homemade international festival of underground and psy they ran for years, and the “passionate, empathic and curious audiences” they meet on tour. Drummer Alessandro Baris adds, “British audiences are very responsive to the new. They really care about all kinds of music.”
Quirky Britishness follows as Cardiff’s Soft Hearted Scientists serve wry humour, nostalgic and esoteric lyrics and indie-psych-pop with 60s sensibilities. Waltz Of The Weekend features Spencer Segelov’s ghostly military drums, jangled by Nathan Hall’s suggestively unhinged fairground keys – we believe he has seen “the tombs of Tremorfa, the sphinxes of Splott”- while Paul Jones’ guitar sparkles through Sea Anemone Song.
Headlining to the warmest of crowds, Nick Harper astounds with dexterity, speed and the complexity of his compositions. The jazz-tinged intricacy, the percussive notes and melodic open chords race each other towards an exhilarating conclusion for an awed audience, and his vocal range is extraordinary. No surprise to find out Harper began playing ukelele aged three in his musical household – and he’s a top gent, too, patting Cellar Bar owner Steve Greenhalgh on the back:
“People should know about the good work being done by promoters like Steve here, who put on the events that bring us all together – it’s vital that this happens. We never forget the first piece of music that moved us or the bands that make up the soundtrack to our lives. Music, like everything else important, has been undervalued – teachers, care workers, doctors, everything that binds us together as a society. Luckily, up and down the country, individuals are providing what’s needed in their communities, despite the economic pressures, just because someone’s got to.”
Indeed, Steve makes it happen at the Cellar: ensuring everyone gets home, getting breakfasts for artists and punters, taking bands to early trains at Carmarthen and raising funds for Homeless Pembrokeshire by selling records from his own collection and donated vinyl. This generosity of spirit extends to the Fruits De Mer goodie bags on Saturday – quality releases and specials, plus some seaside-y gifts.
Psych legends Sendelica and Bevis Frond create a soulful Saturday
Canterbury’s Spygenius get our initial Saturday groove on – dreamy, introspective chords, rich harmonies, psych-pop guitars, funky blues riffs and smart lyrics – and McDowell & Westaway bring us driving, feelgood retro US garage meets rave, Bristol-style, heavy on the syndrum. Stepping up the dance vibe, surprise DJ sets from Sabres Of Paradise co-founders Kris Needs and Nina Walsh catch us unaware. Needs’ repertoire is eclectic, dropping disco, techno and trance into the mix, and Walsh’s set reflects her late-80s acid house roots as well as her latest home productions (some created with the late Andy Weatherall), which blend industrial soundscapes with vulnerable vocal samples and her own mystical, medievalist loops.
Sendelica’s wall of sound has been honed over decades. “We improvise quite a lot on stage to get that ‘jam’ feeling,” bassist Glenda Pescado says, “so our audience is part of those special moments when they happen.” Their heavy old-school psych with jazzy excursions remind us of links with the late Nik Turner, with a cover of Hawkwind’s Masters Of The Universe dedicated to their old comrade. The final song, resonating through our ranks in one long om, transfixes us, and releases us at last, fully cleansed and ready for new levels of awareness.
There’s a hush of anticipation, and people cramming in at the front as The Bevis Frond set up. It’s their third time playing the Cellar, and the excitement is palpable. With Paul Simmonds on guitar, Louis Wiggett’s sturdy bass and drums from Dave Pearce, the magic is confirmed when guitarist and founder member Nick Saloman takes the stage.
Saloman builds a world for each song with effortless musicianship and a poetic, empathic lyrical scope. Whether heaviest rock, ancient-sounding psych-folk or tender embraces for loved ones and the natural world, prolific minstrelsy flows from his pen with the same apparent ease as Ray Davies, Robert Wyatt, Andy Partridge or Kate Stables. From the postpunk of Eyes In The Back Of My Head to the rabblerousing Lead On, a whole soulful of finessed feeling is heard in Saloman’s voice.
“We’ve been cruising comfortably along for 30 years,” he says, “but suddenly, since lockdown, people’s appreciation of music has become intense – everyone’s gigs are sold out! Somehow, we’ve kept going and going, and now more stalwarts are joining the little club – like here tonight. People are very respectful, look after you well – it’s a lovely gathering in a lovely place.”
Burial mounds, darkwave and jazz-rock close out Dr Sardonicus 2023
A fine Sunday dawns in the West, and we chat at the pavement tables. Paul and Mike, from Leeds and Essex, met up to travel to Cardigan: “We came up on Thursday and we’re camping in Poppit, so we’ve been to the beach, got a few burial mounds under our belts. We went to Pentre Ifan yesterday and we’re planning a visit to the Witches Cauldron at Moylegrove tomorrow!”
The weekender theme continued appropriately with the sample-rich jazz-rock fusion of Swansea’s Z Machine. Heavy guitars, moody bass, noisy solos and saxophonic weirdness combine into a complex sound, somehow descriptive of prehistoric insects and syncopating stars in a twilight world of boiling swamps and primeval birdlife. Dark Zen Kollectiv play experimental, motoric-rhythmed darkwave and electronica, swapping instruments with abandon and adding bouzouki and handdrums.
Cameron, who plays with local gypsy-jazz fusion band Fox The Fire, had been busking in town that morning when, as he recounts, “Colin Consterdine came out of the Cellar Bar and said he liked my style – and could I play in G minor? I said yes and he asked if I could get on stage with him this afternoon!” So with Cameron on bassoon and bass clarinet and Sendelica’s Pescado on bass, among other friends, Consterdine created a meditational jam on his themes of music of the spheres: bell-like synths, natural samples, angelic chords, discords and dreaminess in plenty.
The Cary Grace Band also make music in Grace’s home studio, production skills adding to her many talents as an artist. Strong folk/psychedelic influences and pagan titles draw us into her mystical realm: in Fat Old Sun, a hymn to nature, Grace’s vocal weaves fantasies around gentle structures, whereas concept album Lady Of Turquoise features laidback psych-rock with darker undertones.
Italy’s London Underground wrapped up Sunday night and the weekend, their multilayered retro sound and spacy instrumentals centred around mellow, comforting Hammond organ tones. It all feels right, a circular journey from the high days of Moog and Hammond out to 808s and back again; the best of send-offs for a loyal bunch of friends, fans and musicians, squeezing the last drops of the sea-salted, fruitful concoction, and making promises for next year.
When Ed Cassidy’s jazz percussion melded with the West Coast psychedelia of his stepson’s band, hippies were syncopated, and an influential sound was born in Spirit. The inheritors of that music, purveying the multiple genres and many faces of psychedelia this weekend, live up to and extend such inspiration into a bright, imaginative future.
The 19th Dream Of Doctor Sardonicus, The Cellar, Cardigan, Thurs 3-Sun 6 Aug
Info: fruitsdemerrecords.com
words JULIA DELI
