Mandragora (band)

History

Mandragora are a band from Brighton, England, whose sound blends space rock with world dance music. They started out in 1983 as a psychedelic rock group, heavily inspired by Hawkwind, founded by Simon Williams. Their first release was a cassette-only album called Somethink Missing, which they paid for themselves. They played at UK festivals, including the 1984 Stonehenge Free Festival. In 1983, Williams saw New Age synth pioneer Phil Thornton perform at a Sussex festival and they met. When Mandragora were asked to support Hawkwind on their 1988 UK tour, Thornton joined on synthesizers. His Moog and samplers added a more refined sound to their improvisation-heavy live shows. During the 1980s, Thornton also worked on music for Alex Sanders' Mother Matrix incantation as a side project. The band’s early guitar-and-synth work drew comparisons to Ozric Tentacles, but they kept experimenting with different styles. Williams credits Thornton’s studio skills for the big leap on their second album, 1991's Head First. That album got them BBC radio play, with John Peel and Mark Radcliffe spinning the track "Zarg." They released two more studio albums, Earthdance and Pollen, plus a live album called Temple Ball, and collaborated with Thornton on his solo record While The Green Man Sleeps. All were well received. Mandragora toured widely across Europe, including Israel, Germany, Russia, Italy, Denmark, France, Ireland, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and the UK. They built a loyal following on the free festival circuit, playing Glastonbury three times. They also opened for acts like The Wailers, Gil Scott-Heron, Transglobal Underground, Gong, The Orb, and The Shamen. Later, Niall Hone joined Hawkwind and Nik Hunt joined Here & Now. Their most recent album, Pollen from 1998, marked a turn toward dance music, mixing dub, psy-trance, and Celtic influences with global sounds and psychedelic dance culture.