Simon Posford, has become almost as well known in the U.S. as he is in his native England, after a series of collaborations with the Disco Biscuits and other festival circuit staples. His various incarnations include Hallucinogen, Schpongle and Younger Brother, the latter of which includes DJ Benji Vaughan and, when performing as a full band, singer Ru Campbell, Brothers Past guitarist Tom Hamilton, Duo drummer Joe Russo, and Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein. They are expected to release an album later this year.
Postford sat down for an interview with Jambands.com to talk about his friendship with the Disco Biscuits, festival culture, and making music for charity. When the native Brit was asked about his first experience with the American jam band scene, at Camp Bisco in 2005 he says he was not familiar with the Disco Biscuits, but he instantly felt a connection with their fans:
"I hadn’t come across [the Disco Biscuits’] music, though we had mutual friends so I sort of knew of them, but I didn’t really know much about them until I got there. It was only when I got there that I realized this is our crowd: a psychedelic crowd who really loves music. And I think at first event then, they didn’t quite get the electronics so much. They seem much more receptive to it now, the last time we played."...
"When I heard people in the States term psychedelic music to me it was more stuff like the Grateful Dead. To me it didn’t sound psychedelic, I never really got it because I never went to a show. I hear it’s all about the show and when they play it live and how they stretch out the guitar solos, or whatever, and it becomes psychedelic. Really it’s such a similar crowd because they appreciate psychedelics and mind expansion, and they seem to be a very musical crowd as well. So it’s weird that the paths haven’t interwoven and crossed more, actually."
Fans of psychedelic music will have the opportunity to experience Posford’s brand of mind expansion this summer when he’s on the road playing DJ sets as Shpongle, another of his current projects.
Read the full interview here.