The Open Mind was an English

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

band formed in London, and active in the 1960s and 1970s.

Overview

The band was formed in 1963 by four musicians from

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, South West London. Initially named The Apaches and formed by Tim du Feu, Mike Brancaccio and Philip Fox and their friend Ray Nye. Nye left in 1965 and another friend, Terry Schindler, joined instead. The band became The Drag Set, who released a little-known single in February 1967, "Day and Night" / "Get Out of My Way". Shortly thereafter, they changed their name to The Open Mind and in July 1969 released a self-titled LP which has since become a highly sought-after collectible. The band, however, is best known for its druggy August 1969 single, "Magic Potion", which did not appear on the album. The Open Mind disbanded in 1973; its members wanted to move into

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

-influenced music, but The Open Mind was too well known as a psychedelic band. The band members (minus Phil Fox) went on to form Armada, which lasted about three years but did not release any recorded material. Despite their paucity of recorded material, The Open Mind have proven to be influential in the psychedelic rock genre, their single "Magic Potion" having been covered by bands such as

The Seers The Seers were a British rock group active between 1984 and 1991. The group gained notoriety with their debut single, "Lightning Strikes", which was about the Hungerford massacre. In 1988 they became the first unsigned band to play the main ...

Sun Dial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

and The Damned.

Band members

*Mike Bran, a.k.a. Mike Brancaccio -

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(born 17 April 1946,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

) *Timothy du Feu -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(born 31 May 1944,

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dra ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) *Philip Fox -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(born 26 August 1946,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, South West London) *Ray Nye -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Terry Martin, a.k.a. Terry Schindler -

(born 26 August 1945,

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

, West Central London)

Discography

Singles

*"Horses and Chariots" b/w "Before My Time" (

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

BF 1790) May, 1969 *"Magic Potion" b/w "Cast a Spell" (Philips BF 1805) August, 1969 ;The Drag Set *"Day and Night" b/w "Get Out of My Way" 7" single ( Go AJ 11405) May, 1967

Album

*''The Open Mind'' LP (Philips 7893) (July 1969) ''The Open Mind'' was reissued on CD on the Acme Records and

Second Battle The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

labels. The two non-LP songs from the single are included as bonus tracks.

References

External links

* * Allmusic entry for the Open Mindbr>June 2001 interview with bassist Timothy du Feu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Open Mind, The English psychedelic rock music groups Freakbeat groups Musical groups from London Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups disestablished in 1973