The Black Marquee
Published 23 months ago
The retro hipsters tripping out on DMT and psychedelic sounds
- Text by John-Paul Pryor
The Black Marquee are a psychedelic outfit led by two musicians who have taken a shared fixation with the aesthetic of Donald Cammel’s 60s masterpiece Performance about as far as they can push it. Fitting, then, that we should meet them in Miller’s Academy of Arts & Science – a members club boasting lavish interior decor not unlike that adorning the film’s legendary Powis Square address, where Cammel shot Mick Jagger and Anita Pallenberg shooting heroin and ingesting psychedelics.
“I love that film,” says softly-spoken Mancunian guitarist/songwriter Jeff Wootton. “We’re really influenced by that whole scene...”
“Man, when I was 14, I used to fill up Golden Wonder crisp packets with magic mushrooms,” chimes in Scottish frontman Steven Young, an outspoken hipster sporting the ultimate in Brian Jones-style barnets. “I’m really into the poetry of bands like The Doors and The Pretty Things,” he says with a laugh, lighting a cigarette. “I smoked DMT listening to The Wall and that was it for me, man! The best 20 minutes of my life!”
The Black Marquee’s predeliction for mind-altering substances is certainly apparent in their ethereal soundscapes (a hypnotic hybrid of The Byrds, Neil Young and The Stones), but they are determined not to go the way of rock star junkie clichés. “I would never touch heroin,” says Young. “It fucking destroys creatitvity, man. There’s a few people in Camden right now who need to have a word with themselves about that. Naming no names, of course.”
Formed in 2008, The Black Marquee may only have a few demos on their MySpace, but just one listen will convince you of their potential for greatness... one listener was so sold that he hopped a plane from LA to attend one of their very first shows. “That was pretty amazing,” grins Young. “But he did look a bit like the psycho in No Country For Old Men.” Stalkers aside, The Black Marquee’s retro-stylings, haunting melodies and visceral lyrical honesty is testament to a major songwriting partnership. “Jeff comes up with tunes on that plank of wood there,” says Young pointing to the guitar that Wootton is strumming, lost in a world of his own. “Then I tend to add my words... words are really important to me!” But what of his songwriting partner’s taste? “My favourite record would probably have to be Revolver,” says Wootton, breaking from his reverie. “Although Jeff Beck’s Truth really changed my life. Not many people have heard it, but it blows my head – it’s where Jimmy Page initially got the idea for Led Zeppelin.”
“Yeah, that’s a fucking great record,” agrees Young. “Jeff turns me on to all kinds of stuff like that, man.” Turn on, tune in...
Photography James Pearson-Howes
