In Parts 1 and 2 we talked to Gong about the placing of their new project ‘Bright Spirit’ within a new trilogy of albums, as well as some of the components, musical and lyrical of the current Gong band. In the final part of this interview feature, conducted back in January, we talk about a few external things: touring with Henge, playing at the annual Kozfest, and what band members get up to musically away from the band.
Henge
Gong have just started on the second part of a tour date process which seems them paired with galactic space-nutters Henge, in a similar arrangement to previous billings with Ozric Tentacles, whose ‘joint’ tours with Gong saw the bands alternating opening and concluding slots. Unfortunately I missed the autumn tour, which introduced the bands’ audiences to each other (and their music), but it means that Gong themselves have had time to reflect on the experience of touring with a somewhat different outfit
Dave: It was very interesting. Very different to the Ozrics too – it’s like a pick and mix musically. Different tracks are inspired by different eras of dance music – with this overall space theme. I think that because we’re kind of presenting different things. With us, it’s obviously more of a musical mystical experience. And with them, it’s like a fun dancing event in a way. But they’re great musicians and the music’s not simple. And they’re really really good in what they do. And the physical effort, the bass player and the drummer wearing bloody masks and all of those costumes are like made of really heavy like curtain material. So they come off drenched in sweat and those masks are really heavy. Their bass player is a lovely guy – but he says he can’t see – the eyes are up here somewhere. Luckily, there’s a few slots that appear. So, he can sort of see about this much, you know, his keyboard and his bass. He can’t see the audience!
Ian: The tour with Henge went very well, we all get on nicely and have some shared interests and a sense of humour. It’s really nice to do the joint tours, it makes the shows more of an event and we all get to play to new listeners.
Kavus: it’s really good fun touring with them. They have a different audience – more than when we were touring with Ozrics, where I think there is a big crossover. As with the Ozrics tour, I think it’s worked. It’s worked regardless of who goes first and last. It’s a different energy, but whether we’re openers or whether we’re closers, it still works on a purely sort of practical level. Watching how Henge operate as a band, as a self-run collective, I mean they make us look like absolute fucking amateurs really. I mean, we are a self-run, self-managed collective, but when you see how Henge do it and you see how they’ve got this locked down and like us, they’ve been the same lineup for about 10 years and just seeing the way they do it, it’s like just really learning.
We’re none of us businessmen, neither are they, but they’ve really got it locked down. So that’s been the big eye opener. But no, I love touring with another band. I love the camaraderie of it. I like that you have to then shorten the set. I like that in a way it’s a bit more, not exactly ‘put forward your best champion’, but you’re creating a different set and you are sort of trying to create a set for what you think their audience is going to be or something that’s going to appeal to everyone.
We’ve got some more dates with them and I think we’ll change things up again. I still think we need to tweak it a bit more. So, over the course of 2026, I think we we’ll have a new set with stuff from the new album. We have to tweak it because I want to be able to feel as strongly about the set we’re going to be doing this year as I did about the one we were doing when we were touring with ‘Unending Ascending’.
Kozfest
2026 will once again see Gong headline Kozfest, that little slice of space-rock infused psychedelia now in its new home in the stunning surrounds of Builth Wells in deepest mid-Wales after over a decade in various locations in Devon. Kozfest is steeped enough in Gonglore that it has a main Daevid Allen stage: Soft Machine, System 7 and Here and Now have all headlined there; whilst associated bands such as Kangaroo Moon, the Invisible Opera Company of Tibet, the Glissando Guitar Orchestra have also been regulars at the festival.
Fabio: We’ve played twice as Gong, first time still with the great Kosmik Ken. I didn’t know that he had my albums before I joined Gong! I feel Kozfest is like a small Gong Uncon in a campsite, a gathering of people that know each other like a big family. Although Gong nowadays sound a bit different from the legacy of bands connected to classic Gong, Here & Now, etc, I believe the spirit of this music is still alive with a festival like Kozfest.
Kavus: It’s amazing that Paul (Woodwright) is keeping this scene alive and bringing in lots of new blood into the thing. I think he’s doing he’s doing the Lord’s work with Kozfest, not just Paul, Snake and lots of other people involved as well. It’s such a good vibe there and I’ve always been welcome. I mean, there was one year – I think it was 2022 – I played with five different bands, solo, I played with the Utopia Strong, I played with Gong, I played as part of Sonic Trip Project, I played as the Glissando Guitar Orchestra. I love being involved in whatever capacity I can there.
Dave: Paul’s really great. I’m really impressed that he does it. I’ve done it various times with different bands. Kangaroo Moon – I love Mark Robson – he’s got a very good left hand so he does a lot of the bass normally. Graeme Clark was one of the other people I played at Kozfest with. We had a trio, me, him, and Pete Fairclough on drums which we did a couple of times.
Kavus: we’ve played in different locations. In Axminster and in North Devon near Uffculme and now where it is in Wales. It’s become it’s great for Gong to play there. Kozfest was the first show we played after lockdown in 2021. That was really really key. I feel like that one performance there at Kozfest really opened the doors to everything that Gong has been in the last three years that have followed it. We turned into a different band at that performance. I think it was having those two years of not being able to do it and just how important it was to do it. Something changed in that performance and I could trace that right back to that performance in 21. Actually, my first one was Knifeworld when it was right up on that muddy hill.
At the moment, I’m only booked for Gong, but I’m always happy just to jump up with anyone. I love playing. I’m a much better performer than I am a punter, especially now I don’t drink. I just don’t know what to do with myself. I’d much rather be playing!
Solo projects
As outlined in a feature in Facelift back in 2018, the current Gong band are a multi-talented lot with all members with various fingers in other pies. All compose music away from Gong.
2025 saw Kavus Torabi cement his place as the hardest-gigging man in prog, with touring dates not just with Gong, but with The Utopia Strong, Cardiacs and with Rosalie Cunningham, plus a number of solo gigs.
Dave Sturt has recently been performing in a Jaco Pastorius role in a project called Mysterious Travellers, as he also works on the follow up to his multi-layered first solo album ‘Dreams and Absurdities’. He is also recording a second album with the astonishing trio This Celestial Engine and also collaborating with poet Mark Gwynne Jones.
Fabio Golfetti, meanwhile was putting the final touches to his latest solo album ‘Seven Keys’ when we spoke, possibly his strongest solo album yet, which is now out (copies will be available from GAS on tour), alongside son Gabriel and fellow Stratus Luna prodigy Giovanni Lenti, whilst continuing to perform the occasional gig with seminal Brazilian trio Violeta de Outono: ‘as I’m continuously flying from Brazil to the UK and vice-versa, I’m always putting my mind into different projects. For example, when I’m in the UK, I’m almost 100% Gongmode, but of course I can do some remote work with my other projects when there’s time. Same when I’m in Brazil, I take the opportunity to do the best I can, recording, rehearsing every week with my friends of Violeta de Outono, even if we don’t have any gig, just to see each other and have dinner together.’
Ian East has a regularly gigging jazz trio and quartet in East Kent (‘my favourite musical activity when I’m not touring’), as well as involvement in the Balkantics (‘London’s original and best Balkan brass band’), and is also working on a second solo album: ‘I’m releasing my 2nd solo album this year, I’m thinking of it as the second half of ‘Inner Paths’ so that together they could become a double album. I’m using the same instrumentation, the same approach to composition and recording.’
As for Cheb Nettles, my lips remained sealed…
You should find copies of albums by Gong’s band members on the merch stall on their current UK tour, which resumes tonight in Birmingham. Alternatively:
Kavus Torabi’s solo album ‘The Banishing’ available at https://kavustorabi.bandcamp.com/album/the-banishing and the latest The Utopia Strong album is at https://theutopiastrong.bandcamp.com/album/doperider
Fabio Golfetti’s new solo album ‘Seven Dials’ is available at https://fabiogolfetti.bandcamp.com/album/seven-keys
Dave Sturt’s ‘Dreams and Absurdities’ available at https://davesturt.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-absurdities
Ian East’s ‘Inner Paths‘ can be found at https://ianeast.bandcamp.com/album/inner-paths
The Canterbury scene(zine) continued.... 