JONES GIVES FANS ANOTHER TRANCE TO SEE HYPNOTICS
IN the 90s while Britpop made rocking out to dadrock the norm, one band kept the 60s psychedelic blues fires burning.
Thee Hypnotics had famous fans including Johnny Depp and Cher and were the first British act to be signed to grunge label Sub Pop.
Their brand of fast garage rock harked back to The MC5, The Cramps, Stooges and The 13th Floor Elevators.
They split in 1999 after three albums gave them critical success but commercial apathy, with singer Jim Jones forming The Jim Jones Revue.
But now Jim and original guitarist Ray Hanson along with drummer Phil Smith and bassist Jeremy Cottingham have reformed for a tour and Beggars Arkive will release a vinyl anthology, Righteously Recharged, which will include rare and unreleased material.
It’s an exciting return for a band who blazed through the 90s with songs like Shakedown and Heavy Liquid.
Jim said: “In the 90s, we were well aware that we were massively out of step with the mainstream and much of the ‘alternative’ scene. But it just added to our alienation and we channelled straight back into the music.
“You could say alienation is a big part of what fuelled us.”
The group formed in 1985 in Buckinghamshire. And while they split up 20 years ago, Jim and Ray have kept on good terms.
Jim, who now front Jim Jones and the Righteous Mind, said: “We had all stayed on good terms over the years.
“In the last few years I’ve had a lot of enquiries from boutique and fanzine record labels about reissuing some of the old LPs.
“I visited Beggars Banquet, who were the main record label for Thee Hypnotics back in the day, and asked them how the whole licensing thing would work.
“Their first reaction was to suggest they put out a box set with the majority of the recorded material and some previously hard- to-find or unreleased material such as the John Peel sessions.
“The question of doing a few shows at some point had always been a possibility but it was something like this kind of proper release that made it make sense.
“I telephoned Ray the guitarist, and we agreed that if we were ever gonna do it, now would be the time.
“I organised a kind of gettogether jam session at my regular rehearsal space and we went through a few numbers and had a few drinks, and it seemed cool.”
The re-formed band play King Tut’s, Glasgow on Thursday supported by Scots band The Media Whores.
Jim, whose Jim Jones Revue regularly played sold-out King Tut’s shows, is looking forward to playing Scotland next week.
He said: “The first show we did in the early days of Thee Hypnotics was at Edinburgh University. Halfway through the second song, a cool looking young girl threw a pair of lacy black panties that landed on my shoulder… we hung onto them for the rest of the tour, they lived with the drum hardware.
“We were always happy to come back to Scotland.”
At the moment, the band are only playing tracks from their three albums, Come Down Heavy, Glitter & Sin and The Very Crystal Speed Machine, which never had a UK release.
But with offers of gigs in Europe, they hope to continue with Jim juggling his current band The Righteous Mind, who aim to release their next album this year.
What about reforming The Jim Jones Revue, which ran from 2007 to 2014?
“Are you trying to kill me?” Jim cackled. “Maybe I’ll take that as a challenge. Right time, right place. I don’t have any problems with that.” ● Thee Hypnotics play King Tut’s, Glasgow on Thursday. The Righteously Recharged Box Set is due out on June 8.