The Bedford Project
THE PANACEA SOCIETY
Sat. 19th July
14.00
Record Launch
Bedford Free Music Festival
Everard Meadow
Langholm Way
Bedford

We had a dream last night, we had the same dream.

The Panacea Society - a 10" Record on transparent vinyl
Do Me Rattle - God Is Sexy

Lost classic is a much abused term amongst pop historians, seemingly applicable to anything that sold badly at the time which the writer feels is now due for reappraisal. Nevertheless, there are a few records that genuinely merit such an enticing accolade. God Is Sexy & Do Me Rattle by Panacea, recorded in 1968 & 1970 respectively is surely one of them.

During 2002 while researching material for The Bedford Project, artist André Stitt & music archivist Matt Cook unearthed some old reel to reel sound recordings at a car boot sale in Bedford. Simply marked 'Panacea'. the tapes contained a number of songs intercut with improvised segments of a more experimental nature.

Further investigations revealed that in fact Panacea were a commune style band who lived in a number of locations in and around the English town of Bedford from around 1967 - 1973.

Though the group appears to have played only a handful of gigs and rock festivals during its brief history, Panacea's existence was of importance as a centre for counter-cultural activity, alternative living, performance art making and of course music. In fact their attitude was patently anti consummerist; in no small part due to the politics of the time and conspicuous consumptions of LSD.

Panacea as a group had their roots in the British beat boom of the mid-1960's. They had started life as The Tweeds when John Southcott met Bill 'Fuzz' Foster at Bedford college in 1966. Enlisting Click Gill on drums, Harpo Alexander on guitar and a mysterious local known only as The Suit on bass; they played local student dances, pub gigs and dance halls with a set list of mainly cover versions of current pop chart material.

By 1967 the band had mutated into The Flying Bedstead; making spray paintings and using smoke bombs on stage. Recalls Foster, 'We used to have a rather attractive girl on stage wearing a mini skirt and reading poems between songs. I remember we got chased out of the building at Bedford college when the show became too outrageous. The students only wanted to dance!'

'In 1967 we were also diversifying our musical tastes.' Recalls Alexander:'We were listening to a whole new bunch of psychedelic bands like the 13th Floor Elevators and The Seeds. When we first heard Sister Ray by The Velvet Underground we just flipped, it was so far out!'

By 1968 the band withdrew from regular gigging and with the support of a rich patron bought a large house in the village of Copal near Bedford. 'John had these well off relatives, well one of them, we called him Milton, that's not his real name, I'm still not allowed to say, well, he actually supported us for about five years', recalls Foster.

'Milton really believed in us, he thought we'd get this big record contract and really take off. As it was, we partied, took lots of drugs, made some interesting and some very indulgent music. We also had an organic garden growing our own food which we more or less lived off. It was an amazing time. You know, this whole idea of the band getting it together in the country.'

The country idyll came to an end for Panacea in 1973 when the commune collapsed due a withdrawal of funds from their mentor and some serious drug problems. Foster: 'It's ironic, John had this vision of music and this life we were leading being a contemporary cure all.'

'That's partly why we called the group Panacea. We believed Bedford was the original Garden of Eden.' recalls Alexander. 'I guess it was the dream we all had but we just weren't that responsible about it. I think John was a real innovator, he was our centre , when the house went everything else imploded. After that he just totally withdrew.'

John Southcott died in 1992 after years of illness & drug addiction. In 2003 the remaining members of Panacea gave permission for the release of two tracks by Southcott as a contribution to The Bedford Project. The two tracks eloquently illustrate the two conflicting sides to Southcotes personality.

Do Me Rattle an intense drug comedown song is matched by God Is Sexy in sheer demented spiritual euphoria. The present 10' record also contains two remixes by Matt Cook & Andre Stitt of these original Panacea tracks. In July 2003 tribute band The Panacea Society played the Bedford Music Festival in memory of John Southcott & Panacea.

Panacea
John Southcott: vocals & keyboards
Bill 'Fuzz' Foster: guitar, sitar
Harpo Alexander: guitar
The Suit: bass Click Gill: drums

'God Is Sexy' & 'Do Me Rattle' written by John Southcott
Original recordings by Panacea made at The Mansion, Copal, Bedfordshire 1968/1970
Remixes by Matt Cook & André Stitt
Published by TRACE Records