OXFORD MAIL
Anthony Wood
March 1970
BRIGHT LIGHTS, SOUR MUSIC..
The young music makers had tried on several names for size, and none of them comfortably fitted the group.
"We had various monstrosities that I'd be too embarrassed to tell you about." Says their road manager, Nic Twilley.
Then listening to a record by Jackie Lomax, a phrase from their lyrics stuck in their mind. "We just happened to like it," says Nic.
"So we borrowed it."
Which is how Sour Milk Sea comes to be washing through Highfield Parish Hall in Headington, tonight, on behalf of Shelter, the campaign for the homeless.
Local Lad
Chris Dummett, the 17-year old lead guitarist, should be able to find the place without too much trouble. He's a local, the son of Michael Dummett, philosophy don at All Souls, and Ann Dummett,
who used to be liaison officer with the Oxford Committee for Racial Integration.
Now he lives at Leatherhead, meeting the group six days a week to practice sessions. They all take their music very seriously. "Otherwise," says Chris, "I wouldn't be doing it for a living."
They've been professional since last June, though they knew one another for about a year before that. The only
changes in their ranks have been a new drummer, and a new vocalist, who arrived a couple of weeks ago.
What's new
"This will probably change our whole approach," says Chris. "We are concerned about improving our music.
I don't feel we are like any other group. Our approach is based on our relationships with one another."
But what makes them different? Nic Twilley says: "They are undoubtedly better musicians than the vast majority
of groups at present. They are musically extremely interesting, and still developing."
Sour Milk Sea wanted this piece to be different, too, so I agreed to let them have their say after I'd had mine!
This is waht they wrote:
So good
"You never had it so good. The yoghurt pushers are here. There's a place I have been and a face I have seen today.
I have said all my prayers, never answered, never cared at all. But there's a sudden change in me, I'm another person inside of me.
Tomorrow I'm going to see the last of the blue skies above me. Lover calling, I hear your voice, solar system that surround you
all your life, they remind me that you're really from another source of light. Lover, take me to your leader, I give you body and soul.
Paul Milne (bass); Chris Dummett (lead); Bob Tyrell (drums); Freddie Bulsara (vocals); Rubber Gallon (second guitar); Nic Twilley (roadie);
and friends of SOUR MILK SEA at Highfield Parish Hall New High Street, Headington, for Shelter, Friday, March 20, at eight. Come to understand. I grow my life
in the palm of your hand."
The last time they played in Oxford - which was also the first - was at the Randolph Hotel.
The atmosphere in the Parish Hall may be rather different. There will be a discotheque, a light show, and the Harlow GoGos from the secondary school at Old
Marston. Bette Jones, Shelter's Oxford secretary, says: "We're going to serve lots of milk and yoghurt!" Let's hope it's not sour!
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