Interview with Goa Gil

A: Well, I left here in September ‘69, and I arrived in Goa – beginning of February 1970. I bought a one-way ticket to Amsterdam. The scene was falling apart here, in ‘69 – after the Summer of ‘69.

Q: You were involved with Chet Helms and the Family Dog, back then….

A: Right. But I’d actually stopped working for them before the Summer of ‘69 started; they’d already lost the Avalon and moved to the Family Dog at the beach. When they moved down there, I stopped working for them and them I started to work for the Sons of Champlin as equipment man. So, Summer of ‘69, I was touring with the Sons of Champlin, who were with the Jefferson Airplane all over the Western United States, playing at all these different gigs, which was cool.

Then, when I got back, the whole scene on Haight Street had changed so much for the worse, and many bad things were going on, and I lost my drivers license for too many tickets, so I couldn’t drive the van any more, so I lost my job with the Sons. Then everything seemed like really not happening so much in San Francisco. I decided to buy a one-way ticket to Amsterdam, and then I went all through Europe, across North Africa, and on to India.

A: Well, actually in Afghanistan, I met some guy, an English guy, and he was on his way back to India. He’d been there the year before and he was going back to Goa. There was a guy called Eight-Finger Eddie, who was kind of the first of the freaks to go in Goa, and he had a house in Colva Beach. So he said he was going back there. It was a small little scene at that time – just a bunch of people…

A: Yeah. But anyway, we went down there to Goa: Afghanistan to Pakistan, Karachi, boat to Bombay, then boat to Goa. We went to Colva to look for Eight-Finger Eddie, and he wasn’t there, the house was closed up, and we met another guy staying at a fisherman-hut on the beach, who my friend knew – Australian guy – and he told us Eddie had moved the month before to Anjuna Beach. We said, "Oh, where’s Anjuna Beach?"

So it all started like that. We arrived with guitar, and we’re playing our songs, campfire on the beach, and that was the scene in the beginning. Actually, it was really nice at that time, too. Then it moved through so many things to what it is today.

GG: Goa is a state the size of one of the islands in Hawaii. Maybe not even as big as the Big Island. The Portuguese had it for 450 years. It was their outpost in India on their trading routes to Japan and Hong Kong. That’s what made Goa different. Portuguese had it for 450 years, finally Goa was liberated, became part of India in 1959, or something. So then after that, nothing was really happening, the people were pretty poor, so they were happy to see us come, and they’ve been used to having foreigners there. And they considered themselves almost part foreigner, as compared to Indians. So it all worked very well in the beginning. I mean, it’s still working well with the certain people.

The thing is that you came to India, and everywhere you went, there was crowds of people coming around, and staring at you, everything you’re doing (in those days, they didn’t see so many foreigners). And in Goa, they were used to foreigners. It was cool to go round to India, but nice to come back to Goa, because you could really do your own thing, and rent a house for cheap, and live very cheaply. We made our own society. They were very tolerant.

GG: It's viewed as a resort, like Hawaii for the Americans. For the Indians, many people go down there and stay in a resort and go to the beach, coconut trees, and also very relaxed. It's known to be susegado, which is a very relaxed state of mind, like "one day at a time." That's how they view it over there.

All this aside, let me get to the other things. Sixty-nine, Nixon was President, Reagan was Governor of California, Altamont, Kent State. The negative side came down. They said "we have to stop this thing."  In the '60s, there was an explosion of consciousness in San Francisco, and other countries around the world too, Europe.

But many people split, and headed for India on a spiritual journey, seeking spirituality, and some sort of enlightenment. All these people met on the way, travelling overland. Some people went to study Indian music. Other ones went to live with the yogis in the Himalayas. All different trips. Some people went to ride horses up in the mountains in Afghanistan, or some people went down to Bali. All these people who met overland became a kind of tribe. The jetset gypsies, or the nomads. It was Goa at Christmas. That was the big thing. Everybody regrouped. All the old friends that you met everywhere, travelling; everybody would meet Goa at Christmas. There, everybody met, we exchanged all our stories, "What have you been doing?" And party together.

At first, we used to arrive and rent a house for a month or two, while we went there at Christmas, New Year. But then, people saw it was such a nice place and people started to even rent the houses by the year. A lot of people started to spend long periods of time there, and even live there. A whole scene. Because the people were tolerant, they were happy to have us there, ‘cause they had nothing going on.

We created a lifestyle that was the best of the East, and the best of the West. It was the best of the East, because we had the simple village life, close to nature. It was still very jungly then. We also assimilated the spiritual traditions of the East and lived this way. Best of the West because we had our art, our ideas and our music. And there, the two things synthesized with international input, because young people, or like-minded people, not necessarily young, from every country in the world, started coming there. In those days, there was no publicity. It was all word-of-mouth. Friends and friends’ friends. Everybody would gather there, and it just started to grow and grow and more people came to know about it, and then it just got bigger and bigger over the years. The first parties were just with acoustic guitars, drums and flutes by a fire. Those were the days when I knew Fantuzzi, too, and we used to play music together. And then some friends started to bring electric guitars, even me, and we’d put them all together, and drum set, and then have jams on the beach every full moon, or Christmas and New Year.

In the Music House, any musicians who’d come could meet each other and then people were forming bands. Each one would have a different day or time to rehearse. All the equipment was set up there in the Music House. One year, we even had 5 bands in the night, with all original songs rehearsed. DJs in between, when the bands were changing and then in the morning, it would be jam session, where anybody could join in. It was pretty cool in that time, also. We had some great stuff.

In ‘77/‘78, we had a party from Christmas Eve til New Year’s day. With tapes running all day long. One of the guys doing equipment for me was camped out at the stage with the equipment, just changing the tapes; changing whole sides of tape. We’d be swimming in the ocean, and dancing on the rocks out there, and then, every night, live music party, also. So it was a pretty good scene.

But by the end of the 70’s, it got a little bit tiring after going through so many types of music; I must confess that at that point, I started to get a little bit bored. And then just before ‘79/‘80, a few nights before New Years, on a Saturday night party, we’d been playing, and then I went inside for a break, while the DJ played. We were resting inside ‘cause we lived in the house, and I had a guard there -- kid who was sleeping in front of my door. Then we went out to play the sunrise set. We came out, we’re playing, suddenly, my girlfriend at the time came and whispered in my ear, "Somebody’s broken into the room, and ransacked everything."

I said, "Keep playing, keep playing." I put the guitar down, I went in the room, and my kid guard was still sleeping in front of the door. They’d somehow broken open the whole door -- took many things. Even some friends who had arrived that day, and their passports and plane tickets were in my drawer ‘cause they wanted me to keep it for them. Many things, they took. That was the end for me, because I was already getting tired of the thing, and there was a lot of leeches -- hangers-on on the scene. It was just time for a change, and so then I sold all the stuff.

I decided, "That’s it." I came out there, I stopped the music. "Thanks a lot, everybody." Because for years I’d been making parties for free; just make collection little bit, one-one rupee, everybody if you can. Just keep the scene going. Then, I got on the mic, and said, "Somebody’s broken in and ripped us off." And then [waves].

GG: We had to take the stuff inside, and "the party’s over." After that, I decided I wanted a change, so there was some Senyasen group who were really interested to get all the stuff, so I sold them the equipment for a really good price, gave them the music house. I didn’t want to stop the scene, I just didn’t want to be running it anymore. They got everything. The whole setup. I just wanted to get the minimum, whatever it was.

Then, in the beginning of the 80's. I didn't go to Goa in Christmas time 'cause I was a little tired of the scene. But I was going in monsoon, and I was going other places in big season time. I was looking for another place. I looked in the Caribbean, I looked here and there, many places. I didn't find it. By Christmas of '83, I decided there's no place like Goa, and went back there again in Christmas. And most of the time. That's the time when I was also in the States a bit, too, and I used to go to Rough Trade Records. I started to get the first Front 242 and Cabaret Voltaire. Also, there was breakdance music out of New York. There was a lot of future-dance-disco out of Germany, ZYX Records, and all this electrobeat music which was the roots of techno and industrial.

I started to get turned on to that. I saw the tribal and psychedelic qualities and the futuristic qualities. It seemed like the aliens were talking to me in this music. It seemed so high, also. So many possible scenarios of the future in this music. I said, "Man, this is it." I got totally into that. By the time we started to go back to Goa -- ‘83/ ‘84 was the beginning -- by that time, these were the parties where we started to even play electronic dance music all night long, and have blacklights and fluorescent paintings; this thing that has evolved til now.

GG: This was the real beginning, when we started to really get turned on to a lot of that stuff. Actually, already a little bit of it in ‘81, ‘80, ‘79, Kraftwerk and stuff was there. But just one song here and one song there. Then in mid-80’s is the time when it really got all-night. In those days, to make a whole night required cutup. There was a lot of records that had really great music, but then it would have some singing, or something that was really horrible -- many records like that. But that had these really radical synthesizers and drum machines. In those days, we used to record just the good parts of the record to a cassette. And then with 2 Walkman Professionals, I used to make another tape with stop and start, and arrange the good parts in different sequences, and make my own mixes with a lot of cutup. I used to do it, and make them flow.

The industrial stuff was more the late-night, but we needed stuff for the beginning and morning. In this way, made a whole collection, and made a whole night of music in the spirit that I still continue to do it today. And the same concept. It’s just been metamorphosizing and evolving over the years, year by year, since that time, and refining itself.

GG: That is the roots. What’s the roots is that we would go and collect all, any kind of music that sounded far out in that kind of vein, ‘cause we had the ear of, and the concept of what we were trying to make. And then we’d cut them and arrange the things so we could make a whole night of really far out music, and make a story from beginning to end -- how the samples come, and this and that -- because we were always aware of it.

First, to bring the people into it with something they might like; something similar to what hey would relate to already, and bring them in there. Slowly, slowly make it more intense, more intense through the night, but keep it kicking. Keep them there dancing. And then the end of the night with the samples so strong and intense that it would become almost apocalyptic, but still really pumping dance music. When the first light of dawn come, then the more ones with the spiritual feeling, and then long in the morning, also.

This concept is already there since the beginning. Making a story with the music, and telling the story of humanity. I always said Goa party was not just a disco under the coconut trees, it’s an initiation. So we would create a story that touched on all things of the whole story of man at this point. The Crossroads of Humanity. With some of the samples, and the music would be so science fiction, and so outer space, really it would come. It would come.

This is when the whole idea of redefining the ancient tribal rituals for the 21st Century came with this whole thing. This whole idea, it’s all one thing. And also because you dance through this whole thing and your just keep with the beat - keep with the beat and even when it would get intense but still pumping and apocalyptic samples to prepare your for whatever may come. An attitude for survival.

GG: [Laughs.] By Yes? I’m not sure.

GG: So that’s kind of what that’s all about, and it’s because we live in India, and we love India. And I still love India. It’s because it’s got one of the oldest spiritual tradition in the world that was unbroken because the Rajas from century and century used to support it, you know? I was lucky to go to India and meet many great Babas and Yogis, and they changed my life. So that has a lot to do with the whole concept, as well.

It’s because we were in India, and we were that kind of people, and it came forth in that kind of way. When I say it’s not just a disco under the coconut trees, it’s an initiation, or it’s not just a party, that’s because when you dance, you become one with everything. Especially to beats you like, and it’s especially new ones you really like, so then you really come into it, and you’re dancing full power. Then you stop thinking. You’re one with your body and one with the experience of what’s happening at that time, right? Now, if you get a guide who can keep you there one after another, taking it up and up, and you come into that, then after awhile you go into a trance. He can take you beyond thought, beyond mind, beyond own-individuality, into this experience of freedom and this oneness in this kind of space. That’s the object of the thing. It’s nothing new, as I said.

GG: This is for years, this is not just this year. This is for years. [Laughs.]

GG: Yeah, yeah, I mean, now people know what I do. And those people who want to experience it, they bring me all over the world to do it when I give time for that. I have offers to go even in the winters, so many places. But I’m not willing to change my lifestyle, and it’s not worth the money. I need to be in India certain amount of time, because India is the Motherland for me, and I gain a lot. Just to be there, and all that connection. I always go to see my teachers, and this year is Kumba Mela, where I will meet many of the Babas. All the Babas will come there, so I’ll meet them all -- the ones who are still alive that I know for so many years. This is a big part of my life. This is what helps to shape me.

Not only that, but what happened in the ‘60s in Haight-Ashbury, too. It’s been one evolution. Just the right thing happening at the right time to bring me to this place where I could do this, which is really great. But it’s only by the grace of God that all these things could happen. For me, it’s like a ritual. The party is the ritual. It’s the ancient old-time religion. And the people dance and it’s nothing new. Every tribal group did it since beginning of time. In Africa on full moon, they would come out. Drummers would play their drum. The whole village would dance, and the spirit would come among them, and everyone would be rejuvenated by that and healed by that. And the earth, also. This is the real old-time religion. And so that’s the spirit that we make these parties.

So when I’m there playing it and I make my little altar there, and I’m trying to bring the vibe up in the right way, at one point it clicks. I start to breathe in a certain way and I’m one with the whole thing, just like the dancers are all on with the whole thing. Somehow, some kind of cosmic linkup starts to happen and the feeling comes and the spirit comes. That music is also my offering to that spirit. The whole party is an offering to the great spirit. That’s the beauty of it. It’s so simple. Well, it’s not so simple and so easy, because things can throw it off. If it’s not organized in just the right way, it’s not in the right place. If anything goes wrong. There’s a million things. Maybe the moon’s on the wrong side or there’s bad aspects. It’s an intangible thing, it’s not something you can touch and hold. It’s a kind of magic. Anything can come in and affect that.

But when everything’s set up in the right way, and the sound is good, and the place is good, then you can take it to the highest level. But everything has to be done with the right intention and the right purpose. Even from the organization side, too.

I wanted to tell you what is a good party, also. When there’s no problem, and everything’s set up right, and the music just flows, then it can come to the point where you go into the trance, and everybody’s going in a trance. And it builds and builds. When it’s just perfect, and it’s a perfect song for the moment, perfection opens up in that moment, and it keeps sustaining itself. Then it becomes so perfect in the moment, with the trance, Magic starts to happen. Everybody all at once will start to get tingling up their spinal column, and outside of their skin, like you hair’s standing on end. Every- body will be getting it all at once. It will be so perfect in the moment that that feeling just sustains. It’s kind of like a cosmic orgasm.

GG: Is that what you call it?

GG: But in ecstasy. In the ecstasy of having this tingling – you know that feeling. So everybody’s having that all at once, and that feeling sustains itself. It can build and build and build til it comes to a point where it goes ssssssssshhhh through everybody all at once, like a bolt of lightning. That’s when the seed is being planted in everybody’s consciousness at the same time, the spirit has come and given that grace, and they’ve gotten something. And hopefully, they’ll go home, and they’ll live in truth, and improve their life. That will affect their mentality. They’ll start to be more spiritually oriented, and hopefully that seed will flower and bloom. Light a light of love in their heart and mind. Make them more sensitive and aware of themselves, their surroundings, the crossroads of humanity, and the needs of the planet. "With that awareness comes understanding and compassion. That is the need of the hour, and the true Goa spirit." That’s one of my quotes. [Laughs.]

GG: I had it on my CD, no? Spiritual Trance, Vol. II.

So that’s what it’s all about. The Psychedelic Revolution never really stopped. It just had to go half way round the world to the end of a dirt road on a deserted beach, and there it was allowed to evolve and mutate, without government or media pressures. This is what it’s come to now. The equation has met there, of this kind of vibe, it evolved into that, with the absorbing of the spiritual traditions, and the international influence. It came out in that way, and a new vibe was made from what went before it in the 60’s Cyber-tribal vibe, and global. Now it’s gone back around the world everywhere. Changing consciousness of people everywhere. It’s our little bit to help make people more aware that if we can dance together, then we can work together, and we can live together and make the world a better place.

But you gotta live the life, and you gotta be a brother. You gotta do what you say, be right on. There’s a certain honor code, but that was already there in the ‘60s. I got all that already in the ‘60s.

GG: It’s been one evolution. It’s never stopped. It’s up to us. We can make it whatever we want. We should always try to take it to the highest level in whatever we do. That’s really important. Keep it on a high level, and not degenerate into too much unawareness.

GG: Not let it degenerate to where we’re not living in truth anymore. Truth is very important. We have to live in truth and keep it on a high level.