Gary Lachman, born December 24, 1955 in
BayonneBayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
,
New JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writerA writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and
musicianA musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. Lachman is best known to readers of mysticism and the occult, in the numerous articles and books he has published. He is additionally known by his
stage nameA stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
as
Gary Valentine Lachman to musical fans as one of the founders, and
bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist for the
Alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
/
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band,
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
.
Musical career
Gary Valentine was one of the founding members of
BlondieBlondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, having joined the band as bassist in April 1975 when
Fred SmithFred Smith is an American bass guitarist, best known for his work with Television. He was the original bassist with Blondie until he replaced Richard Hell when Hell left Television in 1975 to form The Heartbreakers. At the time, Television played at CBGB along with Blondie...
left to join
TelevisionTelevision was an American rock band, formed in New York City in 1973. They are best known for the album Marquee Moon and widely regarded as one of the founders of "punk" and New Wave music. Television was part of the early 1970s New York underground rock scene, along with bands like the Patti...
(following
Richard HellRichard Hell is a singer, songwriter, bass guitarist, and writer.Richard Hell was an innovator of punk music and fashion. He was one of the first to spike his hair and wear torn, cut and drawn-on shirts, often held together with safety pins...
's departure). He wrote the music and lyrics to the band's first single, "
X-Offender"X Offender" is a song by American New Wave band Blondie. Written by Gary Valentine and Debbie Harry for the band's self-titled debut album, Blondie, the song was released as the album's lead single on Private Stock in June 1976.-Song information:...
", and popularized the band's sixties-retro look. In 1977 he left the group to form his own band and was replaced by
Nigel HarrisonNigel Harrison is an English musician, and best known as the bass player of the rock band Blondie....
, just as Blondie were starting to gain recognition. His song "
(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" Presence, Dear" is a song from the 1977 album Plastic Letters by Blondie, and was the second single off that album, following up the international breakthrough single "Denis", reaching number 10 in the UK in May 1978...
" was a UK top ten hit in 1978, and was subsequently recorded by
Tracey UllmanTracey Ullman is a British stage and television actress, comedienne, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author ....
and
Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
. After Blondie, Gary moved to L.A. and in 1978 released a single, "The First One/Tomorrow Belongs to You" on
Beat RecordsBeat Records was an independent record label started by California night club promoter Stephen Zepeda . Beat Records had record releases by Gary Valentine Lachman , The Furys, and The Plimsouls . It spanned the 1978 to 1980 time period of Los Angeles rock...
. Shortly after this he formed The Know, with Joel Turrisi and Richard d'Andrea who were the first band to play the infamous
Madame Wong'sEsther Wong was born August 13, 1917 in Shanghai, China, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1949.After fierce initial resistance, she became a punk rock and New Wave music promoter. She got started in the early 1970s as the owner of “Madame Wong’s," a Los Angeles Chinatown restaurant with a floorshow --...
Chinese restaurant-turned-new wave venue. (Valentine's claim to this distinction has been verified by several eye-witnesses.) After a year and a half Joel left the band and was replaced by drummer John McGarvey. In 1980 The Know released a single "I Like Girls/Dreams" on Planet Records and were the only bi-coastal US "power pop" band, developing large followings in New York and Los Angeles. Failing to secure an album deal, he disbanded The Know and in 1981 played guitar with
Iggy PopIggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
. In 1996, after moving to London, he was asked to participate in the Blondie re-union, and in November of that year he recorded one of his songs, "Amor Fati," with Blondie, for their 'comeback' album. In 1997 he performed with Blondie at several major festival concerts in the US. Back in London Gary worked with former
X-Ray SpexX-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
saxophonist
Lora LogicLora Logic is a British saxophonist and singer. She was briefly a member of the band X Ray Spex, although she had been sacked from that group by the time they recorded their first album, which nevertheless used her saxophone arrangements. A year later she formed Essential Logic...
. In 1998 he formed Fire Escape with violinist Ruth Jones and performed songs he had written for the Blondie reunion album (they had not been used due to the band ultimately excluding him from the recording process and the reunion tour). They released an EP to little fanfare and went on a permanent hiatus after two years. A compilation of Gary's work in music entitled
Tomorrow Belongs to You, was released in 2003 on the UK label Overground Records.
In 2006 he was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of FameThe Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, because of his time with Blondie, although Harry prohibited ex-members from performing with the current line-up at the ceremony.
Literary career
Lachman moved to London in 1996 and became a full time writer, contributing to
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
,
MojoMOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
,
Times Literary Supplement and other journals. His first book,
Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius, a revisionist history of the 1960s counter culture, appeared in 2001. It was followed in 2002 by
New York Rocker: My Life in The Blank Generation, an account of his years on the New York (
CBGBCBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
) and Los Angeles music scene in the 1970s. In 2003 he produced
A Secret History of Consciousness, a study of non-reductive, non-materialist accounts of consciousness, with detailed discussions of
Owen BarfieldOwen Barfield was a British philosopher, author, poet, and critic.Barfield was born in London. He was educated at Highgate School and Wadham College, Oxford and in 1920 received a 1st class degree in English language and literature. After finishing his B. Litt., which became the book Poetic...
,
Julian JaynesJulian Jaynes was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind , in which he argued that ancient peoples were not conscious....
,
Jean GebserJean Gebser was a philosopher who described the structures of human consciousness, a linguist, and a poet.-Biography:...
, Juri Moskvitin,
hypnagogiaHypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep , originally coined in adjectival form as "hypnagogic" by Alfred Maury....
, and related themes.
The Dedalus Book of the Occult: A Dark Muse (2004) charted the influence of the
occultThe word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
on western literature since the Enlightenment. The following years saw several more books, on the related themes of
consciousnessConsciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
, the
counter cultureCounter Culture is a 2005 compilation double album by English folk/rock singer-songwriter Roy Harper featuring 25 classic Roy Harper songs, cherry picked according to his mood in April 2005. This collection spans 35 years of song writing and is intended as an introduction for anyone who's not sure...
, and the influence of the occult and esoteric thought on mainstream western culture, including biographies of the Russian philosopher P.D. Ouspensky (2004), the Austrian 'spiritual scientist'
Rudolf SteinerRudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
(2007), the Swedish religious thinker
Emanuel Swedenborgwas a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He has been termed a Christian mystic by some sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica online version, and the Encyclopedia of Religion , which starts its article with the description that he was a "Swedish scientist and mystic." Others...
(2006), and the Swiss psychologist
Carl JungCarl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
(2010). Recent works include a study of writers and suicide, The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters(2008), with essays on
Walter BenjaminWalter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
,
Yukio Mishimawas the pen name of , a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor and film director, also remembered for his ritual suicide by seppuku after a failed coup d'état...
,
Hermann HesseHermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
, and others, and a history of occultism and politics, Politics and the Occult: The Right, the Left, and the Radically Unseen (2008), which addresses the theme of
fascismFascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and the occult through the work of
Julius EvolaBarone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
, Rene Schwaller de Lubicz,
Mircea EliadeMircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
, and others. He is a regular contributor to the
Independent on Sunday,
Fortean TimesFortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
, and other journals in the US and UK, lectures frequently and occasionally broadcasts on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. His work has been compared to
Colin WilsonColin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
, and has been translated into German, Finnish, Czech, Russian, French, and Norwegian, with Italian and Portuguese editions in preparation.
Books
- Two Essays on Colin Wilson
Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
: World Rejection and Criminal Romantics AND From Outsider to Post-Tragic Man (Colin Wilson Studies) (1994, paperback ISBN 0-946650-52-7, hardcover ISBN 0-946650-53-5)
- Colin Wilson as Philosopher (Colin Wilson Studies) (with John Shand, 1996, ISBN 0-946650-59-4)
- New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation, with Blondie, Iggy Pop and Others, 1974-1981 (2002, ISBN 0-283-06367-X)
- Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and The Dark Side Of The Age of Aquarius (2002, ISBN 0-283-06366-1, 2003, ISBN 0-9713942-3-7)
- A Secret History of Consciousness (2003, ISBN 1-58420-011-1)
- The Dedalus Occult Reader: The Garden of Hermetic Dreams (editor of anthology, 2004, ISBN 1-903517-32-X)
- In Search of P. D. Ouspensky
Peter D. Ouspensky , , a Russian esotericist known for his expositions of the early work of the Greek-Armenian teacher of esoteric doctrine George Gurdjieff, whom he met in Moscow in 1915.He was associated with the ideas and practices originating with...
: The Genius in the Shadow of GurdjieffGeorge Ivanovich Gurdjieff according to Gurdjieff's principles and instructions, or the "Fourth Way."At one point he described his teaching as "esoteric Christianity."...
(hardcover, 2004, ISBN 0-8356-0840-9, paperback, 2006, ISBN 0-8356-0848-4) Chapter VI, Online
- A Dark Muse: A History of the Occult (2005, ISBN 1-56025-656-7)
- Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg
was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He has been termed a Christian mystic by some sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica online version, and the Encyclopedia of Religion , which starts its article with the description that he was a "Swedish scientist and mystic." Others...
(2006, ISBN 0-85448-149-4)
- Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
: An Introduction to His Life and Work (2007, ISBN 1-58542-543-5)
- The Dedalus Book of Literary Suicides: Dead Letters(2008, ISBN 978-1-903517-66-6)
- Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseenhttp://www.questbooks.net/title.cfm?bookid=1996(2008, ISBN 978-0-8356-0857-2)
- The Dedalus Book of the 1960s: Turn Off Your Mind (updated, enlarged edition 2009, ISBN 978-1-903517-70-3)
- Jung The Mystic: The Esoteric Dimensions of Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
's Life and Teachings (2010 ISBN 1-58542-792-6)
- The Quest For Hermes Trismegistus From Ancient Egypt to the Modern World (2011 ISBN 978-0863-157981)
Articles
- "The Last of the Magi" (1999) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#120, about Eliphas LeviEliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant , was a French occult author and purported magician."Eliphas Lévi," the name under which he published his books, was his attempt to translate or transliterate his given names "Alphonse Louis" into Hebrew although he was not Jewish.His second wife was...
- "Sympathy for the Devil" (2000) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#134, about the Process ChurchThe Process, or in full, The Process Church of the Final Judgment, commonly known by non-members as the Process Church, was a religious group that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s, founded by the English couple Mary Anne and Robert DeGrimston...
- "The Mystical Count" (2000) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#140, about Count Jan PotockiCount Jan Nepomucen Potocki was a Polish nobleman, Polish Army Captain of Engineers, ethnologist, Egyptologist, linguist, traveler, adventurer and popular author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a legendary figure in his homeland...
- "The Damned" (2001) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#150, about James WebbJames Charles Napier Webb was a Scottish historian and biographer. He was born in Edinburgh, was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He is remembered primarily for two works The Occult Underground and The Occult Establishment. Occult Underground was originally titled Flight from...
- "Turn Off Your Mind: Gary Lachman Traces the Influence of the Occult in the Arts" The Independent on Sunday
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(2001)
- "Waking Sleep" (2002) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#163, about hypnagogiaHypnagogia is the transitional state between wakefulness and sleep , originally coined in adjectival form as "hypnagogic" by Alfred Maury....
- "The magical world of Fernando Pessoa" (2004) nth Position, about Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
- "Absinthe & alchemy" (2004) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#180, about August StrindbergJohan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
- "Working it out" (2004) nth Position, about Gurdjieff and Ouspensky
- "Inside the Outsider" (2004) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#188. an interview with Colin WilsonColin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
- "Dweller on the Threshold" (2006) Fortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
#205, about Rudolf SteinerRudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
External links
Reviews
- The Dedalus Book of the Occult, reviewed by Suzi Feay in The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, January 11, 2004
- The Garden of Hermetic Dreams, reviewed by Nicholas Lezard
Nicholas Lezard is an English journalist and literary critic.Lezard has a weekly column, 'Nicholas Lezard's choice', reviewing paperback books for the Guardian. He also writes for the Independent, and writes the 'Down and Out in London' column for the New Statesman.-External links:* at journalisted...
in The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, January 1, 2005
- In Search of P D Ouspensky, reviewed by Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
in The IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, November 7, 2004
- Into the Interior: Discovering Swedenborg, reviewed by Tom Boncza-Tomaszewski in The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, November 12, 2006