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The
Temple
Wardour Street - London
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Why
has no one mentioned the seedy confines of Wardour Street's
"The Temple"??
It ran at 33-37 Wardour Street, London W1 for about two years
between 1969 and 1971 at the same time as The
Midnight Court and if we didnt like that week's lineup
at The Court
we would go to The Temple.
Groups I saw were Mott The Hoople,
Black (who had everything black!
including their amps, guitars, clothes and hair!!!!), Pax,
Ginger, who had a great little
goblin singer! and always dressed like Robin Hood's band of
Merry Men..., Radhna Krishna Temple,
The Kult who
I was very friendly with (I was then playing with Basildon's
"Mind Protection" who
infact were Basildon's only psychedelic band....(Southend
had "Victorias Plum"!)
May Blitz, Bram Stoker, Gnidolog, Blonde
on Blonde, Forest, My Cake, Knocker Jungle, Clark Hutchinson,
Raw Material, Warlock, Black Cat Bones, Urban Clearway, Noir,
Steamhammer, Sam Gopal, The Groepe, Pete Brown and Piblokto,
Trader Horne, High Tide, Wildmouth, Gentle Giant, Kiss, Tear
Gas, Caravan, Mirrors, Orang Utang, Boris, Paint Box, Yellow,
Satisfaction, Charge,
Green Sun, Fusion Orchestra, Squid, Stoned Rose, Jerusalem
Smith, The Web, Trapeze, Galliard, Zaowada, The Amazing Blondel,
Cressida, Arc, Swegas plus many more...
Jerry Floyd and Simon Stable were the main DJ's playing amazing
music...lots of great imports from nearby Musicland which
none of us could afford!
Aa full light show was also featured such as Wot Lights, Mystic
Lights by ron henderson,
The Dharma Light Show, Cathode Elysium, Pale
Green Limousine Light Show and more...
I don't know for sure how long The Temple lasted but we enjoyed
going down to the basement where it was held but didnt enjoy
people shooting up in the toilets!!!!
Submitted by Dave - February 2003, updated
March 2003
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I remember The Temple,
well, the May Blitz gig especially, also the shooting up in
the toilets, it was a dive more than a psychedelic dungeon and
euphemistically known as "The Speed Palace".
You went to score and then split.
Submitted by Rusty Cat Sneazin - April
2003
Most vivid memory is driving up there
in my 1959 Hillman Minx. It was late '69 and I had yet to sample
the delights of drugs. Have no idea who was on but on Sunday
morning when I returned to my car, it wasn't there.
It had been stolen! A quick visit to the local police station
and "Yippee!" my car had been found. It had been crashed
into the BBC building, Portland Place.
When I arrived there was a couple of Her Majesty's finest there.
The problem that this caused me was that although I was still
straight, there was a little pot of pot in the glove box. What
to do? I decided to retrieve it. So there I was walking along
with my long hair and great coat, casually chatting to a police
sergeant with a load of cannabis in my pocket.
Must have been mad!
We put it in our coffee later that week in the office (I worked
for a firm of accountants) and I was no longer a drug-virgin.
Submitted by Old Git - June 2003 |
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I only went to the Temple once, but
it was certainly a night never to be
forgotten. It would have been 1970, either January or April
- the former I
think. As a veteran of Middle
Earth at the Roundhouse,
The Temple did strike
me as, yes, seedy and speedy, with the most sustained vigorous
dancing I
have ever seen.
Me, I was on the hippy stuff (both of them),
but
nevertheless recall enough of the evening to remember some
of the line-up
(no doubt there were others): Wildmouth, Pete
Brown and Piblokto , and High
Tide. Being a devotee of High Tides' brainstorming "Death
Warmed Up", they
were the reason I went to the gig - and obliterating they were.
Eat your
internal organs out, Black Sabbath - High
Tide defined early
British Heavy
Metal in my view.
The DJaying by Jerry
Floyd was superb - it
was the first time I heard
Midnight Rambler by the Stones, which really got the speeders
speeding - but
actually, I was most blown away by Wildmouth, Britain's completely
adequate
answer to Jefferson Airplane. That such a superb band should
go unrecorded
and vanish almost without trace is utterly tragic - or does
anyone out there
have audio footage of them? Steve's guitar was the closest
to West Coast of
anyone in Britain, and the female vocalist - name never even
known - was
every bit a match for many who are famous.
A strange place, the Temple - how it survived
the puritanical policing of
the day is a total mystery, the details of which one probably
does not want
to know. But I'm glad I went there - once.
Martin Williams - November 2003
Ah yes....
Fifteen or sixteen years old, up to London from school for half term. Parents thought we were staying with mates. Nowhere to sleep and lots to do.
The Lyceum was often a starter and the Temple was for afters following a few illegal halves in the Old Coffee House nearby. And maybe a swift can or two from the off-licence on Shaftsbury Avenue.
Wandering through the detritus of veg from Covent Garden Market along Long Acre. Down the stairs into the Temple. Dim lights and patchouli oil. Loved the smells and lights and the feeling of adventure. Oil light shows were 'far out' as were the odd soft porn slides they'd flash up occasionally.
Definitely recall seeing Thin Lizzy, Barclay James Harvest and Screaming Lord Sutch. On being chucked out at 5 or so in the morning had to wander around until cafes (Jo Lyons on Strand or GB cafe on Northumberland Av) opened. Recall sitting in Parliament sq when accosted by beat bobbies. Asked why we were there and why we had boots on...not to kick folk we told them. Got earful but directed along to tea caravan for hot drinks and luncheon meat sarnies with solid marge...all in all tasted like candle wax. Yuk.
Sadly The Temple disappeared only to be rediscovered tonight. I was prompted after looking through old ticket stubs...wasn't life great value...King Crimson 75p, Rory Gallagher 80p, Pink Floyd £1 (or, plus 25p on the door), Johnny Winter 14/- ,Free 50p, Wheeley Festival £2, Quintessence 50p.
Enough nostalgia time to be almost 50 again....
Submitted by Mark - February 2004
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Do
you have any recollections of this club?
We want to hear from you if you do!!
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