We of Chameleon Vortex are quite proud of the work and support we gave to the forest blockade movement in Victoria in the early 2000's. I suppose we were part of a long and great tradition of maverick outsiders and underdogs who have always sung on behalf of non conformist dissidents, critical of the status quo not just in lyric but possibly more importantly in deed or action.Aside from all the moral dignity of our choices we had a great amount of Fun and adventure winding our way through the Australian outback and old growth forests in particular playing the "Pied Piper". Many of our songs at this time articulate a dialectical tension between existential process and social engagement.We were and still are interested in strategies of individual liberation through play and creativity as well as social liberation through co-operative social movements.Our Solar Power technician "Solar Tom" provided a Solar powered stage for our performances at these forest occupations.
This next photo was taken many years ago. In those wonderful golden days somewhere in the mid 1990's I had an old Commer Van from the 1950"s. I drove this Van every where, especially to St Andrews Market where along the way I would pick up hitch hickers. One of them turned out to be Karl Griffith who consequentially became the lead guitarist in Chameleon Vortex. The Other Hitch Hicker was Orryelle Defenestrade Bascule who I also collaborated with on various musical and theatrical projects including Harlequinetet and Metamorphic Ritual Theatre.I also used this van to transport me to various gigs around town regarding very early Tardis gigs,DJing as Easy Flux at Teriaki,Psycorroberie and various other psychedelic escapades.
This next photo was taken outside Hermes" Cave at the top of Mount killini not that far from Argos Greece, around 2003. I hadn"t been to Greece since a young boy and i wanted to re-connect with the mother country, the Land the People and ofcourse the spirit of my Acient Heritage. There were many reasons for going to visit this sacred site where Hermes was born. As messenger of the gods he symbolizes devine communication. Early on my visit to Greece when in Athens i had found a book on the geography of all the sacred sites in Greece and how to get to them. I had also met Argiris Koulouris lead guitarist of ther legendary psychedelic Band Aphrodites Child in an Athens musical instrument shop. Theres a whole other story about our meeting which I'll write about later. Any way Argiris had encouraged me to go to Smyrna in Turkey to get a Laouto . Any way i went to this sacred site to give thanks to Hermes for my new Laouto with a trance performance in thanks.
