[ann ashtray]

There will always be those bands that try and add some sense of "mystique" as a means of selling records, or perhaps sometimes to express some abstract idea or whatever. I think most of the time the fans create this sense of mystery themselves (as in the case, no doubt, of Led Zeppelin). Not all that much mysterious about a group of young guys interested in the occult that also happen to enjoy making music. In the same sense, not all that much "weird" about a group of young people (or older people too for that matter) that enjoy ingesting drugs before or during the creative process. It's all in good fun, usually. Some people take themselves a little too seriously, of course.

Of course I agree that very few bands these days have little to offer in the way of being "mysterious", but then again very few bands these days are offering new ideas, period. I think the older I get the less I care about the personal lives of bands, or the weird stuff that may go on behind the scenes. Very little shocks me anymore, unfortunately. What I do sometimes find "eerie" is history. Old crackily recordings made by old men (and women) long since dead. Field hollers and such....but just because it brings to mind a time and place to where this world was just very different.

Nothing at all unusual about a group of rednecks taking acid (living in the south of course I know this much). About as unusual as a non redneck that knows how to work on cars (happens a lot, too). I never really thought of the Surfers as rednecks? Maybe that's a reference to another band. Gibby's dad was Mr. Peppermint for cryin' out loud.