The Purple Gang

Originally assembled at Stockport Art College in England during the mid-1960s, the Purple Gang aligned far more closely with the jug band revival of that decade than with psychedelic currents, yet their social connections occasionally led observers to place them in the latter category. A contract with the folk specialist Transatlantic brought them to the attention of producer Joe Boyd. Though American, Boyd already wielded considerable influence in London through his early sessions with Pink Floyd, his position as Elektra Records’ local representative, and his partnership in running the UFO, the city’s landmark underground rock and psychedelic club.

Boyd oversaw the band’s 1967 single “Granny Takes a Trip,” whose title contained a single suggestive word yet described nothing more than a lighthearted jug band number lightly touched by pop and rock. The BBC nevertheless assumed otherwise and barred the track from its playlists. The resulting setback prompted the Purple Gang to disband after issuing only two singles and the album Strikes that collected them. Entirely made up of original songs, the LP otherwise stayed within the bounds of standard, somewhat restrained good-time jug band music, even by the modest benchmarks of 1960s revivalism; the group’s sole psychedelic attribute remained its immediate environment. That milieu, however, won them their widest following among underground rock listeners, including regulars at the UFO who frequently spun the single.

A late-1960s attempt to regroup in a more electric format yielded no further recording agreement. In the late 1990s founder Joe Beard reconstituted the band with three new members, resulting in a CD and a series of live performances.