Page 19 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2021 Issue

JP: Nektar is one of the few bands to allow a non-musician as a band member. Tell us what Mick
does.

Mo: Mick “plays” along with us, playing the lights and film in time with the music to tell the story of the
music.

Mick: I had a liquid light show which followed the music with slides when I joined the band (in 1969). I also
brought album concepts, themes, ideas, and lyrics which could be visualized to create the sensational light
and sound theater which we presented in the early seventies.

JP: Nektar is known as a prog rock band, but when you started out, that genre hadn’t been
developed yet. What were some of the band’s earliest influences, and how did your music morph
into what is known today as progressive rock?

Mo: The band’s early influences were The Beatles, Vanilla Fudge, Moody Blues, and others. We have
never felt tied to putting out music that was 3 minutes for a single. We have always let the music speak for
itself and close out when it was done. “Journey to the Center of the Eye,” the band’s first piece, was over
40 minutes long.

Mick: It was art rock, melodic rock, and blues with influences from The Beatles, Stones, Moody Blues,
Floyd, and Chuck Berry, to name but a few. Nektar developed a distinctive sound which has been identified
by most as “Nektar” despite each album being a slightly different genre.