Bent Wind - Sussex (1969 Toronto, Canada) | Heavy Psych | Vinyl Stream

For today's psychedelic trip this morning I'm spinning Sussex by Bent Wind on Guerssen GUESS230, 2023 reissue of a 1969 Canadian heavy psych holy grail that was pressed in no more than 200 to 500 copies originally. Bent Wind formed in Toronto in 1969. Marty Roth on vocals, Gerry Gibas on guitar and vocals, Peter Sunn on bass, Eddie Thomas on drums. Marty and Gerry had been playing together as The Roads To Ruin, singing Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel tunes because they had a natural harmony. Marty was running a boutique and headshop at the corner of Sussex and Robert with a friend. The band rehearsed in the basement at 57 Sussex Avenue - a house owned by drummer Eddie Thomas's mother where local hippies and freaks hung out and listened to them play for hours. Neighbors complained constantly about the heavy metal sounds. The band called their hangout crew the Leroyville Lions after a plaster red ape named Leroy. Producer Merv Buchanan discovered them at a 12-hour Pop Festival in York on July 26, 1969 - approached them in the parking lot while they were packing gear and signed them to his Trend label. The album was recorded hastily at Sound Canada with engineer John Irvine, often live in one take. Gerry Gibas designed the cover and chose the band name. The LPs were pressed and the band immediately folded. Marty took them to Sam the Record Man downtown and watched the store relegate them to the dollar bargain bins at the back. Fifty-five years later originals go for over five thousand dollars. The Guerssen reissue preserves the recorded-in-a-barn ambience and the brutal minor-chord dread of tracks like "Riverside" and "Hate." A Canadian private press holy grail. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinyl_piper/ Full vinyl rips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj0yF7-9YQ9pEOi1yCUyAZikNmWVdz8Hn Shop: https://vinylpipershop.com/ #BentWind #CanadianPsych #VinylStream #VinylPiper #HeavyPsych