Written by Rival Sons vocalist Jay Buchanan believes the Mahavishnu Orchestra aren’t everyday listening – but he and bandmate Scott Holiday still find inspiration in John McLaughlin’s confidence and ambition.
“When I was 18 or 19, I was all hopped up on Eastern mysticism, philosophy and beat poetry. I sold everything and backpacked through Alaska, living like a vagabond and eating in soup kitchens and churches.
Then I moved to Huntington Beach, Orange County. I was 21 and I’d crossed the teenage threshold of, ‘Who am I? Where do I fit in?’ and I was more interested in expanding my reality, with psychedelics.
Many of my friends were experimenting, but only to dumb the experience down – to check out, get stoned, escape. I wanted to sift through the trash of my consciousness and see what was beyond.
I was interfacing with people who weren’t like me and getting into a lot of different music. Hungry for knowledge, I heard Mahavishnu Orchestra. John McLaughlin had played with Miles Davis and Tony Williams; some heavy people!
Now he was with four or five other people, nerds and jazzers. They were calling themselves an orchestra, and took the name Mahavishnu, a god with great power. That’s confidence.
I think it’s pretty clear that Mahavishnu Orchestra became a building block for prog. What they were doing was very ambitious, post-jazz, no pop formula – everything going in all directions, compared to the more pedestrian acts.
Records like The Inner Mounting Flame have different movements that feel like being on mescalin, acid or psilocybin – or, for some people, being completely sober. Mark II, a completely different band, appeared in 1974 with Apocalypse, working with George Martin and the London Symphony Orchestra.
Mahavishnu records are not for everyday listening, but now and again Scott Holiday and I will dig out a track out depending on our mood – John definitely influenced Scott’s guitar playing.
On the Rival Sons record Darkfighter there’s a magnum opus, Darkside, that’s like our Meeting Of The Spirits. It takes me back to being a young man wanting to expand my consciousness. I think the Mahavishnus were young men trying to do the same thing in their own way.”
