Pierre Moerlen

Pierre Moerlen was a French drummer, who led his own incarnation of Gong, and Allan appeared on three records with them.

Creating Imaginary Backdrops (Innerviews 1993)

Gong.

Gong was good too. It was good fun. I didn't speak French and they were always arguing in French, so I never knew what the hell they were arguing about! But, I think the band had a lot of potential, it was just never reached. I recently listened to Gazeuse! recently, because it was re-released on CD. I thought I was terrible on it, but the band sounded good. It still sounded pretty fresh—especially the drums. Pierre [Moerlen] sounded great—it sounded like it could have been done yesterday. That says a lot about his drumming.

No Secrets (Facelift 1994)

Expresso II (on which Allan adds finely crafted solos to three of the six tracks) and his brief appearance on ‘Time is The Key' came later, but this version of Gong was, of course, the Pierre Moerlen brand: a fascinating excursion into the world of marimbas, glockenspiels and vibraphones. Gong had long since left Daevid Allen territory. Plus the switch in culture: "They were all French. It was great – they would have these terrible arguments and I would have no idea what they were going on about! In fact it was a good thing I couldn't get involved... in fact they were all probably talking about me..!"