Mindshaft, the original gothadelic band
Mindshaft is the original Gothadelic band and the first American band to perform in the nation of Kazakhstan. Shortly after completing their first EP, “Shift” (self-financed and available only on cassette, they could only afford to produce 7 songs) in early 1996, they came to the attention of a group of Iranian and American business people that were organizing a stadium concert for the summer solstice that year, to take place in the Olympic stadium of the then-capital city of Almaty, to promote good will between Kazakhstan and America. This umbrella group of business people, Amerikaz Enterprises, had already enlisted several Kazakh recording artists as well as a famous Russian hip-hop artist. The original American group that was to headline the day-long festival were prevented at the last minute from being able to travel, and so Mindshaft was in the right place in the right time with their first recording in hand. After meeting the organizers outside of Washington DC, they got the nod and had a week to secure their visas and pack their bags. Upon their arrival in Almaty (also known as Alma-Ata, an attempt to ‘russify’ the name by the Bolsheviks after WWI), the four American musicians – Arthur Graves on Lead Guitar, Don Deppeller on Bass & Vocals, Patrick Baillergeon on Rhythm Guitar, and Jeff Valcarcel on Drums – experienced a form of mini-Beatlemania as they made their way around the city and gave radio and newspaper interviews.
Unfortunately much of the record of their experience was lost in the tragic housefire Don Deppeller experienced several months after their return to the Washington DC area, but some of the highlights of their stadium performance are still available on YouTube and will soon be available on this site, unedited, along with other video footage from their various appearances in the DC area.
Despite the tragedy of the fire and Don’s 8-month-long hospital recovery, the band went into the studio the following year and, enduring a few personnel changes, emerged with their first full album on CD, “Mindshaft Over Matter”. While Don continued his recovery, an additional singer was brought on, Sean Cope, along with new drummer Jim B. Local radio station DC101.1FM played the track “Shun” from it, a song they had performed in Kazakhstan but hadn’t been able to squeeze onto “Shift”. They also continued to perform at various venues in the DC area.
The following year they again endured personnel changes; at one point it had become a 7-piece band with a bongo player but ultimately slimmed down to the power-trio format, and went back into the studio in 1999 to produce the “Turning On The Moonlight” 4-song EP. The following year they also went into the studio to record what was intended to be a full-length album, “Glimpses of Other Realities”, but the only songs to survive that effort were “Dance Of The Heathens”, a punk-tempo song from early in their career that had been reworked into a dirge, and “Into The Light”, which first appeared on the next EP in 2001, “American Rock Hymns For Mauling Evil Mullahs”. Also on “American Rock Hymns…” was “CrumbleDust”, a song written by Don and drummer Jim B. who had returned as multi-instrumentalist “Perrynoid”. Virtually all other songs performed by Mindshaft were Deppeller/Graves compositions, although all musicians performing on each recording are given credit as part of the creative process. It was in 2002 that the core collaboration of Don and Arthur broke up, after which Patrick B (‘Patty B’) returned and, with new drummer Doug Sanford (‘Duggie’) went back into the studio for the final Mindshaft EP, “Blue Dream”, which included a different version of “Into The Light”.
It was in early 2003, following a harrowing year of round-the-clock surveillance by Majestic 12 (a fact proven in the Federal Court of Canada in 2005 in Don’s political-refugee immigration case), that Don and his family fled the US and thus prematurely and abruptly shut down any further efforts to record – until now. During his sojourn in Canada, Don compiled the best of Mindshaft in CD form, “Mindshaft 1996-2003”, and it is this collection that will be made available for sale, along with a box set of all their recordings and DVD of their performances, including the historic 1996 performance as the first american band to play kazakhstan.
Stay tuned; as this is an organic effort, something – or nothing – may come of it all.
WESTERN MARYLAND CYBERSPACE
NORTHERN VIRGINIA CYBERSPACE
OHIO CYBERSPACE
SUPPORTING ACTS:
THE LOVABLE LAMBS
THE STUPID SHEEPLE
THE CLUELESS CATTLE
THE rockers –
ARTHUR GRAVES – GUITAR
DON DEPPELLER – VOCALS & BASS
JEFF VALCARCEL – DRUMS (1995 – 1998)
jim bruton – drums (1998 – 1999)
doug sanford – drums (2001 – 2003)
PATRICK BAILLERGEON – GUITAR
The SHow –