Gong interviewed by snooker ace Steve Davis

A picture of Gong singer Kavus Torabi and bassist Dave Sturt

Kavus Torabi and Dave Sturt

Gong singer Kavus Torabi and bassist Dave Sturt took part in an interview with a difference – with the questions posed by snooker star Steve Davis.

As well as a remarkably successful career as a professional snooker player, Davis is known for his love of prog rock and he also works as a DJ – and has even penned columns for Prog magazine.

It was Davis who brought late Gong mainman Daevid Allen and Torabi together.

Torabi says: “I have been co-presenting The Interesting Alternative Show with Steve Davis for the last six years or so.

“In 2011, Steve rang up excitedly saying, ‘You’ll never guess who we’ve got as a guest next week… Daevid Allen.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I’d met Daevid briefly a couple of times but never properly. As a lifelong Gong lover, this filled me with delight. Straight away the two of us seemed to really click, within minutes the conversation had taken a turn for the absurd and I was more than a little flattered when he told me, after about an hour, ‘You’re a poet man, I can tell.‘”

Gong released their 28th title Rejoice! I’m Dead this month. It’s their first without founder Daevid Allen, who died of cancer last year aged 77.

Gong Rejoice! I’m Dead tracklist

The Thing That Should Be
Rejoice!
Kapital
Model Village
Beatrix
Visions
The Unspeakable Stands Revealed
Through Restless Seas I Come
Insert Yr Own Prophecy

Gong 2015 are ‘exactly what Daevid wanted’

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.