KARMA COMUS

RICHARD MORTON JACK salutes the ultracollectable freak folk pioneers who have found a new generation of fans braying for a maverick strain of traditionalism

The roots of Comus lie in the commuter town of Bromley, Kent, where 17-year-old guitarists Roger Wootton and Glenn Goring enrolled at Ravensbourne College Of Art in 1967. Inspired by Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, they began to play in local folk clubs in 1968, where their Velvet Underground-influenced approach was decidedly unconventional. “We didn’t go down well at first,” Wootton concedes. “We weren’t suited to folk clubs, so we soon moved onto different venues.” Towards the end of the year they were joined by fellow student and classicallytrained violinist Colin Pearson.

The trio lived in a large house in nearby Beckenham, which soon became a focal point for jam sessions, as well as for spinning records by The Incredible String Band, Captain Beefheart, The Mothers Of Invention and Jefferson Airplane. Another housemate was dating 16-year-old Sevenoaks native Bobbie Watson, whose beautiful voice was added to the nascent band when they first heard her sing, while their friend Chris Youle became manager (a role he fulfils to this day).

Youle named the band after John Milton’s 1634 masque, Comus, which concerned the efforts of a pagan god to persuade travellers to drink a potion that would transform their faces into those of wild beasts. Its significance went beyond …

by RICHARD MORTON JACK
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