NEW DVD GOES ‘UNDERGROUND’ WITH THE BEATLES

In the mid 1960s there was a movement afoot in the UK. Influenced by music and other changing forms of expression, the young radicals leading the counterculture charge introduced new schools of thought on sex, social norms, and artistic expression.

Operating out of the heart of London, their various activities, from The International Times — an avant-garde bi-weekly journal that no hipster could be seen without (which relaunched in 2011) — to the psychedelic nightclub UFO, promoted alternative lifestyles and values and sparked a social revolution.

Paul McCartney himself held ties with many of the instrumental players in the UK’s movement, and through his public persona, he helped establish many of their radical ideas in the mainstream. Now the new documentary Going Underground explores the history of the London-based counterculture scene, as well as its impact on McCartney and The Beatles.

The documentary features interviews with many of the countercultures key players from the time, including Barry Miles, editor of International Times and long-time friend of Paul McCartney; John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins, founder of IT and UFO club organizer; Joe Boyd, founder of UFO and Pink Floyd producer; Robert Wyatt, drummer for Soft Machine; Eddie Prevost, drummer for experimental improvisational collective AMM; John Dunbar, proprietor of Indica, the counter-cultural gallery; Mick Farren, Underground scenester, vocalist with The Deviants, and IT journalist; plus Jonathon Greene, the author of Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961 – 1971; Beatles expert Chris Ingham, and Mojo journalist Mark Paytress. The film includes rare archive footage, photographs from private collections, and music from Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Soft Machine, AMM, and others.