Steve Davis & Kavus Torabi
Prog’s odd couple discuss their brand new book, Medical Grade Music.
He’s the snooker legend and Prog columnist, and his companion the frontman of Gong and Knifeworld, together they became the unlikely voices of a prog radio show and two-thirds of otherworldly trio The Utopia Strong. Now Steve Davis and Kavus Torabi have teamed up for their joint memoirs, Medical Grade Music. Prog gets the lowdown on their latest extra-curricular activities.
Steve Davis is a big believer in the power of chance. Without it, he would never have encountered the band that changed his life. “Things often happen as a consequence of unexpected events,” he reckons. “When I was 16 or 17, me and a school friend went to watch Isotope, the band that Hugh Hopper was in after Soft Machine, at the Roundhouse [in June, 1974]. The headliners were Magma.
I’d never heard of them, but they were jawdropping. I became such a heavy-duty fan. My favourite album of all time is Köhntarkösz. Looking back, I was so lucky to be there at the right place at the right time.”
Fast-forward to the mid-2000s and the French prog-jazz titans were at the centre at another pivotal moment. Davis was watching the band play in Paris when another Magma fan, Kavus Torabi, came over to introduce himself. “We went out for some drinks after the gig and hit it off,” recalls Torabi, who was then juggling his time between guitar duties in Cardiacs and fronting Knifeworld. “We met up a couple more times, then stayed in touch.”
A few weeks later, Torabi invited his new ally to a live show. “I’d never heard of Cardiacs,” Davis confesses. “So when Kavus told me he was in a band and they were playing in London, I was thinking it’d be in some crappy pub somewhere and one of them might play a Bontempi keyboard. It was almost like I’d be doing them a favour by going along.”
Instead, Davis found himself at the Astoria. “I walked in the place and it was a gobsmacking moment,” he says. “All these disciples chanting along to this incredible music. All I could think was, ‘How have I missed this?’ Kavus was all dressed up, with a big fucking white guitar, at the front of the stage with Tim [Smith].
And I’m thinking, ‘That’s my new mate!’”
It was an evening that cemented what is, at least on the surface, an unlikely union –
“I can’t really describe the euphoria of being involved in it. I’ve been very fortunate to have had this second life that’s appeared. And the catalyst is Kavus, it wouldn’t have happened without him.” Steve Davis
the six-time Snooker World Champion and the wild-haired psychedelic visionary. Yet it’s a bond that’s not only endured, but flourished, especially on a creative level. First came the Interesting Alternative Show on Phoenix FM, followed by DJ sets, a spot at Glastonbury and a musical project, The Utopia Strong. Now comes Medical Grade Music, a joint memoir that maps their musical loves and the friendship that’s developed as a result.
Speaking to Prog via Zoom, both men are in good spirits. Torabi apologises for being slightly late, only “I had to take my dog up the estate for an emergency shit.” On cue, his wirehaired fox terrier, Teddy, duly clambers onto his knee and barks. Davis, seated on his sofa with a neat stack of albums on the floor to his left (Terry Riley staring up from the top), chimes in by saying he took an emergency dump after his last coffee.
The morning business dealt with, it’s not difficult to see why they get on. Both are genial, easy-going and obsessive about the music they love. This provides the core of Medical Grade Music (unofficial tagline: “sorting the heads from the haircuts”), in which Davis and Torabi steer alternate chapters. Cue formative experiences with Magma, Gentle Giant and Voivod to Spacemen 3, XTC and other left-field pursuits, among them bands that Torabi has been directly involved with: Die Laughing, The Monsoon Bassoon, Gong and, naturally, Cardiacs.
Initially conceived as a bunch of recommendations from the outer reaches of prog, psychedelia and avant-rock, Medical Grade Music instead became something much richer. “We were due to write about 52 albums,” explains Torabi. “But it got to the point where I thought, ‘I can’t really keep doing this. I can enthuse about this music, but I’ve run out of superlatives. And I’ll keep repeating myself.’ Once we realised that we could write about our adventures in music, then it became easier. Music is so beyond language, so all we could do was write about the effect it’s had on us.”
“It blossomed into this thing where we could recount stories,” Davis adds. “All of a sudden, a lot more possibilities opened out. We could write about meeting up, DJing on stage together, forming a band. And it’s been great fun to do. I’m not trying to be anything other than a music fan, so I’m just relating what’s happened to me, like DJing at Glastonbury. You really couldn’t make it up, it’s such an unlikely story.”
The book reads like a series of epiphanies. Torabi grew up listening to Stray Cats, Iron Maiden, The Smiths and Rush, but “when Cardiacs came along I realised that’s what I’d been looking for. It was kind of a scorched earth thing. After that there was just no going back to normal rock’n’roll.” He also writes movingly about late Cardiacs’ captain Tim Smith (“a beautiful, benign presence who would float into any room and light it up”) and the 2008 heart attack that resulted in Smith’s dystonia, effectively putting an end to the band that had gifted Torabi what he calls “the adventure of a lifetime”.
As the timelines of Medical Grade Music begin to overlap, they finally converge at The Utopia Strong. Formed in 2019 with Michael J York (whose various credits include Coil and another Torabi pursuit, Guapo), the synthheavy trio released a debut album later that year. They’ve since issued three live recordings on limited edition vinyl, through Bandcamp, which sold out almost immediately.
The band’s improvised jams, with Davis operating a modular synth, are wondrous things to behold, full of melodic abstraction, post-techno grooves and radiant ambience.
“If I hadn’t been in this band, I’d be raving to you about The Utopia Strong,” says Davis. “This is the music I’ve always wanted to listen to. It’s psychedelic and it’s got drones, all the stuff that I’ve started to gravitate to as I’ve got older.
“Can you imagine what it’s been like for me?” he continues. “There I am, a retired snooker player and music fan, who, through a series of circumstances, is suddenly involved in music that I’d be desperate to buy anyway. So it’s just been this ridiculous journey. I can’t really describe the euphoria of being involved in it. I’ve been very fortunate to have had this second life that’s appeared. And the catalyst is Kavus, it wouldn’t have happened without him.”
It’s been an education for Torabi too. “What’s been really interesting about watching Steve’s journey is it’s confirmed to me how important taste and judgement are,” he observes. “I’ve yet to hear anything coming out of Steve where I think, ‘Oh, shut up, mate’, which can’t be said for some of the very technically adept musicians I’ve played with over the years. With the modular synth you’re creating pure music. So what comes out is defined by your taste.”
“Once we realised that we could write about our adventures in music, then it became easier. Music is so beyond language, so all we could do was write about the effect it’s had on us.” Kavus Torabi
The Utopia Strong are hopeful of releasing a widely available successor to their 2019 debut later this year. Torabi reveals that “we’re maybe two-thirds of the way with the new album. We don’t have a title for it yet, but there’s one song on there – and I think Steve and Mike will agree – which feels like our Stairway To Heaven.”
While we await the final results, Torabi is keen to point out that it’s all a product of a new way of working for everybody. “We always played really rehearsal intensive music with Cardiacs,” he explains. “And while there’s a degree of improvisation in Gong, it’s usually to get from A to B, so we know where it’ll end up. But The Utopia Strong is completely free, other than deciding what note to start off on. It’s a way of operating that I’ve never experienced in any other bands I’ve been in before. Our proggy side definitely comes out in the improvising. It’s exciting and terrifying at the same time.”
Medical Grade Music is out now via White Rabbit in hardback, eBook and audio formats. See www.facebook.com/theutopiastrong for more.