Leslie Medford’s latest track ‘Leslie’s Dream’ is a rare new recording from the maverick visionary behind San Francisco 80s psychedelic journeymen The Ophelias and HighHorse.

The Ophelias were led by singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist Leslie Medford who formed the band in October 1984. The band have been signed three times, first by Strange Weekend Records for one album, then by Rough Trade Records, for whom they produced two albums and an EP, and most recently by Independent Project Records. The latest record ‘Bare Bodkin’ collects 15 of the bands most definitive tracks (including 5 previously unreleased studio tracks), hand selected by frontman Leslie Medford, all remixed and remastered for release via digital services, and (for the first-time ever) on compact disc, with a vinyl version due later this year. The retrospective includes extensive, new liner notes by David Fricke in a 24 page booklet, as well as new artwork and iconic die cut, letter-press packaging by Independent Project Records label founder Bruce Licher.

Leslie, you must be delighted with how your profile has shot up recently, with The Ophelias truly psychedelic ‘Bare Bodkin’ album garnering such excellent reviews, and now Independent Project Records choosing ‘Leslie’s Dream’ to be the label’s first-ever digital single! So tell us how you’re feeling these days?

Leslie Medford: It’s definitely “the best of times,” and I’m glad to be back talking with It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine! So thanks again for having me. There’s a lot still happening with ‘Bare Bodkin’ since the double vinyl album (at 45rpm) is coming out later this summer. It’s the CD version which came out a while ago which created a stir, and though delayed due to the pandemic logjam it’s kind of cool that the vinyl release will keep ‘Bare Bodkin’ “new” and in the press longer than usual. It will be a year or more between the release of the CD and the double LP so ‘Bare Bodkin’ is au courant and staying so for a good while longer!

But I know we’re really here to speak about my new solo single, ‘Leslie’s Dream’ – which can be psychedelically abbreviated to “L’sD” – and it is très très actuel, very with the current indeed! Just have a look at its lyrics! It is surfing the zeitgeist as we speak!

This is true. The first two lines are something, and musically the overall flavor is one of joyous celebration and dance. How did this song come about?

Well, as I told Klemen during the ‘Bare Bodkin’ interview a few months ago, I haven’t been an active writer, player, or singer, for quite a few years, so ‘Leslie’s Dream’ has been a remarkable event in my life. And the song did come to me in a dream – on the night of 23 December 2022 – so just a few months ago. That is: the music came to me in the dream…I came up with the lyric the following day. Here’s how ‘Leslie’s Dream’ came about:

I was asleep and dreaming, and I became aware I was hearing this roaring, driving music that was propelled by an insistent rhythmic jangling of sleigh bells. In my semi-consciousness I began listening to it more, and realized (since this experience has happened to me with some regularity in my life, that is: hearing an unknown song in my sleep) “Hey, this is fuckin’ great. I must wake up and remember this one!” So I forced myself awake, and the song was still ringing in my ears. What usually happens is I’ll keep lying there, enjoying the music as it continues to play in my head, but not get up, and fall back to sleep. And needless to say, the song has completely disappeared when I try to recall it in the morning.

This time I forced myself to get up and find my guitar where it leans dustily against a wall in my house, unplayed but unbowed! And I quietly found the notes of the riff and tried my best to embed the song in my memory until morning. I went back to sleep for several more hours. In the morning I played the riff on the guitar, and the bells and beat were still with me. Great! As I considered what the song was, it occurred to me that it was a bit like ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ by The Stooges, with the bells replacing the incessant piano of that track. But ‘Leslie’s Dream’ is certainly its own thing. Of course, it didn’t have a title then. Later in the day to help remember the riff, ambiance, and melody I was hearing, I scribbled down on a torn envelope some words that fit the melody. I’d rather not “explain” these words; they’re right there for all to see, so draw your own conclusions. But I will say that I just went with subject matter that had been (and continues to be) on my mind, in this case my anger at Putin and Trump and other leaders I see as villains, though by the end wry humor was rearing its head too, happily I think. There were a few other couplets which didn’t make it into this mix, one about Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and “Asia’s new Pol Pots” (Kim Jong Un, et cetera). Anyway, I jotted these quickly and thought they worked. Those people make my blood boil, so “write what you know”, right? And the words didn’t concern me too much then, as I was simply constructing an aid to remembering the music. I’m not sure if the music in the dream had vocals at all. It may have; but bells, drums, and driving electric guitar were the most memorable elements.

Wow, this is really something. How did ‘Leslie’s Dream’ come to be recorded, then?

Seemingly miraculously, within a few days of the dream, out of the blue, I got a Facebook message from a guy named J Neo Marvin. He was an acquaintance from The Ophelias days in San Francisco in the 1980’s when he was mostly a music journalist, though he’s also led several bands through to the present time, still in San Francisco. I left San Francisco in 1993 and have lived far away from that city most of the intervening years, but now I live only 100 miles from SF. I hadn’t seen J Neo Marvin since the 1980s. In the message I received from him he asked me to sing on a version of ‘Koeeoaddi There’ by the Incredible String Band which he was recording at his SF home studio. I immediately said yes, since I adore that song (essentially one of the birth-songs of “Acid-Folk”) though at that point I hadn’t sung in a recording studio for 28 years!

Well, 28 days after the dream I am in San Francisco and my Incredible String Band vocal is finished. It is evening and J Neo’s wife, Davis Jones, has cooked a wonderful dinner. We’ve had some wine and weed. There’s some remaining time and energy around the place, and J Neo Marvin, who was running the session, was totally game to record my dream song, which I had told him about over the phone previous to my visit. Stupendously, after a series of first takes, 45 minutes later it is done! I had brought along my torn envelope with the lyrics on it and just winged the vocals with the last overdub. J Neo engineered a quick mix, burned me a CDR to take home, and this is what you’re hearing! My buddy Carl Salbacka in Orange County mastered it from that very CDR. The whole series of events is pretty amazing.

I should also mention that my first title for it was “Fucking Power!”, but J Neo Marvin and Davis Jones objected and quickly proposed ‘Leslie’s Dream,’ which I saw the logic in, so it quickly became that. “L’sD” being a happy synchronicity from start to finish! The recording struck me as being so exciting and in-the-present that I immediately presented it to Independent Project Records and was gratified that both owners and staff liked the song immediately, and have bent over backwards to find a way to quickly release it – with a video no less! – despite it not having been in Independent Project Records’s 2023 plans whatsoever.

An amazing story, an amazing song, and an amazing video! Tell us about that.

The video is by a chap Independent Project Records has hired before, named Dave Gresalfi. Other than saying I wanted the video to be ecstatic and celebratory and not really feature the lost buffoons mentioned in the lyric, I had nothing to do with it, so hats off to Dave. I like the way it kind of operates at cross purposes with the lyric, while following the words at the same time. I loved the recording for months before the video was attached to it, so I think the song stands perfectly well on its own, but I think the video is a success and absolutely helps in the marketing of ‘Leslie’s Dream’. I’m really thankful to Independent Projects and how they coordinated the release in a few short months, with lots of other Independent Project Records business going on all the while. So much fun, now that it’s out! And it’s the inaugural Independent Project Records digital-only release!

Any chance of a Leslie Medford tour?

Ha! If it goes viral, who knows?! My fondest wish would be for the recorded song to bring some cheer to Ukrainians. I hope some of them will hear it somehow, and know that good people all over the world stand in solidarity with them. I hope It’s Psychedelic Baby! Magazine might have something to do with the song getting to Ukrainians wherever they currently are. I think the song has wings. If enough young people hear it this spring and summer, I see no reason why it can’t be the perfect, subversive, underground dance hit of Europe 2023!

Agreed! It’s a psychedelic party classic! Hey, I know The Ophelias were well-known for psilocybin-enhanced performances and ecstatic live versions of your own songs, as well as extemporaneous playing and a wide variety of wild covers. Give our readers a taste of the bands The Ophelias covered, because it’s quite a list of great heavy psychedelic rock.

Right you are! On vinyl we covered things by John’s Children, Nervous Breakdown, The Kinks, Skip Spence. On the live albums there’s Gong, Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Kinks. We also covered songs by Joy Division, Velvet Underground, The Who, Black Sabbath, Troggs, Tomorrow! I know I’m forgetting some, but that’s where we came from, and all done with our own Ophelias twist! On The Ophelias YouTube channel, there’s an hour-long performance of me as Jim Morrison in a Doors act called the Perceivers. (As in The Doors of Perception, dig?) You should check that out! Haha! We totally rocked!

I hope you keep dreaming and sharing, Leslie. Incredible stuff! I truly hope this helps bring you some greater, very well-deserved attention. Thank you, and the last word is yours.

Psychedelic troopers can find much to enjoy at The Ophelias channel YouTube, and at three Bandcamp locations: The Ophelias, HighHorse, and Leslie Medford. There are also many links to articles and whatnot through our website: theophelias.com Get yourself The Ophelias ‘Bare Bodkin’ whatever you do! Interested parties might like to read my It’s Psychedelic Baby interview with Klemen Breznikar, published 5 February 2023. And thank you Jon, Klemen, and Josh at Independent Project Records for making this interview happen! “Everyone named Reagan undergoes a gender SHOCK!!!” So Let’s Rock!!!

John Wisniewski

The Ophelias Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Independent Project Records Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube