The Story of Maypole was about freedom, people being natural, true to themselves and the others around them. We told the truth about things and what we saw. The beauty, the ugliness, the injustice, of the times.The plight of hungry hearts on their journey seeking to find true happiness. Maypole was not a typical group. Our approach was artistic and on a spiritual level.
Demian's guitar style has been compared to Jimi Hendrix,Frank Marino, and Carlos Santana. The reality is, that Demian was playing just as long as the afore mentioned players. His influences were what was going on around him. The hardships of his early life made him sensitive and thoughtful about life.He was run over by a bus in Baltimore when he was just 4 years old and suffered severe injuries. Long rehabilitation helped to build his concentration, endurance and his character. His ability to make his guitar sound in so many different ways is what made the guitar interesting for him. A way to express himself with no boundaries.He lives in Germany at the moment,where his new version of The Maypole is based.
Demian and Paul had met in 1966 while both playing on the same bill together in different bands at a local Baltimore teen center. Demian in the "Psychedelic Propellor" and Paul in "The Paupers". They liked each others playing, became friends, and had many occasions to talk about music and to jam together. In late 1969 after Demian returned from Boston, they decided to form a new group.
They would call it "Maypole" after the famous story by Nathaniel Hawthorne called the "Maypole of Merry-Mount" which describes how some Puritans went off into the woods to erect a Maypole and danced around it in complete violation of the rules of the day. They were arrested and punished for the crime of dancing and basically having a good time. They saw the parallel to the times they were living and the principle of freedom that it represented.
After some session they fired their manager. Their new managers were London Records promo men who knew how to get airplay and did a great job. The band did dozens of interviews on the air and played concerts to try and promote an album that had no company behind it. because Colossus went bankrupt. Without the support of a solvent record company the record could go no farther. They did several TV shows in the Baltimore Washington area.
