Malcolm Le Maistre

Who is Malcolm Le Maistre?

Malcolm Le Maistre is a British musician, experimental artist and theatre director, who was a member of The Incredible String Band in the 1970s.

He was born in England, his father a French born journalist and his mother an American writer. After they split up, he attended boarding school in Surrey, where he developed an interest in experimental theatre. In 1966, with friend John "Rakis" Koumantarakis, he moved to London, where they promoted one of the first concerts by Pink Floyd, and then joined David Medalla's Exploding Galaxy counter-cultural arts and dance troupe.

He met Robin Williamson and Mike Heron of The Incredible String Band in New York in 1968, and returned with Williamson and others to set up a commune in a farmhouse near Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales. There, they developed ideas for multi-media artistic experiments, and Le Maistre appeared in the BBC TV Omnibus feature on the ISB, Be Glad For the Song Has No Ending. The same year he established the Stone Monkey dance and mime troupe, and helped develop the stage show "U", which provided the basis of the Incredible String Band album of the same name, released in 1970. In 1971, Rose Simpson left the ISB, and Le Maistre, who had been living with the band and their friends on the Tennant estate near Innerleithen in Scotland, replaced her. He learned to play various musical instruments over the next few months, and contributed as a musician, songwriter and singer to the ISB albums Liquid Acrobat as Regards the Air, Earthspan, No Ruinous Feud, and Hard Rope and Silken Twine.