The Guardian Weekend | 27 February 2021 9Front Experience
were any musicians on board to play in the
town square.
I had brought my saxophone , so I turned up.
We threw a short set together and were asked
to return on New Year’s Eve. A band was born.
We called ourselves the Apollo Stars and I became
the head of the troupe. We had some amazing
players. Billy Potter had played with Big Mama
Thornton. Luten Taylor , on bass trombone,
had played on the original Mission: Impossible
theme. I was pure avant garde –
my idols were John Coltrane and
Ornette Coleman.
The Apollo Stars were an
incredible show band ; we could
play to 10,000 people and receive
standing ovations all over Europe.
We would play open-air gigs for
free, so people turned out. We had
roadies, dancers, a PR team; we were
playing almost nightly. We made a
record called Power Of Source, but
it was a terrible album. Hubbard had
got heavily involved with the band,
spending hours with us each day. I
was scared shitless the fi rst day I met
him, because I thought that he could
read minds.
He’s credited as the producer on
our album and he recorded it, but
he didn’t know what he was doing :
it was all for his ego. The more I got
to know him, the more I questioned
things, but it was like a form of
hypnosis so you rationalised his
megalomania and narcissism. He
was all fl uff. But we bought into it.
Being in the band made us feel as
if we were the chosen ones. We left
our 16-hour day menial jobs to play
music, and we were taken care of. We got up when
we wanted , bought any equipment we wanted,
and ate like kings instead of eating the terrible
food on the ship. Other people on the ship loved
us. The fact that we distracted Hubbard was more
valuable than anything ; people would get a break
from his screaming and yelling.
The ship docked back in the US in 1975 and
operations moved on land, so the band broke up.
I left Scientology in 1976. I had been put into the
Rehabilitation Project Force for members deemed
to be underperforming or having evil thoughts
against Scientology. I had an epiphany. There
was a guard outside my room day and night, but
I faked having explosive diarrhoea to get out
of my room, grabbed my money and clothes,
and jumped over the wall. I was lucky I woke up
when I did
Neil SarfatiI was in a Scientology jazz band
L Ron Hubbard
got involved.
I was scared
when I fi rst met
him – I thought he
could read mindsIn 1968, I was 23 and looking for answers. I was living in Texas, working in textiles,
smoking a lot of marijuana, and exploring things such as Zen Buddhism. I was stoned
when my neighbour spoke to me about Scientology and it sounded interesting ; space
cadets and all that. I started taking some courses. I was looking at it from more of a
philosophical view but as you get into it, you become hooked.
I was married, but my wife was smarter than me and didn’t care for Scientology.
We moved to San Francisco, and I regret this, but I soon left her, thinking I was
going to save the world. I joined the Sea Org in Los Angeles – an organisation within
the church comprised of its most dedicated members. Following investigations by
government agencies in the US , L Ron Hubbard bought a fl eet of ships and moved
operations off shore. The Sea Org was asked to crew them, so I went with my new wife,
a Scientologist.
When we arrived, we expected something incredible but it was a rusty tugboat – a
troop carrier from the second world war. I thought: what the hell is this? But then you
think, maybe there’s a reason ; you start to justify things. As a married couple, we got a
cabin , which was the size of a closet, but to us that was luxury. Others lived in a huge dorm
with about 100 guys – it stank. People didn’t even have their own beds. O ne person would
sleep in it during the day and another at night. You were so conditioned that this seemed
normal. You had a bed, some food and you were saving the world.
I had lots of jobs on the ship , everything from working in mission control to
scrubbing the deck. We sailed across the Mediterranean a lot, looking for potential places
to settle. In 1973, we docked in Madeira around Christmas; the local mayor asked if thereJOSH RITCHIE/THE GUARDIAN
AS TOLD TO DANIEL DYLAN WRAYDo you have an experience to share?
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