Andy Dershin

Bass player from Brooklyn, New York, USA. He grew up in Brooklyn and learned trumpet and later bass. At the age of 15, he started to play in a first local band called "The Chasers" and one year later in a band called "Raves". Finally, in 1967, Dershin and friends from other local bands decided to found a band called "Sweet Smoke of the Happy Plant Pipeful". The name was later shortened to Sweet Smoke, while in certain night clubs, they had to call themselves "The Ice Company", in order not to provoke the public. Dershin played bass and percussion in the band.
The band got a gig at the "Cafe Wha?" in Greenwich Village and after success, the chief of the bar booked them for half a year to tour through Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. After that tour, they didn't want to return to their parents, as 3 of the members quit school for the tour. So Dershin and the band decided to leave the US and to settle over to Europe in 1969.
The band headed to Amsterdam in 1969, but they were not allowed to enter the Netherlands. So they had to find a place to stay near the Dutch border in Germany, in a small town called "Emmerich".
They met sculpturer Waldemar Kuhn, who helped them to find a place and much more and who later became their band manager. They toured through Europe and recorded 3 albums. In 1972, they went to India and reunited in 1973 in Bavaria.
They went for a live album in 1974, after which the band split. Andy went back to the United States, studied Jazz in the 1970's and left the active music business.