Ayahuasca: indie's new drug of choice

Have this generation's crop of hippy-dippy indie artists found a new drug to match their music? Devendra Banhart, the Bees and Klaxons have in recent weeks namechecked ayahuasca, a so-called "plant medicine" taken in the Peruvian rainforest over intense 10-day periods. Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds even went so far as to cite the experience as a key factor in helping his band finally follow up their debut album. But before you rush out to guzzle down this herbal brew, it's perhaps best to know what you're letting yourself in for.

Paul Butler of the Bees told the NME of his experiences last month, but was a little disappointed to find they wrote it up as a crazed drug story. "Ayahuasca is most definitely not a drug, it's plant medicine," he says. "Taking it without an experienced shaman is dangerous."

Butler was introduced to the experience after producing What Will We Be by Devandra Banhart, himself an ayahuasca convert. He embarked on a "10-day dieta" in Peru, in which ayahuasca brews were concocted from, among other things, chacruna leaves, following the traditional methods of the Shipibo tribe.

"You drink a tiny shot with a bitter, sour taste," recalls Butler. "It's foul. In fact, it's making me retch just thinking about it! Then you sit for 30 minutes in the moloka, the octagonal ceremonial hut, waiting for the shaman."

What happens next isn't everyone's idea of a good night out. You are forced to face up to and resolve a series of issues and then vomit to cleanse yourself and overcome these problems.

"It can be quite an ordeal, facing your fears," explains Butler. "It can get very heavy, facing up to things in your life, but after these things are purged, the experience is like no other."

[Thanks Layne!]