Hawkwind

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Hawkwind

Background information
Origin England Ladbroke Grove, England
Genre(s) Rock
Space rock
Psychedelic rock
Proto-punk
Years active 1969–present
Label(s) United Artists
Website Official Website

Hawkwind are an English rock band, one of the earliest space rock groups. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes. Notable science fiction writer Michael Moorcock was an occasional collaborator.

Contents

[edit] History

Formed in the summer of 1969 as Hawkwind Zoo, they were offered a record deal by Liberty Records in November of that year and immediately shortened the band name to Hawkwind. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Brock has been the only consistent band member through multiple personnel changes. Their music began as hard-driving blues rock, but quickly added doses of psychedelic rock, with prominent use of special effects and synthesizers.

Their elaborate live performances (somewhat reminiscent of Sun Ra's) quickly gathered them a cult following, partly because they were seen as a 'community' Of the People - For the People group. Their second album In Search of Space was very successful.

Hawkwind were, along with the Pink Fairies, key 'community bands' in Ladbroke Grove, home of the Mountain Grill cafe. During the early 1970s Hawkwind played a number of benefit gigs along with other 'community' bands/artists including Pink Fairies and Steve Took who, as a key member of the UK Underground went on to work with a number of Hawkwind members.

Hawkwind achieved chart status with the release of the single "Silver Machine" in 1972, with vocals by Lemmy Kilmister, written by Dave Brock and Robert Calvert, allegedly about Calvert's bicycle. Their follow up single "Urban Guerrilla" was banned by the BBC and withdrawn after increased terrorist activity by the Provisional IRA.

Hawkwind have had a long-standing connection with many free festivals including the Stonehenge Free Festival that ran from 1973 until banned in 1985. The spirit of these festivals has been reawakened by their last two "Hawkfest" weekends.

On October 21, 2000 the Hawkestra, a band formed by about half of the former members of Hawkwind, played a sold-out gig at the Brixton Academy.

The science fiction writer Michael Moorcock has a long association with the band. One of Hawkwind's albums Chronicle of the Black Sword was based largely on Moorcock's Elric book series. The cover for this album was designed by John Coulthart. Michael Moorcock wrote a piece called "MESSAGES" which appeared on the 1983 album Zones as "Running Through the Backbrain" with Moorcock on vocals. The 1976 novel The Time of the Hawklords credited to Michael Moorcock (although he had little to do with it) and Michael Butterworth, features the band in a science fiction adventure. Butterworth later wrote a sequel, Queens of Deliria.

The band Motörhead was started after Lemmy was sacked from Hawkwind, following his arrest during a Hawkwind North American tour. Lemmy was arrested at customs with suspected cocaine, although analysis revealed it was amphetamines. He was ultimately released because he had been charged with the wrong crime, not because amphetamines were legal in Canada, as some have maintained.

Hawkwind founder member Nik Turner formed the relatively successful Punk oriented Inner City Unit with former Steve Took's Horns members Judge Trev Thoms and Dino Ferari. In 2001, he launched a tribute band called XHawkwind.com, playing old '70s Hawkwind favorites, and featuring (unusually for a tribute band) ex-Hawkwind members. Dave Brock launched a court case over the band's name, which was successful in 2002. Nik Turner's band continues to perform, but is now SpaceRitual.net.

[edit] Influence

Former Black Flag and current Rollins Band singer Henry Rollins is a fan, as is Jello Biafra. The Sex Pistols included "Silver Machine" in their reunion performances of 2002; while reviewers may have seen this as "ultra ironic" [1], John Lydon made it clear that this was a tribute. [2] Another musician who has claimed Hawkwind as an influence is Joy Division/New Order bassist Peter Hook, who took his father to Hawkwind concert as a teenager in an attempt to help him appreciate rock music in a more viscereal fashion. Because of the rapid beat of many of their songs and jams, and perhaps to a lesser extent Robert Calvert's solo collaborations with Brian Eno, Hawkwind was one of the few bands from the progressive/psychedelic era to maintain a following in the punk/new wave era; the Calvert-led 1977 group even covered the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For My Man" on a regular basis. Similiarly, the group would be cited as a seminal influence once more with the advent of electronica in the early 90s thanks to their pioneering work with synthesizers and Brock's motorik-esque riffs.

There is a tangible connection between the sound of Lemmy Kilmister's later group Motörhead and that of the influential 1971-1975 group, with songs such as "Born to Go" and "Master of the Universe" during that time period played at breakneck tempos live (characteristic of punk) while containing guitar solos more reminiscent of heavy metal and psychedelic rock. With Motörhead, Kilmister would refine this into the sound of speed metal.

Early Monster Magnet albums have a distinct Hawkwind feel, and they covered Brainstorm on their 3rd album, Superjudge.

Singer/Songwriter Sam Roberts has credited Hawkwind as an influence on his music and covers the song "Hurry on Sundown" (originally on 1970's debut album Hawkwind) during concerts.

Kula Shaker's Sound of Drums has a version of "Hurry On Sundown" ("Hari Om Sundown"). JJ Burnel (The Stranglers) regularly performs 1977's "Quark, Strangeness & Charm". Quoted in Carol Clerk's book, JJ says: "Quark...is a song I really...wish I'd written... It's punky as hell, and really clever. I like the energy in it, and the fact that it's just three chords and yet it made a bloody great racket... and the very intelligent lyrics, and they were funny and sexy as hell."

[edit] Discography

For more details on this topic, see Hawkwind discography.

This is a summary of original Hawkwind recordings that have been made available on general release.

Studio
Live

[edit] Videography

[edit] Tributes And Remixes

There have been numerous bands over the years and across the globe who have set themselves up as a Hawkwind tribute/cover act. Perhaps the most active at the time of writing is the Assassins Of Silence who operate mainly in and around Oxfordshire, often pulling in Huw Lloyd Langton for special appearances.

[edit] Members

Dozens of musicians have passed through Hawkwind over the years, but Dave Brock has been at the heart of the band since they formed. Other members have included Lemmy Kilmister (who went on to form Motörhead), Nik Turner, Harvey Bainbridge, Del Dettmar, Dik Mik, Huw Lloyd Langton, Robert Calvert, Paul Rudolph (former Pink Fairies/Deviants member) and Twink (another Pink Fairies member) and more recently, Ron Tree as bassist and frontman. Cross-pollination with members of the Pink Fairies led to albums released under the names Pinkwind and the Hawk Fairies. The 1990 album Space Bandits included a female vocalist Bridget Wishart. Other members, who may have been better known for their careers outside of Hawkwind, include Ginger Baker and Arthur Brown. Of all the other band members, bass player Alan Davey has been with the band the longest, joining in 1984 and still playing with the band in 2006 (although he did leave for a few years within this period).

Hawkwind have been known for giving credit to non-musician members of their crew, such as Liquid Len, a lighting engineer, and Stacia, a dancer. Their distinctive graphic design was created by Barney Bubbles, who would later create the graphic identity for Stiff Records, where Larry Wallis (Pink Fairies and Motörhead with Lemmy) was an in-house Producer.

Year Vocals Sax/Flute Lead Guitar Guitar/Synths Bass Keyboards, Synths Drums
1969 Nik Turner Mick Slattery Dave Brock John Harrison Dik Mik (aka Richard Davies) Terry Ollis
1970 Nik Turner Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock John Harrison,

Thomas Crimble

 Dik Mik Terry Ollis
1971 Nik Turner Dave Brock Dave Anderson Dik Mik,

Del Dettmar

 Terry Ollis
1972 Robert Calvert Nik Turner Dave Brock Lemmy Kilmister Dik Mik,

Del Dettmar

 Simon King
1973 Robert Calvert Nik Turner Dave Brock Lemmy Kilmister Dik Mik,

Del Dettmar

 Simon King
1974 Nik Turner Dave Brock Lemmy Kilmister Del Dettmar,

Simon House

 Simon King
1975 (Michael Moorcock) Nik Turner Dave Brock Lemmy Kilmister Simon House Simon King,

Alan Powell
1976 Robert Calvert Nik Turner Dave Brock Paul Rudolph Simon House Simon King,

Alan Powell
1977 Robert Calvert Dave Brock Adrian Shaw Simon House Simon King
1978 Robert Calvert Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Simon House,

Steve Swindells

 Simon King,

Martin Griffin
1979 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Tim Blake Simon King
1980 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Tim Blake,

Keith Hale

 Ginger Baker
1981 (Michael Moorcock) Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Martin Griffin
1982 Nik Turner Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Martin Griffin
1983 Nik Turner Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge Dead Fred Reeves Andy Anderson
1984 Nik Turner Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Harvey Bainbridge

(Alan Davey)

 Dead Fred Reeves Clive Deamer
1985 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge Danny Thompson Jr
1986 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge Danny Thompson Jr
1987 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge Danny Thompson Jr
1988 Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge Danny Thompson Jr
1989 Bridget Wishart Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge,

Simon House

 Richard Chadwick
1990 Bridget Wishart Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge,

Simon House

 Richard Chadwick
1991 Bridget Wishart Dave Brock Alan Davey Harvey Bainbridge,

Simon House

 Richard Chadwick
1992 Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
1993 Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
1994 Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
1995 Ron Tree (Jerry Richards) Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
1996 Ron Tree Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
1997 (Capt Rizz) Jerry Richards Dave Brock Ron Tree Richard Chadwick
1998 (Capt Rizz) Jerry Richards Dave Brock Ron Tree Richard Chadwick
1999 (Capt Rizz) Jerry Richards Dave Brock Ron Tree Richard Chadwick
2000 (Capt Rizz) (Jez Huggett) Jerry Richards Dave Brock Ron Tree Simon House,

Tim Blake

 Richard Chadwick
2001 (Arthur Brown) (Jez Huggett) Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Simon House Richard Chadwick
2002 (Arthur Brown) (Jez Huggett) Huw Lloyd-Langton Dave Brock Alan Davey Simon House,

Tim Blake

 Richard Chadwick,

(Danny Thompson Jr)
2003 (Arthur Brown) Dave Brock Alan Davey Richard Chadwick
2004 Dave Brock Alan Davey Jason Stuart Richard Chadwick
2005 Dave Brock Alan Davey Jason Stuart Richard Chadwick
2006 Dave Brock Alan Davey Jason Stuart Richard Chadwick
Note

Names in brackets indicate significant guest appearances, either live or on recordings.

[edit] Further reading

There are three biographies of Hawkwind.

  • Kris Tait This is Hawkwind: Do Not Panic (1984, published by the band and now only available second hand)
  • Ian Abrahams Sonic Assassins (Published by SAF publishing; ISBN 0-946719-69-1)
  • Carol Clerk's Saga of Hawkwind (Publisher: Music Sales Limited ISBN 1-84449-101-3)

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/a/w/Hawkwind.html"