Nik Turner

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nik Turner (born Nicholas Turner, 28 August 1940, in Oxford, Oxfordshire), is a British musician, best known as a founder of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings and is a composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylizations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes.

1 Days with Hawkwind and personality conflicts
2 Later Years
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Days with Hawkwind and personality conflicts

Despite his seemingly pleasant personality, Turner battled frequently with bandleader/guitarist Dave Brock, who felt that the former overplayed in a distracting fashion and used musical pretenses to disguise his poor playing. Turner's relationship with bassist Lemmy gradually disintegrated throughout the early 1970s, spurred on by a feature in New Musical Express that seemed to portray Kilmister as the sole frontman of the group. Fundamentally, Turner's "quintessential hippie" persona clashed with Kilmister's identification with bikers and use of amphetamines.

After Kilmister was arrested for illegal possession of amphetamines during a 1975 North American tour, Turner instigated the bassist's dismissal from Hawkwind. Other band members, namely Brock, came to regret the reluctant decision, and Turner began to be perceived as something of a manipulator. After 1976's Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music, a poorly received fusion-oriented release heavily influenced by Turner, he ceased playing with the group. This too was a bone of contention: while Brock and lead singer Robert Calvert claimed they had dismissed Turner (with two other members), the saxophonist characterized it as more of a band mutiny against the twosome.

[edit] Later Years

Over the years Turner has played with many musicians and collaborations. Much of his output continued in the Hawkwind vein, but Turner has also explored other genres.

Directly after leaving Hawkwind in the mid 1970's, Turner formed the band Sphinx with Steve Hillage of Gong.

In the late 1970s when Steve Took's Horns broke up he formed Inner City Unit (ICU) from the key Horns members: Judge Trev Thoms and Dino Ferari although Took continued to work with his former band members and guested with ICU at a number of gigs.

Turner eventually resolved his differences with Brock and rejoined various reconstituted Hawkwind line-ups throughout the 1980s. He performed at the final Stonehenge Free Festival in 1984.

Turner also worked with Twink under the name PinkWind, a group named by combining the monikers of the musicians' former groups: Turner's Hawkwind, and Twink and Steve Took's Pink Fairies. Mick Farren was also a member. PinkWind released two albums. Some line-ups also featured Judge Trev Thoms.

In 2000 Turner apologized to Kilmister and organized a one-off reunion of the seminal Space Ritual line-up of Hawkwind (excluding Stacia and Calvert). Although lofty plans included further appearances and a live album extracted from the show, as of 2006 nothing has materialized due to renewed animosity between Turner and Brock.

Recently, his two main bands have been SpaceRitual and Nik Turner's Allstars with flexible and overlapping line-ups (as was the case in the early 1970s with Hawkwind and the Pink Fairies.) At some of his gigs former Hawkwind members have guested including Ron Tree and, until his death, Robert Calvert.

Turner regularly plays with new and experimental musicians and also busks with his roadie Erv near his home in Wales.

His current musical endeavours include the jazz/funk quintet Galaktikos and an album & tour with American space rockers Spaceseed.

[edit] Further reading

There are three biographies of Hawkwind which contain extensive contributions from and sections about Nik Turner.

Kris Tait This is Hawkwind: Do not Panic (1984, published by the band but now out of print)
Ian Abraham 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)