Hawklords

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Hawklords were an English music group active between 1978 and 1979. They were borne from the disbanded Hawkwind (Robert Calvert – vocals, Dave Brock – guitar and Simon King – drums) and a local Devon group named Ark (Harvey Bainbridge – bass and Martin Griffin – drums) with the addition of former Pilot keyboardist Steve Swindells.

The use of the name Hawklords instead of Hawkwind may have been due to legal reasons concerning their former management company or may simply have been due to the band wishing to give the impression that this was a new musical venture.

In 1978, the band released their only full studio album 25 Years On.

[edit] Live

Live
Live album by The Hawklords
Released	May, 1992
Recorded	Brunel University, Uxbridge, 24 November 1979
Genre	Space Rock
Label	Dojo Records – DOJOCD71 Griffin Records – GN03921-2
Producer	Hawklords
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
The Hawklords chronology
The Friday Rock Show Sessions (1992) Hawklords Live (1992) California Brainstorm (1992)

The release of the album 25 Years On was promoted with a 41 date UK tour during October and November 1978. The stage show was designed by Barney Bubbles and was based on a Metropolis/Mao Tse-tung dystopia theme, featuring a projected film based light show, dancers in drab clothing performing mundane tasks, and spotlight towers creating an oppressive internment camp atmosphere. During the course of the tour the show was cut-back due to financial constraints, sufficiently upsetting Bubbles enough for him to refuse to work with Brock again. Some of the musicians felt that this action lightened the atmosphere resulting in the shows becoming more powerful. For the Hammersmith Odeon gig on 13 October, Lemmy guested on "Silver Machine".

An amazing tour programme was sold at this gig detailing the weird science behind the '25 Years' project. It outlined the aims and achievements of Pan Transcendental Industries and its programme for the industrialisation of religion. It described the construction of the first 'Metaphactory' staffed in part by by car crash victims whose function was to generate new forms of social behaviour through the transformation of private into public fantasies. The nine million workers who populated this giant factory complex are described in the song 'The Age Of The Micro Man' wherein it is shown that they have no idea what they are working for. In fact the new rulers of this dark industrial age received contact from aliens that they believed were actually angels. These 'angels' said they would provide enlightenment, but at a price. The payment was nonsensical but nevertheless the human race was enslaved.

During the Hammersmith Odeon show, stickers were thrown into the crowd bearing the symbol of a flaming hand and the words 'Reality You Can Rely On'. A neat idea considering that the concept of '25 Years' revolves around the notion of mass delusion and that the subscribers for the product (i.e the audience) were not necessarily averse to illegal drug use. Indeed, when the band started playing behind the huge fire curtain that covered the front of the stage, a huge plume of spliff smoke erupted from the stalls. And as the curtain rose, the dry ice, lights and sounds of England's premier acid rock band flooded over the audience evoking a kind of 'metatheatre', a performance without boundary.

The Plymouth Polytechnic concert (23 November) was professionally filmed by Charisma Records, but to date only snippets have been aired on UK tevelvision. The Brunel University, Uxbridge concert (24 November) was professionally recorded, and subsequent archive albums have included portions from it, as detailed on this set-list:

1. "Automoton" (introduction tape)
2. "25 Years" – Hawklords Live
3. "High Rise" – Hawklords Live
4. "Death Trap" – Hawklords Live; Weird Tape 4
5. "The Age of the Micro Man" – Weird Tape 4
6. "Spirit of the Age" – Hawklords Live; Weird Tape 4
7. "Urban Guerrilla" – Weird Tape 4
8. "Sonic Attack" – Hawklords Live
9. "Flying Doctor" – Hawkwind, Friends and Relations Volume 3
10. "Steppenwolf" – Weird Tape 4
11. "Psi Power"
12. "Brainstorm"
13. "Freefall" – Weird Tape 4
14. "Uncle Sam's On Mars" – Weird Tape 4
15. "The Iron Dream" – Weird Tape 4
16. "Master Of The Universe"
17. "Robot"
18. "Silver Machine"

Note: The Hawklords Live album also included the additional track "Over The Top" from the Sonic Assassins concert.

[edit] Rockfield Studios, 1979

After the tour, the band were to tour North America but Calvert, wishing for the return of King, dismissed Griffin who then concentrated on his studio business and playing for Richard Strange before returning to Hawkwind for the 1982 Sonic Attack album. Swindells recalls the five members spending time at Rockfield "where we rehearsed and jammed and wrote... Calvert was suffering definite mental problems when we were there. I think he was going through a divorce from his novelist wife, Pamela, and he was very unstable."^[1] Calvert left the band going on to write the novel Hype and recording an accompanying album, and he never appeared on any of the recordings released from these sessions.

• "Who's Gonna Win The War?" (Brock) 5:55

One of the few titles that was worked into a complete track for Levitation, this was released as "live". It may well have been recorded without overdubs, but it wasn't recorded in front of an audience. Available on: Weird Tape 1; Hawkwind, Friends and Relations Volume 1; 7" (FLS209) A-side

• "Valium 10" (Brock/Bainbridge/Swindells/Smith) 7:51

Drums on this track were played by Mick Smith of The Softees, who were the support for the Hawklords tour. Available on: Weird Tape 2; Hawkwind, Friends and Relations Volume 1; 7"&12" (FLS205) B-side

• "Douglas In The Jungle (Ode to a manager)" (Brock/Bainbridge/Swindells/King) 6:53

This track is a tribute to their manager Douglas Smith. Available on: Weird Tape 2; Hawkwind Anthology

• "Time of the Hawklords" (Brock/Bainbridge/Swindells/King) 4:07

This track is named after the title of the Michael Butterworth novel, although often abrreviated to "Time of...", and some times erroneously titled "Time Off". Available on: Weird Tape 2; 7" (FLS209) B-side

• "British Tribal Music" (Brock/Bainbridge/Swindells/King) 3:57

Available on: Hawkwind Anthology

• "Motorway City" (Brock)

Available on: Hawkwind Family Tree

[edit] Return to Hawkwind

Swindells wrote "Shot Down in the Night" at these sessions, and the band considered it ideal for single release, but with the band having no record contract Swindells departed when offered a solo deal, resulting in the album Fresh Blood. The remaining three members were joined by Huw Lloyd-Langton (lead guitar) and Tim Blake (synthesizers), choosing to revert to the name of Hawkwind and embarking upon a UK Winter 1979 tour resulting in the album Live Seventy Nine. Swindells' studio version and Hawkwind's live version of "Shot Down in the Night" were released as singles simultaneously in 1980, both curiously featuring Lloyd-Langton and King.

[edit] References

1. ^ The Saga of hawkwind (pp 204) – Carol Clerk