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Hawkwind
 

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

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 music, 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 Their follow up single "Urban Guerrilla" was banned by the BBC and withdrawn after increased terrorist activity by the Provisional IRA.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 sell-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 prequel, 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.

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" John Lydon made it clear that this was a tribute [http://www.thefilthandthefury.co.uk/pistols/interviews/sp_john03.html. Early Monster Magnet albums have a distinct Hawkwind feel, and they covered Brainstorm on their 3rd album, "Superjudge". Another musician who also claimed Hawkwind as an influence is Joy Division /New Order bassist Peter Hook, who claimed to have taken his father to a Hawkwind concert as a teenager.

Hawkwind should be partly credited for Lemmy's Motörhead speed metal style of music, so named because of the slang name "Speed" for Amphetamines, which the members of Motörhead consumed with relish. The song "Motorhead" was originally recorded by Hawkwind.

Singer/Songwriter Sam Roberts has credited Hawkwind as an influence on his music and covers the song "Hurry on Sundown" during concerts.

Discography

Hawkwind's discography is baffling and large; this list mainly represents the "core" albums as defined by the band themselves on their web site, along with significant solo projects and related releases. There are, in addition, compilations of previously recorded material and live recordings, which are not issued under the control of the band, and which frequently change their name, so one may find exactly the same material under several different names.

Titles from 1970 to 1974 are readily available on CD as these are published by EMI (EMI being the eventual owners of what used to be Liberty Records), these CDs frequently include other rarities from this era. Subsequent CDs have varying availability in part caused by the bands frequent change of record labels. Some have been released but in limited numbers only to be unavailable for some time. Second hand costs for some of these have been very high. Some from the mid 1970s have been re-released on a variety of small international (often German) labels. Although the legitimacy of these may be in some doubt no official statements either way have been issued by the band. CDs from the 1980s to present can be hard to find in the UK without resorting to imports or the second hand market.

The Space Ritual concept album and Warrior on the Edge of Time in particular are representative of Hawkwind's style at the peak of their success. Their 1980s work is well represented by Levitation and The Chronicle of the Black Sword.

For an extensive critical discography see this Guide To Hawkwind Albums.

Under the alias-name Psychedelic Warriors

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, DikMik ,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. 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, due to it being a small world, Larry Wallis (Pink Fairies and Motörhead with Lemmy) was an in-house Producer.

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 Abraham Sonic Assassins (Published by SAF publishing; ISBN: 0946719691)
  • Carol Clerk's Saga of Hawkwind (Publisher: Music Sales Limited ISBN: 1844491013)

External links

Art rock musical groups | English musical groups | Progressive rock groups | Hawkwind | Pre-punk groups | Heavy metal musical groups | Music from London

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Hawkwind".

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