Hawkwind

Neil (Nigel Planer): "Why don't they ever play Hawkwind or Marillion??"

 I had reviewed this band in the past, but mostly in passing.  I felt a more comprehensive discussion was appropriate.

Band.  They started out in London in 1969 and are in still in existence, though with only one consistent member, Dave Brock.  The “classic era” was in the 1970s, but despite declining popularity and publicity Brock has maintained the band.  Of course, there have been numerous lineup changes over the years.

At this time my recollection is that I got into Hawkwind from two sources.  First, in August 1985 my brother started taking guitar lessons from a very cool guy, Joel, and I began doing so the week after.  I almost immediately caught the fever to buy a Fender Stratocaster, but at this stage, neither my talent nor budget merited a full US-made ($$$) version, so I took a temporary job at the US Embassy, Office of American Services, making tourist passports.  The French guy running things was Bernard, who turned me on to Hawkwind.  About this time the band came out with Chronicle of the Black Sword, their Elric of Melnibone concept album, and the two together induced me to start listening. 

Discography.  Hawkwind (1970); In Search of Space (1971); Doremi Fasol Latido (1972); Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974); Warrior at the Edge of Time (1975); Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music (1976); Quark, Strangeness & Charm (1977); 25 Years On aka Hawklords (1978); PXR5 (1979); Levitation (1980); Sonic Attack (1981); Church of Hawkwind (1982); Choose Your Masques (1982); The Chronicle of the Black Sword (1985); The Xenon Codex (1988); Space Bandits (1990); Electric Tepee (1992); It Is The Business of the Future to Be Dangerous (1993) White Zone (1995); Alien 4 (1995); Distant Horizons (1997); In Your Area (1999); Spacebrock (2000); Take Me To Your Leader (2005); Take Me To Your Future (2006); Blood of the Earth (2010); Onward (2012); Stellar Variations (2012); The Machine Stops (2016); Into the Woods (2017); Road to Utopia (2018); All Aboard the Skylark (2019); Carnivorous (2020).    As you can see, they’ve been continuously releasing material for 50 years, and will probably continue to do so until Dave Brock retires or passes away.

Plus their VERY famous, Lemmy-era live album (recorded on the Doremi Fasol Latido tour), Space Ritual. 

Stacia.  Back in the 70s they had this tall, well-proportioned stage dancer on tour with them, sometimes even nude.  It certainly made the experience more fun, though I can’t say I’ve had the pleasure of seeing any shows with her on stage. 

Nik Turner.  Right up there with Dave Brock in contribution in the 70s, mostly playing flute.  Jimi Hendrix made a reference to him at Isle of Wight.  Although long since gone from the band, he still puts out albums and tours periodically, and his live sets are far more focused – as you might imagine – on the 70s material.  In that regard his shows were better for someone like me who was more familiar with that material.

Bob Calvert.  Another eccentric contribution to the band, and like Turner, only in the 70s.  He has a solo album, Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, about the ill-fated jet plane which had a bad reputation for disintegrating in midair. 

Lemmy.  By far their most famous member, on Doremi, Hall, and Warrior, kicked out of the band on that tour after being arrested by Canadian authorities.  In his autobiography, he says he was very happy in the band and would not have left had he not been fired.  Thereafter he formed Motorhead.  “Motorhead”, “Lost Johnny”, and “The Watcher”, plus “Silver Machine”, were Lemmy’s contributions, and Motorhead fans could occasionally hear his band play them.  My understanding is that they reconciled fairly soon.  Sadly, he was never in the band with HLL (see below) except for a handful of one-off appearances. 

Huw Lloyd Langton.  Their excellent guitarist, appearing on the first, self-titled album, then on Levitation through The Xenon Codex – i.e. throughout the 1980s.  He gave the band a good dose of blues-oriented solos, and remains by far my favorite Hawkwind guitarist.

I get Del Dettmar and Dik Mik mixed up, plus Simon House and Simon King.  Alan Davey and Harvey Bainbridge were more recent band members.  Ginger Baker, the drummer for Cream, was on Levitation.

Michael Moorcock.  The sci-fi author had a close relationship with the band, not merely inspiring the Chronicle album but actually writing a few songs.

Concerts.  Sadly, they don’t seem to the tour the US very often, and the only concert I was able to see in London – I believe we visited in 1981, 1983, and 1985, the odd-numbered years when we didn’t go back to the US – was Donington in 1985.  My two shows are December 1990 and April 1995, both in the Washington, DC area, plus a show by Nik Turner. 

Drugs.  With the opening track on Electric Tepee named “LSD”, it’s no secret or surprise what the band’s drug of choice is.  Put the band up with Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead in terms of being “drug-orientated band, you can trust us…”  Having said that, I can still enjoy much of their material even without any chemical enhancement. 

Influences.  Monster Magnet have covered “Brainstorm” and “The Right Stuff”, and I saw a recent pic of Mikael Akerfeldt – the charismatic frontman for Swedish prog-metallers, Opeth – wearing an In Search of Space t-shirt.  Maybe they deserve more credit, relative to Black Sabbath, for the stoner rock genre.  

The Time of the Hawklords

Music and science fiction meet in this semi-fun 70s novel by Michael Moorcock and Michael Butterworth.  Moorcock seems to disavow his role writing this book – perhaps out of embarrassment – but if it was Butterworth’s writing, he did an excellent job of copying Moorcock’s style.

The “classic” lineup of Hawkwind from the mid-70s is here, albeit with slightly alternate identities: Baron Brock (Dave Brock), Thunder Rider (Nik Turner), Count Motorhead (Lemmy, generally referred to as Lemmy anyway), Lord Rudolph the Black (Paul Rudolph), The Hound Master (Sandor Clegane….er… Simon King, drummer), The Sonic Prince (Simon House, keyboardist), Earth Mother (Stacia, though generally simply referred to as Stacia), Astral Al (Alan Powell), Liquid Len (Jonathan Smeeton), Captain Calvert (Bob Calvert), The Acid Sorceror (Moorcock), and Actonium Doug (Doug Smith).  Remarkably, they all have fairly equal roles, though Calvert is a late arrival to the story.  All are portrayed fairly sympathetically.   Sorry to disappoint, but Stacia does not have sex with anyone.

A mysterious death ray is weakening and killing the remaining population of London and the rest of the planet, which appears to be in a state of post-capitalist decay, though no signs of nuclear holocaust, more like simply the inevitable cumulative effect of decades of wanton abuse of the planet by the usual neglect by the thoughtless modern society.  Hawkwind’s music, when played live, has the effect of countering the ray’s effects, but only temporarily, and the band can’t play continuously – even with the usual expected array of chemical assistance.  

The “straights” and establishment authority figures are immune to the death ray and adversely affected by Hawkwind’s music – so much so that the band develops “music guns” to protect themselves.  The forces of evil, such as they are, are led by Mephis; uncertain as to whether he’s simply the most powerful “straight” or an actual devil or demon.  Moreover, it turns out that the band members are in fact reincarnations of previous champions from ancient times – does this sound familiar, Elric readers? – with special powers, i.e. Hawklords, even Stacia herself.   For his part, Mephis does seem to have similar powers, so maybe he was a “devil.”  Anyhow.

Ultimately the story winds down to a climactic battle between the Hawklords and their lesser allies vs. Mephis and his legions of soldiers and straights.  It’s 60% “classic Moorcock” and 40% Hawkwind, so I’d say the mix is fairly well done.  However, I can’t say the story is compelling enough to appeal to anyone who isn’t a Hawkwind fan.  On the other hand, if you’re a Hawkwind fan AND a fan of Moorcock, I can’t see any compelling reason NOT to read this story.  It’s not very long, it’s fairly easy to read, and as moderately enjoyable as any of Moorcock’s other fiction.