Hawkwind
Hawkwind | |
---|---|
General information | |
Genre (s) | Space rock |
founding | 1969 |
Website | http://www.hawkwind.com/ |
Founding members | |
Dave Brock | |
John A. Harrison (until 1971, † 2012) | |
guitar |
Huw Lloyd-Langton (until 1971, † 2012) |
Terry Ollis (until 1972) | |
Nik Turner (until 1976) | |
Dikmik Davies (until 1974) | |
Current occupation | |
Guitar, vocals, synthesizer |
Dave Brock |
Bass, vocals |
Mr.Dibs |
Drums, vocals, theremin |
Richard Chadwick |
Synthesizer, vocals |
Tim Blake |
Guitar, synthesizer, bass |
Niall Hone |
Hawkwind is a British rock band and is considered the founder of so-called space rock , a psychedelic variety of hard rock . The band was founded in 1969 and released their first album in 1970. The founder and only constant member is guitarist Dave Brock .
The group's greatest commercial success was the top 10 single Silver Machine from 1972. Several of the band's albums were able to place in the top 50 of the English album charts. The highest ranked albums were In Search of Space (1971) at number 18, Doremi Fasol Latido (1972) at number 14, Space Ritual (1973) at number 9, Hall of the Mountain Grill (1974) at number 16, and Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975) in 13th place and Live 79 (1979) in 15th place.
Among the dozens of musicians who have belonged to the band over the years, the lyricists and singers Robert Calvert and Michael Moorcock stand out, whose themes dominate many of the group's albums. Other well-known band members are Lemmy Kilmister , who was Hawkwind's bassist from 1972 to 1975, as well as keyboardist Tim Blake and violinist Simon House , who also played in various other bands. The saxophonist Nik Turner also played a prominent role. He was part of the permanent cast from 1969 to 1976 and again in the 1980s and formed various offshoot bands such as Inner City Unit, Space Ritual or Hawklords with other Hawkwind musicians. Long-standing current members include drummer Richard Chadwick, who joined the band in 1988.
Band history
Beginnings
Singer and guitarist Dave Brock (born August 20, 1941) founded together with guitarist Mick Slattery and bassist John Harrison (1942-2012) in 1969 an initially unnamed band, to which the then 17-year-old drummer responded to a newspaper advertisement Terry Ollis came across. The band also included two friends of Brock, who initially made themselves useful as roadies and over time as musicians: Michael "Dik Mik" Davies (* 1943) on synthesizer and Nik Turner (* 1940) on saxophone and vocals.
The band's rehearsal room was in Ladbroke Grove, a neighborhood in the London borough of Notting Hill , which at the time was considered a stronghold of the hippie scene . Quintessence , Pink Fairies , T. Rex , Bubastis , Cochise , High Tide and Steamhammer also rehearsed and played there regularly .
Before performing with High Tide and Skin Alley at All Saints Hall, the group named themselves Group X, but soon changed it to Hawkwind Zoo and, on advice from John Peel , shortened it to Hawkwind. The group made numerous appearances in the London acid scene of the time.
United Artists 1970-75
During the recording of the band's first LP of the same name produced by Dick Taylor , guitarist Slattery got out and was replaced by guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton (1951–2012). The first LP was not a commercial success, but it brought the group enough notoriety to play at festivals outside of London. At the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music it came together with the Pink Fairies ; A lively cooperation developed between the bands, which culminated in joint concerts as Pinkwind and to which later there were further personal ties.
The excessive drug use led to a brisk change in the line-up. Guitarist Lloyd-Langton left the group due to drug problems. Bassist Harrison was first replaced by Thomas Crimble from Skin Alley, later Dave Anderson from Amon Düül II . The author and street theater artist Robert Calvert joined as a singer . With this line-up, the group played their second album, In Search of Space , produced by George Chkiantz in 1971 . Barney Bubbles (1942–1983) was responsible for the graphic design of the album , whose reputation as a cover designer was based on this and later Hawkwind albums and who also shaped the rest of the visual appearance of the band. The album reached number 18 on the UK LP charts.
Soon after the recording, Terry Ollis and Dave Anderson left the band. Anderson left the band after eight months because of different musical views and formed a band called Amon Din, who u. a. also include Huw Lloyd-Langton (guitar) and John Lingwood (drums). The new musicians were the drummer Simon King (* 1950) and on bass Lemmy Kilmister , who had previously played guitar in the beat combo The Rockin 'Vickers. Dik Mik also left the band and was replaced by keyboardist Del Dettmar (* 1947). When Dik Mik did return to the group, they stayed with two keyboardists for the time being. At that time, the group began their long-term collaboration with the author Michael Moorcock (* 1939), whose texts have inspired numerous Hawkwind publications, and with the dancer Stacia Blake (* 1952), who contributed to the band's stage show until 1975.
The band had a respectable hit in 1972 with Silver Machine , which reached number 3 in the British and number 1 in the Swiss charts. The success enabled the rapid recording of the studio album Doremi Fasol Latido as well as the Space Ritual Tour , during which a live album was recorded in 1973, which also reached chart positions. The next single, Urban Guerilla , entered the English charts at number 39, but was no longer played on the radio because of simultaneous attacks.
Almost every subsequent album featured a different line-up for the band. Dik Mik and Robert Calvert left the group in 1973. Since Dettmar announced his retirement, they signed the violinist and keyboardist Simon House (* 1948) from High Tide , who toured North America with Hawkwind and also in 1974 for the recordings of Hall of the Mountain Grill participated. Alan Powell (* 1948) joined the band as a replacement for the temporarily prevented drummer Simon King, but stayed on as the second drummer, while Del Dettmar finally left.
The last album recorded with Lemmy, Warrior on the Edge of Time from 1975, is based on a story by Michael Moorcock. On a subsequent North American tour, Lemmy was detained at the Canadian border for drug possession and fired from the band because of the resulting delays. He then achieved greater fame with his own band Motörhead , named after a song he wrote for Hawkwind. He was replaced at Hawkwind by Paul Rudolph (* 1947) from the Pink Fairies, while their guitarist Larry Wallis joined Motörhead.
After a guest appearance at the Reading Festival in 1975, Robert Calvert returned firmly to the band. Dancer Stacia left the group, later married the musician Roy Dyke ( Ashton, Gardner & Dyke ) and is now an artist in Ireland.
Charisma 1976-78
While the band had been under contract with United Artists since 1970 , they switched to Charisma Records in 1976 , where the first album Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music was created. In contrast to earlier recordings with Robert Calvert, where he mostly only performed texts to futuristic sounds, Calvert was involved in this album as a lyricist and full-fledged singer. The album reached number 33 in the UK charts.
For various reasons, Dave Brock and Robert Calvert fell out during the subsequent recordings with Nik Turner and Paul Rudolph. Turner then founded the Inner City Unit group. For Paul Rudolph came bassist Adrian Shaw, with whom Hawkwind recorded the album Quark, Strangeness and Charm in 1977 , which reached number 30 in the British charts. In 1978 the album PXR 5 followed , but it was not released until the following year and reached number 59 in the English charts.
When Simon House was called to tour with David Bowie , he left Hawkwind to work with Bowie on a long-term basis. Various problems by Robert Calvert led to the cancellation of two tours. In 1978 Dave Brock even officially broke up the band for a time.
Hawklords 1978/79
In 1978 Brock and Calvert formed the Hawklords formation together with bassist Harvey Bainbridge (* 1949), drummer Martin Griffin and keyboardist Steve Swindells (* 1952). Under this group name they recorded the album 25 Years On and then went on a tour. After that, the occupation largely dispersed again. Robert Calvert withdrew to literary ambitions, Steve Swindells recorded a solo LP for ATCO .
Festival years
Again under the name Hawkwind, guitarist Brock, bassist Bainbridge and the newly joined former members Huw Lloyd-Langton (guitar) and Simon King (drums) as well as keyboardist Tim Blake (* 1952), who had previously been with Gong, went on tour in late 1979. Bronze Records offered to publish the tour recordings on the album Live 79 . The album reached number 15 on the English album charts.
During the subsequent recordings for the album Levitation , Ginger Baker was on drums for Simon King. The album reached number 21 on the English album charts. Baker, who was originally only hired for the album recordings, also joined the group for a tour, during which Keith Hale took the place of keyboardist for Tim Blake. Baker and Hale left the group in 1981.
Dave Brock and Harvey Bainbridge now shared guitar and bass as well as synthesizers and sequencers among themselves and reunited with lyricist and singer Michael Moorcock. King and Griffin took turns on drums, but the later drummer of The Cure , Andy Anderson (* 1951), Robert Heaton (1961-2004) , who later worked for New Model Army , and other drummers could also be heard in quick succession . At the time, the group recorded the albums Sonic Attack , Church of Hawkwind and Choose Your Masques for RCA Records . On the latter album from 1982 Nik Turner took part on the saxophone again, as well as keyboardist Philipp "Dead Fred" Reeves, whom Turner had brought with him from the Inner City Unit. Hawkwind were 1,981 headlining the Glastonbury Festival and 1982 at Monsters of Rock .
In 1984 the young bassist Alan Davey (* 1963) joined the band, whereupon Bainbridge switched from bass to synthesizer, replacing Reeves, who returned to Inner City Unit with Turner. Danny Thompson came on as drummer.
1985 appeared with the album Chronicle of the Black Sword , a musical adaptation of Moorcock's Elric saga, whereby Moorcock only appeared sporadically on the following tour. The studio album was only in the English album charts for two weeks and reached number 65. The live album Live Chronicles was released for the tour , and the band also performed as a headliner at the Reading Festival with the Chronicles material. After the recordings for the album The Xenon Codex , which reached number 79 in the English album charts, Lloyd-Langton left the band.
Orientation towards America
For the album Space Bandits (1990) Simon House was won over as violinist and with Bridget Wishart (* 1962) a singer was involved for the first time. In Richard Chadwick, a long-standing permanent drummer was found from 1988.
From the late 1980s, the band completed several successful American tours and increasingly focused their activities on North America. After the 1991 album Palace Springs House and Wishart left the band, which then recorded four albums as a trio (Brock, Davey, Chadwick) starting in 1992 with Electric Teepee . The 1995 album White Zone is almost entirely electronic and instrumental. The group chose the band name Psychedelic Warriors.
In 1995 the singer Ron Tree was added for the album Alien 4 . The live album Love in Space , released in 1996, was recorded on the following tour . Then bassist Davey left the band for several years. Singer Ron Tree took over the bass. For the recordings of the albums Distant Horizons and Hawkwind in Your Area (1998) Jerry Richards worked as the second guitarist.
Anniversaries and Hawkfest
For the band's 30th anniversary in 2000, around 20 Hawkwind musicians met under Dave Brock as Hawkestra at the Brixton Academy. One of the guest musicians was Samantha Fox , who had already recorded a cover version of Gimme Shelter with Hawkwind in 1993 and now gave Master of the Universe for the best on the occasion of the anniversary . Further anniversary appearances in changing line-ups followed, with Nik Turner also appearing with a loose formation, including Mick Slattery, Thomas Crimble and Terry Ollis, under the name xHawkwind.com, but later had to change the band name to Space Ritual for legal reasons.
In 2002 the band held the band's own Hawkfest festival in Devon for the first time . In 2005 the Hawkwind core from Brock, Davey and Chadwick recorded the album Take Me to Your Leader with various musicians . In 2007 the BBC produced a four-hour documentary about the band.
In the same year 2007 bassist Davey left the band again to devote himself to his bands Gunslinger and Thunor. He was replaced by Mr. Dibs, Niall Hone has been on tour with Tim Blake in 2008 as additional bassist and guitarist. With Jon Sevink from The Levellers , a violinist came back more often from 2009. The Hawkfest 2010 took place on the Isle of Wight for the 40th anniversary of the band .
present
In 2012 the 25th studio album Onward was released by Eastworld Recordings. In addition to new pieces, it also contains new recordings of older titles. Jason Stuart (1968–2008) can be heard again on some tracks on the album. From 2005 until his death he occasionally appeared as the band's keyboardist. In 2013, the studio album Stellar Variations was released under the band name Hawkwind Light Orchestra .
In addition to Dave Brock's current Hawkwind formation, there are numerous joint side projects by Hawkwind musicians. A loose formation around Harvey Bainbridge, Nik Turner and Ron Tree has been under the name Hawklords for several years and released a new album in 2012. The band Space Ritual, led by Nik Turner, with Terry Ollis, Del Dettmar and other former Hawkwind musicians, has produced several live CDs since 2001, but also a studio CD in 2007. In 2019, former bassist Alan Davey brought nine former band members back together and released the album The Future Is Us under the name Hawkestrel in August of that year .
style
Due to the frequently changing line-ups, the group’s music is received differently. Hawkwind is generally regarded as a classic representative of space rock , whose musical features such as repetitive rock riffs with synthesizer surfaces and futuristic sound patterns, in addition to synthesizers also by Nik Turner's saxophone, often alienated with effects, or in later years using a Kaoss pad Most of the band's releases apply. Some parts of their oeuvre can also be referred to as psychedelic rock or simply hard rock . In addition, spoken texts to futuristic sounds have always been part of Hawkwind's repertoire.
Lyrically, Hawkwind mainly offered statements about their own sensitivities on their first albums ( Be Yourself , Paranoia , We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago ). Texts with an extraterrestrial or mythological perspective were soon added ( Master of the Universe , Space Is Deep , Seven by Seven ), which, under the influence of the author Michael Moorcock , moved in the direction of the fantasy genre from the mid-1970s ( The Golden Void , Magnu ). Moorcock's best-known work, the Elric saga , was made into the concept album Chronicles of the Black Sword by Hawkwind in 1985 . Robert Calvert's lyrics from his phase as the band's copywriter in the late 1970s often have ironic content related to science fiction ( Spirit of the Age , Quark, Strangeness and Charm , Robot , Uncle Sam's on Mars ). Last but not least, many texts also have a direct reference to drugs ( Reefer Madness , Flying Doctor , LSD ). Numerous other references can be made out in Hawkwind's texts. The title of their album It's the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous is a quote from the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead , the song Damnation Alley is based on a book by Roger Zelazny , the instrumental Iron Dream was named after a book by Norman Spinrad .
The visual appearance of Hawkwind goes back to Barney Bubbles (1942–1983), who designed the covers of the group's first LPs and their posters. His reputation as a cover designer is based on these designs, he later worked for numerous other artists, including Elvis Costello , The Damned and Ian Dury .
The visual appearance of the group has always included a psychedelic light and stage show. The programmatic statement can already be found in the notes on the first album
"We started out trying to freak people (trippers), now we are trying to levitate their minds, in a nice way, without acid, and ultimately a completely audio-visual thing. Using a complex of electronics, lights and environmental experiences. "
In addition to the dancer Stacia, who has been part of the permanent cast for years, other dancers or fire artists were often part of the stage show. The musicians often appeared masked or disguised.
Discography
Albums
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK | US | |||
1971 | In Search of Space |
UK18th
gold
(19 weeks)UK |
- | |
1972 | Doremi Fasol Latido |
UK14 (5 weeks) UK |
- | |
1973 | Space Ritual, Alive in Liverpool and London |
UK9
silver
(5 weeks)UK |
US179 (8 weeks) US |
Live double album
|
1974 | Hall of the Mountain Grill |
UK16
silver
(5 weeks)UK |
US110 (12 weeks) US |
|
1975 | Warrior on the Edge of Time |
UK13
silver
(8 weeks)UK |
US150 (5 weeks) US |
|
1976 | Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music |
UK33 (5 weeks) UK |
- | |
1977 | Quark, Strangeness and Charm |
UK30 (6 weeks) UK |
- | |
1979 | PXR 5 |
UK59 (5 weeks) UK |
- | |
1980 | Live Seventy Nine |
UK50 (7 weeks) UK |
- | |
1980 | Levitation |
UK21 (4 weeks) UK |
- | |
1981 | Sonic Attack |
UK19 (5 weeks) UK |
- | |
1982 | Church of Hawkwind |
UK26 (6 weeks) UK |
- | |
1982 | Choose your masques |
UK29 (5 weeks) UK |
- | |
1983 | Zones |
UK57 (2 weeks) UK |
- | |
1984 | Stonehenge / This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic |
UK75 (1 week) UK |
- | |
1985 | The Chronicle of Black Sword |
UK65 (2 weeks) UK |
- | |
1988 | The Xenon Codex |
UK79 (2 weeks) UK |
- | |
1990 | Space bandits |
UK70 (1 week) UK |
- | |
1992 | Electric Tepee |
UK53 (1 week) UK |
- | |
1993 | It is the business of the future to be dangerous |
UK75 (1 week) UK |
- | |
2012 | Onward |
UK75 (1 week) UK |
- | |
2016 | The machine stops |
UK29 (1 week) UK |
- | |
2017 | Into the Woods |
UK34 (1 week) UK |
- | |
2018 | Road to Utopia |
UK44 (1 week) UK |
- | |
2019 | All Aboard the Skylark |
UK34 (1 week) UK |
- |
More albums
|
|
Compilations
year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK | US | |||
1976 | Road Hawks |
UK34
silver
(4 weeks)UK |
- |
More compilations
|
|
Singles
year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DE | AT | CH | UK | |||
1972 | Silver Machine |
DE6 (22 weeks) DE |
AT9 (4 weeks) AT |
CH1 (16 weeks) CH |
UK3 (23 weeks) UK |
|
1973 | Urban guerrilla | - | - | - |
UK39 (3 weeks) UK |
|
1980 | Shot down in the night | - | - | - |
UK59 (3 weeks) UK |
|
1984 | Night of the Hawks | - | - | - |
UK86 (2 weeks) UK |
|
1994 | Quark, Strangeness and Charm | - | - | - |
UK88 (1 week) UK |
|
2005 | Spirit of the Age | - | - | - |
UK84 (1 week) UK |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More singles
|
|
literature
- Ralf Reiter: "Goshawk with flatulence." The Spacerock chief designers Hawkwind and their forty-year soap . In: Sascha Mamczak and Wolfgang Jeschke (eds.): Das Science Fiction Jahr 2009 , Munich 2009, pp. 1111–1143. ISBN 978-3-453-52554-2
swell
- ^ Former Hawkwind bassist John Harrison passed away in Metal Hammer on June 20, 2012
- ↑ Jonathan Green: Days in the Life: Voices from the London Underground 1961-71 [1]
- ↑ Mick Wall: The Egos have landed archive link ( memento of the original from April 5, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ New Musical Express, September 25, 1971, p. 4
- ↑ NME, September 1, 1973, cited from http://www.hawkwindmuseum.co.uk/micro.htm
- ↑ NME of June 28, 1975: The Trials of Lemmy, quoted from the archive link ( Memento of the original from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ rocktimes.de - Hawkestrel: Ex-Hawkwind musicians together again , from August 3, 2019
- Jump up ↑ Reasons to Be Cheerful: The Life & Work of Barney Bubbles, 2nd edition, Paul Gorman (Adelita 2010) ISBN 978-0-9552017-4-5
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
- ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
- ↑ a b c gold / platinum databases: DE AT CH UK US
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Hawkwind at Allmusic (English)
- Hawkwind at Discogs (English)