Introduction

Inner space as much as outer space

Early Hawkwind is the sound of musical barbarians at the gate and, apart from their aberrant 'Silver Machine' single, they have never been allowed into the mainstream. Often, their outsider status has been physical as well as a state of mind. Jimi Hendrix dedicated a song to 'the cat with the silver face' at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival, and that 'cat' turned out to be Nik Turner, founding member of Hawkwind, who had painted his face with silver stars and was playing several free gigs outside the festival wall with the band in protest at the high ticket prices.

As well as being renowned for playing free gigs and festivals, Hawkwind were also initially infamous for their lack of musicianship. Most of the early band members were people who had taught themselves to play instruments (Nik Turner, Dik Mik). Some were solid players but their ideal gig was to turn up, play a freeform psychedelic rock jam (usually entitled 'Sunshine Special') for one or two hours straight through, without any breaks for applause and then leave to a standing ovation. The band was inspired by the avant- garde elements of Pink Floyd but also cite the vast krautrock movement (particularly Amon Duul II, Can and Neu) nascent in Germany at the time.

While bands come and go, the name Hawkwind carries on, producing striking music and almost representing an entire lifestyle. Always enigmatic and outside of the mainstream, most people associate Hawkwind with 'whoosh' noises, 'Silver Machine', Lemmy and the recognition that they produce something called Space Rock music. Even from the cursory glance afforded by this book, it will become clear that there is far more to this group than this long-lived but inaccurate stereotype.

Hawkwind's longevity can be ascribed to both luck and determination, but part of the secret of their long life is that they actively accept and promote change both musically and, inevitably, in personnel.

Perhaps surprisingly, one of the band's early stated aims was to create an atmosphere for the audience by combining music, lights, dance, theatre and mime that was psychedelic and tripped out without the need for illegal drugs of any kind. Most of the band members dabbled, if I can be politic, in hallucinogenic drugs to one extent or another and the tales of the band's drug intake are legendary. This has to be looked at in context, of course: the principal drug of the day, LSD, had only been criminalised by Parliament in 1966 and many people had carried on using it, particularly when it seemed that other bands had continued to use only recently illegal drugs themselves.

The band officially came together in late 1969 as Group X, mostly because they couldn't think of a name for themselves and they had a gig that night. John Peel saw them and recommended to Doug Smith that he sign a management deal with the band there and then. The band continued looking for a name and settled on Hawkwind Zoo. With that settled, they recorded their first demo consisting of three songs and Doug Smith began hawking it around various major labels. Almost immediately, the nascent Hawkwind signed contracts with Andrew Lauder's Liberty label under the name Hawkwind Zoo. However, before another note could be recorded, founding guitarist Mick Slattery suddenly departed for Morocco, wanderlust triumphing over music. In order to record an album, the band felt they required a new lead guitarist. In keeping with the times, they found one easily - a startlingly adept soloist in the form of Huw Lloyd-Langton - and they were back on the road.

At the same time, the band was attracting interest from other Ladbroke Grove/Notting Hill area creatives. Michael Moorcock, even then an iconic SF/ fantasy/literary author, was invited by South African-born poet and writer Robert Calvert to come to a Group X free concert and meet the group - both were struck by the band's chaotic maelstrom of sound. Moorcock characterised them by suggesting that 'they were like the mad crew of a long- distance spaceship who had forgotten the purpose of their mission...'

Doug Smith ran the new name past John Peel who suggested dropping the 'Zoo' part as he felt it was too American, 'too Haight Ashbury'.

Thus christened, they entered a studio with The Pretty Things' guitarist Dick Taylor as producer to record their debut album.

The Real Hawkwind

Over the years, many spurious and highly amusing explanations have been given for the Hawkwind name, ranging from the daft to the sublime. The perpetuation of various myths has always been part of the band's psychology but with the advent of two detailed biographies, the truth has re-emerged.

Hawkwind are so named because of Nik Turner. He was, and still is, infamous for his incessant farting (the 'wind') and frequent bouts of hawking up phlegm and spitting it out (the 'hawk'). Spurred on by Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon character, the band shuffled the words around and a band name was born. It helps that Nik possesses a hawk-like nose and that the hawk is both an ancient Egyptian and pagan symbol, but the fact of the matter is that farting named this band!

A Hawkwind Overview

Hawkwind are underground in more ways than one. In a remarkably familiar situation to many other bands, they are most famous for a song that they dislike and which doesn't reflect the main musical thrust of the band. 'Silver Machine' may be the only familiar piece that the general public has ever heard. This is unfortunate because, even at the time, it was regarded as a joke and, apparently, overdubbed as if it was a stereotypical Hawkwind song.

This is a shame because the band and Brock in particular, have produced some of the finest rock songs of the past half-century, songs that should be famous, songs that should be all over rock radio and played by today's buskers. 'Master Of The Universe', 'Brainstorm', 'Urban Guerilla', 'Assault And Battery', 'Quark, Strangeness And Charm', 'Hassan I Sabbah', 'Night Of The Hawks', 'Needle Gun', 'Right To Decide' and 'Love In Space' are all superbly written, largely concise and certainly innovative rock songs with playful and exciting lyrics that deserve to be heard. As it is, Hawkwind have to rely upon their undoubted influence on generations of new groups to see their legacy live on.

Describing Hawkwind has always been a tricky proposition. Originally, they were part of the underground, at whose head strode Pink Floyd, but they never really fitted into the categories that followed. Various magazines make a case for them as progressive rock but their attitude, lack of ability and musical style somewhat precludes that description. Hawkwind followed the Krautrock path of repetition and riffs rather than the intricacies, musicality and perceived bombast of the major progressive rock bands. It's fair to say that Hawkwind have almost nothing in common with ELP, Yes, Genesis and their ilk, although a resemblance to early Pink Floyd experimentation is sometimes apparent.

No, Hawkwind's free-playing, people's band mantle and brutally aggressive musicianship had much more resonance with punk rock when it arrived.

It's no coincidence that artists as diverse as Chrome, The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys and Monster Magnet have all acknowledged the profound influence the band have had on them. Sometimes musically and sometimes in attitude, Hawkwind have a pervasive influence that belies their sales figures.

Hawkwind stand as a testament to the power of the repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated riff and the joy of musical chaos and for much of that time, they have bee led by one man:

Dave Brock, The Captain

Although difficult to isolate the precise time, it's become pretty clear that Dave Brock took much of the control of the musical entity Hawkwind somewhere around 1972 with, ironically, the success of 'Silver Machine'. By co-penning their biggest hit and writing the bulk of their material at that time, he was able to declare himself as the Captain of Spaceship Hawkwind. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. The majority opinion seems to be that most bands need a leader or a dictator. Groups that rely on collective composition tend to end up in self-indulgent backwaters, exploring musical blind alleys or exploding into several pieces, all of which have afflicted Nik Turner's various musical endeavours.

The problem that has always faced Dave Brock is that some people believe he took the reins because he wanted that control. Brock, and others, suggest that someone had to take charge and, as nobody else volunteered to do it, he stepped in. Whichever is correct and, I suspect, both motivations can be interpreted as the truth, Dave Brock has undoubtedly set himself up as the figurehead (and therefore target) for anyone who wishes to throw brickbats at the band.

An argument could be made that Brock wanted to control the musical direction of the band but, given his extensive songwriting contributions, that would have happened naturally anyway.

After the gradual sidelining and then ousting (and occasional reinstatement) of co-founder Nik Turner in 1976, the band have only ever had the one continuous rock around which the band revolves, Dave Brock.

It should be noted that...