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Dave
Brock, will on 28th May, become the first artist to play all four phases
of Friars with seminal space rock band Hawkwind. The styles have varied
over the years but science fiction themes have always run through their
work. Their work falls in to distinct eras and everyone has their
favourite. Commercially at least, their golden era was the early to mid
1970s when they hit the heights with the timeless Silver Machine and had a
number of Top Ten albums. As they prepare to come back to Aylesbury, Dave
took some time out on the way to their Southampton gig in May 2011 to
speak to the Friars website.
Dave, thanks for talking to the
Friars Aylesbury website, we’re very much looking forward to the gig next
Saturday.
We’ve waited a long time to welcome
Hawkwind back to Friars and you are the only band to have played all four
venues, something which may never be challenged! You played the first time
in 1970 and it was quite different at the time for Friars billed as a
‘special electronic concert’. There wasn’t too much of that type of
'experimental' music at the time apart from the 'obvious' such as Pink
Floyd or the very early ELP?
I suppose so, I think we called it psychedelic prog rock!
A good way of describing it! Right
at the start, with your roots in the influential Ladbroke Grove scene of
the late 1960s with the busking, what did you see as your influences when
you were starting Hawkwind?
I don’t know – I don’t think we had any influences really…I guess
maybe early psychedelic music. I was doing all sorts when I started,
playing guitars with echo units and the like on top…
So you were always trying to break
new ground musically….
Yes, with repetitive riffs! We always got slagged off in the
music press..oh that’s Hawkwind, they can only play in one key!
When Hawkwind were bursting out of
London and the free festival scene... by the time you played Friars again
in 1972, you were being tagged as the people’s band. Is that how you saw
yourselves or as an underground band or both?
Both actually. We did free festivals for the White Panther Party
(anti racist group) and various charities.
The free festival scene was starting
to spread beyond London and you were a big part of that weren’t you?
Oh yeah, we carried on doing that through the 70s, 80s and 90s –
we did a lot of free festivals. We used to do them every two weeks going
round the country. These festivals were often set up as craft shows with
music. People trying to sell their stuff while the music was on. Quite
arty. But there were a lot of drugs unfortunately. At festivals here this
(drugs) carried on till the 90s with the rave culture.
If we talk about the classic free
festival era, if we look at the giant Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, this
seems to be to be a turning point in the free festival movement so to
speak.
The Isle of Wight Festival was huge and we played outside in a
canvas dome shaped thing and we played the festival last year in exactly
the same spot where we played first time with our Hawkfest! The local golf
course freaked out as it had visions of people running naked across the
golf course! There were about 1500 people in a family orientated festival.
The 1970 one had about 650,000 people. I have a photo, eight feet long
joined together of the entire festival and only then can you take in how
big it was.
Funnily enough, some people coming to see us play tonight (in
Southampton) run the Dimbola Lodge museum on the Isle of Wight and they
have memorabilia to do with the
Isle of Wight festivals and we have had our pictures taken with
Jimi Hendrix! If you go the Isle of Wight, this museum is worth a visit.
You mentioned Hawkfest and how the
local golf club perceived your audience as running naked round the course,
so how did you as a band react when a certain 6’2” lady (the unforgettable
Stacia) turned up at your gigs and ended up joining the band?
Taking your clothes off and dancing naked was taken as a symbol
of freedom. It was that age when women took off their clothes and burned
their bras to be free. Lots of people used to wonder round naked. You have
to remember this was the era when people also dressed in bright coloured
clothes. A lot of this was down to LSD, which opened peoples minds and
made them a bit more artistic and changed their way of thinking (laughs)
That’s putting it nicely! The early
to mid 70s line up of the band achieved considerable notice, most
obviously with the iconic Silver Machine. It’s interesting to me how you
now might see the reaction to Urban Guerilla today (banned single from
1973) with a 2011 head on - do you see it as just bad timing with what
was happening in Britain at the time or an over-reaction by the BBC?
Well nothing’s changed, but yes it was an over-reaction by the
BBC. The words of the song reflected what was happening in society then
and they do now. Nothing’s changed. We wanted to stop all this and come
together.
A friend of mine who was there has
told me about The Greasy Truckers gig from 1972 (legendary Roundhouse gig
with Hawkwind, Man and Brinsley Schwarz and Friars DJ Andy Dunkley) and
album. Although the album was a limited edition, this did seem to help put
your name out there didn’t it?
I don’t think it did. Yes it was a limited edition but there were
several reprints which I don’t think should have happened but the money
went to the organisation. But we got Silver Machine off that album and
after that yes we had Top 10 albums and went off to America and played
huge auditoriums.
With all the success and the Top
Ten albums, we had to wait and finally got you coming back to Friars in
December 1976 around the Astounding Sounds album (there’s pictures on the
website). The following year’s Quark Strangeness and Charms album, this
was the one that saw you open up to a wider audience even forming to an
extent an alliance with punks who accepted you. Would you see it like
this?
Yes – the funny thing round that time, when we did the
Hawklords…...
I was going to ask you about that –
it wasn’t long after that you formed the Hawklords, this was presumably
meant to be a totally different project to Hawkwind or complementing it?
It was an extension to Hawkwind really. It cost us a lot of money
to get it together. But John Lydon came to see us when he was in the Sex
Pistols….
It seemed at the time, a lot of the
punks were saying we don’t like the old guard, but Hawkwind are OK.
Yes, we always wrote about society (which obviously struck a
chord)
As I mentioned, you are the only
band to have played all four phases of Friars Aylesbury…… this leads to me
to ask what do you think sums up Hawkwind’s longevity? Between this
upcoming performance and the last appearance in 1976 you’ve released the
best part of 25 albums including the most recent Blood of the Earth which
is a great piece of work. After 40 years, what still makes you tick as a
band and retain that loyal following?
It’s fun! It does get a bit harder as you get older. We have a
couple of albums worth of material we’ve recorded. And the band sound
alright and they are an interesting bunch of characters. We’ve got Mr Dibs
and Richard Chadwick has been our drummer for 22 years.
There aren’t many bands after forty
years still going retaining a loyal following and gaining new followers on
the way whilst making new music.
The kids of the audiences have grown up and now go to the gigs
with their parents – they listen to their parents’ record collections and
think this isn’t bad – I’m going with dad!
We were talking earlier about being
accepted by the punks. John Lydon is on record as saying that Hawkwind are
an influence, but there are clearly influences on other acts and as much
as I don’t like musical tags, let’s say trance or space rock, say The Orb
or Ozric Tentacles. You must see these influences?
I guess so – it’s quite nice to get accolade for doing out stuff.
Musicians get their bands together and go off on their own courses, and I
don’t mean just The Orb or Ozric Tentacles. Even some big name bands have
covered out stuff. Primal Scream covered Urban Guerilla last year.
That still makes Hawkwind relevant
doesn’t it?
I think it’s quite a nice thing.
We’ll see in in Aylesbury next week
– the reports from the show are amazing – we can expect spaceships,
stiltwalkers and all sorts can’t we?
It’s part of a show – we try to entertain people – escapism!
Thanks very much for your time Dave,
see you on the 28th!
This
interview and its content are © 2011 Mike
O'Connor/www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk and may not be used in whole or in part
without permission. |
