Dik Mik

Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock. They are also regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes.

Many musicians, dancers and writers have worked with the band since their inception. Notable musicians who have performed in Hawkwind include Lemmy, Ginger Baker, Robert Calvert, Nik Turner and Huw Lloyd-Langton. However, the band are most closely associated with their founder, singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Brock, who is the only remaining original member.

Hawkwind are best known for the song "Silver Machine", which became a number-three UK hit single in 1972, but they scored further hit singles with "Urban Guerrilla" (another Top 40 hit) and "Shot Down in the Night". The band had a run of twenty-two of their albums charting in the UK from 1971 to 1993.

History

1969: formation

Dave Brock and Mick Slattery had been in the London-based psychedelic band Famous Cure, and a meeting with bassist John Harrison revealed a mutual interest in electronic music which led the trio to embark upon a new musical venture together. Seventeen-year-old drummer Terry Ollis replied to an advert in a music weekly, while Nik Turner and Michael "Dik Mik" Davies, old acquaintances of Brock, offered help with transport and gear, but were soon pulled into the band.

Gatecrashing a local talent night at the All Saints Hall, Notting Hill, they were so disorganised as to not even have a name, opting for "Group X" at the last minute, nor any songs, choosing to play an extended 20-minute jam on the Byrds' "Eight Miles High". BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was in the audience and was impressed enough to tell event organiser, Douglas Smith, to keep an eye on them. Smith signed them up and got them a deal with Liberty Records on the back of a deal he was setting up for Cochise.

The band settled on the name "Hawkwind" after briefly being billed as "Group X" and "Hawkwind Zoo".

An Abbey Road session took place recording demos of " Hurry on Sundown" and others (included on the remasters version of ''Hawkwind''), after which Slattery left to be replaced by Huw Lloyd-Langton, who had known Brock from his days working in a music shop selling guitar strings to Brock, then a busker.

1970–1975: United Artists era

Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor was brought in to produce the 1970 debut album ''Hawkwind''. Although it was not a commercial success, it did bring them to the attention of the UK underground scene, which found them playing free concerts, benefit gigs, and festivals. Playing free outside the Bath Festival, they encountered another Ladbroke Grove based band, the Pink Fairies, who shared similar interests in music and recreational activities; a friendship developed which led to the two bands becoming running partners and performing as "Pinkwind". Their use of drugs, however, led to the departure of Harrison, who did not partake, to be replaced briefly by Thomas Crimble (about July 1970–March 1971). Crimble played on a few BBC sessions before leaving to help organise the Glastonbury Free Festival 1971; he sat in during the band's performance there. Lloyd-Langton also quit, after a bad LSD trip at the Isle of Wight Festival led to a nervous breakdown.

Their follow-up album, 1971's ''In Search of Space'', brought greater commercial success, reaching number 18 on the UK album charts. This album offered a refinement of the band's image and philosophy courtesy of graphic artist Barney Bubbles and underground press writer Robert Calvert, as depicted in the accompanying ''Hawklog'' booklet, which would be further developed into the ''Space Ritual'' stage show. Science fiction author Michael Moorcock and dancer Stacia also started contributing to the band. Dik Mik had left the band, replaced by sound engineer Del Dettmar, but chose to return for this album giving the band two electronics players. Bass player Dave Anderson, who had been in the German band Amon Düül II, had also joined and played on the album but departed before its release because of personal tensions with some other members of the band. Anderson and Lloyd-Langton then formed the short-lived band Amon Din. Meanwhile, Ollis quit, unhappy with the commercial direction the band were heading in.

The addition of bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and drummer Simon King propelled the band to greater heights. One of the early gigs the band played was a benefit for the Greasy Truckers at The Roundhouse on 13 February 1972. A live album of the concert, ''Greasy Truckers Party'', was released, and after re-recording the vocal, a single, "Silver Machine", was also released, reaching number three in the UK charts. This generated sufficient funds for the subsequent album ''Doremi Fasol Latido'' Space Ritual tour. The show featured dancers Stacia and Miss Renee typically performing either topless or wearing only body paint, mime artist Tony Carrera and a light show by Liquid Len and was recorded on the elaborate package ''Space Ritual''. At the height of their success, in 1973, the band released the single "Urban Guerrilla", which coincided with an IRA bombing campaign in London, so the BBC
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