Hawkfest 2008 - by Graham P

Hawkfest 2008 - by Graham P

Thanks to Graham P, the same gent who brought you all the 'Music from the Hawkwind family tree'

reviews, for the text and photos on this page...

An altogether more enjoyable experience than 2007: the weather was fabulous, the selection of bands more diverse and more interesting, and we got to see more of Hawkwind (Dave Brock on stage three times). All the facilities, including the space and time stages, bars, stalls and luxury loos were all clustered together in a fairly compact arrangement. I was staying off site (visiting family) so missed some events but most of what I did see was well worth it.

Friday: I arrived in time to catch most of Richard Chadwick´s DJ set, which I would have to characterise as worthy but dull – a mix of ambient, soft rock and death metal and no between song chat from the DJ. Tribe of Cro are pretty much a Hawfest fixture but their angular and unstructured psychedelia doesn´t move me but Spacehead (or TOSH as they have effectively become) did the business and Huw Lloyd Langton´s set promised much, not least because the stage was set for a

band performance. Huw appears physically smaller every time he plays and his singing has been reduced to a semi-spoken rasp. The solo acoustic spot (kicking off with the Kinks´“Death Of A Clown” and taking in “Wind Of Change”, “Fur Kirsty”, “5th Second Of Forever (intro)” and “Hurry On Sundown” was well-received but things livened up dramatically when Dave, Dibs, Tim and Keith (plus Spacehead´s drummer) joined in and Dave took over lead vocals. Huw strapped on an electric guitar –although his playing was barely audible from in front of the stage– for “Waiting For Tomorrow” and “Moonglum”, the former a credible version but the latter, although very welcome, not a patch on the rousing Black Sword era performances or indeed those of the early 2000s band. The Hawks departed the stage, leaving Huw, Keith and the drummer to perform a barely recognisable “Rocky Paths”. Marion came out to dance. Tim Blake´s solo set followed, starting off with the elegant, plangent synth sounds we know and love, using sequencers, fixed keyboards and his trusty synth-axe but after 10 minutes of this my attention was drifting and, mindful of the need to drive home, I decided to call it a day.

Saturday: The first order of the day was the Starfighters. Later research (thanks Nick) suggests that the rhythm section (Jaime Cortinas on bass and Lugi Michael on drums) is original (“although they were just young lads then”) and somewhere along the line they seem to have acquired Gollum lookalike Dr Maya on vocals and Freewheeling Franklin (Greg Courtney) on lead guitar (sorry guys, no offence intended). Jaime played occasional synth to fill out

the no frills guitar-bass-drums sound. They look particularly scuzzy, especially Dr Maya - who cackled like a maniac and drooled facepaint onto the stage for most of the set but if some of the performances lacked subtlety and finesse, most of the material was beyond reproach. The band evidently appreciated the humour of the spoken routines and seemed to get off on the enthusiasm of the crowd - and personally I enjoyed every minute of the set, which took in “Spirit Of The Age”, “Assassins of Allah” and a fair chunk of the Captain Lockheed album - “Catch A Falling Starfighter”, “Song Of The Gremlin”, “Ground Control To Pilot”, “Aerospaceage Inferno”, “The Right Stuff” and “Ejection”. They encored with “Orgone Accumulator”. There was also one (not bad) song I didn´t recognise, which I think was their own “OM Shiva” (it is on their Myspace website.) Whatever, they are keeping Bob Calvert´s music alive and good luck to them.

Omnia Opera are as shouty and hectoring as they were in 2007 and if your attention was drifting, you might have noticed two topless women wandering

through the tent, apparently in a blatant and reasonably successful attempt to drum up interest in Syren. Who are a three piece all female band, fronted by Erin, a brassy blond native of Las Vegas, and backed by an all English rhythm section and their set was thoroughly enjoyable. Edgy songs about relationships with percussive acoustic guitar and suppressed violence in the vocals and some impressively fluid fretless bass, courtesy of Amanda - whose non-stop movement around the stage were also eye-catching. Only the crew went topless. Several tunes stuck around and a later visit to their website (look for “Syrenband” since “Syren” takes you to a different sort of link) and subsequent purchase of the album, “Dehumanised”) did not disappoint. I caught the end of the set by Familiar Looking Strangers, apparently all sunny west coast harmonies and duelling guitars. They looked and sounded slick and should go far. [Where did you have in mind, Graham?]

The main event was good enough, scheduled in the child- and oldie-friendly mid-evening 8-10 slot. The current five piece Hawkwind were well-rehearsed. Dave was energetic and enthused and only the lack of new material (unless you count Tim´s mainly solo new age piece “St. Dolay” in the middle) really disappointed. You could quibble too about the medleys. Nothing actually wrong with them but whole songs would be better! “Orgone Accumulator” as usual included a verse of “You Know You´re Only Dreaming” and the welcome appearance of “Magnu” had part of “Brainbox Pollution” spliced into the middle of it. Also dusted off for rare appearances were the excellent “Right To Decide” and “Who´s Gonna Win The War”.

“Arrival in Utopia”, “Damnation Alley”, “Spirit Of The Age”, “Paradox”, “Flying Doctor”, “Lighthouse”, “Sonic Attack”, “Time We Left”, “Right Stuff” and “Silver Machine” were all present and correct. “Assassins of Allah” was back (as is the “Space Is Their” interlude). Dibs did “The Black Corridor”, “The Awakening” (over the top of “Splashfin”) and “Abducted”. Gone from the set and not much missed were the other TMTYL tracks, “Robot” and the lacklustre new song, “Space Love”. Unfortunately “Alien I Am” and “Infinity” were also dropped. They did seem to run out of steam a bit in places but the sound in general was superb, the dancers were never embarrassing and the lights were excellent. The entertainment continued long after the Hawks were offstage and safely tucked up in bed but I figured it couldn´t get any better and drove home again.

Sunday: I missed the question session due to arriving late. Flutatious´s rocked up folk was suitably rousing, especially the front line of woodwind and fiddle, although better without the bass player´s vocals. Bushplant´s take on the same genre was decidedly less welcome – lumpen rock beats tending to smother the folk sensibilities. Bruise attracted a good crowd to the Time Stage and did their rather prosaic and earnest singer songwriter folk rock stuff rather well, all dressed fetchingly in white. The last song, “Silvertown” (so

good it´s on both their CDs) clinched it for me. Is Isobel Morris the next Suzanne Vega?

In the Whoopee Band slot this year were Tragic Roundabout, who played old (and possibly new) dance tunes with a line-up that included clarinet, accordion and banjo. Less clichéd than the Whoopee Band they also lack their slick repartee. The dance competition was less than inspiring but they had the balls to play “The Wombling Song”, a first for Hawfest, I would think! Last year Dave came and listened to Bob Kerr. This time he did briefly stand at the side of the tent during The Roundabout´s set. Not everyone´s cup of tea for sure but good light relief.

On the home straight now and TOSH played a blinder. Admittedly most of the time it was just Spacehead up there on stage, augmented by Tim Blake on theremin, but the other Hawks joined in at various points and they unearthed some really interesting back catalogue gems, while steering clear of songs played during the main Hawks set. “Life Form” kicked things off, followed by “Master Of The Universe” and “Void City”,

establishing a pattern of songs interspersed by instrumentals. Jason, Richard, Tim and Dave came on to play a masterful sequence of “Needle Gun”, “Golden Void” and “Psi Power”. As “Virgin Of The World” played, the Hawks left and Spacehead´s other guitarist came out for “Brainstorm”. Dave briefly joined in and left again. Jason came back on for “Infinity”, sung by Keith (who did really well this year and is surely overdue for another call up to the mothership). Then “Valium 10”, “Forge of Vulcan” and a superb “You´d Better Believe It” raised the bar – brilliant to hear these songs played live even if not by the Hawks themselves. “Ejection” closed the set, with another brief cameo from Dave, and stunning lights.

Over in the Time Tent some obnoxious masked jokers called Uncle Rotter attracted a fair crowd for some thuggish cartoon metal (“Makes you proud to be British” said Steve Starfarer, although his review suggests he enjoyed them) but back on the Space Stage, last but not least was the strange lumbering dinosaur that is Underground Zero. Now apparently led by Gil Grissom on bass and with a stand-in keyboard player, they cranked out fine versions of several of the seventies rock tunes captured on the recent “Powerplay” compilation CD. Nothing was new, some of the lyrics remained just a touch dubious (especially that spoken passage in “Forlorn and Lethal”) and the sound mix wasn´t always quite right but the songs hold up. Midnight

Horrible mask, eh? Thx to Yadnala for the pic!

struck and the planned final number (“Never Reach The Stars”) sadly never materialised but it was still an excellent way to end an outstanding festival.