Night Hawks

Night Hawks

Here on this page in both text and graphical format. I’m not sure of its provenance – this looks like a reproduction from a fanzine, circa Spring 1984. It was in amongst a huge haul of stuff I inherited from Dave of the Hawkwind Museum (ta matey!) Look out for an uncharacteristically vicious quote from Nik “Love & Peace” Turner.

And for those with extended focal length due to the onset of middle age, here it is again in text, which ought to be easier on the peepers...

Hawkwind’s Nik Turner and Dave Brock, living proof that old rockers never die, they just keep on making good music.

You have a new single out called “Night Of The Hawks”, what’s it about?

Dave: “The actual words to the song are about the Stonehenge Festival that we always play at.”

Why do you always play there?

Dave: “Because we can’t get any other gigs (laughs). It’s a free gig and it’s the biggest festival in England. I think one of the reasons we like to play there is because it certainly is interesting. The thing occurs on the 21st of June, it’s the Summer Solstice and it’s traditionally a celebration day. I think that Stonehenge is a place of mythological and religious historical importance. The is a movement to rekindle the pagan religions in this country because Christianity is going out the window. It’s very obvious with the closing down of so many churches in this country. In America religion is moving on to television and it’s one of the biggest selling things out.”

Worshipping the box in the corner?

Nik: “I saw some fantastic article about some guy who’s got a religious TV programme who’s built an amazing crystal cathedral which he broadcasts from.”

I hear that Hawkwind are mega in the States these days.

Nik: “We didn’t hear that.”

Dave: “Actually we went over there to do some radio interviews at Christmas and everybody’s heard of the band. We haven’t been over there since 1978 - there’s a lot of people into the band, it’s just a matter of us touring there really.”

Huw Lloyd-Langton had a single and an album released recently, a sort of solo project and I believe you have as well, Dave?

Dave: “Well, I had a solo single, but that was just mucking around to keep my hand in.”

I take it that your heart isn’t really in the solo projects and [it] really [is for] Hawkwind?

Dave: “Oh yeah, Hawkwind is the mainstay of everything. The one that Huw’s done was actually recorded in a pub on a cassette – that’s probably why the quality is none too good.”

A lot of people will be aware of Hawkwind but only really die-hard fans will...

Dave: “Dead hard fans!”

...have a previous history knowledge of the band. How did it all start?

Dave: “Funny you should mention this, on tour at the moment we have a book we’re selling at the concerts, that we’ve been trying to get out for years, which goes through the whole history – it’s very good. It’s a paperback, it reads like a novel. You know the Furry Freak Brothers comic? It reads like that.”

How is the British tour doing at the moment?

Dave: “Only the other day Nik had his clothes torn off. In Birmingham, belive it or not, he actually had his clothes torn off by young ladies in the audience. It’s terrifying and it’s true. We didn’t get one article in a paper.”

Nik: “No press, no nothing.”

And I never saw you in the Male Sex Objects chart in Sounds, how strange!

Nik: “I thought it was recorded on 24-track at Strawberry...”

Dave: “No, not on there, Huw’s solo album was recorded on a cassette, it’s an actual bootleg.”

Do people bootleg Hawkwind concerts a lot?

Dave: “Yeah, extremely – a lot.”

Does that annoy you?

Dave: “Well, it does. I mean, at the moment there are three bootleg albums out and the guy who has actually done the recording, we have got his address and we will be after him because he has sold quite a lot. He sells them for ten quid each.”

Nik: “I wouldn’t mind if we got something out of it. We don’t really mind who puts our stuff out, but if we’re getting ripped off because they’re making a lot of money out of it and we’re not, we say we ought to break their fingers and their legs.”

Dave: “Well, they won’t be able to walk to the bank any more.”