Odd Rock

Starfarer's Hawkwind Page

Odd Rock

Odd Rock is an odd title...it relates to a gig that Hawkwind played at a venue of that name in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in October 1989

Britons at Odd Rock - Milwaulkee Journal, 30/06/1989
Depsite a dizzying series of personnel changes and musical shifts, the band Hawkwind has been blowing around the globe for the last two decades. After a long period of non-productivity, Britain's prototypical acid rockers have forced their way back into the public consciousness with a new album "The Xenon Codex", and a tour that stops Sunday at the Odd Rock Cafe, 2010 S.Kinnickinnie Ave.

Founded by Dave Brock and Nik Turner in 1969 as Group X, the band developed a small but fanatic following. One writer dubbed the group "Britain's premiere stoned-freak band."

By the mid-70's Hawkwind had delved into science fiction themes, catching the imagination of sci-fi author Michael Moorcock, who wrote about the band in his 1976 novel, "The Time Of The Hawklords". The current incarnation includes two original members; lead guitarist and vocalist Brock, and guitarist Huw Lloyd Langton. Since the 1985 release of the 'Live Chronicles' LP, the lineup has also included bassist Alan Davey, keyboardist Harvey Bainbridge and drummer Danny Thompson.

F/i opens the show at 9.30pm. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door

Above: a flyer for the event. Right, the text of a press clipping dated June 1989 for a gig at the same venue, which does not seem to have gone ahead. In the Time We Left This World Today interview

there is mention of the 1989 U.S. tour having been repeatedly postponed, so this is probably what occured.

Below: the first page of the contract between the band and the venue for the gig that actually went ahead, on 3rd October 1989. There are many more pages to the contract, but most of them are legalese boilerplate.

Basically this contract commits Hawkwind to play at the venue on the specified date, for a fee of $1,500 (half payable in advance by cheque, the balance to the band on the night, in cash, before they play!) plus 80% of the takings in excess of $2,500: which would never become payable as the venue had a capacity of 150 and tickets were $10 / $12...

But you might like to see this rider (appendix) to the contract:

Rock'n' roll debauchery all the way. The bit about the refreshments being served by two dwarfs clad in latex was understandably not written into the contract, but left as a verbal agreement between the parties