Recorded at shows in Liverpool and London, Hawkwind’s 1972 album The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London arguably captures the psychedelic rock band at its peak. Attempting to be “a full audio-visual experience,” those shows featured an elaborate lightshow and poetry readings from honorary band member Robert Calvert. Nik Turner, a founding member of the group who’s no longer affiliated with the current incarnation of Hawkwind but still plays the band’s music, wants to evoke the spirit of those shows on his current tour, which he discussed during this recent phone interview.
Your new studio album has been described as a return to your “intergalactic roots.” What made you want to embark on another space odyssey?
I’m happy to be doing it. I find it very interesting. It’s the style that I was involved in and helped to develop. It’s a new departure. I’m involved in lots of different things. I’ve got about four bands. One is called Space Ritual and plays some Hawkwind stuff and a lot of new stuff. I have another one called Project 9 which plays Latin jazz and funk. And I have another band called Outriders of Apocalypse which is based on Mayan philosophy and plays music based on Spanish classical music. It’s a bit like Miles Davis’ Bitch’s Brew. I have Inner City Unit and do gigs with them as well. I like to diversify. I like to do new stuff and keep stuff quite fresh. This album is influenced by earlier Hawkind stuff. It seems to be going well and we’re getting nice reviews generally. I haven’t seen any bad reviews, though I haven’t read all the reviews. I’m happy to tour with the guys on the album, though we have a different bassist and keyboardist on tour. It’s all very exciting.
The album’s first single was inspired by the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Talk a little about your recollection of that incidence and the decision to write a song about it.
I didn’t actually write the song but I find it very inspiring. It’s written by our drummer. It’s a bit like [the Hawkwind song] “Silver Machine” but more real. That was about Robert Calvert’s bicycle. This is about the Challenger spaceship and a bit more relevant. Bob’s fantasy was an interesting one and got people’s attention.
You’ve also released a video for the tune “Time Crypt.” Talk about your approach to the video, which looks like a clip from a horror movie.
It’s the record company that put it together. That was about evoking Night of the Living Dead. It’s slightly macabre. The record company has a free hand in putting these videos together. It’s quite hilarious in some ways. I find it very humorous.
Talk about what inspired the original Space Ritual show in 1972.
I was in Hawkwind and we had done this album called In Search of Space. It was supposed to be the history of a spaceship. The crew’s log was fascinating. It was all about different philosophies and hypothetical and spiritual things. Robert [Calvert] was involved with that. He had this project which was his space rock opera. We worked on it. I had songs like “Brainstorm” and “Master of the Universe” and “Children of the Sun.” I don’t remember exactly. He had these great ideas and we were working with [sci-fi writer] Michael Moorcock. He was involved to some degree. That piece “Sonic Attack” is one of his compositions. The concept of the album and the performance had a lot to do with astrology and astronomy and space travel. I found it exciting. We had the fabulous Miss Stacia who was a statuesque young lady with 42-inch breasts. She dressed as a ballerina. I did this improvised dancing with her while I was dressed as a frog. The whole thing was visually exciting and enlightening. It was a mixed media of sound and strobes. It was a total trip. People came to the show and were tripped out completely without the use of drugs and I thought that was a lovely thing.
Did the band members do a lot of drugs back then?
You couldn’t avoid it really. If you had a drink of water, you found yourself tripping. It was like, “Oh well. Might as well enjoy it.” It wasn’t something I went out to do but I didn’t get freaked out by it and took it in my stride. It came to a head when we did an Andy Warhol launch in London and the members of the audience turned into skeletons. It didn’t freak me out. I just thought, “I’ll look the other way and they’ll go away.” It wasn’t a really mortifying experience. I tried to help people get off the trip and felt morally responsible for encouraging people to take drugs and then for them to not be strong enough to overcome negative elements. I try to make it a healing experience. Other people in the band had a different attitude. [Former Hawkwind member] Lemmy wanted people to shit their pants and throw up. [Hawkwind leader] Dave [Brock] had the same attitude as well. I thought it was deplorable. I wanted them to have a good time at my gigs and not have negative side effects. I wanted to help them have a good time.
Is there a rivalry between you and Dave Brock?
No rivalry on my part. Dave trademarked the name of the band and he didn’t ask the permission of the people who signed the first recording agreement. We should have owned the title. I was going on with a band called ex-Hawkwind, which was all ex members of Hawkwind. He sued me claiming that I was trying to pass my band off as Hawkwind. It opened a riff. I had to pay a lot of damages. He’s very precious about his ownership of the title to the degree that I was thinking about trademarking Nik Turner’s Hawkwind in America. He claimed it was making him ill and he had to cancel his tour due to me. It transpired that his visa was turned down because of all his drug convictions and gun convictions and GBH convictions. I don’t personally get involved in that and I don’t go on the Internet much. It’s just hearsay. I think it’s crazy. I’m known as the keeper of the flame. It was all supposed to be about peace and love. He shows himself to be the antithesis of that. I just feel sorry for him.
I would like to bury the hatchet and be friends.
This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2013.
Nik’s ego is so big, it’s bigger than HW ever were, and all these interviews where he comes across as holier than thou, is just massaging the ego, and making it so big it could soon engulf the planet.
Incidentally, on a different note, re Dave Cantor’s comment, Space Ritual wasn’t the last album Lemmy played bass on, it was 1975’s Warrior On The Edge Of Time.
MandyWitch
on the 9th Oct a Hawkwind member posted on facebook “the doctor’s advice was to not undertake the long flights and consequent 12, 000 mile round trip and to rest….I’m getting a bit sick of all the b— concerning this and the visas. We got visas, and do you really think we wanted to pull this tour? I personally have never toured America before apart from our brief visit to Nearfest in 2007..a dream for all of us…none of us took this decision lightly —- “
some care needed in believing what is said in this article!!!
So, the quote is “He claimed it was making him ill and he had to cancel his tour due to me. It transpired that his visa was turned down because of all his drug convictions and gun convictions and GBH convictions. I don’t personally get involved in that and I don’t go on the Internet much. It’s just hearsay. I think it’s crazy.”
He doesn’t get involved, but took time out to repeat the rumour? Oh, and the only person who can be tracked down as the origin of the ‘rumour’ appears to have a hardly used profile, no links to or likes to Hawkwind, says that the information came from a source at US immigration (surely National Security isn’t that lax in the USA?) and the posting immediately after this originated was a confirmation of this by …. Turner’s tour manager.
What a tosspot.
I quite agree with Jimski, the US lost an enemy after the Cold War, but since 9/11 they passed new laws as a means of invading privacy, the fight against terrorism and the protection of restricted information went up so many notches, especially after recent leaks by Manning/Snowden, that even visa information in the public domain would be considered a breach of security. The origin of this rumour is dubious, and the US authorities should investigate, it should have also been a ‘no brainer’ for the person concerned that sometimes it’s best to keep your mouth shut. It’s all a bit sad really, because it’s buried the real story, that the difference between the UK and US tour is a gruelling fourteen thousand mile trek, scuppered by the financial/legal implications of having two HW’s playing the same towns, and this was going to be part way through the UK tour. So, tired, stressed, pissed off and being seventy three is the likely story, enough said.
D.Brock should grow some balls . He can’t tour because another man 5000 miles away gives him stress. Ha ha ha ! It just that side by side by side Nik Turner show smokes Brock . Brock try a real job like we all do . That’s stress ! Grow balls !
keeper of the flame my ars nik
Re Brockgetreal. Whether you like Turner or Brock is a question of taste, and what you feel about either of them is your opinion, but to insist that Dave Brock should grow some balls as a means to resolving the issue is hardly being realistic. Bands actually don’t make a lot from touring, the main revenue is achieved through product sales, in HW’s case, they have to shift band, equipment, lightshow, crew, dancers, etc, from the UK, backers also probably hold the purse strings. Nik is playing a slightly different game, it may be stated in the tour info that is Space Ritual touring, but it isn’t and the other band members are pretty pissed off about it apparently, so Nik has an American set up which is considerably more cost effective than with a long established band like HW. I haven’t met up with Dave since the late 80’s, but I knew him reasonably well enough way back to know he will bide his time til he has the last laugh, and perhaps you may also realise, regardless of preferences which you are entitled to, that this is more about the legal/cost fall out as it is about growing balls.
I think its high time Dave and Nik got together sat down in a locked room and didnt ask to be let out untill they had both kissed and made up…. Come on guys your both seventy odd now and its time to maybe grow up……… Remember the good old days when Hawkwind did this for fun? An idea for you… Why not get back together dave, Nik, Lemmy, plus any of the original band who are still with us make one last record and tour the planet and make it your swan song while you still can. You know it makes sense… we all want… you need your heads banging together… Just do it…..! Together you are the real Hawkwind and we all love you as i suspect you all love each other really…
I think you’re probably right, it’s late in the evening for both Dave and Nik now, they should put distrust of one another aside, and the same goes for a lot of the fans regardless of where loyalties lay. They are both great performers that actually compliment each other on stage, and in a lot of ways, Nik has never left HW, he has haunted them despite Dave’s efforts to exorcise his ghost, and Dave has to be highly admired for his commitment to the band despite Nik’s efforts to remove him from the throne. Be good to see them both bury this nonsense and do something together again.
“Space Gypsy” should pop up on numerous AOY lists. Nik’s post-Hawkwind projects are all tantalizingly mesmerizing in its explorations of body, soul and mind. And that he answered the reporter’s questions by swinging a few haymakers should be expected — his place as a space-rock revolutionary is set….he doesn’t need to play the PC charade.
There’s always two sides to any story.
Especially this one. Nobody has thus proved anything, here or on any article on Google, Facebook or YouTube.. So until I hear both sides from Dave & Nik (in person) or from a reliable source, not fans, I won’t believe everything I read or hear.. 100%! So far, I’ve only read Nik’s side of the story & seen interviews on YouTube, still I’m not sure if he’s being completely honest, who knows.
I do believe things I’ve heard Lemmy say, e.g how he was treated unfairly when sacked, but it’s been said that Lem he was unreliable.. Like I said, there’s always sides of the story, so therefore, I chose to be open to all their music, if it so appeals to me, which “Space Gypsy” does & that’s my own taste, in which I have the right to choose. I don’t take sides.. Peace