Hawkwind Band History (The 1990's)

Good, still with me
Hawkwind.....a brief history (the 1990's)

The 1990's began with Hawkwind making a rare live recording for a T.V appearance on the 'Bedrock' show that would be broadcast by I.T.V during the early hours of 10th May.
Late Spring saw the band record their first album of the decade, while a compilation album from EMI titled 'Stasis (The UA Years 1971 – 1975)' appeared in April.
Space Bandits The Summer saw a few gigs, again in the travellers field at the Glastonbury Festival, along with a memorable show in Bournemouth where the light show and especially the lasers were truly mind–blowing. Another festival on the Telscombe Cliffs near Brighton was less memorable. September saw GWR records release Hawkwind's new slice titled 'Space Bandits'
The album, for once, was released a couple of weeks prior to a large U.K tour followed shortly after by a return visit to North America where the word had spread.
Probably the best video to date was released during December titled 'Live Legends' from Castle Communications. Essentially, this was a hours worth of highlights from the Bedrock show earlier in the year – giving a clear view of the band onstage.
March 1991 saw Hawkwind embark on a tour of Europe, although Dave Brock opted to stay at home to mix some live Hawklords material. Steve Bemand, a friend of Richard's from the band 'Smart Pils' stepped in on guitar for the 25 date tour taking in seven countries. Upon their return, (and prior to another visit to North America), the band were reduced to a three–piece with the departure of Harvey Bainbridge and Bridgett Wishart.
June saw a new album on GWR titled 'Palace Springs' culling material from the studio and a show in Los Angeles during 1989. Summer dates in Britain, another jaunt through Europe and a Christmas U.K tour ended a year full of live performances.
1992, in contrast, saw just one major U.K tour and a few pre–Christmas dates. However, this was compensated by a number of recordings including the new album on Castle titled 'Electric Tepee' in May, together with live archive material in the
'Friday Rock Show Sessions (Live At Reading '86)'
'Hawklords Live' from 1978 and a recent recording from
America titled 'California Brainstorm' from 1990.
The annual Hawkwind extravaganza, an all–nighter at the Brixton Academy in August ran with the title
'12 Hours of Psychedelic Madness' and believe me it was just that.
Another visual delight appeared in November with the release of the Taste video titled 'Brixton 15.8.92' from the psychedelic space chase that Summer.
A small tour of Britain and Europe took place in Spring 1993 but the start of the year saw Hawkwind record the Rolling Stones number 'Gimme Shelter' with Sam Fox as part of a national campaign for the homeless.
A few one–off gigs in the Summer preceeded the release of the album titled
'It Is The Business Of The Future To Be Dangerous' from Castle, and (apart from an all Hawkwind version of Gimme Shelter), was a wholly instrumental album.
A lengthy U.K and European tour followed before the band entered the studio again for more recording.
To celebrate Hawkwind's 25th anniversary, 1994 saw a frenzy of recording sessions, live shows and releases. This was supported on both sides of the Atlantic by the formation of the 'Emergency Broadcast System' label in Britain and 'Griffin Records' in North America.
An EP titled 'Quark' was followed by a live offering from the previous years tour. Titled 'The Business Trip Live' it arrived in foldout vinyl packaging reminiscent of the UA albums of the 1970's. Both appeared on the E.B.S label.
Meanwhile, Griffin released a deluxe 4 CD box set titled '25 Years On', also housing a booklet 'Further Extracts From The Hawkwind Log' and a graphic novel of the final volume of the Hawklords trilogy 'The Ledge Of Darkness'.
More recording followed and the outcome of this was released on the E.B.S during February 1995. Titled 'White Zone', it was recorded using the name 'Psychedelic Warriors' and again was an all instrumental affair with a clear ambient–techno edge.
• More to follow shortly.....watch this space.

Since that first gig at 'All Saints Hall' in 1969, Hawkwind have played more
than two thousand gigs all over the world and layed on some mind–boggling tours.
Hawkwind tour, not only with the musicians, but a whole entourage of dancers, fire–eaters
and other assorted bods all working to make each gig a multi–media spectacular of lights,
sound and visual theatrics that captivate the audience throughout the show and for some time after.

Along the way, the band has had over fifty musicians pass through the ranks; including Nik Turner,
the late Bob Calvert, Lemmy (of 'Motorhead' fame), Huw Lloyd Langton, Dik Mik, Del Dettmar,
Simon King, Dave Anderson, Simon House, Harvey Bainbridge, Alan Davey, Danny Thompson and
Paul Rudolph to name just a few. They have also collaborated with famous science–fiction
writer Michael Moorcock on numerous occasions, while Dave Brock, himself a founding member of
Hawkwind in 1969, remains the only original member as the 21st Century enters its early years.

Hawkwind have recorded more than ninety official albums, singles and videos and are still
recording new material to this day – with unpredictability and experimentation being the key to
retaining the cult following Hawkwind have earned themselves.

For those of you new to the band, view Hawkwind's Essential Albums that will form
a solid base to any Hawkwind collection .....

..... as for the rest of the band's records – a word of warning !!
Collecting Hawkwind records will become a healthy, yet lengthy, not to mention costly personal
crusade that can seriously damage your implanted indoctrination circuit boards. There will also
be side effects, the most common of which is tripping the switch that will re–enable the ability
to 'think for yourself', an ancient human thought–process that has been steadily
eroded by subtle authoritarian manipulations these past few decades.

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