HW/ Record Collector / Nik Turner int.

[Jon Browne]

3 in a series of 6 - collect 'em all! Trade them with your friends!

Nik Turner - sax, finally quit in the mid '80's, now playing with Nik
Turner's Fabulous All-Stars, Nik Turner's Space Ritual, various world
music projects)

"The sci-fi thing was part serious social comment, part entertainment.
Our version of a Utopian future was never sanctimonius. I got involved
with Timothy Leary for a while, who had this idea for Starseed, a self-
contained, ecologically balanced satellite which was totally self-
contained. He took that very seriously.
     The band were very community-oriented, and people identified with
us because we were no different than them. We were all living on the
streets of Ladbroke Grove - Dave Brock was a busker; I was living in the
back of a lorry in Notting Hill, or on other people's floor's.
     Drugs were obviously quite important because the band were part of
a drug culture.  Everybody was doing it. We were just part of it, though
not necessarily promoting drugs. LSD was the main drug of the time, and
shortly before our sucess, that was still legal.
     I think sucess began to detach the band from community thing. We
were travelling a lot, touring America, and that spoilt relationships
both within the band and with the audience. I don't think it was a case
of us putting ourselves on pedestals. When you're sucessful, other
people tend to put you there, though I tried to avoid all that. I still
do free festivals and am still of the people.
    I think the music still stands up. Hawkwind were one of the
instigators of, or at least inspiraitions for, punk. Our music was like
punk in that it was accessible, and gave the impression anyone could
play it - and they could!
    More recently, I went out as Nik Turner's Hawkwind in America, but I
had an injunction served on me to stop me using the name, so it became
Nik Turner's Space Ritual. That kind of materialistic attitude is the
antithesis of what the band used to be about. That's what was so good
about the Grateful Dead; they never lost that vision."



Typo's mine.
Opinion's Niks!
copy Record Collector (UK)

Tomorrow's thrilling installment - Del Dettmar

Jon Browne