HW: Sonic Assassins 77 memories by PAUL HAYLES

[Doug Pearson]

On Sun, 11 Apr 1999 09:47:56 +0200, Bernhard Pospiech
<bernhard.pospiech at HOME.INS.DE> quoted former Sonic Assassin Paul Hayles as
follows:

>We were
>supported by a band called Osmosis or something like that who were led by a
>couple of guys who had been in Ark (the band that myself, Harvey and Martin
>had played in previously). They also had our old dancer, Lois, who went on to
>work with the Rocky Horror Show. Harry Williamson, their guitarist, was the
>son of the well known English writer, Henry Williamson (Tarka the Otter etc)
>and he went on to design stages for the Rolling Stones and now lives in
>Australia.

Is this the same Harry Williamson who wrote "Nuclear Waste" and did that
silly single with Nik Turner and Sting?

>And myself on keyboards I was using my Wurlitzer electric piano
>through echo wahwah and distortion pedals, a string maching and a Roland
>SH100 synth and a second synth whose name escapes me, both of course were
>mono.

Actually (back in music gear geek mode, sorry!) it's the Roland SH-1000
(there's no SH-100, although in the early 80s, Roland came out with the
SH-101, which is a cheap favorite of many current space rock bands, such as
ST37).  It looks like a cheesy old organ because it has all these colored
plastic tabs used to select presets (it was one of the first-ever
synthesizers with preset sounds, although the Arp Pro Soloist [as used by
Tony Banks for all those old Genesis synth leads] preceded it) or
modulation routings, but it also has knobs with which to tweak out weirder
sounds.  I love the processed Wurlitzer sound on the Sonic Assassins
recordings!  Gritty electric piano sounds are great, not like the mushy
Fender Rhodes sound that makes me think of Steely Dan (and puts me to sleep).

Thanks for passing this message on to the list, Bernhard!  Memories of
former Hawkwind members and/or associates are always great to read!

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com