Ptolemaic Terrascope 27 Dave Brock Interview Part III

[andrew]

Okay, last lot now:

PT: The band are famous for their charity gigs.

DB: We done all the Stonehenge things, and had problems with the
police - I used to get my phone tapped. In the early days we had the
bomb squad, not the bomb squad, it was MI5 actually believe it or not
raiding us cos we were working with the White Panthers who used to put
out all this risque literature about how to stop the cities, cause
punctures, power failures and generally cause confusion. OK we did
benefit gigs for them. Also the underground papers, we made money for
that, and also Princess Margaret's wheelchair benefit with the Hells
Angels [laughs] doing the security there. We've done so many things
there is so much to go into.

What music have you guested on?

Well, I did the Starfighters, I wrote most of that with Bob Calvert.
The annoying thing about it was that Calvert and me had this huge
argument. We had written so much stuff together and we had this row,
as you listen to the Starfighters you find most of the guitar stuff
was Paul Rudolph and me! Anyway I won't go into that... It was jolly
fun, the major thing was doing a track with Arthur Brown. I've always
admired Arthur Brown.

Has recording and touring with Hawkwind affected you?

Yeah, it has caused a lot of problems in my life unfortunately. If you
dedicate yourself to doing something for a long period of time you
suffer, there are penalties for it. There are consequences for your
actions, it has caused me lots of problems with family and friends,
'cos you know lots of people get very jealous with what you do for a
living. It's hard work, it's not easy.

What do you do outside of music?

Well, I live on a farm so there's plenty of work all the time. I've
always got something to do. I've got a train set! A friend of mine,
Steve Smith, usually comes round and plays with it [laughs]. My
hobbies are my music in a way, I'm lucky to do what I do.

What's in the pipeline musically?

Unfortunately as we couldn't do the tour of Australia as it would have
cost £6500 to get over there. I'm doing solo stuff as well. We are
hoping to update Mission Control on the Internet, everything takes
time. There wasn't an autumn 1998 tour but in 1999 we will be touring
with a show based on the Ledge of Darkness book which is going to be
fantastic, with ex members of Hawkwind joining us on stage.

Why did you cease playing the good old Hammersmith Odeon?

I dunno, I supoose the people who run it want a lot of money for the
hire of the place. I am sure we will do Brixton again.

Have the band's legal problems ceased?

Well, Doug Smith has got Chumbawumba of course so we've become the
little fish now. We've been discarded to a certain extent which is
most unfortunate really. Perhaps Douglas will remember us soon, he did
earn a lot of money ou of us.

Any message for the fans out there?

Yeah, the band are always changing and we are trying to get more
things together musically. We are still trying to keep the Hawkwind
style of course, which is our niche, space rock music is our niche.
Come and see us, _we need you_! If it wasn't for people listening to
us and buying our music then we would not be doing what we are doing.


And that's it! Interview by Dave Sheppard, 1998. In Ptolemaic
Terrascope 27 Summer 1999.

As it was their interview it's only right that i say the following:
For those of you who don't know it, Ptolemaic Terrascope is a _great_
A4 sized mag, packed full of all forms of psychedlia and comes with a
full-length CD these days. If it's not in your local record shops,
it's £6 an issue/£20 for a 4 issue subscription. Cheques/POs payable
to 'The Ptolemaic Terrascope' at

37 Sandridge Road
Melksham
Wiltshire
SN12 7BQ
England

oh and there's a website, http://www.terrascope.org (i daren't look in
case i've just typed this in and it's been put up there :)

andrew