HW: Brock's Destruction of Hawkwind Reputation

[Bryan Young]

Wow, imagine if Dave had let the band disintegrate all those years ago, and
had not been the ONE PERSON who worked harder than anybody else building up
this band.  Sure, everybody else contributed a lot, and was very important.
But did they stick with it through thick and thin?  Who else has never
failed to make a go with it?   Let me comment on some of this below.  Sorry
for taking up so much bandwidth.

----- Original Message -----
From: "f. rat" <hawkthing at BLUEYONDER.CO.UK>


> Personally, I think Dave should grow up a little, after all XHawkwind
> perfectly describes the state of the musicians (nothing derogatory
> intended) inasmuch as it seems they have all been at one time or
> another, members of the great Hawkwind crew.

I guess if I worked at McDonalds for a few years, then I could open a
restaurant called xMcDonalds and sell xBig xMacs, too.  And tell Ronald
McDonald to grow up for having a problem with it.  And there's thousands of
xMcDonald's workers who would probably join my cause and offer me verbal
support.  That should make it right!

> Maybe instead of wasting his doubtless potent energies on pursuing court
> cases, Mr Brock could be using them to compete even more strongly with
> the old faithfuls in terms of directing those energies into songwriting

Wait a minute!  "Old faithfuls" is a bit misleading.  Let's be honest.  Is
Thomas Crimble an old faithful?  Is Mick Slattery an old faithful?  Is Terry
Ollis an old faithful?  Maybe Nik Turner qualifies, but the rest are just
minor figures.  I loved Ron Tree with Hawkwind, and will follow his ventures
from this point, but I wouldn't call him an "old faithful".  And why is
NOBODY questioning their motives?  Why hasn't one person asked why Thomas
Crimble is in this?  Is he such a magnificent bass player that he had to be
included?  Is he absolutely synonomous with Nik Turner, having worked
alongside him in Hawkwind, Inner City Unit, Nik's All-Stars, etc?  Or is he
just a so-so musician who Nik can live with ONLY BECAUSE HE LENDS
CREDIBILITY to the xHawkwind claim?

Question those motives -- imagine including a guy just because he gives you
another bullet in your gun, and not because of any musical merits.  And then
see who's holding the gun, and it's Nik, isn't it?

And why do you tell Dave to get busy with songwriting?  I agree that I want
a new album that is better than the last few, but how much energy has Nik
put into songwriting lately?  When will you ever get a new song from the
xHawkwind crew?  I think that if you want new material, then you'd be
arguing for Nik to end this debacle so that Dave can get on with what he
does best and what he's done for the past 33 years -- creating music.
Dave's creative output over the last 20 years makes Nik's output from the
same time period seem awful insignificant indeed.

> and the musical excellence we all know and love. The fact they still

Terry Ollis is very excellent musically.  I remember reading in Kris Tait's
book how he fell off his drum kit and couldn't keep a steady rhythm, so they
added another drummer (Simon King I believe), and had two drummers for
awhile.  So, yeah, Nik should definitely have Terry Ollis in the band, as
he's obviously the finest drummer Hawkwind has ever had, and that will
continue the fine tradition of musical excellence.  (Sarcasm mode now ends.)

> want to be associated with the name and Mr Brock's [sic] band indicates
> they have strong loyalties to the "brand" (apologies for bringing
> marketing into these illustrious corridors).

Whoa, what do you mean "brand"?  So you are confirming that this is all
about associating Nik's party with a certain "name"?  You see, I have no
problems with Nik or with who he wants to play with, but I only see troubles
with using a name that they haven't earned.  Nik may have had some claim on
it back in 1976 when he was first sacked.  That was the time for him to say
"wait a minute, you can't kick me out of my own band", but he didn't do so.
I give him ALL THE CREDIT in the world for doing that.  He left quietly, and
didn't stir things up, and he stepped on to the next phase of his career.
And Dave continued with the band, and even had Nik back for a short while in
the 80's.  So I guess that establishes who owns the band.  Nik missed his
shot if he wanted to fight over it.  That's a long time ago, and when he
returned to the band in the 80's that implies a tacit agreement that it's
Dave's band and that Dave calls the shots.

So why is Nik starting this fight now?  Oh, I see.  Without this name, Nik
has no career anymore.  You see, Dave still has a career, and Nik had one at
one point, but the music business is not as it once was, and without the
Hawkwind name, Nik has no career anymore.  Might as well just steal Dave's
career, then, right?  Dave has kept the boat afloat all these years, and why
not take that to advantage and salvage some kind of career from that?

> After all healthy competition can be a powerful incentive to create
> greatness.

Sure, competition is great, but even McDonald's and Burger King have
different names, don't they?  Why not have a whole bunch of Hawkwinds, and
make the competition even better?  You can have xHawkwind, and yHawkwind,
and zHawkwind, and then start over again with aHawkwind, and then to get
yourself higher alphabetically you would go to aaaHawkwind, and this
competition would be great for the band!  Just stick an ex-member in each
one, and you're away.  Where's Dead Fred when you need him?  And I'm sure
the old faithful Steve Swindells would be available if the price was right.
And Ginger Baker, can't forget him!  He's the inspiration for this whole
thing, so I can't imagine why he's not in alongside Nik right now, unless
it's because Terry Ollis is such a wonderful drummer that Nik doesn't need a
second drummer (like in the glory days of the early 70's).

> All my best wishes and musical appreciation to both hawk camps. I have
> to admit to never yet having heard XHawkwind , but I bet they're bloody
> good!!!!!!!!!!

I wish them both luck, too, but there's only one Hawkwind, and for anybody
to start creating a furor over the name is a bit obscene, in my opinion.  If
Dave is so vindictive, then why did he allow Nik to perform with Inner City
Unit?  If Nik gets a new name, I'll certainly support his creative output,
even though I know it's not going to be any new material, just the same old
classics.


Now, before I close, how about a fictional scenario?  I'll assume that you
know your Motorhead lore, and let me make a parallel if I may:

It's apparent that Fast Eddie has no career anymore.  He had a moment with
Fastway, but that's in the past.  His last solo album "It's Not Over Til
It's Over" was basically ignored, even though there was one track with Lemmy
included to help it sell.  It failed miserably.  And Lemmy's a good guy,
he's even had Fast Eddie guest on stage a few times here and there, but he
said in an interview that the problem is that Fast Eddie doesn't look like
Fast Eddie anymore.  Fast Eddie comes on stage and looks like an old guy
(not rock-n-roll) at all, and the crowd goes dead wondering what is going
on.  So Fast Eddie is finished.  It's a fact -- unless he's in Motorhead,
he's not going to have any career.  And Lemmy doesn't think that it's going
to work to keep Fast Eddie involved any more than just as a friend who does
a guest spot once every 5 years or so.

So here's the fiction:  Suppose Fast Eddie starts up a Motorhead band.
That's the one name that will allow him to get a gig.  And he could get any
young guys to play with him, and it won't matter.  But he knows there's
going to be a bit of noise about it, so he goes out and finds certain guys
in particular.  Suppose he gets Lucas Fox on drums.  That's an original
member!  That gives him some ammunition for his bullet belt, if you may.
And if Lucas doesn't work out, maybe Pete Gill (ex-Saxon) would fit it on
drums (remember, Pete did play on the mighty Orgasmatron album, so that
makes him an old faithful).

And if you look hard enough, you might even find Philthy somewhere.  Check
the gutters, because Lemmy hinted that Philthy has restarted his old career.
This probably means he's peddling dope, but I'd bet he's using more than
he's selling, so he may even be dead now, with major debts owing to his
suppliers.  But if you could find him, what a coup!  Two of the so-called
"classic lineup" together again, Fast Eddie and Philthy!

I doubt Larry Wallis would touch this sort of thing with a ten-foot pole,
but it's worth a shot.  Even though Fast Eddie and Larry only played
together a couple of times in rehearsals, and maybe at the 10th year
Birthday party, it would help to have another guitarist and it does add more
ammunition to Fast Eddie's bullet belt.

Need a bass player?  Hmm... maybe Paul Rudolph.  He's not ex-Motorhead, but
he's ex-Hawkwind and ex-Pink Fairies, and they're the two bands most closely
associated with Motorhead.  I wonder if Wurzel can play bass?  (Hope so,
because he can't really play guitar that well anymore.)  Get Wurzel there,
anyways, and it's a bit more interesting, even if he only does his seagull
guitar sounds like on his ambient solo album "Chill Out or Die" that
everybody ignored.

And then you're set.  Fast Eddie can sing.  You remember the song "Step
Down" from the "Bomber" album, don't you?  And Fast Eddie did sing almost
all of his last solo album (It's Not Over Til It's Over), although he did
have some backing help from John Sloman (ex-Uriah Heep, ex-Gary Moore), so
you'd best try very hard to get Larry Wallis in to help him with the vocals
when he needs it.  Maybe even Mick Farren can be persuaded to help do some
singing, as he did co-write a few of the earlier tracks, and he's a good
buddy of Larry's, isn't he?

And there you have it -- xMotorhead.com!  And competition is great!  Lemmy
can have his band, with those new guys, and they can do new material if they
want, but this other band xMotorhead.com can just do the classic material
again and again, as long as they keep getting gigs.  Play the old songs into
the ground!  Dust off the shiny "Golden Years" era and relive those classic
moments, again and again and again.  Don't worry that each such event might
remove a bit of the lustre and mystique with which we remember those old
fond moments.  It's all in the name of healthy competition!

And then when some trouble gets stirred up, blame Lemmy!  Lemmy's a bastard,
doesn't he say so himself?  Lemmy better not send one notice out about this
either, or we'll accuse him of a massive internet campaign, bombarding us
with hateful propaganda, the dirty nazi that he is!  Who cares that Lemmy
has kept the band going and continually brings in the best musicians he can
find (like drummer Mikkey Dee, who is probably the best heavy drummer in the
world right now).  Who cares that Lemmy is continually bringing out new
material that is much more consistent and more energetic than anything done
in the 70's or 80's?  Why can't he give Fast Eddie a break and quit being a
selfish old geezer!  Long Live xMotorhead.com!  Vive le Fast Eddie!  Phil
Campbell sucks, he doesn't even have a good nickname anyways.  On the 1916
album his nickname was "Wizzo", and then on the March or Die album his
nickname was "Zoom".  Forget that loser if he can't get a good nickname!

Author's note:  This is fiction, and Lemmy is still my hero.  He is not a
Nazi, and his music in the 90's and beyond has been, in my opinion, the best
of his lifework.  Phil Campbell is a great person, and I salute him for
contributing so much to the Motorhead legend.  Fast Eddie is a great guy and
is probably doing just fine with whatever he is involved in outside of
music.  And if Philthy is reading this, please contact me as I'm in need of
a new supply of that medication...


Peace and Hawkwind, and lots of Motorhead!  And to the author, F. Rat, I
meant nothing personal to you, but I did feel compelled to address several
key points of your argument, and I hope that this was constructive.

Bryan Young
Saskatchewan, Canada

> Pax vocum ballisticum
>
> F. Rat
>
> P.S. May I still direct readers to
>
> http://www.fatrat.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/rat
>
> for my cover of Motorhead, entirely recorded on my humble PC and a
> couple of toons of my own.
>