HW 40th Anniversay Show

[Colin Allen]

Paul,
 
That is a nicely nuanced commentary.  Just to clarify one point, it was not Alan who instigated the taping/trading ban.  I was asked to make the announcement about the ban by Kris, who was very angry about the taping.
 
The ban came about because, on the 2002 tour, there had been a couple of instances where people were found recording shows.  In one case, someone who was caught one night was caught again the following night, despite promising not to do it again.
 
Colin
 

--- On Wed, 25/2/09, Paul Mather <paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU> wrote:

From: Paul Mather <paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU>
Subject: Re: HW 40th Anniversay Show
To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
Date: Wednesday, 25 February, 2009, 2:12 PM

On 25 Feb 2009, at 7:35 AM, M Holmes wrote:

> I'm sure Alan feels he has his professional grievances.  I'm sorry
to
> see that he doesn't view it as below his dignity to air them in a
> magazine.  His comment that he knows better than Dave what the fans want
> to hear perhaps have some pertinence to us, but in the end Dave is the
> boss and we all know we have to do shit the boss tells us even when
> we're certain we're in the right.  The rest of the comment just
looks
> like spite, particularly, as someone else pointed out, the circumstances
> in which Alan came to the band.
> 
> Right now he sounds worryingly like Turner did many years ago: someone
> who's out of the band in fact, but mentally just can't seem to get
to
> grips with that.

Maybe I am in an minority, but I actually found Alan's interview to be
rather informative and refreshing.  I certainly learned a lot!  I didn't see
it so much as you say above, but more along the lines of "now I'm out,
I feel free to tell my side of the story instead of having to toe the party
line."  As with all he said/she said arguments, the real truth lies
somewhere between, but I, for one, am at least glad to have both sides stated of
various puzzling episodes of Hawkwind history, such as why Alan left the band on
various occasions.  (It's nice to hear that at least it wasn't all about
money, which is the usual tune we hear sung.)

Maybe it is more "dignified" not to tell your side of the story, but
it is probably hard to keep quiet when you believe that outright lies are being
told about you.  Is it better for these things to leak out through murky
third-party channels?  I can appreciate that Alan might not want to let stand
unchallenged statements like the taping/trading ban was all down to him, or that
he had blown off Hawkfest and "gone fishing" instead.  Leaving that
unchallenged, if it is true, can damage your professional reputation.

One thing that reassured me about the interview is that I discovered I am not
the only one appalled by the modern method of Hawkwind recording.  I was
absolutely horrified when I read in one of the Hawkwind book bios that
everything is methodically sequenced, even the drums---the drums, for God's
sake!  It just ain't right, I tells ya! :-)

I agree with you that the stench of sour grapes hangs heavy over that
interview.  But, I, for one, am glad that Alan told his side of things.  How
true it is, I will probably never know.  But, it does add to the general body of
evidence that states that Hawkwind is very dysfunctional.  I don't know if
trying to whitewash that fact away will help matters any.  Perhaps being aware
of how screwed up and badly organised the band is will make us appreciate all
the more what time we have with them together with Brock at the helm putting out
new material, for surely a ship as leaky as this can't sail on too much
longer...

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa