On his appointment to the band Mr House noted -I  worked in a boilerhouse, just sitting there reading. I used to take my violin down to practise. That lasted a year, then I went to America with Hawkwind... It [the audition] was a complete farce. They were playing at the Edmonton Sundown and I just about got round to playing a few bars, the rest of the time was spent sitting around in the dressing room

HAWKWIND EARLY 1974

From left - House, Brock, Dettmar, Lemmy, King and a garden gnome, sorry I mean Nik Turner

THIS IS THE USA CALLING!

For March and April the band returned for another massive USA tour, under the name The 1999 Party, also taking with them Man and Andy Dunkley. Simon House went along but had no work permit, so his appearances were strictly unofficial. The Chicago and Detroit gigs were recorded and released years later by EMI, not surprisingly entitled the 1999 Party!

Nik Turner remembered the following anecdotes in the 1983 book "This is Hawkwind, do not panic" - She [Leary's girlfriend] asked us to do a benefit gig for him in London, which we did. When we got to the States, we did another benefit gig, in San Francisco. We got paid for doing this, in really good grass. I don't think they made any money, but we had a fantastic time! During the gig we made telephone contact with Leary and broadcast the phone call through the PA. I went to see him in prison... he had to have his hands chained to the wall, so that he could not move them

The promoter in Nashville met us and straight away offered us this weird drug called THC. We didn't know what it was, but took it anyway and found that it almost literally took the back of your head off! He made his money making blue movies and invited us back to his home to watch them. We were very stoned. Then he fetched the girls from upstairs to entertain us - which was most entertaining

We were in an ice rink skating when a hurricane [tornado] came and tore the roof off of our hotel and put the windows out at the skating rink. Because we were so stoned we thought it was all quite normal -

NEW ALBUM

In May, they entered Olympic Studios to record the Hall Of The Mountain Grill. The album was considered by critics as a departure for the band, but this is exactly what they were striving for - a much more musical and considered piece of work. A handful of the tracks had been taken from the Edmonton gig and overdubbed in the studio.

A fairly satisfied Simon King said of the new recording - The Doremi album lacked production. I wasn't really happy with the Space Ritual either. But the new one - I'm quite pleased with it. I like side one because I think it's something we haven't done before. Yeah - I'm pleased with half of the new album.

TWO DRUMMERS !

The band were due to complete some dates in Germany and the Netherlands in June, but prior to this tour, King was incapacitated with broken ribs sustained playing football. A temporary replacement for the tour was found in Alan Powell, but by the end of the tour King had recovered sufficiently to rejoin and the band finished with two drummers. The gigs had gone so well that Powell was asked to join full time and the band would continue with two drummers. This tour also seen the end of Dettmar's time with the band, finally emigrating to Canada.

HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN GRILL

IS THE NEW ALBUM FROM

HAWKWIND

AVAILABLE NOW

ON UNITED ARTISTS

RECORDS AND CASSETTES

1974 - SOME OTHER MINOR NEWS ITEMS

President Nixon Resigns On August 8, 1974, became the first President in US history to resign. Nixon resigned as the House of Representatives was poised to vote on the articles of impeachment against him

Military Coup in Portugal A leftist military coup took place in Portugal. It unseated the right-wing dictatorship that held power for 40 years. The military immediately reversed the Portuguese policy of holding its African colonies, and began to grant the colonies independence quickly. In addition, the Portuguese military leaders began the transition to civil democratic rule.

India Explodes Nuclear Device On May 18, the Indians detonated a nuclear bomb in an underground explosion. The bomb was small-- approximately 15 megatons. India thus became the sixth member of the "nuclear club."

FESTIVALS OR BUST!

The band enjoyed some summer festivals, Harlow, Bristol and Windsor for the third year. The band then returned for another tour of the US in September. Unfortunately, failure to pay a newly introduced tax for foreign bands on shows on their previous tour resulted in their equipment being impounded at Indiana. The band returned to the UK, and once the tax issue had been sorted, went back to the US to complete the re-scheduled tour.

Speaking in 1974, Simon King remembers this of the Tax bust - We finished the gig and when we were walking back to the dressing room there were like 15 or 20 police - more than there usually are - sort of accompanying us. Then we saw these three really straight looking characters, who turned out to be the tax people and a couple of FBI agents. They served each of us with a bill saying that we owed them 1055 dollars 40 cents each - and they wanted it there and then, on the spot... We said 'Well, we haven't got it with us'... and [they] then went around with all these stickers that said 'Impounded - property of the US Government'

HAWKWIND WERE COVER STARS OF THE NME IN THIS YEAR AND THE PICTURE ABOVE IS FROM THE ACCOMPANYING PHOTO SHOOT

SPORTS NEWS

SORRY ANY MAGPIE'S FANS OUT THERE, BUT IN 74, THE FA CUP HEADED TOWARDS MERSEYSIDE AS LIVERPOOL BEAT NEWCASTLE UTD 3 - 0 IN ONE OF THE MOST ONE SIDED FINALS ANYBODY CAN REMEMBER