Marvellous, first time I'd been properly paid to play the fool (Leo being the Clown).

Now you originally left hawkwind back in 1970 only to return to the fold in 1979, had you kept in touch with any of the band on a social level or was it a call out of the blue?

Various working  associations i.e. Robert Calvert, Steve Swindells, Nik Potter  musician and bass player of 'Van Der Graff', Simon King (Simon and myself, Nik Potter, Lemmy had associations at various ventures). Simon and I also attempted to form a band  but the time wasn't right and he was invited back into the 'Hawks' and as a result I was too (1979)

Had you kept up with what Hawkwind had been up to in those years of absence

To an extent - But, recovering from certain spiking's (LSD) there was a period of about a year when I really did not want to know - I was of course slightly jealous of their success without me (who wouldn't be), But this feeling was soon replaced with pride of having been involved in the early stages.  However I did go back odd times to play with them  while Lemmy was in the band.

So moving on, your first album with the band was Levitation in 1980, you contributed to three songs and that record, did you write them specifically for Levitation or did you have them knocking around beforehand?

This wasn't the first LP with the Hawks, that was the original one recorded in 1969 released in 70.  Then came 'Roadhawks' which we all received a silver disc for.  The first one went Gold and by now should have been platinum but we have never been given that accolade?  Then came Live 79 which as the title suggests we recorded live and which went straight into the charts.   Re songs on Levitation - they were mainly new songs inspired by Hawkwind themselves during rehearsals and some of which were also  written in the studio inspired by Ginger Baker. Marion (my wife)  had been working with Ginger as his Press & PR person and when Simon left just before recording started she asked him to do the honours.  As a result the band turned out a brilliant LP and one of which also became one of Ginger's favourites too!   Getting back to my writing, yes I did have a stock pile of songs and some have been used in Hawkwind (Rocky Paths being one - Marion and I wrote that for Amon Din (the 3-piece band Dave Anderson and I put together after we both parted from Hawkwind).

Now personally Levitation is one of my all time favourite Hawkwind albums, how do you rate it?

Apart from the original Hawkwind LP I totally agree - this is a superb LP. I was also honoured to work G. Baker and 'D.B. Rock' as a team.

Also at a mere 36 minutes it must also rank as one, if not the shortest Hawkwind album, was that a conscious decision to make it direct and to the point or was that all the material that the band had?

Recording this was a situation and a half!  We had a certain faction of the band who agreed to disagree etc but Mr G.B. 'Aker' became involved and he loved it and slotted in perfectly. As he was a great 'ol farty musician it didn't take long to finish it.

By 1981 you had signed to RCA and then proceeded to produce 3 albums in 2 years, namely Sonic Attack, Church of Hawkwind and Choose Your Masques, that must have been a pretty hectic time?

The whole period was fairly awkward for all concerned I.e. change of faces (hardest being Simon King's exit). Such is life - you choose to marry your wife not the people you have or want to work with.  However  a band situation is a marriage of sorts and inevitably there has to be compromise (help!)

How long roughly did Hawkwind take to record an album, I don't get the impression that they are your six months in the studio types?

Depends on how much time Kinglsey and his brother allowed us time to spend rehearsing and recording in 'Rockfield' Studios, Monmouth.  There's a river next to it and some great fishing went on!

If memory serves me right it must also be around this time that the Lloyd Langton Group got off the ground, what was your thinking behind this project?

LLG came about by total fluke. Frenchie (Flicknife) was putting a 'Friends & Relations LP together and approached me - I was concerned about treading on people's toes but was given the go ahead by band members by which time I was too late to play on the LP but Frenchie put out my single (Outside The Law) which charted and unfortunately a 'bootleg' LP (same title) which was an abysmal recording of a live gig Lloyd Langton Group played at Marquee by a very enthusiastic fan - we have tried to get the LP deleted removed from shop shelves for years but it keeps reappearing.  My answer to this to fans is DO NOT BUY IT.  Apart from the fact of poor quality we have never received a penny royalties?

So it's now 1985 and Hawkwind record and release the epic Chronicle Of The Black Sword, with RCA now out of the frame I have heard that budgets were pretty tight when you were in the studio is that true?

Budgets have always been a problem where 'Hawks' are concerned, partly because so many interested parties have vied for the catalogue over the years - so yes budgets were tight during that period and you sometimes felt you were recording with your back against the wall.  This didn't stop another great LP though.

Now the tour was a real corker and if I may say found you on top form, but how did you feel about wearing those costumes every night?

Quite relieved actually as you didn't have to worry about what else you wore apart from your shoes - except I'd like to bump into the photographer who took the Kerrang Shot in a dark alley one night and shoot him?

LLG were touring as well when Hawkwind were not on the road, I saw you a few times around this period, now you always used to play Psychedelic Warlords, usually as an encore, why choose that one as it was from a completely different hawkwind era to the one you were involved in?

I felt at home with the Riff thing in the song and for some reason, Mr Calvert's life might be prolonged (as deserved).

Your last album with hawkwind was the Xenon Codex, which I have to say is one of my least favourite hawkwind albums, what's you opinion of it?

TROUBLED TIMES IN SO MANY WAYS
TROUBLED PEOPLE IN A DISTANT HAZE

So 10 years after rejoining you once again "fly the nest" what do you consider were the high and low points of that period?

Are you talking in drug terms? Only Joshing.  High's, well rejoining them over and over again. 
Low's: being spiked with LSD and leaving them again and again missing people we 'Love'.

Without getting to personal and into too much detail did you leave behind a certain amount of financial security by leaving then?

Financial security, WHEN?  Absolutely nothing originally, we gigged for virtually nothing except I missed out on the first hit 'Silver Machine' pounds. (Oh Well!). We were broke in those days as is the case on & off ever since. This comes with the territory of being a musician.  Good financial periods and bad ones. Well paid gigs and badly paid gigs?

Now I'm sure that there is something in this but around the same time of you leaving my interest in Hawkwind and if I'm honest your own stuff waned considerably, so could you give a brief resume of what happened in the years following your departure?

My original departure was caused by one seriously heavy mental breakdown (having been spiked by a bottle of orange juice full of acid - a very clever person (I think not)!  Recovery due to the Old Man Upstairs. My biography on my web site will answer this question, it has a very brief resume of my entire working career - will paste a copy with this to you

Am I right in thinking that you started to hook up with the band again around the late 90's, I know you played a few charity gigs with them in the intervening time but how did you once more start to get involved on a more serious basis?

We started talking again following the Blackheath Concert Hall charity gig for 'Shelter'. Marion had walked the 220 Mile Thames walk from Kemble to Thames Barrier and Hawkwind had agreed to do a finale concert, which was a great success. We were discussing my involvement with 'Hawkestra' and some odd gigs Hawkwind were planning.  I suppose really Hawkestra bought me back into the fold.  Then we did a good Tour end of 2001. I picked up 'Legionnaires Disease' towards end of this tour and spent last two years thoroughly ill.  I have done gigs sporadically with the Hawks but am once again back to full health and will be playing lead with them on the dates planned for this April.

Just a couple more questions now, with a few notable exceptions there are still a lot of old members who seem to like to show their faces at hawkwind gigs, Harvey at Hawkfest, Tim Blake on the Xmas 2002 tour and I guess your goodself, what is it about Hawkwind that makes people keep coming back?

"The Money", tee hee!   Bottom line, because it is a 'bloody good' band who have some great muso's in and as Dave & Kris put it 'on the reserve team'.  Hopefully I will always be associated with 'THE BAND'.

A quick "muso" question, what's your main guitar these days and why?

I do like to be beside( the seaside) - my Gibson 'Les Paul' or my Howard Roberts. Something 'bout Gibson (Class).

Thanks a lot Huw for taking the time to answer these questions, is there anything you'd like to add or to tell folks what you are up to in the near future, be it live gigs or recording work?

Well the future, same as my past I imagine, i.e. Weddings, Barmitzvas (check spelling), free Acoustic & Electric gigs, recordings. I am currently trying to come to grips with turning on the computer and learning to use 'Audio Logic' to interface with the 'Hawks' and I am in the middle of training a Rabbit to Jump out of my hat!

Yours truly Huw.

FOOTNOTE

Marion, Huw's good lady wife mentioned at the end of the interview Huw is a bit of a joker and said to ask the fans if anyone has any good jokes to send them to him at
huw@ha!ha!.com

To be honest I'm not sure if that's a genuine address so if you'd rather send them to me I'll make sure he gets them, so you can always
E-MAIL HERE

T