This article originally appeared in kerrang magazine under the title
"UP IN SMOKE"
Many thanks to Nigel Potter for the original scan
Love and peace? Bollocks! The Sex Pistols were right, NEVER TRUST A HIPPY! hawkwind guitarist / vocalist Dave Brock has a smile that can light up the place like sunrise on the Summer solstice, but here at Patronaat in Haarlem, just a few miles outside Amsterdam, he's giving off vibes (man!) like a Saturday night in the heavier parts of Glasgow! you could cut the atmosphere with a Stanley blade!
Having ranted on about what "c**ts" the music press are and how this tour is a waste of time, Brock sits in the corner of the room with his back to us, drinking honey and Jim Beam to try and shake off a dose of flu.
"There just seems to be an endless saga of mistakes," he whines, "At one place they had a recent picture of us and a list of all the gigs, and then it's got "Latest record: 'Palace Springs' " - which is a f**king four year old record!"
"We walked into the place in Berlin and thought, 'Oh this is quite a nice stage'." says Brock "But that was the f**king stage that Run DMC were playing. We were playing in this poky dive in the same building and every time we played quietly you could hear all this f**king noise in the background!"
Apparently four people were stabbed at the Run DMC show, and Brock muses that there's no trouble between the punks, bikers, hippies and freaks that attend Hawkwind shows because "they just get stoned and have a good time!".
During the show that evening, the audience do "get stoned and have a good time", but having stayed straight, these seem like all the worse excesses of hippydom.
The sequencers pack up, both Brock and Bassist / vocalist Alan Davey sing out of tune because of the flu and the Hawkwind dancer, whilst being a nice enough human being, has about as much chance of developing dancing talents as Hitler has of being fondly remembered in Poland!
In short, the show, unlike the last one I saw, is total shite - but everybody is too stoned to notice. I mean for Christ's sake, some people are to wasted to even notice that the band are onstage - they sit in the bar like long hair'd cabbages, smoking huge spliffs and having conversations that they'll have forgotten five minutes late. This is pathetic.
"I've been reading 'The American dream: The History Of LSD'," Brock tells me. "That;s quite interesting y'know, the way things went on, how the idea of LSD became corrupt.
" The purity of it all became worse and worse, and it was mixed with more and more bad drugs," He continues "People are so callous and greedy. It's like dope now; it's just a load of old rubbish!
"I don't smoke very much any more myself. Years ago there used to be a really nice selection like there is over here, but in England it's cut with all sorts of crap now."
"Making it legal would solve a lot of problems, but it's the way that things get corrupted, isn't it? The ideas are good, then it becomes wonderful and a lot of people get involved; then it starts going downhill when people start making money out of it."
So is everything destined to turn to s**t?
"Yeah," nods Brock, "that's the way it goes. As you get older in life you see how things are; people striving to fulfil their dreams and eventually they become sour. You find that with lots of wonderful ideas. "it's like writing a magazine: at first you get as lot of enthusiasm and maybe you start selling lots of copies, but people get a change of lifestyle and their attitude changes. It's bound to, with money being involved, and then the whole format will change.
"I suppose a true revolutionary is someone who builds something up and then tears it down and starts on something else, and just continually does that."
Brock makes no secret of his dislike for the press, and in many ways he has good reason for it. Hawkwind have been harshly treated in their 23 years to say the least, but at the same time Brock is his own worst enemy - being jaded and cynical.
Hawkwind should, by rights be as big as Pink Floyd, but Brock is only to willing to bite a helping hand, he recently blew out a Radio 1 interview at the last minute, and Davey had to stand in for him; all they wanted to do was play some of his music and have a chat.
In contrast, drummer Richard Chadwick is almost beautifully naive. Despite looking like a pixie and wearing an awful jumper, he is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet; perhaps to nice,as Brock is right - a lot of people are money grabbing scum and Chadwick is an obvious target.
On the other hand Chadwick was at Stonehenge the year that Crass played and some biker chapters decided to kick the living shit out of all the punks. Chadwick had a mohawk than, and played in an Anarcho-Punk band called the Smart Pills.
Like many people, he's held the shitty end of the stick and seen dreams turn into nightmares, but from our brief meeting it's difficult to imagine him ever being bitter
Chadwick thanks us for coming all this way to do a feature; Brock having talked about turning gigs down because "moneys, not everything", turns around and sneers, "Well they get f**king paid for it!". Two very different sides of the same coin, while Alan Davey is perhaps a mixture of them both.
What is it that makes people sell out and lose sight of their dreams?
"I suppose they get swallowed up in the morass of average jobs," shrugs Brock. We've all done average jobs and a lot of people just grit their teeth and plough on."
"I mean we've got guys who are bank managers and directors who come and see us. They're real Hawkwind freaks, but when they've got their suits on they're quite powerful-looking characters."
Don't you find that offensive though? I mean bank managers are hardly known for their ethics.
"Yeah, but that's their perogative," argues Brock. "At least I have my principles; other people don't have so many principles."I suppose it's getting to an age where you're obliged to become normal. I mean you could be 50; and looking as you are; there's no reason why you shouldn't, but the problems we get all the f**king time! I always get pulled at customs just because of the way that I look."
So people give up because it's easier?
"Yeah they do f**king give up," spits Brock, "and they shouldn't. If you stick to your principles, you change things; if you give up, you don't!"
And alas, those positive words are the last thing Dave Brock says before curtailing the interview. After the gig he leaves quickly for the hotel, still fighting but already defeated by his own attitude.
Chadwick stays behind, happily bombed. A hippy trundles through the backstage area. "How do I get out she asks?" she says.
Chadwick grins a Hawkwind grin - or at least what you'd imagine a Hawkwind grin to be.
"Close your eyes and make a wish," he replies