HW: Books About Hawkwind

[Andy Gilham]

Here's the Calvert interview from Melody Maker, 4th August 1973.  There's
also a super photo of Bob, looking elegant indeed (although seeing as it was
the seventies, the lapels are fairly sinful).

(This is of course where Knut says it's already on the Spirit of the Page
site :)


Take me to the pilot
--------------------

When the moon broke away from the earth they continued to be related.  When
Bob Calvert broke away from Hawkwind they continued to be related.  Indeed
Bob is partially responsible for Hawkwind's current single.  Besides his
work with Hawkwind, this strange earthling has been busy creating and
developing "Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters," a play with music that
looks like becoming highly controversial.

Looking incredibly un-Hawkwindish in suit, short hair, rolled umbrella and
staying at the Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, Bob Calvert in his own dynamic,
extrovert way talked to me about his latest project.  "Although I'm known as
a poet and songwriter, it's been my ambition to become a playwright.  Since
I was a young boy I've always wanted to be connected with aircraft, ideally
as an 'Ace'.

"I've grown up of the Starfighter lets, which have accounted for the lives
of many young pilots.  It has become so much a part of me that I've had to
write about it in order to get it out of my system."

At the moment Bob has a single, "Captain Lockheed And The Starfighters," out
on release and it looks like becoming a hit, with over 10,000 sold in its
first week of release.

Two tracks "Ejection" and "Catch A Falling Starfighter" have Hawkwind
voyagers Nik Turner (sax), Lemmy (bass) and Simon King (drums), with former
Pink Fairy Twink doing his bit on percussion.  Dr. Technical is also there,
figuring in production.

"It would be nice for the record to be a hit, but I'm not really bothered
about it.  What concerns me is getting the play staged at somewhere like the
Roundhouse. I want it to be a theatrical event in the true sense.  Like
those in the Elizabethan era.  Not like one of Alice Cooper's egotistical
displays, which in spite of what people say, is nothing to do with
theatrics.

"The story is a true one about the German Airforce under the direction of
Joseph Strauss, who allegedly for political gain revitalised it with seven
hundred Starfighter jets.  As we know many of them have crashed, giving them
names like 'jinx-jets', and 'widow makers.'  A more popular name now is
'flying coffins.'

"The play is a comical tragedy - it's a good way to put across a heavy idea,
although 159 crashed jets is no joke."

So much energy has been injected into the play, Calvert's work with Hawkwind
has had to be limited. He's an extremely fragile person, who has been
regularly ill from the pressures of being on the road with the band.

If the record takes-off, or in true Starfighter tradition crashes into the
charts, Calvert won't take a band on the road under the name of  Captain
Lockheed


"I've a tendency to be manic-depressive and the thought of not having
regular sleep and meals is too much for me to take.  What I'm planning is to
stage the play at somewhere like the Roundhouse.  A concept album will also
follow.

"People like Viv Stanshall, Keith Moon, Neil Innes, Arthur Brown - who'll be
the gremlin and perhaps Jim Capaldi will all be doing something towards the
production.  Being a hypo-manic and consequently having mental disturbances
means that I need to be settled in one place at a time and by staging the
Play, I'll be able to do just that."

A space poet from the planet Margate, Calvert has featured intermittently in
the success of Hawkwind.  He wrote their hugely successful, "Silver
Machine," and conceived the idea for their "Space Ritual" album.

"Writing hit singles is a matter of luck.  I believe I could write hits on
purpose, but I don't want to because it wouldn't be satisfying.  Financially
I'm quite comfortable and the only reason I might want to have more money
would be to improve the theatre situation in Britain. I'd dearly like to see
it back to Elizabethan times."

When I questioned him about staying at the Dorchester, he told me: "I'm
going through an elegant phase at the moment.  Clean shirts and things feel
good and up-lift me.  Unfortunately my life-style is governed by being a
manic-depressive.

"For instance, when I wrote the Captain Lockheed play, I started it by
sitting on the old hulk of a boat lying in a cove in Cornwall.   It just
looked like the remains of a crashed aircraft and just being near it helped
me to relate to what I was trying to do. I completed it in Morocco at a time
when I was feeling very depressed."

For Hawkwind, Calvert can see a more theatrical future and for himself
nothing more than being a writer. If his play flops, it won’t worry him.

"You can't expect everybody to like everything you do - that would be
selfish.  Besides I'll have another project to work on by that time."

Michael Benton

© Melody Maker - UK 4/8/73

--Andy

mailto:Andy.Gilham at btinternet.com; http://www.btinternet.com/~andy.gilham