HW 40th Anniversay Show

[Paul Mather]

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