Despite his sometimes turbulent relationship with the rest of the band, Turner’s saxophone was an integral part of their gritty and cathartic 70s sound
Fifteen years ago, the BBC broadcast a documentary about the history of Hawkwind. Talking heads attested to their vast influence and reminisced about the kind of misadventures that tend to befall a band apparently existing on a diet largely composed of LSD. But the whole thing was undercut with sadness. The surviving members of what’s generally considered Hawkwind’s classic lineup – the one that recorded their unlikely hit single Silver Machine and the extraordinary 1973 live album Space Ritual – had fallen out, apparently irrevocably. There was clearly very little love lost between bassist Lemmy and his former bandmates while Hawkwind’s one constant member and de-facto leader, guitarist and vocalist Dave Brock, refused to take part in the documentary at all, “due,” the voiceover glumly announced, “to the participation of Nik Turner”.
Turner and Brock’s relationship had long been fractious, perhaps scarred by Turner’s desire to be noticed in a band with no obvious frontman (Brock, Turner, Lemmy and the band’s troubled lyricist Robert Calvert shared lead vocals; another lyricist, the science fiction author Michael Moorcock frequently gave readings on stage) and that presented audiences with a lot to look at: quite aside from the musicians, there was the eye-popping psychedelic light show and the presence of the statuesque and frequently naked dancer Miss Stacia to contend with. The first time Turner parted company with Hawkwind, in 1976, he was fired after playing his saxophone over the other members’ solos and vocals on stage “despite repeated requests not to”.
