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A lazy afternoon interview with Nik Turner at Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki 26.03.2005
Nik: I met Dark Sun in 1997 at a Hawkwind Fan -festival in Germany. I just
went there by myself with Trev Thoms, the guitarist I used to play with in
Inner City Unit. While I was there Dark Sun invited me to come into
Finland to do some recordings and maybe occasional live performings. I
also performed with them the next year in Sweden, at Space and Rock
Festival. I already knew Mika Järvinen through recordings. When we were
rehearsing in the studio Mika told me that the next day I was going to
play with Five Fifteen at Ruisrock Festival. It was kind of a rush job! A
couple of days later I played with them also at Tavastia club.
Bob: You have visited Finland many times since that. What draws you back here year after year?
Nik: Well, I like it very much down here and the people, you know. The country has lots of open places and itīs beautiful. And Iīm quite intrigued by "Naughty-Nik holidays", hah-hah! I donīt know that much about the Finnish mythology. I had a book called Kalevala, about Väinämöinen who sings people into the ground. I was actually involved in Britain organising a rock festival called The Celtic Blue Rock Festival. They were going to make a rock and blues festival then and I thought why they donīt call it Blue Rock festival because of the blue stones the ancient people used to carry from there to Stonehenge area! I had promised to write some notes for program about the Celtic mythology. I thought, Wales is a land of song and Welsh must be the people who move the stones when singing!
Bob: What is your finest memory from Finland?
Nik: Well, I have enjoyed my time playing with my friends here. I have also visited some nice summer cottages as well as a church with interesting ancient symbols near Porvoo. I have played with Jukka Tolonen and Wentus Blues Band in a country & western club. I was happy to do some recordings with Babylon Whores. I really like to come over here, play with musicians and record something on their albums. Itīs really cool to travel all over the world just because of the music. I have two backing bands in America, three in Sweden and a couple of bands in Germany!
Bob: Really? In April thereīs going to be a handful of Space Ritual gigs in England. Space Ritual consists of some ex-members of Hawkwind as everybody knows
but what is the current line-up?
Nik: Well, we have Dave Anderson on bass, he was on In Search of Space -album, Thomas Crimble playing keyboards and rhythm guitar, he was the band member in 1971 when Hawkwind played at The Isle of Wight Festival, but he didnīt play on any records. Then we have Terry Ollis who played drums on the first two albums
Bob: You mean Terry "The Naked Drummer"?
Nik: Yeah, the naked drummer!
and then we have Mick Slattery who was in Hawkwind before they recorded their first album.
Santtu Laakso, the bassist of Dark Sun, popped in here to add that Mick Slattery played in Hurry on Sundown -demo that Flicknife Records released as a 12 inch vinyl single with a couple of other archive tracks in 1980īs.
Bob: How did the Space Ritual project come into being?
Nik: I live in Wales and there were a couple of guys from the early days
who also lived in area.
Bob: How about Ron Tree? Is he still involved with Space Ritual?
Nik: He is, sometimes. He played with us at Glastonbury Fayre Festival last year. He has been doing some recordings with Trev Thoms. Generally, Ron is not really well, because he has problems with heroin, originally because of his heroin-addicted girlfriend which have caused a lot of troubles to his life. I remember meeting Ron the very first time in Leeds in a club where we had a gig, he was our fan really. I encouraged him on playing the bass guitar. Next time we played there his band was supporting us! Later I did a tour in Europe with a band called Nik Turnerīs Hawkwind. That was at the time I had to change the name to Space Ritual. I met Ron at Glastonbury Fayre where he said: "Oh, this is what Hawkwind ought to be doing! They need a front man, you know". I said to him: "Oh no, itīs YOU Ron that THEY need. Why donīt you write to Hawkwind and ask them if they give you the job?" And thatīs exactly what he did!
Bob: Do you have any idea why Ron left Hawkwind? Did he get sacked or did he leave the band?
Nik: I donīt really know, I havenīt been in touch with Hawkwind since that. Dave Brock is very much of a dictator, he has strict rules in his band, he is hiring and firing everybody. He always considered Hawkwind just as his band and nobody elseīs but nobody realized that! Ron Tree became a bit weird then, I think. It is sad really, because he is very creative and a nice guy, very talented.
Bob: There has been a lot of publicity about bad relations and court cases with The Mothership of Hawkwind, especially between you and mr. Brock. Is it basically about money?
Nik: Oh yes it is, really. But basically it is about what they did, when they built trademark of the name of the band so that nobody else could use it. So Dave Brock owned the name of Hawkwind but I think everybody owns the spirit of Hawkwind.
Bob: So, there is always going be, letī s say, two or even more Hawkwinds, then?
Nik: Yeah, itīs a stupid situation, isnīt it?
Bob: What about Space Ritual? Are you going to stay as a live act playing mainly in the festivals?
Nik: Yes, I think so. And we will be doing a very spectacular tour in Europe in November. We are also playing in Holland near Tilburg at Road Burn Space Rock Festival in April and in July in Germany at Burg Herzberg.
Bob: In 1990īs you made a couple of brilliant tours in the USA with Helios Creed and other fellows. Do you have any plans to make it even bigger there?
Nik: Well, Iīd like to go there sometime. Iīve done a lot of tours over there with different bands. Itīs great fun and Iīd meet great people to do gigs with them, like Genesis P. Orridge and Jello Biafra, but the problem I find is that sort of music Iīd really like to perform is when I play with my other projects, say Galaktikos. But whenever I go over there all people want to hear is some old Hawkwind stuff. When I was there the last time I did a gig in Washington. At the end of the show I was playing acoustically and the audience was clapping the rhythm, just communication. People enjoy while doing this, being involved, I think itīs great.
Bob: What about the Anubian Lights you made three albums with? Any common projects in the near future?
Nik: I havenīt exactly but Iīm in touch with them. They want me to do some recording with them.
Bob: Including the famous post-punk band Inner City Unit you have played with numerous other bands, letīs say Sham 69, Big Amongst Sheep, The Imperial Pompadours, Nigel Mazlyn Jones
Do you have any special memories of these bands you have popped in and out as a guest musician?
Nik: Yeah! I enjoyed my time in Miami when I did a tour with Spirit, you know, the band of Randy California. Later when I was touring with Sham 69 I got spit on every night. Quite terrific! This is what the music business is, I suppose, for some people, you canīt serve everybody! I had very nice time with Nigel Mazlyn Jones in Glastonbury on the big stage while my kids were running around. Yeah, different things
Bob: And if we are looking even further to the past
Can you name your all time favourite album you have played on as far?
Nik: I think itīs Space Ritual, the original from 1973 with Hawkwind, itīs so rough and ready. Some albums I really like about some songs on them, like Inner City Unit album New Anatomy. The problem with that album was the drum machines, not the songs. And also The Imperial Pompadours album, working with Robert Calvertīs Krankshaft Cabaret. Barney (Bubbles) produced the rockīn īroll side of it and made the visual graphics and I produced the Krankshaft Cabaret side. The album is sort of a study in fascism and itīs against the music business moguls. The album bases upon the life of Hitler.
Bob: Was there ever any live acts with The Imperial Pompadours?
Nik: No, but those rockīnīroll songs evolved into Inner City Unit songs Fu Manchu, Fungus Among Us, Brand New Cadillac and Little Black Egg.
Bob: Do you see any possibilities to join on stage with Hawkwind again?
Nik: I see, why not? I have nothing against it, because Iīd do anything for money, hah hah! This is why Iīm here (turning towards Santtu and other guys in the studio). Iīll be really highly paid by these guys!
Bob: So, you are currently giving your share to the latest studio recordings by Dark Sun and Five Fifteen but also working on the first studio album of Nik Turnerīs Galaktikos. Tell me about the music, is it jazzy music ā la Kubano Kickasso or what?
Nik: Itīs a bit like that, yeah. Some of our new material is very funky, really kicking music. We just invited other musicians to come on and play with us. Itīs kind of party music that people canīt stop dancing to.
Bob: Is there any famous fellow musicians playing in Galaktikos?
Nik: Oh, no no! Just some local guys from Wales, people Iīve been working with in other bands like Nik Turnerīs Fantastic All Stars
At the moment the manager of Space Ritual wants to revamp my old ICU albums, remix them and release them in limited editions, do nice packages and new cover designs with quite a lot of money, and so on. One of the things he wants to do is to release the Sphynx album as a package of three which should be the original Sphynx album (X It In Today), the American Sphynx album with Helios Creed (the industrial music), and then the studio album which I did with Sphynx but was NEVER released. Then he wants to do The Imperial Pompadours album which needs a little bit of remixing, I think.
Bob: Considering your gig yesterday in On The Rocks restaurant with Dark Sun and Five Fifteen, what songs to your mind were the highlights of the evening?
Nik: Well, I think I like
Silver Machine because I like singing with this girl singer of Five Fifteen.
Bob: My favourite was D-Rider, those fantasy lyrics about dragons flying always touch me.
Nik: Nice to know that. I tried not to be too corny, if you know what I mean, thatīs why I didnīt call it Dragon Rider and so on. I wanted the song to be more mysterious. Iīm very much into mythologies, you know. I went to Egypt and I recorded flute music inside the Great Pyramid and then I went to South America and visited the ancient Maya temple ruins. Iīm fascinated by old cultured civilisations that invented the mathematics, sciences and so on. Thatīs why Iīm reading Kalevala also! Iīm fascinated by the history.
Bob: Where are you heading next to?
Nik: Iīm going back to Wales and will start the rehearsals with Space Ritual
Santtu: By the way: DO you rehearse AT ALL? Hah hah!
Nik: I do, sometimes I do! We arenīt really doing any particular new material right now, basically we are doing just some old numbers before the album comes out. Weīve also got a lot of new studio material to which I wrote lyrics to
songs about space and mythology
surprise, surprise! Thereīs a poem in Celtic mythology which I used and made it modern, futuristic. Iīm really into science fiction, mythology and one-liners of Raymond Chandlerīs gangster stories!
Bob: Do you have any special message to your Finnish supporters?
Nik: Well, I must think
love your neighbour, hah hah! And stay high! Donīt do any harm to other people, enjoy yourselves and
donīt give a fuck, hah hah!
The Mighty Thunder Rider was interviewed by Raimo "Bob" Tikkanen
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