Alan Davey's currently in the middle of a tour (see here for the dates) but Gonzo's Graham Inglis managed to electronically catch him, via emails, and ask him a few things about his recent album, his future work, and even Twitter.Hopefully we'll be able to carry on the conversation in the near future, but in the meantime here's the first portion of the existing interview....
GI- Thank you for talking to Gonzo... Before I ask you anything about your recent recording work, You've just done a gig celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Space Ritual Alive album. How did that gig go?
AD- It was great fun, lots of jamming and interaction with each other, it was a fab gig! We recorded it too and I've been doing some rough mixes and it really does sound like an early 70's Hawkwind gig! It'll be released later this year but not sure when yet.
GI- The band's called "The Psychedelic Warlords" - whose band is it and is it intended just to be a tribute band?
AD- It wasn't the Psychedelic Warlords (a Hawkwind concept band I started up last year) at Herne Bay - that was Space Ritual/Hawklords. The Psychedelic Warlords are going out in UK and Europe this year doing the Space Ritual show. We played our first gig in Rotherham [on March 1st] and it was very well received.
Vince Cory, Radio Ray, Meurig Griffiths, Julian Slawinski and Nigel Ward who did the Herne Bay gig also play in the Psychedelic Warlords along with Rich Om on sound FX and Demolitia is dancing with us too. We're headlining the Thursday night at this year's Roadburn Festival in Holland (Tribute bands don't headline fests like this) on the main stage and a special light show is being developed just for us... this is gonna be a great show!
GI- This spring, Hawkwind will be doing the Warrior album live and the Psychedelic Warlords will be doing the Space Ritual album live. These sort of things have never happened before. For fans, it's like waiting ages for a bus and eventually two arrive together! Is it coincidence?
AD- No idea if it's a coincidence or not but I had the idea to do this sort of show in April 2012 and first tried it at the Sonic Rock Solstice Festival in Wales of June 2012 and it went down a storm! One fan saying, "That's the best Hawkwind gig I've seen for years!"
But if ya gonna do these type of concept shows you gotta do it right or not at all. You just can't play the songs and feel like you've done it, that's copping out! You have to go to great lengths to perfect the sounds/tones used back then. I've just spent £1000 I ain't really got getting the right amp and cabs for the job. Had to sell an amp and a guitar to raise the money but when I do something I do it right and the fans that have now seen The Psychedelic Warlords know we mean business paying respect to these classic old songs!
We've perfected the sounds of all the instruments on the Space Ritual show that we're performing at the moment and as one Hawkwind fan pointed out to me, only Lemmy or I could pull this off as the bass drives the show big time! Same goes with all the albums Lemmy was on, I suppose!
GI- I wasn't there, but I gather the Hawkwind of 1972 played really loud and I imagine those Space Ritual Tour gigs didn't sound much like the album release the following year. Will the Psychedelic Warlords gigs seek to recreate the original sound experience or the later vinyl mix?
AD- Both; 'cause they're both valid as sounds, one is raw and edgy and the other is the definitive listen. We've managed to mix both angles of it really well!
To be continued.... with more on the Psychedelic Warlords project. Also Alan's "Cyber Tooth" album
PART TWO
In the meantime, info and news about all Alan's albums and projects can be found on...
And more about the upcoming Roadburn festival, Holland, can be found here.
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