Alan Davey (musician)

Last updated

Alan Davey
Born (1963-09-11) 11 September 1963 (age 60)
Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Genres Space rock, hard rock, heavy metal, proto-punk, acid rock, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, black metal
Occupation(s)Musician
Instrument(s)Bass, vocals, keyboards

Alan Davey (born 11 September 1963) is an English musician, best known as the former bassist with the rock band Hawkwind. He is the original bass player in Gunslinger which started in 1979 and is still the bass player and vocalist for Gunslinger. He has played and recorded with Meads of Asphodel, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, Spirits Burning, Bedouin (1998–2003). He formed with the newly re-imagined Hawklords in 2008 with Nik Turner until 2012 and since then formed The Psychedelic Warlords in 2013 until 2015.

Contents

Early musical career

Davey formed his first band, Gunslinger, in 1979 with his cousin Nigel Potter. Influenced by Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Motörhead and Hawkwind, amongst others, they gained a reputation for playing loud and built a solid following. They recorded a demo tape and a recording contract was promised, but the deal was never signed.

Hawkwind

A long-time fan of Hawkwind, Davey had sent a tape of his playing to Dave Brock, and in 1984 Brock invited him to join the band after his debut at the Stonehenge Free Festival that year, moving Harvey Bainbridge from bass to keyboards in order to accommodate him, with Brock sacking keyboardist Dead Fred in the process. [1] During this first tenure with Hawkwind they released seven studio albums and four live offerings. However, by 1996 Davey was unhappy with the musical direction of the band, and, following a tour of Greece, left to form his own Middle-Eastern flavoured hard-rock group, Bedouin, and a Motörhead tribute act named Ace of Spades. [1] Bedouin had been the name of an Alan Davey solo album, and had a distinctive Arabic flavour to it; Davey built upon this, assembling his own band which toured the UK and Europe for several years, releasing one studio album and a live album. The group disbanded in 2003.

In October 2000, Davey was reunited with Hawkwind for the Hawkestra 30th anniversary event at the Brixton Academy, [1] and in 2001, in another major line-up shift, rejoined the group, which led to the departure of Ron Tree and Jerry Richards. Davey's second tenure in Hawkwind saw the release of three live and two studio albums before he left the band again in June 2007, to perform and record with the re-formed Gunslinger and Meads of Asphodel.

Other projects

Davey's first venture outside of the Hawkwind camp (whilst still in the band) was a brief stint helping out on bass duties in Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, in 1988. One of the gigs was recorded and released on Razor Records (RAZ D39): Firkin Well Live – Somewhere Else in England.

Davey has now released an album of Arabic-flavoured material with former Hawkwind vocalist Bridget Wishart. [2]

March 2008 saw the release of the début album by Gunslinger entitled Earthquake in E Minor. The album featured some of the material that had been written between 1979 and 1982 during the band's first inception. In September 2011, Gunslinger embarked upon their first US tour. In March 2012, the band headlined the British Steel Festival VI at the Camden Underworld.

On 18 May 2009, Davey released the solo album entitled Eclectic Devils, on his own record label Earthquake Records. It included contributions from former Hawkwind violinist/keyboardist Simon House, Josh Dreamspirit, Nigel Potter, James Hodkinson, Louis Davey and Isobel from Bruise.

After his departure from Hawkwind, Davey was active in the reformed Hawklords band, consisting of several former members of Hawkwind. He joined the group for a one-off Barney Bubbles benefit show in 2009, a mini tour in 2010, and was part of the touring line-up for a major 2012 UK tour, sharing bass duties with Adrian Shaw. However, Davey did not appear on the subsequent Hawklords album "We Are One", and did not tour the album in September/October 2012 either.

In 2012, the band The Psychedelic Warlords were formed – featuring Alan Davey, Vince Cory, Meurig Griffiths, Radio Ray, Rich Om and Nigel Ward, with a plan to tour into 2013 as an anniversary celebration of Hawkwind's Space Ritual album – playing the album in its entirety. The 2013 tour, which eventually saw several line-up changes, included dates in the UK, and a headline act at the Roadburn Festival in The Netherlands. In 2014, Davey took The Psychedelic Warlords on tour once more, again with nearly a completely new line-up, this time fronted by vocalist and saxophonist Craig High, who had fronted the band during the latter part of the 2013 tour. The 2014 tour saw the band playing two classic albums in their near entirety, Robert Calvert's album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters , and Hawkwind's Hall of the Mountain Grill .

Davey has also done music for three movies and is currently working on a fourth project. In 2018 he joined Paul Rudolph, original singer and guitarist of Pink Fairies and Lucas Fox, the first Motörhead drummer, to record the album Resident Reptiles under the Pink Fairies name for Cleopatra Records.

Discography

[3]

Albums

Earthquake in E Minor - Gunslinger (2008)

As Hawkestrel

Singles and EPs

Live albums

Compilations

Miscellaneous

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawkwind</span> English rock band

Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock. They are regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics often cover themes of urban life and science fiction.

<i>Hall of the Mountain Grill</i> 1974 studio album by Hawkwind

Hall of the Mountain Grill is the fourth studio album by space rock band Hawkwind, released in 1974. It is regarded by many critics as a career highlight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorhead (song)</span> Song by Hawkwind

"Motorhead" is a song written by Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister while he was a member of the English space rock band Hawkwind. It was later recorded by Motörhead, as he called it this instead of Bastard on his then manager's advice.

Lucas Fox is an English drummer who was a founding member of British rock band Motörhead and London punk rock band Warsaw Pakt.

Underground Zerø is a British space rock band, based in Norfolk, UK. The band is also known as UZØ. While the band is often referred to as "Underground Zero" or "Underground Zer0" in print, the official name of the band includes the slashed zero in its name. Their sound is influenced by Hawkwind.

<i>The Chronicle of the Black Sword</i> 1985 studio album by Hawkwind

The Chronicle of the Black Sword is the fourteenth studio album by the English space rock group Hawkwind, released in 1985. It spent two weeks on the UK albums chart peaking at #65. The album is based upon the adventures of Elric of Melniboné, a recurring character in the novels of science fiction author Michael Moorcock, a long-standing associate of the group, who contributes lyrics to one track on the album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kings of Speed</span>

"Kings of Speed" is a 1975 song by the British space rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single in the UK (UP35808) on 7 March 1975 and was subsequently included on the album Warrior on the Edge of Time, although its B-side, "Motorhead", was not. Although failing the chart in both the U.S. and the U.K., the track became an underground success, particularly with significant play in dance clubs. The parent album also did well, climbing up the Billboard album chart in the U.S.

<i>The Business Trip</i> 1994 live album by Hawkwind

The Business Trip is a 1994 live album by the English space rock group Hawkwind. It was recorded at the Slough gig of the group's 1993 tour to promote the It Is the Business of the Future to Be Dangerous album.

<i>Hawkwind, Friends and Relations</i> Compilation album by Hawkwind

The Hawkwind, Friends and Relations series of albums was released in the early 1980s containing live and studio performances by Hawkwind and related bands.

<i>Live Chronicles</i> 1986 live album by Hawkwind

Live Chronicles is a 1986 album by Hawkwind recorded of a live performance of their The Chronicle of the Black Sword concept album based on the Michael Moorcock character Elric of Melniboné. The Hammersmith Odeon dates on 3 and 4 December were professionally audio recorded and the stage show video taped.

<i>This Is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic</i> 1984 live album by Hawkwind

This is Hawkwind, Do Not Panic is a 1984 live album by the English space rock group Hawkwind. The album consisted of two discs: an LP which was recorded during the group's 1980 Levitation tour; and a 12" EP recorded at their June 1984 appearance at the Stonehenge Free Festival.

The discography of the British space rock group Hawkwind spans from their formation in 1969 through to the present day, with consistent output of live and studio albums, EPs and singles. The group have used aliases to release some albums in an attempt to either redefine themselves, as with the 1978 album 25 Years On released under the name Hawklords, or simply to distinguish the piece of work from their usual output, as with White Zone released under the name Psychedelic Warriors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey Bainbridge</span>

Harvey Frederick Bainbridge is an English bass and keyboard player. He is best known as the bass player and keyboard player in Hawkwind.

Simon King is an English drummer most noted for his work with Hawkwind. He was described in 1985 by British rock magazine Sounds as the 'definitive rock drummer.'

Steve Swindells is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organizer, club promoter and journalist.

The British space rock group Hawkwind have been active since 1969, but their earliest video release is Night Of The Hawk from their Earth Ritual Tour recorded at Ipswich on 9 March 1984. Since then, there have been numerous video releases covering the evolution of the band; some are professional broadcast shoots, others commercial, and a few are amateur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr Dibs</span> Musical artist

Jonathan Darbyshire, widely known by his stage name Mr Dibs or Dibs Hawkwinder, is a British musician, best known as a former member of the space rock group Hawkwind.

Hawklords is a British space rock band. The band started as a one-off ensemble of musicians formerly associated with Hawkwind, and playing Hawkwind covers. Although the band uses the same name as the short-lived 1978 incarnation of Hawkwind, it is not a reunion or tribute, though three of the original 1978 Hawklords members were in the band when it reformed, but are not currently members.

Purple Pyramid Records is a sub-label to Cleopatra Records that focuses on progressive rock and psychedelic music. The label began in 2000 with a series of releases by guitarist Allan Holdsworth, Jon Anderson, and Hawkwind co-founder Nik Turner. The label expanded its roster with releases by Yes, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, Santana, Amon Düül II, Nektar, Brainticket, Tangerine Dream, Alan Davey, L. Shankar, and Quicksilver Messenger Service as well as projects by producer Billy Sherwood dubbed The Prog Collective,, and The Fusion Syndicate.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Ian, Abrahams (4 June 1999). Hawkwind: Sonic Assassins. SAF Publishing, c2004. p. 155,214,237. ISBN   0-306-80897-8.
  2. "Alan Davey Interview – September 2008". Live Music Scene. Archived from the original on 13 August 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  3. "ProgArchives: Alan Davey" . Retrieved 9 September 2021.