I've only got the loosest grasp of the situation but it seems Nic Turner's insistence on touring America under the Hawkwind imprint, and so scuppering Dave Brock's own tour, has made Dave Brock ill???
Sounds like adults acting like toddlers to me. Here's Turner's take on the situation.
The internet has warped my brain. I bet he wrote this all perfectly calm but it reads like he's screaming it at the top of his lungs.
"MY DEAR FRIENDS, I MUST SAY I DO SYMPATHISE WITH YOUR CONFUSION AND CONCERN ABOUT THE LATEST ROUND IN THE HAWKWIND SAGA. LET ME SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE MATTER.
I WAS A FOUNDER MEMBER OF THE BAND ‘’GROUP X’,’ HAWKWIND ZOO’ AND ‘HAWKWIND’.[IN FACT THE BAND’S NAME ‘HAWKWIND’ WAS COINED AS A NAME FOR ME, BY THE LATE JOHN HARRISON, THE BAND’S BASS-PLAYER, NO LESS], TO DESCRIBE CERTAIN UNSAVOURY HABITS OF MINE, OF BREAKING WIND AND SPITTING, A HABIT I HAVE NOW GROWN OUT OF!!??1. THE BAND ULTIMATELY WAS SIGNED BOTH JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY, TO UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS, AS ‘HAWKWIND’, THE MEMBERS COMPRISING MICK SLATTERY, TERRY OLLIS, JOHN HARRISON, DIKMIK DAVIS, DAVE BROCK AND MYSELF.
AFTER I HAD LEFT THE BAND, ME BEING THE LAST OF THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS TO BE MANIPULATED OUT OF THE BAND BY DAVE, IT WAS SUGGESTED TO ME BY DOUG SMITH, THAT ALL THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE BAND MIGHT FORM THEIR OWN BANDS E.G. NIK TURNER’S HAWKWIND, TERRY OLLIS’S HAWKWIND, DIKMIK DAVIS’S HAWKWIND, MICK SLATTERY’S HAWKWIND, JOHN HARRISON’S HAWKWIND AND DAVE BROCK’S HAWKWIND. NO-ONE DID SO AT THE TIME, BUT IN 1994, WHILST TOURING USA I CALLED MY BAND NIK TURNER’S HAWKWIND, AND FOUND MYSELF THREATENED WITH INJUNCTION, BY THE BAND’S AGENT, AND THE THEN AGAIN MANAGER DOUG SMITH. AT THE TIME I WAS NOT AWARE THAT THE NAME HAD BEEN TRADE-MARKED IN BRITAIN, AND IN FACT HAD NOT BEEN TRADE-MARKED IN USA, SO THESE THREATS WERE COMPLETELY SPURIOUS IN THE USA.
WHEN DAVE DECIDED TO TRADE-MARK THE NAME, ‘HAWKWIND’, HE WAS ADVISED BY DOUG SMITH, HIS MANAGER, TO GET THE PERMISSION OF ALL THE MUSICIANS ON THE ORIGINAL UNITED ARTISTS AGREEMENT, WHO HAD JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY SIGNED THE AGREEMENT AS ‘HAWKWIND’. THIS HE DID NOT DO, AND THE TRADE MARK WAS REGISTERED IN DAVE’S NAME, WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF, OR REFERENCE TO, THE OTHER PARTIES. THAT TRADE-MARK THEN STOOD, AND DAVE INJUNCTED ME FOR CALLING MY BAND EX-HAWKWIND, [ALL MEMBERS BEING EX-MEMBERS OF HAWKWIND], CLAIMING I WAS TRYING TO PASS MY BAND OFF AS HAWKWIND, WHICH OF COURSE, I WAS NOT. UNFORTUNATELY I COULD NOT AFFORD TO FIGHT THE CASE, WAS ILLY-ADVISED BY MY SOLICITOR, DESERTED BY MY MANAGER , AND ENDED UP SETTLING THE MATTER OUT OF COURT, TO MY COST.
IN THE CURRENT SITUATION, IN THE U.S.,THE NAME HAWKWIND WAS TRADE-MARKED IN MY NAME, IN ORDER THAT I MIGHT ATTEMPT TO REDRESS THE SITUATION AND PUT THE RECORD STRAIGHT, BY TRANSFERRING THE TRADE-MARK TO THE NAMES OF THE ORIGINAL SIGNATORIES OF THE ORIGINAL UNITED ARTISTS CONTRACT, TERRY OLLIS, MICK SLATTERY, DIKMIK DAVIS, JOHN HARRISON, [DECEASED], AND RATHER THAN DAVE BROCK, DAVE BROCK’S SON, PASCO BROCK.
HAWKWIND AT THE OUTSET WAS ALWAYS A ‘PEOPLES’ BAND, WITH A COMMUNAL SPIRIT WITH ALTERNATIVE IDEA, AND IDEALS, IN AN ALTERNATIVE CUTURE .THOSE WHO WISH TO MAY JUDGE ME AS THEY SEE FIT, BUT THIS WAS DONE OUT OF A SPIRIT OF FAIRNESS, AND INCLUSIVENESS, AND I HOPE YOU ALL UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT IT A WAY FORWARD. BEST WISHES AND LOVE TO YOU ALL, SEE YOU AT A FESTIVAL VERY SOON, NIK TURNER, XXXXXXX"
