Interview: Haz Wheaton

America had the Grateful Dead, we have Hawkwind. We win. The band are now approaching their fiftieth anniversary and to be honest are on terrific form – a cracking new LP out and some truly awesome gigs. Seriously, if you’re a lapsed fan, grab a copy – it’s got the coherence of their best seventies work; the punch and aggression of the eighties material and a fantastically forceful contemporary production. Their latest recruit – bass player Haz Wheaton – resides here in Bristol and has spent a bit of time answering a few personal and band related questions for us.

Formative years then…fill us in on what turned you on to music – what was the first record you bought and what was your first gig?

I don’t really have a musical background or anything, but when I was a kid I used to go and visit my Dad some weekends, and there’d be nothing to do but listen to music really. He had a good collection of Sabbath and Zeppelin, that kind of thing, and paired with Mum always playing Pink Floyd at home, I slowly became more and more obsessed with it. The first album I got was a burned copy of Sabbath’s Vol. 4 which really caught my attention, and then I got into Nirvana and Motörhead and that was it. The first gig was actually Hawkwind, April 7th 2006 in Exeter. My sister got me a ticket for my 12th birthday. Seeing Hawkwind when you’re that age definitely has an impact…

Was the bass the first instrument you picked up?

I tried guitar at first but I didn’t have the patience to go beyond two lessons. I thought Geezer Butler was really cool so a year later I got a bass and after I saw Hawkwind, began teaching myself by playing along to the albums.

What made you think you could make a living out of music: what turned you away from the life of a nine to five wage slave?

Well you fantasise about these things when you’re young but you don’t think they’ll actually happen. I love music and adventure, so the music industry was always very attractive to me, and I worked a few really boring, hard jobs in my teens that focused me into working towards something more meaningful. I didn’t think I’d necessarily be able to make a living out of actually playing music, so I decided to hedge my bets and began working as crew for various bands and promoters and getting involved with the business side of things like booking; I’m trying to finish my music business degree as we speak. But I realise now that I can actually make a living out of playing music. I’m very grateful.

Did you serve your time in any other bands prior to the Hawkwind gig?

Yeah I’ve been in a few. I just broke up my last band because nobody was really interested in it, including us.

How did you get the Hawkwind tech gig?

I stalked them for years going to as many shows as I could and trying to help out as I’d always have to wait around for the morning train home. I told them I wanted to be a roadie and when I turned 18 they gave me a call.

Tell us how you went from humble bass tech to lord of the space rock four string?

Dave gave me a call in December asking if I would come and play a few numbers on the upcoming Christmas gigs. Of course I jumped at the chance. It was supposed to be just those two shows, but they decided to adopt me full time.

Which bass players do you particularly admire?

Geezer Butler and Lemmy are definitely the main two. Every Hawkwind bassist has been a big influence, Alan Davey in particular. I suppose Krist Novoselic and Scott Reeder too. Tatsu Mikami from Church of Misery is a more recent favourite of mine. I admire lead bassists who play aggressively, daringly and melodically, but tastefully and know when to hold back. I’m influenced by as many guitarists as bassists really.

How about players outside of rock, what’s your take on, say Bootsy or the Stax and Motown guys?

In all honesty I’m just not into that sort of stuff. I appreciate people like Bootsy and Jaco, but I don’t really study them or get excited by them, even though I’m impressed.

The band has a long history of side projects, solo recordings and spin-off groups, do you have any outside musical projects?

I’m often jamming with different people and I’m always writing bits and pieces of music for fun. A few friends here in Bristol and I keep talking about jamming more and getting something together which I’m sure will happen at some point, but of course Hawkwind is my priority.

Returning to the mothership, Hawkwind are going through a bit of a renaissance at the moment, how does it feel to be part of the least likely top thirty band of the decade?

Well, regardless of ‘renaissance’, it feels fucking awesome man. You’ve got to remember that regardless of trends and changes in the world, the mothership has been sailing onward for 47 years continuously now and that there has been a sizeable and dedicated audience throughout; Hawkwind fans are lifers.  I think that now there’s more young people acknowledging the legacy and continuity whilst there’s equally older people recognising that the band is a progressive entity that is still going strong. It’s funny that it’s a Top 30 album indeed, but Hawkwind is basically a British institution now. People say Hawkwind is the gig you see hippies, punks and bikers at but I think now it’s even more eclectic and varied because of the cross section of age and stuff… Now it’s also the gig you see your science teacher, dealer and grandmother all at.

The latest album The Machine Stops is a real return to form, are there plans to return to the studio any time soon and if so, can we expect another concept piece or something less structured?

We’ll have to wait and see!

How have the gigs been – the band are on really strong form live so how does it feel up there on stage?

The gigs have all been killer. We rehearse a lot so that everyone is on the case and we have a tight core from which we can explore, and then live of course, we do lots of jamming and improvisation so that it’s completely different each night; you never know what’s going to happen. We go off on these spontaneous musical journeys. I can’t really articulate it but with Dave and Richard; they’re so easy to play with, I feel like I’ve been playing with them for years. They’ve been around the block a few times and you learn so much from jamming with them. They’ve been playing together for six years more than I’ve been alive, and you can tell. They have a unique connection. It’s quite bizarre and I’ve never experienced that before. We do all these unspoken things and almost play little games. And they’re ridiculously quick musicians, like, you really have to pay attention to keep up with them. It’s fucking amazing.

Which do you prefer – studio or stage?

Stage.

What’s the one Hawkwind song that you would really, really like to have added to the set?

A lot of my favourite numbers are in the set anyway, and others I want to play I can jam with them at any time. But I suppose if I had to pick one it would be Paradox, that’s my favourite song ever.

The band are at the Ramblin’ Man Fair in July – can we expect a similar set to the recent tour or will you have a few surprises for the faithful when we gather in Kent?

Man, this is Hawkwind, anything can happen…