(The site the stars talk to!)
An interview with Matthew Wright (via e-mail)
Before I continue, a couple of thank you's, firstly to Matthew himself for taking time out of his undoubtedly busy schedule to answer these questions for me, it's most appreciated and quite humbling for me that someone who appears on national TV five days a week regards this a worthwhile exercise. At the same time however I also have to extend my gratitude to French based Hawkfan and regular visitor to the museum Dave Dignum who made the initial contact with Matthew and suggested the idea to him for this interview, nice one mate I owe you one!
For those of you not familiar with Mr Wright, hopefully you will learn a lot more about him from the following piece but basically he first came to public attention by having his own column in the Daily Mirror newspaper, since then he's gone from strength to strength by presenting his own Radio shows on LBC and more recently as a stand in on BBC Radio2, now officially Europe's biggest station, but undoubtedly his crowning glory so far is his TV show on Channel 5 called "The Wright Stuff", it airs daily from Monday to Friday from 10.00 - 11.00 and is basically a fairly informal look at the days big news stories with interaction from a daily guest panel, the studio audience and the public in general who can get involved via the phone or e-mail. If you haven't caught it have a look and see what you think, like it or not you can sit there and think "bl**dy hell, that's another hawkfan up there!"
Well Matthew, firstly thanks for taking time out to talk to the museum, first question - how did you first get into Hawkwind and what was the first album or single that you brought?
The first Hawkwind album I owned was the Hawklords LP. The cabinet key, the cabinet key!!!! Does that count? Mountain Grill came after that. I loooooooove Psychedelic Warlords!!!!!!
Now I've heard you mention on more than one occasion about your "life altering experience" at Stonehenge in the early 80's, could you elaborate on that for the readers?
You can read as much into that as you like. I was only 17 and had not had much festival experience. At that point it felt like me and a handful of friends were the only ones doing, er, what we were doing during when we weren’t at school. One mate, Jerry, suggested we ride our motorbikes down to Stonehenge for the weekend to see what this festival thingy was all about. It was hard to find out anything about it because it was not commercial, there were no organisers. Anyway we did ride down there. I ended up staying a month, missing my 18th birthday, my driving test, but had the wildest time of my life. I often half jokingly say I went to Stonehenge a boy and came out a cosmic man! And if a lady called Sue Jones is reading this – or any of her friends from Coventry – get in touch! It would be great to catch up after , what, 20 years!
Were you also a regular attendee on the annual Hawkwind tours that covered the length and breadth of the country during the 80's and 90's and if so any particular favourite memories?
I must have seen Hawkwind twenty five times, maybe more, live. I’ve plenty of memorable gigs…the night at the Hammersmith Odeon, must have been early Eighties, when Bob Calvert was standing outside with a sign saying Do Not See This Band – he did though, coz I got him to sign my programme when I spotted him inside. Another gig at the Palais Hammersmith was memorable for the songs, they were on rocking form that night. I remember some of the bigger shows too, Reading Rock – I think Lemmy turned up that night…..or maybe it was someone who looked like him. ( I think we can safely say that it was Mr Kilmister, Dave)
During your time on the newspapers were you a "closet" hawkfan or were you out in the open" and if so did any of your fellow hacks share your enthusiasm for Mr Brock and his merry men?
Er, I’m famously not very good at keeping secrets. More to the point, there doesn’t seem to be much point pretending….so I wear my heart on my sleeve.
Moving on to your TV show "The Wright Stuff" and I guess the most obvious question I have to ask you seeing as the interview is about Hawkwind, was the title of the show inspired by the Bob Calvert track "The Right Stuff" or was it just pure co-incidence?
I think Bob borrowed the Right Stuff from Tom Wolfe, he who wrote of Kool Aid. Both men are synonymous with that phrase in my mind.
NOTE - For the less well read amongst us (that'll be me then!) Tom Wolfe was the author of the book "The Electric Kool Aid - Acid Test" which chronicled the adventures of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and the 60's hippie movement, he later went on to write the novel "Bonfire Of the Vanities" which was subsequently made into a Hollywood Blockbuster starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis and Melanie Griffith amongst others!
Ever considered getting the band to record a version of the song as a theme tune to the show?
That would be a treat! (Hawkwind, take note!)
So moving swiftly on to Mathew Wright the DJ, how did the interview with Dave and Kris come about on LBC? personally, and I guess I am a bit biased but I think Dave is really interesting and entertaining guest on these type of shows, was he an easy interview? mind you I really should ask you how you felt, was this the first time that you had met him?
Dave is a genius interview – but I think it depends on who is interviewing him. I mean I am a die hard fan so I knew quite a lot of fascinating stuff already that I wanted to get out there so other people could understand why I was so excited to have Dave on the show. The interview was sorted by my then producer at LBC, Sam Boyero, through Hawkwind’s PR at the time. It was the first time we’d met. I don’t think they could believe I was a fan, though. It was only when I started reciting lyrics madly at them that the penny dropped!
I know over the years you've met some pretty big stars in your line of work, but how did this compare with those meetings, I got the impression that this was a bit of a dream come true for you?
I’ve met a lot of very interesting people over the years – Elizabeth Taylor for f**k’s sake!- but it’s different when you meet someone you blame for changing the way your neuro-chemistry works.
so was it during the LBC interview that the idea was first hatched for you to do Spirit of the Age with them in London?
Yes, I was firing all these lyrics at Dave – I’ve memorised at lot of Calvert stuff over the years, the rhymes just stick in my mind like Zappa lyrics do as well. Kris asked me what my favourite Hawkwind song is – I answered straight away that it’s Spirit of the Age. I have my strongest ‘henge memories to that one. So Dave goes, well you’re going to have sing it with us live. I didn’t hesitate. It was only a week or two later that I started to wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew.
Now whilst you have a far higher profile than the average hawkfan, I'm sure you'll agree that it was still a bit of a "Jim 'll fix it moment", so if possible can you talk us through the hours leading up to your performance and what it was like actually doing the song. Now you probably won't remember this for various reasons (Guinness being one of them) but we actually met after the gig in the 12 Bar club where the band held an after show party, but come 10 o'clock the following morning there you were hosting your TV show looking remarkably "well" how were you really feeling?
The day started off with me trying to find the stage door to the Astoria – I didn’t think the front door would be open. Doh! Some very nice big chap helped me find my – he later turned out to be Hawkwind roadie and A1 super nice helpful friend Big Chris. And there was the band mid way through Steppenwolf. What a treat! I’d never seen them do it before – and Arthur Brown had it down a peach, I can tell you. After quick beer I had to jump on stage and rehearse. My first ever live singing thing! First ever? Well, there’s a good reason for that – I can’t sing.
And that’s where the magic of Hawkwind kicks in. Because miraculously it didn’t sound that bad. Two run through's and that was it. Upstairs to this revolting ‘dressing room’ where we did our best to relax!
I watched the Hawkwind show from the side of the stage. And that was my only disappointment of the night. I kept looking out to the crowd jumping around out front and I wanted to be with them, getting all hot and sweaty – not hanging about in the wings sh***ing my pants!
Dave was struggling through the show that night because he had a really heavy cold but I thought the band rocked. (agreed, I thought it was a stunning show)
I could have wept when they launched into the Right Stuff. I felt utterly, utterly, overjoyed, flattered and astounded.
The performance of Spirit itself was weird. I was so frightened when we started into it but after a couple of minutes it started to feel really good and I was extremely proud of the second verse and the audience reaction. I was on a high (natural of course) for days after that – that’s why I looked okay on telly the next day!
Recently you've been doing some stand in work on BBC Radio 2, how have you been enjoying that? personally I think whilst there's still room for improvement, it is by and large the best station out there, how easy is it to get hawkwind played on there?
Radio 2 is the most fabulous place, a station if the middle of a mighty change, a change for the better in my view. It’s got the widest musical taste on offer any where, some great DJs, and some great behind the scenes people. Janice Long – who is f**king adorable, the most wonderful up-for-it person I know – is a fellow Hawkwind passport holder. It’s quite easy to get Hawkwind played on 2 – though for some reason not during my last stint. Maybe I will get a tune on on Good Friday when I’m standing in for Steve Wright. (put that in your diaries, why not send in a request)