Biography Steve Swindells

Born 1952. Scorpio. Dragon. Went to Sexy's School Bruton Somerset and The Bristol Cathedral School. Then The West Of England College Of Art for a few months before dropping out and going to live in a tent in a wood - in 1970. His first band was called Squidd (www.rodneymatthews.com). Steve then moved to Worthy Farm, living there for 3 months, and helped to build the first pyramid stage for the 2nd Glastonbury festival in 1971. This time he had a larger tent - a roof of a marguee in a beduoin tent styleee! He moved to London on '73 and lived in a squat in Camden, then after a short spell touring the free festivals of the UK in a dodgy old van with the band The Sommerstown Squatters Band, and squatting in a disused slaughterhouse in Jericho in Oxford, Steve got a publishing deal with Chappell Music and a record deal with RCA, having been taken on by a violent, aristocratic, gay junkie alcoholic called Mark Edwards who was obsessed with him. Edwards produced his first album 'Messages'which was released in'74, whilst abusing him physically and mentally. He then blew Steve's deal with RCA by sweeping everything off the MOD's desk with his umbrella in a drunken rage, as the second album 'Swallow' was being readied for release.

This album, and it's never-before released flollow-up have recently been digitally remastered and reissued on: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/esoteric/artists/steveswindells.php

SS was rescued/kidnapped by his friends Caroline Guinness and Tim Clark(RIP)and went on to join the pop group Pilot as keyboard player in '76 and recorded the album 'Three's A Crowd' with them in Abbey Road (produced by Alan Parsons) whilst hanging out with the likes of The Sex Pistols and living in Notting Hill. He then joined Hawkwind in '78 and recorded the Hawklords album '25 Years On' with them and played on the hugely succeful UK tour that followed. When singer Robert Calvert left the band, he was offered the job of lead singer, but declined, as the band had no record deal and were broke. Instead he recorded some demos, went to New York and got signed to Atco records (part of WEA at the time) by the CEO Doug Morris, within 3 days, thanks in part to Bill Curbishely, the manager of The Who, opening doors for him. David Bowie offered to produce the album, amongst other big names. However, or despite this, the self-produced 'Fresh Blood' album came out world wide to considerable critical acclaim in 1980 and reached number 3 in the US airplay charts in its second week of release. Then... nothing.

A considerably disillusioned Steve went into club promotion with the legendary Lift, the first-ever black-music, gay/mixed club in London and the UK in '83. He went on to co-direct The Pure Organisation with Kevin Millins, running several successful 80s club nights such a Jungle, Bad and Babylon and organising parties for Prince, Madonna, Time Out and The Face magazines and, perhps ironically, several record companies. He also held the first-ever all-night, LIFT illegal warehouse raves in London and created London's first jamming/singer club called Downbeat, which ran for years in various venues - featuring the cream of UK soul/rock singers and musicians- ending up at celeb haunt Browns before it burnt down in 1990. The jam session was then renamed Groove and was held for many years at WKD in Camden, attracting capacity, star-studded audiences until '93.

SS reinvented himself a journalist, having moved for a while to his hometown of Bath for a brief sojourn, becoming the internet columnist (under the name Spyder) for Time Out magazine,and moving back to London. He also wrote a column for the gay magazine Attitude and became the editor of online verion, Attitude Interactive.

He then developed a mystery illness. Despite this, he carried on writing and recording wherever possible. Having worked with the legendary producer Zeus B Held, Steve's old friend,Culture Club's Jon Moss, heard a SS track they'd recorded called Now Voyager and asked to play drums on it. John Waterhouse, a childhood friend of Steve's from Saltford, near Bristol/Bath, where he grew up, was running Christchurch Studios in Bristol and invited Steve to use the studio for a few days for free, so Steve invited Jon Moss, former Hawkwind guitarist Jerry Richards and Massive Attack bassist Winston Blisset to join him at the sessions. Thus DanMingo was born. The result is the double album Leap Of Faith - The Prequel. http://www.isound.com/danmingo

Steve continues to record at home in NW London using Garage Band on his MACbook pro. His solo album 'Demos For The Departed' is a collection of home and studio demos from the early eighties up to the present day (http://www.isound.com/steve_swindells_gb). He collaborated with Jerry Richards on his Earth Lab album 'Element' and on the forthcoming follow-up album which is nearing completion. He's also worked with the young (and extremely talented) R&B singer Neon Carter and London's feisty female rapper Lady Sovereign, amongst others. In the past his songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Hawkwind, Lulu and Roger Daltrey.

He recently rejoined the legendary Hawklords for a mini-tour, which was a resounding success.

See http://www.reverbnation/com/hawklords for deep insight, reviews, free downloads, pics, videos and much more!

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