1986 - A whirlwind year with Hawkwind and Co

1986 was a year in which I crammed in more gigs than any other year, and they were all centered around Hawkwind and Huw Lloyd-Langton, who dominated my musical affections on a level even higher than before.
Hawkwind released the double live album 'Live Chronicles', and embarked on their 'Chaos' tour of 1986. With my brother in arms Dewi Taylor, we went to five Hawkwind gigs, including the tour finale at London's Hammersmith Odeon, where we stayed over with Kenny Wilson and John Clark from the Lloyd-Langton Group.
Once again, we met all the guys from Hawkwind, and also that year we followed Huw Lloyd-Langton on tour with his trio, where I got to have a jam with the band. Finally, towards the end of the year, I went to see the legendary Hawkwind front man; Robert Calvert, who was on tour with his own band, and also got to meet him backstage.

On the band front, I made good progress as lead guitarist with Stoney Road playing a mix of classic rock covers, which included some Hawkwind songs and Huw Lloyd-Langton's 'Got Your Number'. I also continued my with my own songwriting, which I contributed to the band. We played several gigs at the aforementioned 'Malthouse' pub in Mansfield, as well as other gigs around the local area.

There was so much going on that we never found time to record anything with Stoney Road. We were concentrating on gigging and simply having good times. I'd also developed a good rapport with Jim and Dave, and had started to go busking with them with my Les Paul guitar; complete with rock guitar solos through a battery powered amp; all of which contributed to my continued learning and experience as a guitarist.
A great friendship with bass player Jim Ward developed through all this, and we often get together and jam around various ideas. All of this was great for learning to be a listening and intuitive musician, and for learning the skills of improvisation.