Prog “When I was growing up, and then in art college, there was a subculture of people into and Hawkwind, who I had always dismissed as hippie bands. Then I heard the Calvert era, which got me into Hawkwind, and I love all eras of the band now. On [1977] and [1978], he seemed to turn Hawkwind into a different band, because those albums sound nothing like the early albums.
My favourite three Calvert albums are probably , and . I love for its full-on-ness. is the album that seemed most prescient about the times we live in – it’s about the destruction of the working class.
It’s a really angry album, although it was fairly ignored at the time. I also like what he did with Steve Peregrin Took, in which no one seemed particularly interested in 1974. I’m not massively keen on the idea of genres.
Actually, a lot of what is called prog is a lot more post-punk than anything that actually was post-punk. It’s full of ideas and madness, which is what rock’n’roll should be. Calvert really pushed me towards concept albums and being fairly full-on about it – the only way to approach stuff is to run straight at the wall head first, minus the crash helmet.
I made a weird drone album about a year and a half ago called . Although it was nothing like his album Freq, it was a subconscious homage, if you like. Sign up below to get the latest from Prog, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! Calvert was an artist who clearly wouldn’t have been stopped by the constraints of the music industry or anything like that.
Without alluding to mental health in a negative way – and we’re obviously a lot more aware of these things now – he was batshit crazy, but in a really good way. He didn’t want to be a rock star but, weirdly, made a great rock star. He carved out this world of his own.
For me, he’s up there with .” Nick Shilton has written extensively for Prog since its launch in 2009 and prior to that freelanced for various music magazines including Classic Rock. Since 2019 he has also run Kingmaker Publishing, which to date has published two acclaimed biographies of Genesis as well as Marillion keyboardist Mark Kelly’s autobiography, and Kingmaker Management (looking after the careers of various bands including Big Big Train).
Nick started his career as a finance lawyer in London and Paris before founding a leading international recruitment business and has previously also run a record label. Five bands you mustn't miss at this year's ArcTanGent Festival The Tirith announce new live album Earth Songs "God is punishing me for my past wickedness by keeping me alive and in as much pain as he can": The tortured and tumultuous life of the late Ginger Baker.
