Bridget Wishart
might be best known for the many talents
which she brought to legendary space
rockers Hawkwind during her tenure with
the band in the early 1990's, providing
her vocals, poetry, mime and dance, and playing a major part in rejuvenating
their sound and vision for a whole new
generation of fans, but that's only a
small part of her story.
When Bridget joined the Hawks, she was
already well-known to the free festival
crowds as having been the singer for The
Demented Stoats and, mostly notably,
with the all-girl punksters The Hippy
Slags. Although those alliances were,
sadly, never committed to vinyl, her
time in Hawkwind (for which she left her
job teaching ceramics at Bath's Prior
Park College) delivered up albums such
as Space Bandits and Palace
Springs, an appearance on the
television music show Bedrock and
a number of DVD releases. The magnum
opus, Images, which she co-wrote and
provided lead vocals on, is still a live
favourite for the Hawkwind faithful,
whilst her evocative vocals on the
Native American-influenced Black Elk
Speaks is a high-point in 90's Hawkwind
output.
Leaving Hawkwind in 1991, she moved on
to contribute dance and choreography
with Techno Pagan and then in 1995,
along with Tim Carroll, formed the UV
design company, Temple Decor, who, among
their credits, provided backdrops for
the WOMAD festival.
Having left the music scene in 1997,
little was heard from Bridget until she
was, thankfully, lured out of musical
retirement in 2002 by American
composer/musician Don Falcone. Since
then, she's worked with Don and his
space rock collective, Spirits Burning,
on two full-length CDs, Earth Born
and Bloodlines (both released by
Voiceprint Records and now Floating
World Records).
Very much in demand now, Bridget has
recorded with a slew of contemporary
space rock ensembles across the globe.
Mooch, Spaceseed, MyOuterSpace, and
Osiris The Rebirth are just a few of the
bands that have enjoyed contributions
from Bridget, whether as a singer,
performing spoken-word pieces, or as an
instrumentalist. It's revealed yet
another aspect to her creativity as
she's added her saxophone, clarinet or
her favoured EWI to these records.
Latest projects include two full albums;
Time Flies,
recorded as a member of
Omenopus
has received a slew of enthusiastic
reviews, as no doubt, will Last Wish,
a concept album of Middle Eastern music
written and recorded by Bridget and her
former Hawkwind band mate Alan Davey
under the name Djinn. If those projects
weren't enough, she's also the co-author
of the forthcoming Festivalized,
which recounts the rise and fall of the
free festival scene as told by those who
were there.
Bridget's latest live band is Chumley
Warner Bros, which consists of herself
on vocals and EWI, alongside Martin
Plumley on guitar and vocals. They
describe themselves as having a
semi-acoustic fireside sound, harkening
back to the festivals campfires of
yesteryear. Catch them where you can!
