Huw Lloyd-Langton was born in London on 6th February 1952 and was raised in the Willesden Junction district.
His interest in playing the guitar came about when he saw a school band playing songs by The Shadows. A lady from his local fish and chip shop kindly gave him an old ukulele-banjo. He strung the ukulele-banjo with ordinary string and proceeded to use it to practice four string guitar chords on.
He enjoyed listening to B.B.C. radio transmissions with his father and his enthusiasm for the guitar was boosted further when he heard Bert Weedon's radio show and the odd Country and Western player.
Self taught, he went on to develop his own brilliant and distinctive style of playing.
After leaving school, he eventually found a job which suited his musical interest - working behind the counter of a music shop in the West End of London.
Here he got to know one of the customers, a busker called Dave Brock. Huw's first chance to get out on the road came soon after when, in 1966, he linked up with Winston Gork and Pete Beckett and their band Fox (later known as The Whip). Later on, their schedule took in a tour of Europe.
Album Contents
1. Dreams That Fade Away 2. It's On Me
When he returned to London in 1969, Huw bumped into Dave Brock who asked him to join the embryonic Hawkwind. He accepted and went on to play on their debut album. Huw left Hawkwind shortly after their August 1970 'outside the gates' protest gigs at the Isle Of Wight Rock Festival. After taking a break, he relocated to Germany where he spent time in a band that featured Bobby Halma and John Lingwood. Huw and John then returned to the U.K. where they formed Amon Din with Dave Anderson and John Butler.
Huw then joined a band called Magill, which featured Pete Scott, John Clark and Rob Rawlinson. A percussionist friend, Lennox Laington, then arranged for Huw to join the calypso-rock band, Batti Mamselle, which featured Jimmy Chambers on vocals. This was followed by a stint in Leo Sayer's band.
Frank Farrell, Leo's bass player, then put Huw up for the job of guitarist in the supergroup Widowmaker, which featured, at times, Steve Ellis, Ariel Bender, Zoot Money, Paul Nichols, Bob Daisley and John Butler.
Other projects have included tours with Sacha Mezek (Alexander John), Bobby Hammer & Salt, The Pretty Things and Gallery plus acoustic duets with John Butler and Eddy Klima of The Rattles and teaching the guitar to pupils at a comprehensive school in Streatham. He also wrote the music for a cartoon that was narrated by Vivian Stanshall and worked with Michael Moorcock.
In 1979, he played on Steve Swindells' album, 'Fresh Blood' and then attempted to form a new band, Jawa, with Simon King and Nic Potter. When this failed, Huw ended up doing a session for Reg Laws, who was in the same stable as Hawkwind, and subsequently gigged with Reg's band, Kokomo. Soon after this, he accepted an invitation to rejoin Hawkwind and remained with them for the next ten years. He appeared on all of their output during this period and also wrote several songs for the band. Huw also appeared on Nic Potter's 'Mountain Music' and 'The Blue Zone' albums and played on Robert Calvert's Lord Of The Hornets single.
Huw left Hawkwind in 1989, directly after the Robert Calvert Benefit show. The Lloyd-Langton Group's next album was 'Elegy' (1991) and the band continued to tour extensively. At one point, Warren Cann, the ex-drummer with Ultravox, joined the live line up on keyboards and rythm guitar. In 1993, Huw joined Doctor Brown for a tour of Italy before recording a new Lloyd-Langton Group album, 'River Run' (1994).
In 1995, Huw toured Sweden with Ray Majors and secured a record deal with a Swedish label. Huw was reunited with Hawkwind in August 1997 for a one off benefit concert to raise funds for the homeless. A new version of the Lloyd-Langton Group was put together and they issued the album 'On The Move' in 1998.
Huw continues to gig both with the group and as a solo artist and also finds the time to give guitar lessons to the attendees of his local community centre. <
- © by Lee Broughton
Source;
Aural Innovations.Com
Links;
Official Huw Lloyd Langton site | Hawkwind
Huw appeared on the following Hawkwind Albums
* 1970: Hawkwind
* 1980:
Live Seventy Nine
* 1980:
Levitation
* 1981:
Sonic Attack
* 1982: Church of Hawkwind
* 1982: Choose Your Masques
* 1985:
The Chronicle of the Black Sword
* 1986: Live Chronicles
* 1987: Out & Intake
* 1988: The Xenon Codex
