Thomas Crimble is a musician who played with Skin Alley and

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

before becoming a central part of the organisation of the Glastonbury Festival from the 1971

free festival Free festivals are a combination of music, arts and cultural activities, for which often no admission is charged, but involvement is preferred. They are identifiable by being multi-day events connected by a camping community without centralised c ...

until 1999. He subsequently became involved in Nik Turner's alternative Hawkwind project

Space Ritual ''The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London'' (commonly known as ''Space Ritual'') is a 1973 live double album recorded in 1972 by UK rock band Hawkwind. It is their fourth album, reached #9 in the UK album charts and briefly dented the ...

Early career

He founded Skin Alley with drummer Giles Pope and manager Richard Thomas (of Clearwater fame), a progressive Jazz-Rock band later to be signed to the Stax Label after leaving CBS. Whilst in Skin Alley, Thomas and Giles jammed with Jimi Hendrix and Stephen Stills at the Revolution Club in London. After leaving Skin Alley, he was asked to join Hawkwind as bass player, replacing John Harrison who had just completed the first album. Played in Hawkwind for about 8 months, playing live every night and helping create tracks on the ''In Search of Space'' album. He played with Hawkwind outside the official

Isle of Wight Festival 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the islan ...

, which was greatly enjoyed by Jimi Hendrix, although he didn't join in that time.

Glastonbury Festival

At the Isle of Wight festival, it struck Crimble that there must be a better way to organise festivals and, through his then girlfriend Jytte Klamer, met Andrew Kerr who shared the same ideas.Carol Clerk (2004) - "The saga of Hawkwind" pp. 56–57 Having been asked to help organise the 1971

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...

Free Festival Free festivals are a combination of music, arts and cultural activities, for which often no admission is charged, but involvement is preferred. They are identifiable by being multi-day events connected by a camping community without centralised c ...

, with Andrew Kerr, Jutte Klamer, Mark Irons and Arabella Churchill, he became one of the central organisers then and through working closely with

Michael Eavis Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis (born 17 October 1935) is an English dairy farmer and the co-creator of the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place at his farm in Pilton, Somerset. Personal life Eavis was born in Pilton, Somerset and grew u ...

for nearly 30 years. Crimble brought in

Gilberto Gil Gilberto Passos Gil Moreira (; born 26 June 1942), is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and politician, known for both his musical innovation and political activism. From 2003 to 2008, he served as Brazil's Minister of Culture in the administration ...

with ideas from Brazilian carnival, a perfect example of a free, almost spontaneous, multidisciplinary arts festival, becoming crucial to the way the festival developed. During his time with the festival he formed the festival farm house band, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers, who played on the original iconic Pyramid stage with Johnny Hodge & 'English' John Fox. Thomas also played with Hawkwind at the 1971 festival, as

Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician. He plays electric guitar, keyboards, bass and oscillators. He is a founder, sole constant member and musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind.Allmusic– Dave Brock biogra ...

was unavailable. He continued to work with

and the team every Glastonbury Festival until 1999. The Windfuckers also played with Robin Lawrence and Michael Wilding's band in Wales, 'Solar Ben', and many others over the years.

Later career

In the 1970s he also ran the Mountain studios, a rehearsal/recording studio in Wales, where he lived from the early seventies onwards. The studios were used by bands including the Thompson Twins, Killing Joke, Marillion, Roy Harper, Saxon, China Crisis, The Slits with Neneh Cherry, Pig Bag, The Pop Group, Max Splodge, Doll by Doll and the Gang of Four. Crimble also wrote songs with John Otway on the 'Where Did I Go Right?' album, produced by Neil Innes. In 2001 he became a founder member, along with Terry Ollis, of

, Nik Turner's alternative Hawkwind, originally Xhawkwind until legal action prevented use of the name. Starting on bass guitar, moving to rhythm guitar (to accommodate Dave Anderson playing with the band) and has now evolved to playing Hammond Organ & Roland XP80 synth keyboards.

Current and personal life

He is currently writing film music, songs and jingles. Away from work, his hobbies are gardening and restoring a Victorian garden in Wales.

References

External links

Glastonbury, 40 Years On - Nik Turner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crimble, Thomas Counterculture festivals activists Living people Hawkwind members People from Staines-upon-Thames Year of birth missing (living people)