History & Biography London, UK-based High Tide was described as being ultra-heavy for its time and was probably influenced by The Who and Captain Beefheart. The progressive rock act, nevertheless, featured a violin player who was none other future Hawkwind man Simon House. Hawkwind was called Band X at this time and shared a management company with High Tide. The band was formed by Tony Hill who had spent time with David Bowie in a trio called Turquoise, albeit for two months only. Some believe High Tide was ahead of its time having been founded in 1969. Roger Hadden worked at the band's record company, Liberty.
Sea Shanties is the heavier album of the lot. Hill was the chief songwriter. The producer was Denny Gerrard on whose album Sinister Morning the group would perform later. The group broke up after the second album having had few takers. Moreover, Hadden suffered from a nervous breakdown. His mental psychosis had meant that the band had cancelled a gig when Hadden could not play. Before break up, the members would help David Bowie demo his Hunky Dory album. Pete and Simon joined Third Ear Band.
An album called Interesting Times was self-recorded in 1978. Only Hill and House were involved here, but some of the material were demos from an intended third record. The band got together two decades later for a couple of reunions and an out-takes album called The Flood in 1990. Android Funnel was a replacement for Hadden for a while. The final two albums were improvised mostly and featured Tony Hill, Simon House and respectively Dave Tomlin and Android Funnel.
Roger Hadden resided in a mental hospital in Southend, Essex UK. Drachen Theaker passed away. Pete Pavli, who was a Cypriot, lived in Wales and became an author and dabbled in music and Simon House was still playing with Hawkwind and various other side-projects after the turn of the century.
Tony Hill's Fiction was formed in 2002. Tony Hill died in 2022. The Complete Liberty Recordings was issued in 2023.
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