77-419: " Urban Guerrilla " is a 1973 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind . It was originally released as a single in the UK (UP 35566) on 27 July 1973 with "Brainbox Pollution" as the B side, reaching #39 on the UK singles chart before being withdrawn after 3 weeks. It is also on the remastered version of Doremi Fasol Latido . Robert Calvert wrote and sang the lyrics, this being Hawkwind's only studio recording with
154-471: A banjo at the age of twelve, and a school art teacher encouraged him in his learning. Brock's influences at this time included Fats Domino and Humphrey Lyttelton . After leaving school in 1959, he undertook several jobs including work as a capstan setter , before moving to an animation company, Larkin Studios. He pursued his interests in music at night, although with no initial intentions of it becoming
231-558: A Calvert vocal prior to his rejoining the band as a permanent frontman and vocalist in 1976. At the time of the single's release, the IRA had instigated a bombing campaign in London and the BBC refused to play the single. After deliberation and the brief notion of promoting the b-side instead ("Brainbox Pollution", which dealt with the effects of drug misuse), the band's management opted to withdraw
308-545: A European tour and emigrated to Canada, whilst Alan Powell deputised for an incapacitated King on that European tour, but remained, giving the band two drummers. At the beginning of 1975, the band recorded the album Warrior on the Edge of Time in collaboration with Michael Moorcock , loosely based on his Eternal Champion figure. However, during a North American tour in May, Lemmy was caught in possession of amphetamine crossing
385-457: A Westone Paduak–1 from 1982 until 2008 (custom-painted by Guy Thomas, with the Warrior on the Edge of Time album cover). Brock now uses a 2007 Gibson Antique Artist or a 1997 Gibson Nighthawk Standard. Noticeably, Brock has also used the same amplifier for many years: a 1978 Roland JC120 with two Hiwatt 4x12 cabs painted by Barney Bubbles . For effects, Brock uses a Line 6 Pod V2, which produces
462-471: A benefit concert for Pete Townshend 's Double-O anti-heroin charity. Lemmy and Stacia were reunited with the band for this event. Vera Lynn closed the show. A headline appearance at the 1986 Reading Festival was followed by a UK tour to promote the Live Chronicles album which was filmed and released as Chaos . In 1988 the band recorded the album The Xenon Codex with Guy Bidmead, but all
539-400: A career, attending clubs such as Eel Pie Island , playing New Orleans trad jazz and blues , and busking with friends such as Eric Clapton , Keith Relf , Jeff Watson and Mick Slattery (born Michael Daniel Slattery, 15 February 1946, Richmond-upon-Thames died 17 March 2023). He formed a trio with pianist Mike King and harmonica player Luke Francis (born 1943, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) called
616-553: A concrete parachute, that." The band undertook an extensive UK tour in June and July 1973 to promote the single, a poorly recorded version from this time appearing on Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin , but soon after Calvert stopped working with the band in an official capacity (largely due to the instability caused by his bi-polar disorder ) and the song was dropped. It was restored to the live set in 1977 during Calvert's second spell with
693-459: A light show by Liquid Len . The songs in the show were connected by electronic and spoken word segues and the show was recorded on the elaborate package Space Ritual . At the height of their success, in 1973, the band released the single " Urban Guerrilla ", which coincided with an IRA bombing campaign in London, so the BBC refused to play it and the band's management reluctantly decided to withdraw it fearing accusations of opportunism, despite
770-518: A mutual interest in electronic music , which led the trio to embark upon a new musical venture together. Seventeen-year-old drummer Terry Ollis replied to an advert in a music weekly; Nik Turner and Michael "Dik Mik" Davies, old acquaintances of Brock, offered help with transport and gear, but were soon pulled into the band. Gatecrashing a local talent night at the All Saints Hall , Notting Hill , they were so disorganised as to not even have
847-476: A name, opting for "Group X" at the last minute, nor any songs, choosing to play an extended 20-minute jam on the Byrds ' " Eight Miles High ". BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel was in the audience, and was impressed enough to tell event organiser Douglas Smith to keep an eye on them. Smith signed them up and got them a deal with Liberty Records on the back of a deal he was setting up for Cochise . The band settled on
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#1732775662351924-584: A number-three UK hit single in 1972, and they had further chart singles with " Urban Guerrilla " (another top 40 hit) and " Shot Down in the Night ". The band had a run of twenty-two of their albums charting in the UK from 1971 to 1993, and another eight between 2012 and 2023. Dave Brock and Mick Slattery had been in the London-based psychedelic band Famous Cure, and a meeting with bassist John Harrison revealed
1001-590: A one-hour appearance for the Bedrock TV series with dancer Julie Murray-Anderson, who performed with Hawkwind between 1988 and 1991. 1990 saw Hawkwind tour North America again, the second instalment in a series of American visits made at around this time in an effort to re-establish the Hawkwind brand in America. The original business plan was to hold three consecutive US tours, annually, from 1989 to 1991, with
1078-536: A refinement of the band's image and philosophy courtesy of graphic artist Barney Bubbles and underground press writer Robert Calvert , as depicted in the accompanying Hawklog booklet, which would be further developed into the Space Ritual stage show. Science fiction author Michael Moorcock and dancer Stacia also started contributing to the band. Dik Mik had left the band, replaced by sound engineer Del Dettmar , but chose to return for this album, thus giving
1155-480: A succession of drummers coming and going. First, Griffin was ousted and the band tried King again, but, unhappy with his playing at that time, he was rejected. Andy Anderson briefly joined while he was also playing for the Cure , and Robert Heaton also filled the spot briefly prior to the rise of New Model Army . Lloyd Langton Group drummer John Clark did some recording sessions, and in late 1983 Rick Martinez joined
1232-418: A template for Brock to assemble a core band of Tree, Brock, Richards, Davey, Chadwick and for the use of former members as guests on live shows and studio recordings. The 2000 Christmas Astoria show was recorded with contributions from House, Blake, Rizz, Moorcock, Jez Huggett and Keith Kniveton and released as Yule Ritual the following year. In 2001, Davey agreed to rejoin the band permanently, but only after
1309-515: A three piece relying heavily on synthesisers and sequencers to create a wall-of-sound. The 1992 album Electric Tepee combined hard rock and light ambient pieces, while It is the Business of the Future to be Dangerous is almost devoid of the rock leanings. The Business Trip is a record of the previous album's tour, but rockier as would be expected from a live outing. The White Zone album
1386-427: Is a former member of the band's road crew who had previously appeared with Technicians of Spaceship Hawkwind, a "skeleton crew" spin off live band. Additionally, he had guested on bass for Dave Brock's solo album Brockworld released earlier in the year. The band released The Machine Stops on 15 April 2016, a concept album based on E.M. Forster 's short story of the same name . Brock and Chadwick were joined on
1463-554: Is the first album of this era. On the eve of recording the follow-up " Back on the Streets " single, Turner was dismissed for his erratic live playing and Powell was deemed surplus to requirements. After a tour to promote the single and during the recording of the next album, Rudolph was also dismissed, for allegedly trying to steer the band into a musical direction at odds with Calvert and Brock's vision. Adrian "Ade" Shaw , who, as bass player for Magic Muscle, had supported Hawkwind on
1540-482: Is too toppy. I'd like to re-do the ending. Ah well, it's not a very good song anyway. And it isn't very well played.", whilst Simon King stated "I didn't like the idea of doing a single, and I didn't like the song to be quite honest." Lemmy liked the song: "We didn't make commercial records - the best thing we made was 'Urban Guerrilla', but that got pulled off the racks because it was when the IRA bombed Harrods. Went down like
1617-522: The Brixton Academy with about 20 members taking part in a more than 3-hour set, which was filmed and recorded. Guests included Samantha Fox who sang "Master of the Universe". However, arguments and disputes over financial recompense and musical input resulted in the prospect of the event being re-staged unlikely, and any album or DVD release being indefinitely shelved. The Hawkestra had set
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#17327756623511694-704: The Elric series of books and theatrically staged with Tony Crerar as the central character. Moorcock contributed lyrics, but only performed some spoken pieces on some live dates. The tour was recorded and issued as an album Live Chronicles and video The Chronicle of the Black Sword . The band also performed at the Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) in Brighton. In August 1985, The band performed at Crystal Palace Bowl , with several other rock bands, for
1771-568: The Netherlands , and again after Slattery had replaced Judd in 1967, also having a hit single with "Sweet Mary"/"Mean Mistreater". With the psychedelic scene burgeoning in London and the band using LSD , their music changed with them starting to use electric instruments and effects units. In 1968 he resorted to busking for a living and, on the back of the success of Don Partridge 's hits "Rosie" and "Blue Eyes", performed in January 1969 at
1848-486: The Pink Fairies , who shared similar interests in music and recreational substances ; a friendship developed which led to the two bands becoming running partners and performing as "Pinkwind". Their use of drugs, however, led to the departure of Harrison, who did not partake, to be replaced briefly by Thomas Crimble (about July 1970 – March 1971). Crimble played on a few BBC sessions (which were eventually collected on
1925-458: The Space Ritual tour, came in for the 1977 album Quark, Strangeness and Charm . The band continued to enjoy moderate commercial success, but Calvert's mental illness often caused problems. A manic phase saw the band abandon a European tour in France, while a depression phase during a 1978 North American tour convinced Brock to disband the group. In between these two tours, the band had recorded
2002-516: The 40th anniversary of their appearance there. On 21 June 2010, Hawkwind released a studio album entitled Blood of the Earth on Eastworld Records. During and since the Blood of the Earth support tours, Hone's primary on-stage responsibility shifted to bass, while Mr. Dibs moved to a more traditional lead singer/front man role. In 2011, Hawkwind toured Australia for the second time. April 2012 saw
2079-614: The Buskers' Concert at the Royal Albert Hall , contributing " Bring It On Home " to The Buskers album (Columbia, SX6356). In April and May, Brock joined the Buskers tour of the UK, which travelled around the country to each venue in a red London Transport double-decker bus . In 1969, Slattery and Brock continued jamming together and with whoever else was around. The genesis of Hawkwind was in their meeting with bass player John A Harrison (born 28 May 1942, died 26 May 2012), who
2156-759: The Dharma Blues Band; this group recorded versions of Sonny Boy Williamson II 's "Dealing with the Devil" and Pete Johnson 's " Roll 'Em Pete " for Blues Anytime Vol. 2 ( Immediate , IMCP015) in 1966, and backed travelling American blues singers such as Memphis Slim and Champion Jack Dupree . The band would continue without Brock, recording an album in 1967. Quitting his daytime job, he travelled around Europe earning money by busking, sometimes with harmonica player Pete Judd. With guitarist John Illingworth (born John Michael Illingsworth, 11 October 1942, Sheffield), Brock and Judd formed The Famous Cure, touring in
2233-589: The Easter weekend. A US tour was booked for October 2013, but due to health issues, was postponed and later cancelled. In February 2014, as part of a one-off Space Ritual performance, Hawkwind performed at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire featuring an appearance by Brian Blessed for the spoken word element of Sonic Attack; a studio recording of this performance was released as a single in September 2014. Later in
2310-417: The album Church of Hawkwind . He has also used the aliases Dr Hasbeen and Sylvia Macmanus (his second wife's name). Brock has remained Hawkwind's musical focus and primary songwriter throughout their existence. He has little interest in lyrics and much of the time has benefited from collaborating with lyricists such as Robert Calvert and Michael Moorcock . Although being the only ever-present member of
2387-545: The album Love in Space and video . In 1996, unhappy with the musical direction of the band, bassist Davey left, forming his own Middle-Eastern flavoured hard-rock group Bedouin and a Motörhead tribute act named Ace of Spades. His bass playing role was reluctantly picked up by singer Tree and the band were joined full-time by lead guitarist Jerry Richards (another stalwart of the festival scene, playing for Tubilah Dog who had merged with Brock's Agents of Chaos during 1988) for
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2464-622: The album PXR5 in January 1978, but its release was delayed until 1979. On 23 December 1977 in Barnstaple , Brock and Calvert had performed a one-off gig with Devon band Ark as the Sonic Assassins , and looking for a new project in 1978, bassist Harvey Bainbridge and drummer Martin Griffin were recruited from this event. Steve Swindells was recruited as keyboard player. The band was named Hawklords , (probably for legal reasons,
2541-545: The album The Text of Festival ) before leaving to help organise the Glastonbury Free Festival 1971; he sat in during the band's performance there. Lloyd-Langton also quit, after a bad LSD trip at the Isle of Wight Festival led to a nervous breakdown . Their follow-up album, 1971's In Search of Space , brought greater commercial success, reaching number 18 on the UK album charts. This album offered
2618-500: The albums Distant Horizons and In Your Area . Rasta chanter Captain Rizz also joined the band for guest spots during live shows. Hawkestra—a re-union event featuring appearances from past and present members—had originally been intended to coincide with the band's 30th anniversary and the release of the career spanning Epocheclipse – 30 Year Anthology set, but logistical problems delayed it until 21 October 2000. It took place at
2695-762: The band and remained even after his departure in 1978, the vocals being handled by Brock and a live version appearing on the b-side to the " Shot Down in the Night " single. It was finally dropped in 1984. 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 rock , progressive rock and psychedelic rock . They are regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics often cover themes of urban life and science fiction . Many musicians, dancers and writers have worked with
2772-399: The band began occasionally featuring Jon Sevink from The Levellers as guest violinist at some shows. Later that year, Hawkwind embarked on a winter tour to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary, including two gigs on 28 and 29 August marking the anniversary of their first live performances. In 2010, Hawkwind held their annual Hawkfest at the site of the original Isle of Wight Festival, marking
2849-497: The band having recently split from their management), and recording took place on a farm in Devon using a mobile studio, resulting in the album 25 Years On . King had originally been the drummer for the project but quit during recording sessions to return to London, while House, who had temporarily left the band to join a David Bowie tour, elected to remain with Bowie full-time, but nevertheless contributed violin to these sessions. At
2926-430: The band since their inception. Key members of Hawkwind have included Nik Turner , Huw Lloyd-Langton , Del Dettmar , Lemmy , Simon King , Robert Calvert , Simon House and Ginger Baker , but the band are most closely associated with their singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Brock , who founded the band and is the only remaining original member. Hawkwind are best known for the song " Silver Machine ", which became
3003-663: The band to greater heights. One of the early gigs the band played was a benefit for the Greasy Truckers at The Roundhouse on 13 February 1972. A live album of the concert, Greasy Truckers Party , was released; from this, a single (with overdubbed vocal), " Silver Machine ", was also released, reaching number three in the UK charts. This generated sufficient funds for the subsequent album Doremi Fasol Latido and Space Ritual tour. The show featured costumes, dancers Stacia and Miss Renee – typically performing either topless or wearing only body paint – mime artist Tony Carrera, and
3080-554: The band to play drums on the Earth Ritual tour in February and March 1984, later replaced by Clive Deamer . Turner had returned as a guest for the 1982 Choose Your Masques tour and was invited back permanently. Further tours ensued with Phil "Dead Fred" Reeves augmenting the line-up on keyboards and violin, but neither Turner nor Reeves would appear on the only recording of 1983–84, The Earth Ritual Preview ; however, there
3157-553: The band two electronics players. Bass player Dave Anderson , who had been in the German band Amon Düül II , had also joined and played on the album, but departed before its release because of personal tensions with some other members of the band. Anderson and Lloyd-Langton then formed the short-lived band Amon Din. Meanwhile, Ollis quit, unhappy with the commercial direction in which the band were heading. The addition of bassist Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and drummer Simon King propelled
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3234-484: The band was to marry simple three-chord rock music with experimental electronic music. He cites his influences for the band at the time as the Moody Blues , Steve Miller Band and the krautrock scene of Kraftwerk , Neu! and particularly Can . Doctor Technical was an "alter ego" created by Brock for his production credit on " Silver Machine ". He has regularly used the alias since at various times, notably for
3311-407: The band's drummer to the present day. To fill in the gap of lead sound, lost when Lloyd-Langton left, violinist House was re-instated into the line-up in 1989 (having previously been a member from 1974 until 1978), and, notably, Hawkwind embarked on their first North American visit in eleven years (since the somewhat disastrous 1978 tour), in which House did not partake. The successfully received tour
3388-633: The band's history, without Dave Brock. Brock's temporary replacement was former Smart Pils guitarist Steve Bemand (who had played with Chadwick and Wishart in the Demented Stoats). The tour began in Amsterdam on 12 March and took in Germany, Greece, Italy and France before wrapping up in Belgium on 10 April after 24 dates. In 1991 Bainbridge, House and Wishart departed and the band continued as
3465-419: The band, there have been times, particularly in the early days when the line-up was fluid, when he would miss gigs such as the 1971 Glastonbury Festival . On stage, his preference is to remain at the back and let others take centre stage and be the focus of attention, to the point where he will often employ dancers, mime artists and fire-eaters to fill that space. At other times (particularly in their early days),
3542-465: The border from the US into Canada. The border police mistook the powder for cocaine and he was jailed, forcing the band to cancel some shows. Fed up with his erratic behaviour, the band dismissed the bass player replacing him with their long-standing friend and former Pink Fairies guitarist Paul Rudolph . Lemmy then teamed up with another Pink Fairies guitarist, Larry Wallis , to form Motörhead , named after
3619-519: The departure of Tree and Richards. Meanwhile, having rekindled relationships with old friends at the Hawkestra, Turner organised further Hawkestra gigs resulting in the formation of xhawkwind.com, a band consisting mainly of ex-Hawkwind members and playing old Hawkwind songs. An appearance at Guilfest in 2002 led to confusion as to whether this actually was Hawkwind, sufficiently irking Brock into taking legal action to prohibit Turner from trading under
3696-474: The disc having already climbed to number 39 in the UK chart. Dik Mik departed during 1973, and Calvert ended his association with the band to concentrate on solo projects. Dettmar also indicated that he was to leave the band, so Simon House was recruited as keyboardist and violinist playing live shows, a North America tour and recording the 1974 album Hall of the Mountain Grill . Dettmar left after
3773-451: The electronic Church of Hawkwind and Choose Your Masques . This band headlined the 1981 Glastonbury Festival and made an appearance at the 1982 Donington Monsters of Rock Festival , as well as continuing to play the summer solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival . In the early 1980s, Brock had started using drum machines for his home demos and became increasingly frustrated at the inability of drummers to keep perfect time, leading to
3850-455: The end of the band's UK tour, Calvert, wanting King back in the band, dismissed Griffin, then promptly resigned himself, choosing to pursue a career in literature. Swindells left to record a solo album after an offer had been made to him by the record company ATCO . In late 1979, Hawkwind reformed with Brock, Bainbridge and King being joined by Huw Lloyd-Langton (who had played on the debut album) and Tim Blake (formerly of Gong ), debuting at
3927-459: The entire band was totally obscured by their light show. The band are based in Devon, where they rehearse and record in a converted barn named Earth Studios. Brock has used a variety of guitars over the years. In the 1980s and 1990s, Brock primarily used Westone guitars: from 1985 a Westone Spectrum LX (custom-painted by Alan Arthurs, with a portion of the Space Ritual album cover), and
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#17327756623514004-548: The first Futurama (The World's First Science Fiction Music Festival) on 9 September in Leeds, and then embarking upon a UK tour despite not having a record deal or any product to promote. Some shows were recorded and a deal was made with Bronze Records , resulting in the Live Seventy Nine album, quickly followed by the studio album Levitation . However, during the recording of Levitation King quit and Ginger Baker
4081-549: The first losing money, the second breaking even, and the third turning a profit, ultimately bringing Hawkwind back into recognition across the Atlantic. Progress, however, was somewhat stunted, due to ex-member Nik Turner touring the United States with his own band at the time, in which the shows were often marketed as Hawkwind. Still supporting Space Bandits, 1991 commenced with perhaps the most surprising Hawkwind tour in
4158-632: The founder, the sole constant member and the musical focus of the space rock group Hawkwind . Brock was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Progressive Music Awards in 2013. Brock was born in Isleworth , Middlesex . His childhood was spent in Feltham , Middlesex ; he attended the Longford Secondary Modern School (now called Rivers Academy). His father's brother introduced him to music, giving him
4235-624: The last song he had written for Hawkwind . Calvert made a guest appearance with the band for their headline set at the Reading Festival in August 1975, after which he chose to rejoin the band as a full-time lead vocalist. Stacia chose to relinquish her dancing duties and settle down to family life. The band changed record company to Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma Records and, on Stratton-Smith's suggestion, band management from Douglas Smith to Tony Howard. Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music
4312-420: The latter's expulsion at the beginning of 1985. Clive Deamer, who was deemed "too professional" for the band, was eventually replaced in 1985 by Danny Thompson Jr (son of folk-rock bassist Danny Thompson ), a friend of Alan Davey, and remained almost to the end of the decade. Hawkwind's association with Moorcock climaxed in their most ambitious project, The Chronicle of the Black Sword , based loosely around
4389-438: The name "Hawkwind" after briefly being billed as "Group X" and "Hawkwind Zoo". A session took place at Abbey Road Studios to record demos of " Hurry on Sundown " and other tracks (which were eventually included on the remastered version of the group's debut album Hawkwind ), after which Slattery left. He was replaced by Huw Lloyd-Langton who, during his former employment in a musical instrument shop, had known Brock (who at
4466-482: The name Hawkwind. Turner lost the case and the band began performing as Space Ritual . An appearance at the Canterbury Sound Festival in August 2001, resulting in another live album Canterbury Fayre 2001 , saw guest appearances from Lloyd-Langton, House, Kniveton with Arthur Brown on "Silver Machine". The band organised the first of their own weekend festivals, named Hawkfest , in Devon in
4543-459: The recording by Hone, Dibs and Wheaton sharing bass duties, while Hone and Dead Fred contributed one solo piece each. The album entered the UK album chart at number 29. Dead Fred's last live appearance was at Eastbourne Winter Gardens on 1 April; Hone took on keyboard and synth duties until Blake returned for the summer shows. Dave Brock David Anthony Brock (born 20 August 1941) is an English musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as
4620-453: The release of a new album, Onward , again on Eastworld. Keyboardist Dead Fred rejoined Hawkwind for the 2012 tour in support of Onward and has since remained with the band. In November 2012, Brock, Chadwick and Hone—credited as "Hawkwind Light Orchestra"—released Stellar Variations on Esoteric Recordings . 2013 marked the first Hawkeaster, a two-day festival held in Seaton, Devon during
4697-410: The single stating that "Although the record was selling very well, we didn't want to feel that any sales might be gained by association with recent events - even though the song was written by Bob Calvert two years ago as a satirical comment, and was recorded three months ago." Dave Brock has subsequently stated that "It was stupid to withdraw it, they were paranoid they'd get bombed. I thought that record
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#17327756623514774-699: The summer of 2002. Brown joined the band in 2002 for a winter tour which featured some Kingdom Come songs and saw appearances from Blake and Lloyd-Langton, the Newcastle show being released on DVD as Out of the Shadows and the London show on CD as Spaced Out in London . A new album, Take Me to Your Leader , was released in 2005. Recorded by the core band of Brock/Davey/Chadwick, contributors included new keyboardist Jason Stuart , Arthur Brown, tabloid writer and TV personality Matthew Wright , 1970s New Wave singer Lene Lovich , Simon House and Jez Huggett. This
4851-540: The time was a busker ) and sold guitar strings to him. Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor was brought in to produce the 1970 debut album Hawkwind . Although it was not a commercial success, it did bring them to the attention of the UK underground scene, which found them playing free concerts, benefit gigs, and festivals. Playing free outside the Bath Festival , they encountered another Ladbroke Grove –based band,
4928-428: The title Knights of Space . In January 2008 the band reversed its anti-taping policy – which had long been a sore point with many fans – announcing that it would allow audio recording and non-commercial distribution of such recordings, provided there was no competing official release. At the end of 2008, Atomhenge Records (a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records ) commenced the re-issuing of Hawkwind's back catalogue from
5005-517: The year, former Soft Machine guitarist John Etheridge joined the live line-up of the band, though he had departed again prior to early 2015 dates. Following Hawkeaster 2015, Hawkwind made their debut visit to Japan, playing two sold-out shows in Tokyo. Hawkwind performed two Solstice Ritual shows in December 2015, with Steve Hillage guesting, and Haz Wheaton joining Hawkwind on bass guitar. Wheaton
5082-603: The years 1976 through to 1997 with the release of two triple CD anthologies Spirit of the Age (anthology 1976–84) and The Dream Goes On (anthology 1985–97) . On 8 September 2008 keyboard player Jason Stuart died due to a brain haemorrhage. In October 2008, Niall Hone (former Tribe of Cro) joined Hawkwind for their winter 2008 tour playing guitar, along with returning synth/theremin player Tim Blake. In this period, Hone also occasionally played bass guitar alongside Mr Dibs and used laptops for live electronic improvisation. In 2009,
5159-633: Was a guest spot for Lemmy. The Earth Ritual tour was filmed for Hawkwind's first video release, Night of the Hawk . Alan Davey was a young fan of the band who had sent a tape of his playing to Brock, and Brock chose to oust Reeves moving Bainbridge from bass to keyboards to accommodate Davey. This experimental line-up played at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1984, which was filmed and release as Stonehenge 84 . Subsequent personal and professional tensions between Brock and Turner led to
5236-495: Was about that. That's what Calvert was like." It had been reported at the time that Nik Turner's flat in Gloucester Road had been raided and searched by the bomb squad, but a 1998 interview with Turner suggests that this activity was more to do with visiting Hells Angels wanted in connection with manslaughter. As far as the music is concerned, many of the band weren't happy with it anyway. Del Dettmar commented "The mix
5313-465: Was also taking an interest in experimental music after stints in more conventional bands such as the Joe Loss Band. A music paper advert brought in teenage drummer Terry Ollis , while friends Nik Turner and Dik Mik were invited to join the band on saxophone and electronics respectively after the pair had originally offered their services as roadcrew. From the outset, Brock's intentions for
5390-425: Was denied any artistic control over the documentary. One of the documentary's opening narratives states that Brock declined to be interviewed for the programme because of Nik Turner's involvement, thus indicating that the two men had still not reconciled over the xhawkwind.com incident. December 2006 saw the official departure of Alan Davey, who left to perform and record with two new bands: Gunslinger and Thunor. He
5467-550: Was drafted in for the sessions, but he chose to stay with the band for the tour, during which Blake left to be replaced by Keith Hale. In 1981 Baker and Hale left after their insistence that Bainbridge should be dismissed was ignored, and Brock and Bainbridge elected to handle synthesisers and sequencers themselves, with drummer Griffin from the Hawklords rejoining. Three albums, which again saw Moorcock contributing lyrics and vocals, were recorded for RCA/Active : Sonic Attack ,
5544-561: Was followed in 2006 by the CD/DVD Take Me to Your Future . The band were the subject of an hour-long television documentary titled Hawkwind: Do Not Panic that aired on BBC Four as part of the Originals series. It was broadcast on 30 March 2007 and repeated on 10 August 2007. Although Brock participated in its making, he did not appear in the programme; it is alleged that he requested all footage of himself be removed after he
5621-424: Was not well in the band and soon after, both Lloyd-Langton and Thompson departed. Drummer Richard Chadwick, who joined in the summer of 1988, had been playing in small alternative free festival bands, most notably Bath's Smart Pils, for a decade and had frequently crossed paths with Hawkwind and Brock. He was initially invited simply to play with the band, but eventually replaced stand in drummer Mick Kirton to become
5698-463: Was released under the alias Psychedelic Warriors to distance itself entirely from the rock expectancy of Hawkwind. A general criticism of techno music at that time was its facelessness and lack of personality, which the band were coming to feel also plagued them. Ron Tree had known the band on the festival circuit and offered his services as a front-man, and the band duly employed him for the album Alien 4 and its accompanying tour which resulted in
5775-454: Was replaced by Mr Dibs, a long-standing member of the road crew. The band performed at their annual Hawkfest festival and headlined the US festival Nearfest and played gigs in PA and NY. At the end of 2007, Tim Blake once again joined the band filling the lead role playing keyboards and theremin . The band played five Christmas dates, the London show being released as an audio CD and video DVD under
5852-497: Was the first of several over the coming years, in an effort by the band to re-introduce themselves to the American market. Bridget Wishart , an associate of Chadwick's from the festival circuit, also joined to become the band's one and only singing front-woman, the band had been fronted in earlier days by Stacia but only as a dancer. This band produced two albums, 1990's Space Bandits and 1991's Palace Springs and also filmed
5929-546: Was what everything was about in the 1970s." Calvert originally claimed the lyrics were a satire, but later claimed that "it didn't surprise me that it was banned by the BBC at all, in fact, I expected it to cause a lot of controversy". Lemmy explains that "We once did a benefit gig for the Stoke Newington 8. They were anarchists of some sort ( The Angry Brigade ) - making bombs in your basement and all that. Urban Guerrilla
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