A well-earned slow clap for Desertfest London 2018 on the occasion of completing what is unquestionably its broadest, biggest and most staggering lineup to-date. The festival has been outdoing itself every year since it got going, but this is a different league entirely. Kudos all around to the Desertfest London team. I really feel like there’s nothing else to say about it. It’s just amazing what these people have put together and I hope that those who are fortunate enough to be there realize the special event to which they’re bearing witness, because that’s what this is. Truly something special.

Here’s the final lineup update:

Psych legends Hawkwind + complete lineup announced for DESERTFEST LONDON 2018!

DESERTFEST LONDON announce the final acts for its 2018 edition on May 4-6th in Camden, including psych legends HAWKWIND, plus The Quietus, Human Disease Promo & Nightshift Promotions stages all revealed.

Yes, you read that title correctly. Desertfest are honoured, thrilled, losing our minds, quivering in our boots to reveal that one of the most influential English bands in heavy musical history are gracing us with our presence this May, seminal space-rockers HAWKWIND will return to the hallowed ground of The Roundhouse to play a very special performance as main support to Monster Magnet. Hawkwind require no real introduction – genre-defining mavericks since 1969, it’s safe to say most of your favourite bands wouldn’t exist without Hawkwind; their legend precedes them, expect a life affirming, life altering show. We are beyond excited.

Yet more Carolina goodness is coming Desertfest’s way, underground skater heroes ASG will make their psych riddled, post-punk sound heard across London, earplugs recommended, party times guaranteed. 70’s blues-soaked hard rockers RADIO MOSCOW will also make their return, following a recently sold-out performance at The Borderline – this trio of psychedelic power are being met with hugely high acclaim and for a damn good reason. They’re groovy, heavy and damn near perfect.

No strangers to the Desertfest, doom heroes MONOLORD are back to offer up some of the finest riffs to have ever come out Sweden’s smoke. Fuelled by bongs and black coffee, they are one of the favourite returning acts for the fest – y’all better get in the queue now if you don’t want to miss it. Another act from the dirty South comes in the form of SOURVEIN, sludge and crust blended together in perfect guttural harmony. Leading man T-Roy’s been fighting the good fight for over two decades and the band are now easily at their strongest. Not one for the faint hearted.

Alongside his performance with The Obsessed, leading man WINO will perform an acoustic set across the Desertfest weekend. Last time we had the frontman play an acoustic set at DF the queue was out the door, it’s stripped back but still totally heavy. Belgian bulldozers STEAK NUMBER EIGHT are making a long awaited appearance at Desertfest London, a postmetal powerhouse their live performances have been met with high praise around Europe. A hypnotic haze will fall when the mighty DOPELORD take the stage, sickeningly smooth vocals hit the good spot whilst thunderous riffs and a mind altering magnitude of heavy rattle your core.

Also filling up the final line-up are newcomers DEAD WITCHES, psychedelic New York masters KING BUFFALO, out of this world riff rockers KIND, British noise rockers CATTLE plus NECROMANCERS, CRUMPET, SOLLEME, LIONIZE, LNN, CHRCH, MASTIFF, TUSKAR, TOM CAMERON and LO CHIE

ALSO RECENTLY ANNOUNCED:

The Quietus stage

The Quietus Stage usually brings some of the more diverse bands to Desertfest and this year is no different. Headlining the stage at The Black Heart on Friday 4th May are WHITE HILLS whose concentrated blasts of interstellar noise with a tank load of psychedelic glam makes them the truest space rock goliaths of our time. They’ll be joined by GHOLD, SNAPPED ANKLES, MELTING HAND, CASUAL NUN and SWEDISH DEATH CANDY.

Nightshift Promotions stage

The melodic tones of DARKHER will be headlining this year’s Nightshift Promotions stage at The Dev at Desertfest 2018. They’ll be joined by a diverse, but equally dark lineup which brings post-metal from TELEPATHY and SNOW BURIAL, the experimental noise of CROWD OF CHAIRS, blackened doom from MONOLITHIAN and the sludge of THE MOTH.

Human Disease Promo/When Planets Collide stage

This year the Human-disease Promo and When Planets Collide Stage has gone for an all out colossus of weighty heaviness for Desertfest 2018. Headlining the stage are WEEDEATER, making their second appearance of the weekend with a special early years set. They’ll be joined by Denver’s most crushing PRIMITIVE MAN, Canadian bruisers BISON, Swedish heaviness from SUMA, St Louis filthsters FISTER, Notts nasties MOLOCH and heavyweight duo BISMUTH.

http://www.desertfest.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/DesertfestLondon
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/
https://twitter.com/DesertFest
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_london/

Hawkwind, Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975)

All things considered, Lemmy Kilmister was probably a better figurehead than rock and roll deserved.

A walking, snarling, tilting-his-head-up-to-the-microphone one man summary of all that has ever been righteous in defying a mainstream that he almost inadvertently came to define, Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister was born on Dec. 24, 1945. Over the last 50 years, his career has set a standard to which it’s entirely likely no one will ever live up. From his early days in The Rockin’ Vickers circa 1965 through acting as a roadie for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Kilmister’s start was auspicious even before a stint in Sam Gopal led to his joining space rock pioneers Hawkwind in 1972 and founding Motörhead as its bassist and vocalist in 1975.

Motörhead would become his life’s work and the primary vehicle for his widespread influence. From a 1977 self-titled debut that continues to resonate nearly 40 years later with songs like “Iron Horse/Born to Lose” acting as lifestyle anthems, through 1979’s ultra-classic Overkill, Bomber and On Parole through the next year’s landmark Ace of Spades, Motörhead burned a swath through punk rock and early heavy metal that found the band living up to what Lemmy said initially was their intent: to be the loudest and dirtiest band of all time.

Lemmy spent 40 years of his life standing in the center of that tempest. I never spoke to the man, but by all accounts he remained decent and committed to his sonic purpose. His health failing over the last year-plus, he continued to tour as much as possible, spreading Motörhead’s raw gospel to a fanbase that, by this time, spanned generations, debates on 1983’s Another Perfect Day vs. 1993’s Bastards vs. 2004’s Inferno only serving to underscore the point that Motörhead, and by extension Lemmy himself, never stopped. Hell, they never even slowed. 2015’s Bad Magic was the third album the band — now comprised of Lemmy, guitarist Phil Campbell and drummer Mikkey Dee — released this decade, behind 2013’s Aftershock and 2010’s The Wörld Is Yours. Even in light of Lemmy’s death, it seems unbelievable to think it might actually be their last record.

On Dec. 26, two days after turning 70, Lemmy reportedly learned of an aggressive cancer that just two days later took his life. That life stands at a scope beyond hope for any summation — it’s simply too big. Even the 2010 documentary, Lemmy, could only tell part of the story. The band announced his passing thusly:

There is no easy way to say this…our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made it’s way down the street, with his family. We cannot begin to express our shock and sadness, there aren’t words.

We will say more in the coming days, but for now, please…play Motörhead loud, play Hawkwind loud, play Lemmy’s music LOUD.

Have a drink or few. Share stories. Celebrate the LIFE this lovely, wonderful man celebrated so vibrantly himself.

HE WOULD WANT EXACTLY THAT.

Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister

1945 -2015

Born to lose, lived to win.

It will be decades more before we ultimately can assess what the impact of his life has been, but neither rock and roll nor heavy metal would exist as it does today without him. The level of his impact is as expansive as vision was uncompromising. From the moment he showed up until the moment he left, he was absolutely one of a kind.

Normally, this is the part where I express condolences to the departed’s friends, family and fans, and while all that holds true in this case as well, the fact of the matter is that a loss like this one goes beyond blood or personal ties. We’re all poorer, the planet, our species as a whole, is poorer, for his passing.

Rest in peace, Lemmy Kilmister: 1945-2015.

Motörhead, Overkill (1979)

Hawkwind, Warrior on the Edge of Time (1975)

Of course, the Hawkwind catalog is a complex and ever-expanding universe in itself, full of ups and downs, comings and goings, peaks and valleys. It seems safe to think, however, that 1975’s fifth album, Warrior on the Edge of Time, stands among their greater triumphs, building on the complexity of its predecessors — 1974’s Hall of the Mountain Grill, 1972’s Doremi Fasol Latido, 1971’s genre-defining In Search of Space and their 1970 self-titled debut (don’t even get me started on live records) — to form a progressive vision of space rock the influence of which can still be felt today. From the opening of “Assault and Battery/The Golden Void,” the album is resoundingly immersive and full of depth, the keyboards, Mellotron, violin, flute, saxophone, percussion, etc. adding to an already sprawling swirl of guitar effects and rhythmic push, though some of Warrior on the Edge of Time‘s standout moments come in the interplay of atmospherics and spoken word on songs like “The Wizard Blew His Horn,” “Standing at the Edge” and “Warriors,” these shorter pieces playing off the fiction writing of vocalist Michael Moorcock, who was by 1975 already three books deep into his Elric sequence, the pivotal third, Elric of Melniboné, having been released in 1972, and given a fitting ambient push by guitarist Dave Brock, bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, saxophonist Nik Turner, violinist/keyboardist Simon House and drummers Simon King and Alan Powell. There are some gorgeous stretches of jamming in “Magnu” and “Opa-Loka,” and in them one can also hear the far-ranging impact Hawkwind continues to have on the current boom of heavy psychedelia.

The life, times and insurmountable discography of Hawkwind are all well documented — you might even say there’s a documentary — but with so much time and so much output, the details are easy to gloss over, and particularly for an album as rich as Warrior on the Edge of Time, it’s twice as worth paying attention to moments like the re-emergence of Moorcock‘s vocals in “The Golden Void” and the later, seemingly-out-of-nowhere hook of “Kings of Speed,” which departs the farther-and-farther-veering conceptual fare of the album’s second half in songs like “Standing at the Edge,” “Spiral Galaxy 28948” and “Warriors” for a simplistic structure almost in a ’50s rock and roll style that’s of course filtered through the band’s always-multicolor palette. Pervasively weird but singular unto themselves even in the vast sphere of ’70s prog and krautrock, Hawkwind remain an underground entity in part because to embrace them as a whole is such an undertaking, but in bits and pieces, over time, one might almost endeavor to keep up with their lightspeed thrust, which though barely recognizable in its current form(s), endures to this day.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

I’ve been sick the last three days or so. Really beat. Really beat. And a persistent stomach pain, acid reflux, and so on that has really just kicked my ass around the block and then some. I stayed home from work yesterday and spent most of the day in bed, and that seems to have helped put me on the road to recovery — I’m at the office now, so that’s an improvement — but I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself out of the woods. An accompanying, lingering headache has not helped. I have done my best to stay hydrated.

Even putting that aside, it’s been kind of an overwhelming week. Maybe part of that was getting caught up on being away from work in SF last week — was that last week or the week before? — but still, dragging ass. Sorry if that bums you out, I’m just trying to be honest with where I’m at. Five years from now I might look back on this post and be like, “Oh yeah, I remember that time I felt crappy.” These things are important to me.

Busy week, too. If you didn’t see, there’s a new Uncle Acid track that I, with six posts already planned for today, just didn’t have the chance to get to, and I’m already behind on stuff for Monday as well in stories for Mountain Tamer, The Skull and Behold! the Monolith. I started out this week pretty much caught up. I did not finish it that way, though it felt good today to review that T.G. Olson vinyl, even if it meant skipping the Radio Adds. I’ll get there one of these days.

Monday, aside from that news, look out for a track premiere from Shabda. I don’t know if you’ve heard them or not, but it’s definitely worth hearing. Tuesday, I’ve got a video premiere slated for Bedroom Rehab Corporation, and Wednesday, audio from Sweat Lodge that was supposed to be this week and got pushed back. Also looking to review the new Undersmile (long overdue) and some vinyl from Greenleaf that won’t even be a review, just me nerding out about how Agents of Ahriman was one of the best heavy rock albums of the aughts. So that should be fun. Hopefully there’s time.

We’re also due for a new podcast. Maybe Monday if I wind up with time on Sunday (unlikely) or some other day thereafter. I’ll get to it as soon as I can. There’s been a lot of good stuff coming in that’s worth highlighting, so keep an eye out either way.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. If you need me, I’ll be taking my convalescence by the sea. Please check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

Hawkwind, Hawkwind (1970)

Like most humans who’ve never actually been in the band — there are still five or 10 of us left; we get together on weekends — I am viciously underqualified to discuss the life and times of Hawkwind. I haven’t even seen the BBC documentary, though I have to wonder how more than four (I think it was three at the time) decades of space-rock pioneering could possibly be summarized in a single viewing anyway. In any case, all of Hawkwind‘s groundbreaking, all of their lysergic push, all the drugs, all the riffs, and their insurmountable discography — they continue to release albums; I interviewed Dave Brock a few years back about one of them — all began with their 1970 self-titled debut. If you’re looking for the launch point, this would be it.

At the time, Hawkwind was Brock on vocals/guitar/keys, Nik Turner — who’s touring this fall with his own incarnation of the band — on sax/vocals, guitarist/vocalist Huw Lloyd, bassist/vocalist John A. Harrison, synth/key specialist Michael “Dikmik” Davies and drummer Terry Ollis. I doubt any of them could’ve known the movement they were beginning or the litigation they’d eventually undertake when they recorded this album live with The Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor, but as they continued to refine their sound (and lineup) over the next five years, getting through the classic 1971 outing, In Search of Space, en route to albums like 1974’s Hall of the Mountain Grill 1975’s Warrior on the Edge of Time, it became apparent that what they were doing was more than just the standard psychedelic fare, and the rhythmic thrust that became their signature is still widely influential today, 40-plus years after the fact.

That thrust is hardly writ large over the self-titled, but as you can hear as the record plays out, Hawkwind were pretty much making it up as they went along, and of course the tradeoff for self-realization on the part of a band is a necessary narrowing of focus. Hawkwind, the album, is all the more varied for the fact that the band hadn’t really taken shape yet, and so it captures a moment that, in all their releases, studio, live and whatever else, would never come again.

I hope you enjoy.

—

Tomorrow night, I’m going to drive north to Portland, Maine, to see the last of the three slated We’re all Gonna Die reunion shows. They’re playing with Murcielago and Blackwolfgoat, so I’m expecting a good time and a late night both. I haven’t been to a show in more than a month, with the move and all, so I’m very much looking forward to getting out for a bit and hearing something loud. The plan is to review on Monday.

Also Monday, I may or may not have a Steak video premiere? I’m not sure what’s going on with the timing of that, or if I’m doing a premiere or it’s just coming out, or what the deal really is. I figure it’ll get sorted sooner or later and I’ll adjust accordingly. While I’m talking about nascent plans that may or may not fall through, I got offered a Funeral Horse album stream today that I’d very much like to do because that band rules that I was hoping to do Tuesday. Got my fingers crossed it comes together.

The party don’t stop either way, though. Tuesday night High on Fire play the Sinclair in Cambridge and I’ll be out for that, because if you’re gonna jump back in, do it like you mean it, and I’ll hope Wednesday to get a piece up on that. More Radio Adds to come, and hopefully a review of the Witch Mountain record, which is a little more bittersweet now that Uta Plotkin has announced it’ll be her last with the band. So it goes.

Of course there’s other stuff too, but I can’t possibly imagine what it might be because my mind is in full-on Hawkwind drift. We’ll just have to figure it out when we get there.

Please have an excellent, safe weekend. Eat ice cream and kick ass, because you can.

And don’t forget to check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

I’m not going to claim to know the ins and outs of the dispute between Nik Turner and Dave Brock over the name Hawkwind or who’s got what right to call themselves Hawkwind at any point in time. What I do know is that if there’s a band called Hawkwind playing in your town on any night, then that’s probably the place you want to be. Turner, who also toured the States with his band last fall, is bringing his incarnation of the legendary space rock progenitors back for a coast-spanning run beginning in late August, starting on the West Coast and ending on the West Coast a month later, with plenty of stops and only three days off along the way. Ambitious to say the least.

Joining Turner and his cohorts will be Witch Mountain and Hedersleben, who are based in the Bay Area but have ties to Turner‘s band andBrainticket, among others in the prog/krautrock realm.

Dates below:

Nik Turner’s Hawkwind, Witch Mountain and Hedersleben North American Tour Dates announced!

Tue 8/26 – Oakland, CA – Uptown
Wed 8/27 – Los Angeles, CA – Viper Room
Thu 8/28 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
Fri 8/29 – Tucson, AZ – Hotel Congress
Sat 8/30 – Albuquerque, NM – Launch Pad
Mon 9/01 – Austin, TX- Red 7
Tue 9/02 – New Orleans, LA – Siberia
Wed 9/03 – Birmingham, AL – Bottletree
Thu 9/04 – Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone Cafe
Fri 9/05 – Lafayette, GA – Meltasia Fest
Sat 9/06 – Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Fest
Sun 9/07 – Richmond, VA – Strange Matter
Mon 9/08 – Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
Tue 9/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Boot and Saddle
Wed 9/10 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater
Thu 9/11 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
Fri 9/12 – Boston, MA – Middle East
Sun 9/14 – Montreal, QC – IL Motore
Mon 9/15 – Toronto, On – The Garrison
Tue 9/16 – Rochester, NY – Bug Jar
Wed 9/17 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
Thu 9/18 – Chicago, IL – Beat Kitchen
Fri 9/19 – Rock Island, IL – RIBCO
Sat 9/20 – Milwaukee, WI – Cactus Club
Sun 9/21 – Saint Paul, MN – Turf Club
Mon 9/22 – Winnipeg, MB – Pyramid Cabaret
Tue 9/23 – Saskatoon, Sk – Vangelis Tavern
Wed 9/24 – Calgary, AB – Palomino
Fri 9/26 – Vancouver, BC – Venue (early evening show)
Sat 9/27 – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey
Sun 9/28 – Portland, OR – Star Theater

https://www.facebook.com/NikTurnermusic
http://www.nikturner.com/

Nik Turner’s Space Ritual, Live at Amoeba Records San Francisco, 2013

This won’t be the first time I’ve used a European festival for a bit of mental escapism, but a September weekend in Portugal sounds awfully nice, and it’s hard to argue with the initial lineup for the Reverence Festival, which will be held Sept. 12-13 in Valada, just a bit north of Lisbon. From Hawkwind and Electric Wizard through Naam and Spindrift, it’s going to be a spacey time in Valada. I wouldn’t argue.

Lineup info and a bit of the philosophy of the fest follow, cortesia de PR wire:

Reverence Festival

Valada, Portugal
12th-13th September

HAWKWIND // ELECTRIC WIZARD // PSYCHIC TV // RED FANG // CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX // SWERVEDRIVER // RINGO DEATHSTARR // MAO MORTA // THE WYTCHES // WHITE HILLS // ASIMOV // THE COSMIC DEAD // EXIT CALM // NAAM // SUNFLARE // BLACK BOMBAIM // WHITE MANNA // AIR FORMATION // KEEP RAZORS SHARP // THE QUARTET OF WOAH! // THE OSCILLATION // KILLIMANJARO // THE TELESCOPES // MURDERING TRIPPING BLUES // SPINDRIFT // JIBOIA

On the 12th and 13th September Reverence Festival celebrates the best in psych, stoner, shoegaze, doom, prog, garage and beyond, with some sixty bands playing over two days on four stages, including the hugely influential spacerock titans Hawkwind – performing in Portugal for the very first time.

The resurgence of far out, heavy rock-based music and a booming live music network across Europe has given rise to huge demand, with Reverence already causing a stir online amongst fans bustling with anticipation and excitement.

Reverence offers the chance for like-minded heads from across the world to congregate at one of the biggest and most ambitious events of its kind, one that features a unique line-up of revered titans and rising talent.

The heady, hazy and tripped-out sounds will make for the perfect outdoors summer soundtrack to the balmy and picturesque setting of Valada. When the sun sets, kaleidoscopic lights and psychedelic visuals will adorn the stages, adding an aesthetic accompaniment to the mind-expanding aural delights, which will run all night.

Blazing a trail from the 60s right through to today with unparalleled status, Hawkwind are spiritual and sonic godfathers, whose influence has permeated through hundreds of bands over five decades, not least many of those sharing the bill at Reverence. Formed in 1969, their trademark single ‘Silver Machine’ was a huge hit that brought the band to the attention of the wider public, with albums like ‘Warrior On The Edge Of Time’ and ‘Masters Of The Universe’ lauded as classics.

Joining them at the top of the bill and bringing their own brand of heavy cerebral stoner/doom to the stage are Electric Wizard – writers of some of the most important records of the genre like ‘Come My Fanatics’, ‘Dopethrone’ and ‘Black Masses’.

The bone-crushingly heavy Red Fang fit perfectly with the reverence ethos, along with ambient doom collective Crippled Black Phoenix as bands that have gained cult following for refusing to compromise – an attitude also held by Reverence itself.

More talent comes from local heroes, Mao Morta, arguably one of the most important Portuguese alternative rock bands on the scene, with a career spanning back to the mid-eighties. If all that wasn’t enticing enough, Psychic TV, the respected experimental art and music group fronted by pioneer and visionary Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, will be making an appearance. Not to mention Oxford shoegazers Swervedriver who split in the late 90s only to be met with huge success when they re-emerged in 2008.

Reverence’s powerful line-up is strengthened by their choice to include some of the biggest names in the current shoegaze and garage revival such as dark garage rockers The Wytches, ambient kosmische drone combo Telescopes and motorik spacerockers White Hills.

Many bands that have secured positions on the prestigious line-up have highly respectable followings in their own right, in particular the MBV-style Ringo Deathstarr (who inadvertently got the festival kick-started by inspiring the partnership of Cartaxo Sessions and Club AC30), along with baggy space rockers Exit Calm, psychedelic maestros The Oscillation (featuring Fanfarlo’s drummer) and sludgers Asimov.

Aiming to capture the spirit of early, pre-branded and pre-corporate events, Reverence harks back to the golden age of free spirited festivals, where the music comes first.
The choice of said music makes it abundantly clear that Reverence is a festival with integrity, that isn’t a box-ticking exercise where bands from every genre are booked in a ‘throw it all against the wall and see what sticks’ approach, but a labour of love.

The festival features a variety of cult bands that have been bought together not purely for profit, but because a group of promoters wanted to bring something to Valada for the fans. They’re pulling together what they see as the best bands from all over the world, because it’s what the fans want to see and, being fans themselves, what they want to see too.

The event takes place in the relaxed surroundings of Parque de Merendas, which runs along the banks of the Tejo river and includes a fluvial beach, picnic areas and coffee shops. Traditional Portuguese food and drinks including vegan and vegetarian will be available, as well as camping facilities adjacent to the festival site with toilets and showers.

Valada is a small picturesque village, famous for agriculture and wine production. Located approximately 60kms inland from Lisbon and 550km from Madrid, easily accessible via train from Lisbon where shuttle buses will be running from nearest station Reguengo to the festival site.

Reverence is a collaboration between Cartaxo Sessions, Camara Municipal do Cartaxo, Lovers & Lollypops, Club AC30 and Lisbon Club Sabotage.

Early bird 2 day passes: €55.00 // after June 30th: €70.00 // Daily Ticket: €38.00

https://www.facebook.com/events/700534786653434/
http://www.bilheteiraonline.pt/Comprar/Bilhetes/16676-reverence_festival_valada_passe_geral-parque_das_merendas/
http://www.reverencefestival.com/

Hawkwind, “Space Ritual” Live at Shepherd’s Bush, Feb. 22, 2014

Former Hawkwind space rock pioneer Nik Turner is set to issue the new album Space Gypsy at the end of next month. To coincide, Nik Turner’s Space Ritual will embark on a full US tour starting Oct. 9, including a stop at the Fall into Darkness fest. The album release is fascinating enough, but the different versions of it make Space Gypsy an even more interesting prospect. Hard not to want to have a look at that box set version with the extra improvs from Turner and so on.

The PR wire has it like this:

Hawkwind Legend Nik Turner Returns To His Intergalactic Roots On New CD ‘Space Gypsy’ and Upcoming US Tour

Founding member of pioneering space-rock band Hawkwind returns to his intergalactic roots with his soon-to-be-released mind-blowing new CD titled ‘Space Gypsy’! Featuring all new material, ‘Space Gypsy’ boasts guest appearances by fellow Hawkwind alumnus violinist Simon House, and Gong guitar legend Steve Hillage, along with Nicky Garratt of the UK Subs, Jurgen Engler of German industrial band Die Krupps, and Jeff Piccinini of ’70s punk icons Chelsea. Making the CD release even more exciting, Nik Turner has released a dark, hypnotic new video called “Time Crypt featuring Simon House”. This is the second video Nik has released in support of ‘Space Gypsy’, the first being “Fallen Angel STS-51-L”; from the album’s first single about the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Nik Turner’s Space Ritual Tour runs in the US from October 9^th through November 17^th in support of the new CD.

Nik Turner was a founding member of Hawkwind during what has been considered their most commercially successful and critically acclaimed period for the band from 1970 to 1976. He wrote/co-wrote some of the group’s most popular songs such as “Brainstorm” and“Master Of The Universe”. Hawkwind’s 4^th and possibly most popular album ‘The Space Ritual Alive in Liverpool and London’ was recorded in 1972 (released in May 1973). Reaching #9 in the UK album charts and #179 in the Billboard Top 200, the double-record was recorded during the tour to promote the band’s ‘Doremi Fasol Latido’ (third) release. The Space Ritual show attempted to create a full audio-visual experience. The performances featured dancers, lightshow by Liquid Len and poetry recitations by Robert Calvert. Nik Turner recently brought his version of the historic show to the US shores, recreating the magic once again!

Says Nik Turner, “This single ‘Fallen Angel STS-51-L’ is the epitome of epiphanic, orgasmic, cathartic embodiment of my space dreams, become one man’s reality, exploding into space. Expect lots more on this awesome album”.

Nik Turner’s ‘Space Gypsy’ will be released in three different formats: A regular CD release packaged in an attractive digipak with original artwork; a limited edition gatefold vinyl with bonus etched 7-inch single; and for the ultimate collector – the complete experience! A special limited edition deluxe box version of ‘Space Gypsy’, which includes a bonus CD of rough mixes and instrumental versions that feature additional flute and saxophone improvisations from Nik not included on the album. Also included are 4 postcards, a gorgeous full color patch and collectible pin.

NIK TURNER’S SPACE RITUAL – US Fall 2013 Tour w/Hederselben
Wed 10.9 Eureka, CA at The Shanty w/White Manna
Thu 10.10 Portland, OR at Mississippi Studios – Fall Into Darkness VII Fest w/White Manna, Billions & Billions
Tickets: https://secure-public.ticketbiscuit.com/MississippiStudios/Ticketing/173962
Sat 10.12 Seattle, WA at Chop Suey w/Master Musicians of Bukkake
Tickets: http://www.strangertickets.com/events/8951457/nik-turners-space-ritual-ex-hawkwind
Wed 10.16 Salt Lake City, UT at Urban Lounge w/Secret Chiefs 3*
Tickets: http://www.24tix.com/event.html?show_id=KT3234616035323461603539
Sat 10.19 St Paul, MN at Turf Club w/Thunderbolt Pagoda
Sun 10.20 Milwaukee, WI at Cactus Club w/Moss Folk
Tickets: http://cactusclub.tickets.musictoday.com/TheCactusClub/calendar.aspx
Mon 10.21 Chicago, IL at Reggie’s
Tickets: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/356437?wrKey=C26E3C5040D9B2033B3E786E3C1B13A3
Thu 10.24 Pittsburgh, PA at Brillo Box w/The Sicks
Fri 10.25 Toronto, ON at Mod Club w/Sons of Otis
Tickets: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/356441
Tue 10.29 Boston, MA at Middle East Upstairs w/Ghost Box Orchestra
Wed 10.30 New Haven, CT at BAR (free show)
Thu 10.31 Easthampton, MA at Flywheel
Sat 11.2 Philadelphia, PA at Philamoca w/Stinking Lizaveta
Sun 11.3 Brooklyn, NY at Saint Vitus Bar w/NAAM
Tue 11.5 Charlotte, NC at Tremont Music Hall
Thu 11.7 Atlanta, GA at The Earl
Tickets: http://www.ticketalternative.com/Events/24971.aspx
Sun 11.10 Austin, TX at Fun Fun Fun Nites
Thu 11.14 Phoenix, AZ at Rhythm Room
Tickets: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/356365?utm_medium=bks&wrKey=2FC89A22D41BE9843766B211AF84AB1A
Fri 11.15 San Diego, CA at The Casbah
Sun 11.17 Oakland, CA at TheUptown w/Carlton Melton
*no Hedersleben

To purchase Nik Turner ‘Space Gypsy’:
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Gypsy-Nik-Turner/dp/B00E4V0D4Y
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Gypsy-Deluxe-Box-Edition/dp/B00E4V0DH6

To purchase ‘Fallen Angel STS-51-L’ single on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fallen-angel-sts-51-l-single/id652712834

Nik Turner’s official website: http://nikturner.com/

Nik Turner, “Time Crypt”

04/11/12 — 22.41 — Wednesday — Hotel in Eindhoven

As a means of giving my wanderings some direction, I tried and failed twice this early afternoon to find the correct route to Memory Music here in Eindhoven. That whole no cellphone thing biting me in the ass really for the first time this whole trip. Embarrassed for myself to myself,  I stopped in at a sushi joint in the marketplace area and got a few rolls to drown my sorrows in. Crab and corn, tuna salad. Stuff you can’t get at home. Some gyoza, which were exceptionally good.

My lunch suitably devoured, I fired up the laptop to one more time give a shot at finding this record store, when, in a moment of distracted email checking, I saw a comment from a lovely couple named Chris and Maggie, whom I’d met at Desertfest and seen again at the show last night — it was Chris who told me Gentlemans Pistols were the best band in Britain — asking me if I’d made my way yet to Bullit Records Well, I hadn’t, but upon looking it up and finding out that it was closer than Memory Music and that I knew exactly where it was because of my wanderings looking for the other shop, I was back on my way in no time.

Right on my way to finding the store with no trouble whatsoever after about a five minute walk listening to Queens of the Stone Age (having gotten an itch to do so at The Rambler), I ran into said couple, who were just on their way out and full of praise for the goodies Bullit contained. They made it easy to get my hopes up, and sure enough, I did manage to find a few decent records. Actually, strike that. I found a ton of really good records, and if I was buying vinyl, I’d have been up a creek, but a lot of it was stuff I already owned or could otherwise get back in the US for far less than 18 Euro.

Still, I grabbed the Skraeckoedlan album that was reviewed a while back, a Space Probe Taurus self-titled on Buzzville, a 1996 UK reissue of Hawkwind‘s self-titled, an album called Soulful Man by young German four-piece Cliffsight (there was a sticker on it that cited Colour Haze, so I figured I’d take a chance and it’s not too bad as of the 10-minute opener) and the original issue of 35007‘s Especially for You, which I mark as the find of the day, definitely. Killer to get that CD in this place, 35007 having been so pivotal to the Dutch scene. 1994 that disc is from. Almost 20 years old.

Great find, great recommendation, and as I spoke to the dude behind the counter at Bullit — who was very kind as everyone I’ve encountered here as been and even gave me a tote bag that I will take home for The Patient Mrs., who enjoys a good tote — about Roadburn, Desertfest and whatnot (I guess he pegged me from my picks) it occurred to me just how much more present heavy rock is here than back home. Bullit was not a big store, and it was mostly metal and rock, but even so, you’d be hard pressed to find a shop like that open in the US that’s even heard of a band like Backwoods Payback, let alone one that has not one, but two of their CDs just sitting on the rack. I guess it’s getting better than it was a few years ago — thinking of places like Armageddon Shop in Providence/Boston, Rock ‘n’ Roll Graveyard in Maryland, to a certain extent Amoeba in California (though any of those three stores is much bigger) — but still, it seems more integrated here as something that’s just a given. At home, if I can go somewhere and find Goatsnake in a CD store, that’s an event. I suppose it depends on where you shop, too.

There ain’t shit for rock and roll in Jersey, is the problem. And New York’s a hipster-filled pain in the balls.

Keeping in line with my emergent tendency to heed comments on this website on issues like train connections, record stores, etc., when I found out noodly, crescendo-happy Norwegian prog rockers Motorpsycho were playing in town and that the venue was, you guessed it, a five-minute hike from the hotel here, I immediately considered going as an option for how to spend my evening. Yeah, I know I was going to relax tonight ahead of Roadburn starting up tomorrow, but seriously, what the hell. What was I going to do, sit here and watch tv on my computer for eight hours until I finally fell asleep later than I wanted to because I was all pissed at myself for not leaving the room and fidgety because I hadn’t moved in all that time? Better to just take the walk. I knew I wasn’t drinking, and I didn’t feel like getting dinner, so fuck it. I’ll go stand in a place for a while. Couldn’t hurt.

It was a little after 20.00 when I walked in. I left both my camera and the iContraption at the hotel because I knew I didn’t want to task myself with reviewing the show and I knew that, if I had either, I wouldn’t be able to resist. Sure enough, I walked in, they came on stage at exactly the same time I got there, and I immediately regretted not bringing some picture-taking apparatus with me. For the best, though. The room at the Effenaar was packed out and people were nodding along. I wouldn’t have wanted to push my way through. The light show made me dizzy, which is something that’s never happened before. The program I was given at the door — because, yes, I was given a program at the door — billed it as “Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkkken perform The Death Defying Unicorn.”

Turns out The Death Defying Unicorn is their new double-CD, their 14th album, and they were set to play it front to back. “Ambitious” would be one way of putting it. “Noodly” would be another. But the crowd ate it up. I guess you don’t normally attend that kind of thing unless you’re a fan, and if you’re into prog like that, you’ve already got a pretty high tolerance level for self-indulgence — seriously, the program has little bios for each band member like they’re doing a play — for me, I liked the part that was slow and heavy and some of the droney stuff, but the “let’s play scales while the drummer tries his hardest not to keep time” thing, yeah, you can keep that. They did it well and the audience loved it, but it just wasn’t my thing. After about 20 minutes in, I got antsy and wanted to go see something else, which I’m taking as a sign I’m ready for Roadburn to kick off. I remembered seeing Motorpsycho there briefly in 2009 and their not really doing it for me. At least I’m consistent.

However, I’ll say it was probably still a better option than sitting here in the hotel and stewing on not having gone, restlessly waiting for the baseball game to come on so I can stream it online and trying repeatedly and to no avail to call The Patient Mrs. on Skype (not that I can’t use Skype, she just doesn’t pick up her phone). Star Trek and Game of Thrones will still be there when I get back home. Eindhoven will not. I didn’t really dig what Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkkken were doing, but hell, at least I went and found that out for myself. For a five-minute walk and a few Euros, I could’ve done a lot worse than I did.

Checkout of this hotel is at noon tomorrow, but I might try to get out a little earlier and catch the train to Tilburg, check in at the Mercure and give myself a little time to get settled before doors open at the 013 and Het Patronaat. We’ll see how that goes, but I’m looking forward to it either way. By now, I know what to expect, and the next four days are going to be absolutely insane, but this will be my fourth Roadburn and I’m absolutely stoked to be heading into it. If you’re going, hope to see you there.