Hawklords is a British

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

band. The band started as a one-off ensemble of musicians formerly associated with

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 ...

, and playing Hawkwind covers. Although the band uses the same name as the short-lived 1978 incarnation of Hawkwind, it is not a reunion or tribute, though three of the original 1978 Hawklords members (Bainbridge, Griffin, Swindells) were in the band when it reformed, but are not currently members.

History

The germ of the Hawklords started at a concert on 28 September 2008 organised by Nik Turner as a tribute to

Robert Calvert Robert Newton Calvert (9 March 1945 – 14 August 1988) was a South African-United Kingdom, British writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist, performance poet and lead vocalist of the space rock band Hawkwind ...

. A group of musicians formed a temporary band for the concert, consisting of Ron Tree, Danny Thompson,

Nik Turner Nicholas Robert Turner (26 August 1940 – 10 November 2022) was an English musician best known as a member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner played saxophone and flute, as well as being a vocalist and composer. While with Hawkwind, Tur ...

, Jerry Richards, Alan Davey, Harvey Bainbridge,

Steve Swindells Steve Swindells (born 21 November 1952) is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organizer, club promoter and journalist. Life and career Early life Swindells grew up in the Bath and Bristol area, dropping out of art college to play ...

, Jim Hawkman, Judge Trev, Martin Griffin, and Adrian Shaw. Many of the same musicians reunited to play at the memorial concert for

Barney Bubbles Barney Bubbles (born Colin Fulcher; 30 July 1942 – 14 November 1983) was an English graphic artist whose work encompassed graphic design and music video direction. Bubbles, who also sketched and painted privately, is best known for his distin ...

on 29 October 2009 at London's 229 club. And after the success of this concert the decision was made to form a band to tour Europe. The band was named Hawklords after the temporary incarnation of Hawkwind formed in 1978. The line up for the tour was Ron Tree, Nik Turner, Jerry Richards, Adrian Shaw, Harvey Bainbridge, Steve Swindells and Meurig Griffiths. Alan Davey joined the band for the UK leg of the tour. Concerts were played in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom in Autumn 2011. After the European tour a number of people left and the band restructured to record an album of original material. The album ''We Are One'' was recorded during 2012 and released on 24 September 2012. The line up was Harvey Bainbridge, Dave Pearce, Jerry Richards, Adrian Shaw and Ron Tree. Steve Swindells played keyboards on a few of the songs and contributed to the writing of Flight. John Constable, AKA John Crow, contributed additional lyrics for ''I Am The Wind'' and ''Spark In The Dark'' . The second album, ''Dream'', was released in 2013. The line up was again Harvey Bainbridge, Dave Pearce, Jerry Richards, Adrian Shaw and Ron Tree, and John Constable contributed additional lyrics for ''White Rag''. The third album, ''Censored'', was released on 6 October 2014. John Constable contributed a poem for the centre sequence of ''Damned'', and

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, particularly of science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has wo ...

wrote a poem entitled ''Induction'' especially for the band. Following the release of ''Censored'', Adrian Shaw left and was replaced by Tom Ashurst. The fourth album ''R:Evolution'' was released on 9 October 2015. It reached number 15 in the Official UK Top 30 Progressive Rock Chart and was in the top 75 for over two months. It was also nominated for best rock album of 2015 by One World Music Awards. The fifth album ''Fusion'' was released on 7 October 2016 with Kim McAuliffe guesting on one track. The band's sixth album ''Six'' was released on 6 October 2017. It was the first of a planned trilogy of albums based on the themes of war, peace and love. Ron Tree was no longer a member for this release and was not replaced with the core band being Ashurst/Bainbridge/Pearce/Richards. The second album in that trilogy, ''Brave New World'', was released on 26 October 2018 and the third album, ''Heaven's Gate'', was released on 18 October 2019. ''Heaven's Gate'' included keyboards. synths, and vocals by Frederick Reeves (a.k.a. Dead Fred). The album ''Time'' was released on 6 August 2021. It was the first to feature Dead Fred as a full member and the first not to feature Harvey Bainbridge, who had left to pursue a solo career. This was the last album to feature Tom Ashurst on bass. He was replaced by Mr Dibs ex-Hawkwind/Spacehead/Krel in August 2021, in time for the October 2021 tour. Former Hawklords' bassist Adrian Shaw appears on the track "Take Off Your Mask" and saxophonist/flautist Chris "Beene" Aldridge appears throughout. For the Spring 2022 tour Dead Fred was replaced by Chris Purdon. On 29 September 2023 they released a new album "Space" as a three piece - Purdon having left - and embarked on a UK tour.

Members

*Jerry Richards - guitar, vocals *

Mr Dibs Jonathan Darbyshire (born 4 August 1964) (now Jonathan Hulme by deed poll), widely known by his stage name Mr Dibs or Dibs Hawkwinder, is a British musician, best known as a former member of the space rock group Hawkwind. Career Before Hawkwi ...

- bass, vocals *Dave Pearce - percussion

Former members and affiliates

Ron Tree Ronald Tree (born 8 April 1963 in Leeds, England) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as frontman and bassist for the English space rock band Hawkwind from 1995 to 2002. He also played both these roles in the reunited Steve T ...

- vocals *Adrian Shaw *

*Meurig Griffiths * Alan Davey * Harvey Bainbridge *Tom Ashurst *Phillip Reeves ("Dead Fred") - synthesizers & vocals *Chris Purdon - oscillators and audio generators

Discography

*''We Are One'' – 2012, LORDS0912, distributed by Shellshock *''Dream'' – 2013, LORDS0913, distributed by Shellshock *''Censored'' – 2014, LORDS0914, distributed by Shellshock *''R:Evolution'' – 2015, LORDS1015, distributed by Shellshock *''Fusion'' – 2016, LORDS1016, distributed by Shellshock *''Six'' – 2017, LORDS1017, distributed by Shellshock *''Brave New World'' – 2018, LORDS1018, distributed by Shellshock *''Heaven's Gate'' – 2019, LORDS1019, distributed by Shellshock *''Time'' – 2021 *''Space'' - 2023 *''Relativity'' - 2024

References

External links

Hawklords facebook page
* {{Authority control Hawkwind English rock music groups British space rock musical groups