Space Ritual are 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 drumming ...

band, formed in 2000 fronted by

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, ...

, and composed principally of former

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 ha ...

members. They play a mix of early Hawkwind material and their own compositions.

History

The Hawkestra event took place on 21 October 2000 at the

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

which featured nearly all past members of Hawkwind, but disagreements between various participants led to any restaging of the event being unlikely. Chris Hewitt who had worked with Nik Turner back at Deeply Vale in the late 1970s put on two gigs in 2001 with Nik's chosen name "The Isle of Wight line up of Hawkwind". These two gigs were at Stairways in Birkenhead and The Empress Ballroom in Blackpool. Chris Hewitt then started to manage the band and put together The Greasy Truckers Party 2001 at The Astoria in London, featuring members of the Hawkestra on 21 October 2001 at the

London Astoria The London Astoria was a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road, in London, England. Originally a warehouse during the 1920s, the building became a cinema and ballroom. It was converted for use as a theatre in the 1970s. After further developm ...

, which, despite being invited, all of the then members of Hawkwind refused to be a part of. Turner's band continued performing further gigs and eventually went by the name of xhawkwind.com. An appearance at Guilfest in 2002 led to confusion as to whether this actually was Hawkwind, sufficiently irking

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 biog ...

into taking legal action to prohibit Turner from trading under the name XHawkwind, a case which Turner lost.The Saga of Hawkwind, Chapter 32: The Hawkwars – Carol Clerk Turner then chose to name the band Space Ritual.net, after Hawkwind's 1973 live album '' The Space Ritual Alive'', having previously used the name Space Ritual during the mid-1990s for a North America tour. The gigs in 2002 and 2003 were named Greasy Truckers Parties and featured SpaceRitual.net with many ex members of Hawkwind plus dancers, Striking Lighting's superb lightshow and many other artists, Inner City Unit, The Theory, Richard Kid Strange,

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most comm ...

, Guitar George Borowski giving the feel of a touring circus-type event.

Members

Principal members

– vocals, sax, flute (Hawkwind 1969–77, 1982–84) *Mick Slattery – lead guitar, vocals (Hawkwind 1969–70) *

Thomas Crimble Thomas Crimble is a musician who played with Skin Alley and Hawkwind before becoming a central part of the organisation of the Glastonbury Festival from the 1971 free festival until 1999. He subsequently became involved in Nik Turner's alterna ...

– keyboards, previously bass and rhythm guitar (Hawkwind 1970–71) *

Terry Ollis Hawkwind are an English rock music, 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, inc ...

– drums, percussion (Hawkwind 1969–72) *Chris Purdon (a.k.a. Chris Mekon) – synthesizers, FX *Gary 'Slapper' Smart – bass guitar *Miss Angel – Dancer

Affiliates

Del Dettmar Del Dettmar (born 20 April 1947 in Thornton Heath, Surrey, England) is best known as synthesizer and keyboard player with the English space rock band Hawkwind from 1971 to 1974. After leaving school he had a number of jobs including working i ...

– electronics (Hawkwind 1971–74) * Ron Tree – vocals (Hawkwind 1995–2001) *Meurig Griffiths – drums

Former members and affiliates

*Dave Anderson – analogue synthesiser, bass (Hawkwind 1971) *Jerry Richards – bass guitar (Hawkwind guitarist 1995–2001) *Commander Jim Hawkman – keyboards *John Greves – keyboards & synthesisers (1999–2006) *Thomas Hewitt – guitar *Jaki Windmill – Djembe, Vocals *Debespace *Lloyd George – aka Doktor Hotknife or 'the new Dik Mik' – Synths & Keyboards *Sam Ollis – drums, DJ record decks

Discography

Studio releases

Live recordings

Video releases

References

External links

www.spaceritual.net
– Official site
www.myspace.com/spaceritualofficial
– MySpace site *
Ham Life blog
– A fan's reviews and photos {{Authority control Hawkwind English space rock musical groups 2000 establishments in England Musical groups established in 2000