HAWKWIND'S "HAWKFEST"

Date: Friday August 27th – Sunday August 29th
Venue: Afton Down, Isle Of White.
Tickets: £70
Booking URL: www.hawkfest.com
Tickets via post: Hawkfest Tickets, PO Box 617, Newcastle, NE15 7WA
Venue Address: Afton Down, Freshwater, Isle Of White, PO40 9UE

In addition to the December UK tour, Hawkwind will appear at their aptly named festival HAWKFEST, which this year returns to The Isle of White’s Afton Farm.

Taking place between August 27th and 29th, Afton Down is the site of the iconic 1970 “Isle of Wight festival”, where, 40 years ago to the day, Hawkwind played outside the fence, in protest at the over commercialism of the event.

HAWKFEST came about after the breakdown of the free festival movement in the mid to late 80's. Throughout their illustrious career, Hawkwind have played at many of the major music festivals and, in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, they felt that these events had lost what made them great. Gone was the intimate, carnival atmosphere and the colourful characters, which were replaced with huge-scale commercialism.

The band wanted to get back to the roots of what made festivals so enjoyable, they longed for a return to that vibe and feel; they wanted to create a genuinely family friendly event where children could play and explore, whilst parents watched great music, safe in the knowledge that the kids would be safe.

The unique festival experience the band were searching for was achieved by making HAWKFEST a private party rather than a full blown commercial event, and limiting the numbers to around 1500 ticket holders, plus bands, crew and performers. All tickets are sold in advance and attendees must be the holder of a Hawkwind Passport, (free to obtain from the official HAWKFEST site, and currently held proudly by over 7000 fans worldwide).

While the 2010 line has not yet been fully announced, so far, amongst the 40 bands appearing at HAWKFEST, we have - Here and Now, Dick Taylor and the Hillmans, Mr Quimby’s Beard, Tragic Roundabout, Tarantism, AOS3, Headjam, Krankschaft, The Lloyd Langton Group, Syren, Girlschool (tbc) and Hawkwind offshoot band TOSH (Technicians of Spaceship Hawkwind). All the usual children’s activities and music workshops with members of Hawkwind, will take place and, of course, Question Time with Matthew Wright...!

Tickets for HAWKFEST 2010 are priced at £70 and include all camping and parking. Children 12 and under go free. These are available from the official Hawkwind and Hawkfest websites (www.hawkwind.com / www.hawkfest.com) or via cheque to the following address:

Hawkfest Tickets
PO Box 617
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE15 7WA

HAWKWIND: OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY

Hawkwind were formed in 1969 by former London busker Dave Brock, although there have been numerous line-up changes throughout the years, Dave remains at the helm of Hawkwind today and is know affectionately by many fans as the “Captain of the ship”.

In 1970, the band appeared outside the perimeter fence of the Isle of Wight Festival as a protest to the admission charge, Jimi Hendrix was spotted in the audience. The same year they played at the very first Glastonbury Festival. These activities helped establish them as the people’s band, as well as being widely acknowledged with creating a brand new genre of music - space-rock. 1970 also saw the release of the band’s first single, “Hurry on Sundown”, which was followed by the self titled debut album, 41 years on it remains a steady seller!

By 1972, the bands popularity had grown to such an extent that they found themselves headlining venues such as the Roundhouse in London’s Chalk Farm. A gig billed as the “Greasy Truckers Party” at this venue in February was to be forever etched into Hawkwind folklore, as it was at this show that their trademark single “Silver Machine” was first recorded. The track, which featured Lemmy on vocals, brought the band to the attention of the wider general public after it reached number two in the UK charts.

The success of “Silver Machine” financed their famous ‘Space Ritual’ tour. This show set the precedent for all future Hawkwind shows. The band’s wealth of creative talent, including contributions from the likes of sci-fi author Michael Moorcock, poet and visionary Bob Calvert, designer ‘Barney Bubbles’ and lighting engineer ‘Liquid Len’ created the world’s first truly multimedia touring road show. The barrage of light, sound, dance and theatrics has since become a hallmark of all subsequent Hawkwind shows, making each gig a unique and spectacular event.

Following the “Space Ritual” UK tour, the band went on to tour the USA, coinciding with the release of their acclaimed third album; “DOREMI FASOL LATIDO”, followed by the live recording – “SPACE RITUAL ALIVE”.

In 1973, classic trained musician Simon House (electric violin) joined the band, and throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, the World famous science fiction author Michael Moorcock often wrote lyrics for Hawkwind, as well as recording and appearing with them. After a drugs bust in USA in 1975, Lemmy left the band and went on to form ‘MOTORHEAD’. 

In 1979, Dave Brock, together with Huw Lloyd-Langton on lead guitar, Simon King on drums, Harvey Bainbridge on bass and former Gong keyboard player Tim Blake, recorded the album ‘LIVE 79’ which went straight into the top ten UK album chart. In 1980, Ginger Baker briefly replaced Simon King on drums to record the classic album ‘LEVITATION’, which also debuted inside the top 10.

In 1986, the band headlined at the Reading Rock Festival, with former member Lemmy turning up to make a guest appearance, their performance was transmitted live on BBC Radio 1, and later released as the “FRIDAY ROCK SHOW SESSIONS”.

During this period, the band reached a whole new audience which really embraced the Hawkwind sound and ethos. This would see the start of a massive dance movement and rave culture, acts such as The Orb, Future Sound of London and later, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield, openly acknowledge Hawkwind’s influence on their music.

Throughout their career Hawkwind has performed at numerous free concerts, most famously the STONEHENGE festival. The band support many charities, including SHELTER, GREENPEACE, TRAVELLERS AID TRUST, BRAINSCAN, FREE TIBET CAMPAIGN, SAVE ENDANGERED SPECIES and SEA SHEPHERD.

In 2001 Hawkwind appeared on the Channel 4 “Top 10” show, having been voted in at number 8 on the Prog Rock chart. The band also appeared on Australian TV as part of the group’s first visit to the country. In August, Hawkwind headlined the Canterbury Festival and employed the guest vocals of Arthur Brown. A live CD of the concert featuring the singer was released in December 2002. The band finished off the year headlining a week of psychedelic themed shows at The Royal Festival Hall in London followed by a tour of sold-out venues across the country.

2002 started with the release of “YULE RITUAL” - recorded live at the London Astoria in front of a sold out audience. The band then headlined their own 3-day festival in Devon called HAWKFEST, featuring a host of space-rock and mainstream bands. A double CD of festival highlights was released the following year. In October 2002, Hawkwind played Wembley Arena as special guests of Motorhead. Arthur Brown was once again on vocal duties, with Lemmy adding his unique bass and voice to a rousing version of Silver Machine. To end the year on a high Hawkwind once more ventured out on their annual pre Christmas tour with both Arthur Brown and Tim Blake.

2005 saw the release of the band’s “TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER” album, which features an assortment of guests including  70s punk songstress Lena Lovich, Arthur Brown and, for many the most surprising guest, Channel 5 TV presenter Matthew Wright - a long time fan of the band. This was followed up in 2006 with a new format “dual disc” TAKE ME TO YOUR FUTURE, which featured video on one side, music on the flipside.

2009. saw the band celebrate 40 years in the business by playing to packed venues the length and breadth of the country with the highlights being a stunning headline set at the 2009 BEAUTIFUL DAYS festival in Devon and two sold out shows at the exclusive Porchester Halls in London, where they were introduced on stage by Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson.

In June 2010, Hawkwind were honoured with the Mojo Magazine’s “Maverick Award”.  The band show no sign of slowing down – with headlining appearances at Burg Herzberg festival in Germany, Guilfest in Surrey, Rock Knights in France, their own HAWKFEST on the Isle Of Wight, the release of studio album “Blood of the Earth” , gigs in Italy, Greece and Ireland, followed by a nationwide UK tour in December.