HAWKWIND Co-Founder & Groundbreaking Rock Icon NIK TURNER Rejoins The Stars, Leaves Behind an Extraordinary Musical Legacy

Nik Turner, founding member of Hawkwind who contributed saxophone, flute and vocals to the group’s first seven albums as well as co-writing some of their most beloved songs, passed away in the evening of November 10th.

His family posted this message: We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Nik Turner - The Might Thunder Rider, who passed away peacefully at home on Thursday evening. He has moved onto the next phase of his Cosmic Journey, guided by the love of his family, friends and fans.

Turner was simply one of the most creative minds of his generation. His tenure with Hawkwind was just the beginning of his journey to the outer reaches of the rock music universe as Turner would go on to release an astoundingly adventurous and diverse catalog of solo albums as well. His collaborations with everyone from UK Subs guitarist Nicky Garratt to Doors’ guitarist Robby Krieger to Todd Rundgren along with Steve Hillage of Gong, Amon Düül II founder John Weinzierl, Die Krupps leader Jürgen Engler, William Shatner and so many more expanded his creative energy and brought new generations of music fans into his audience. Just this year saw the reissue of Turner’s incredible concert extravaganza, Space Ritual 1994, as both a CD/DVD set as well as a 3LP set, which features guests Helios Creed of Chrome and Psychic TV’s Genesis P-Orridge as well as Hawkwind alumni Del Dettmar and Alan Powell.

Prog Rock Christmas Featuring Members of YES, Renaissance, Utopia, Focus, Curved Air, Hawkwind & Others!

Join producer Billy Sherwood (Yes, Circa) for an expansive musical journey through Christmas classics of yesterday and today, all performed by leading figures in Prog Rock music!

Includes gorgeous performances by guitar legend Steve Morse, angelic vocalists Annie Haslam (of Renaissance) and Sonja Kristina (of Curved Air) plus Thijs Van Leer (of Focus), Simon House (of Hawkwind) and others! Also a special guest performance by actor Malcolm McDowell!

Available on both CD in an attractive digipak and on limited edition vinyl in your choice of RED or WHITE!

  A Prog Rock Christmas / Various

International Rock Collective Sontaag Release Hawkwind Cover “Silver Machine” feat. Nik Turner!

International rock collective Sontaag, whose conceptually ambitious, eponymous debut album (a sonically cinematic, cross-generic space opera) arrived into the progressive firmament to critical acclaim in 2014, are finally set to re-establish contact with our much-troubled earthly realm.

On March 15th, 2019, Sontaag return with a fiercely contemporary interpretation of Hawkwind's iconic 1972 hit, “Silver Machine.” The Sontaag crew on this particular mission finds core creatives Richard Sontaag (guitars, keyboards, producer) and Ian Fortnam (vocals and guitar) joined by Killing Joke's Youth on bass, Dave Barbarossa (Adam And The Ants/Bow Wow Wow) on drums and ex-Hawkwind legend Nik Turner on sax.

“Silver Machine” is mixed by Youth.

Design and photo montage by Julie Cunnah. Thanks to Kevin Nixon.

“Silver Machine” is available through Cleopatra Records via all digital platforms and also comes in radically remixed form courtesy of Sontaag's fellow travellers in outer and inner psychedelic space, The Orb.

Ian Fortnam: “Hawkwind were punk-proof. Even in '77, Richard and I would jam on 'Silver Machine.' Hawkwind were the UK's counter-cultural underground incarnate. I discovered them in that narrow space between Bolan and Bowie, simultaneous to Alice, in the summer of '72. Astral explorers. Eyes aflame with psychedelic visions. The people your parents dreaded you becoming. The coolest band alive. 'Silver Machine' was Hawkwind's magnum opus, a spiralling maelstrom of riff-driven brilliance. Who wouldn't want to cover it? Four years ago I found myself spirited to Nik Turner's place in Wales, where we spoke of the Great Pyramid, orgone accumulators, space rituals, hallucinogenics, sonic generators, woodwind and Hawkwind. Before we parted, I gave him a copy of the first Sontaag album and the seeds of the 'Silver Machine' project were sown. Obviously, the very best material deserves the very best band, so calls were made to maestro Youth and Dave Barbarossa (the dream rhythm section) and here we are. And what a rare privilege to work with The Orb whose 'Imaginarium Translucent JellyFish Dub' remix is a work of art in and of itself.”

 Richard Sontaag: Ian's been pestering me to do a Hawkwind cover since way back when -- the coolest kid in our school, he was often seen walking around with the Doremi Faso Latido LP under his arm between classes. But our Silver Machine came about in an unexpected way. I was alone in the studio late one night, and noticed that the guys had strung up a microphone from the ceiling. I put all the amps in a circle around it -- which is really bad technique - and went round each one, blasting out Silver Machine on different instruments. That was the most fun I have ever had in a studio -- and some of it even made it on to the final track.

For more information: https://twitter.com/Sontaag