British space rock veterans the Hawklords are back out on the road in support of their brand new studio album.
The roots of this mysterious outfit stem way back to 1978, although the group was largely inactive for almost 30 years. Hawklords was formed during the late 70s by a collective of Hawkwind members during a period of inactivity within the latter.
The band reformed back in 2008, although few of the original 70s lineup remain in the group’s current incarnation – Harvey Bainbridge being the only survivor from that period. The band’s regrouped lineup also features former Hawkwind member Jerry Richards, along with Dave Pearce and the band’s newest band member, Tom Ashurst.
Following the success of Fusion last year the band have just released a new studio album titled Six at the start of this month. Subsequently, the group are currently touring the UK in support of their latest offering which in turn brings the band to Tyneside this evening as part of a space rock extravaganza at The Cluny in Newcastle.
As the quartet takes to the stage in front of their loyal North East fan base they kick off the proceedings with “Out of Phase” from their last record Fusion.
It doesn’t take long before the band delves deep into their latest offering with both the frantic “Nightside” and the mellower “Ghost In My Machine” featuring early in the show. The latter of which slows down the proceedings somewhat with its ethereal vocals and trippy synth melodies.
Throughout the course of the show, Hawklords delivers the lion’s share of their new record. Jerry Richards informs the audience that there will be a lot of new material played in the show and if the audience didn’t like it not to worry as there will be something you know coming along in just a few minutes. However, by and large, the group’s new material is very well received.
An incredible visual show orchestrated by lighting designer Dave ‘Lighthouse’ Johnson, is both stimulating and perfectly accompanies the band’s performance throughout the course of the evening. Whether this takes the shape of lava lamp projections or various shapes and patterns it seamlessly fits the band’s performance.
Although Hawklords no longer have dancers backing their live shows they are occasionally featured during their performance via projections onto video screens at the rear of the stage. This is particularly the case during the likes of the epic “Free Fall”. The track which is taken from Hawklords 1978 debut album 25 Years On slowly builds from the off. Starting with an almost ambient instrumental synth introduction the song ebbs and flows as its heavy groove develops. The track also features some blistering guitar playing from Richards.
Hawklords set this evening predominantly centers around their post-reunion material, in particular, the last two albums Six and Fusion respectively. There is also room for a few crowd-pleasing covers peppered throughout the show including the likes of Hawkwind’s “Coded Languages” and a reverb fueled rendition of Robert Calvert’s “Right Stuff”.
Although the roots of this groundbreaking outfit are forged deep into the 70s what is noticeable this evening is that many of the audience were either too young or weren’t even born during Hawklords heydey of the 1970s. Subsequently, the band is welcoming a whole new generation of fans to the fold thanks to their incredible new material. We look forward to more of what is to come from this incredibly creative outfit.
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Event Date: 29-Oct-2017