Former Hawkwind synth pioneer Michael ‘DikMik’ Davies has died

[Big Ears]

This was posted on Team Rock about five hours ago: Hawkwind have confirmed that their former synth player and keyboardist Michael ‘DikMik’ Davies has died.

Hawkwind issued a statement which reads: “We are very sad to let you know that our old friend and band mate DikMik, Michael Davies, passed away early this morning."

Dave Brock has also offered his own tribute, saying: “I remember when DikMik joined the band – he bought himself an audio generator from Tottenham Court Road, got himself a Watkins Copycat echo unit, a fold up card table – complete with green baize – and became one of the innovators of electronic music.

“It was on DikMik's suggestion, and later persistence, that we got Lemmy to join the band and you know the rest!

“Goodbye old chap your legend lives on.”

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When listening to those early albums it is not easy to determine which parts were played by DikMik and which were from Del Dettmar, as they both played synths (as with Simon House and Del Dettmar, Simon House and Dave Brock, etc), but they both contributed to the band's original spacey sound. I am not sure what happened to DikMik as he left the band after about four or five albums. He is not on Hall of the Mountain Grill, and does not have his own Wiki entry. Del Dettmar left soon after this album, while Lemmy remained for one more.

 

[Vader]

RIP Dik Mik,

source of eelectronic havoic upon unsuspecting Hawkwind concert goers and partner in crime of Lemmy. I'll be spinning some Hawkind in his honor later.

 

[Sharp Dressed Man]

Few bands had/have the ambient space sound down like Hawkwind. As stated above, his exact role on which songs is unclear, but everything they did back then - and in recent times as well - was gold, so he was definitely an integral part of the band's early sound. R.I.P. Dik Mik

 

[Big Ears]

This freaked me out in 1972:

 

[Vader]

 

[Vader]

I plan to spin Space Ritual later when I get home.

 

[Vader]

Lemmy tells a story in his book White Line Fever about DikMik. He says that he had some kind of contraption, machine , electronic eqipment, that he would point out into the crowd that would cause certain people in go into convulsions.
Lemmy says the band , being high af, would all bust up laughing.

 

[Vader]

This freaked me out in 1972:

Ahhh yes, a rare occasion when Stacia wasn't dancing butt naked on stage.
For those who don't know, she got up on stage during one gig, took off all her clothes and proceeded to dance about. She was instantly invited to join the touring space carnival that was Hawkwind.

 

[Big Ears]

The film always looked as if it was shot in a club, but it still may have been recorded for TV. Top of the Pops was an early evening family show, afterall, and it helped make the single a hit. I was too young to have seen Hawkwind in the clubs in 1972, but Stacia probably a would have been dancing naked. I have seen pictures of shows from 1973 where she was wearing nothing but strange body paint. Incredibly, there are photographs of Stacia wearing clothes, but she looks strange.

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[nedkelly]

R.I.P.