The Opium Cartel release cover of Hawkwind's Who's Gonna Win The War

(Image credit: The Opium Cartel)

Norwegian pop proggers The Opium Cartel have released a cover of Hawkwind's Who's Gonna Win The War, which you can check out below. The new version features Opium Cartel mainstay Jacob Holm-Lupo along with his 14-year old daughter Ina A. Ina has been playing piano since she was 8 and plays bass, guitar and sings, playing in a classic rock covers band, as well as writing her own songs under the name Ina A. You can find out more about Ina A here.

Who's Gonna Win The War was originally on Hawkwind's 1980 album Levitation, which featured former Cream drummer Ginger Baker.

"I've been a Hawkwind fan since my early teens, and Levitation, along with Chronicle Of The Black Sword, is to me the high point of the band's career. I simply adore Huw Lloyd-Langton's playing on those albums. I got the idea, for some reason, to cover Who's Gonna Win The War after my family had a lavish Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. Maybe I felt guilty for being bloated with too much food, and started thinking about less fortunate people in less fortunate situations.

"Anyway, I've always loved the poignancy and power of that tune. I knew I could not compete with Lloyd-Langton's emotive guitar on that song, so I chose a different route. I realised that the recurring bass motif would sound good as a forlorn, John Carpenter-like synth riff on my DX7. So with that as a starting point I finished the tune quickly and then invited my daughter to sing on it. She's only 14, but has an uncanny knack for interpreting songs in a beautiful and interesting way. In less than half an hour we were done, and we thought the end result was interesting enough to share with other listeners."

The Opium Cartel previously released their own take on Ratt's Whats It Gonna Be? in 2018 and covered Blue Oyster Cult’s Then Came The Last Days Of May on 2013’s Ardor album. They released their latest album, Valor, earlier this year.

Get Who's Gonna Win The War.

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.