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Sad news - Gypie Mayo died today. He's one of the best guitarists - make that one of the best musicians - that I've ever seen.
He's probably best known for replacing Wilko Johnson in Dr. Feelgood, but he also worked with The Yardbirds, The Band Of Sceptics, The Practice and many others. I saw him play many times over the years in all of those bands and more and he was always absolutely brilliant, an inspiration to me and many others. I last saw him back in June 2010 at Tropic Of Ruislip when The Flying Squad supported The Wolftracks, who were basically The Band Of Sceptics playing Howlin' Wolf songs. Johnny Squirrel was playing bass for us that night - he knew Gypie from back in the day when Squirrel played with Lew Lewis and Gypie was in The Feelgoods and he introduced me to the man himself after our set; unprompted he told me how much he'd liked my playing in 'Dirty Water'. I could have been happier, but not much. At the end of the evening he and I chatted as he put his equipment away, I'd meet him a couple of times before and he always seemed to be a genuine, humble man who loved to play music. That's a pretty good thing to be don't you think?
A few weeks ago I received a letter from Band Of Sceptics mainman Pete Sargeant; he's been to Gypie's birthday party (he and I share the same birthday, July 24th) and during the course of the evening my name somehow came up - Gypie not only remembered me but asked Pete to send me his best wishes and gave him a commemorative plectrum to pass on to me. Amazing.
I looked at the plectrum for a few seconds - he couldn't have known it but I was having a bad day. A really bad day. I picked up my Stratocaster, plugged it in, turned the amplifier up and played 'Milk And Alcohol'. Suddenly things weren't quite so bad.
God bless you Gypie - and thanks for everything.
Regular readers (assuming of course that I have any!) of these hallowed pages will be well aware of my admiration for the guitar playing talents of Wilko Johnson. I first became aware of the great man's playing when I came in from school one day early in 1975 to be confronted by the sight of Dr. Feelgood on 'The Geordie Scene'. From the moment I saw him flailing at a Fender Telecaster with a maniacal bug-eyed stare whilst careering jerkily across the stage I was hooked - and the rest of the band weren't too bad either. I discovered that the band came from a semi-mythical place called Canvey Island and had released an album called 'Down By The Jetty' which was clad in a stark black and white sleeve and had been recorded in mono. I loved it. My mates didn't and thought I was mad. I've followed his career avidly ever since.
After he left Dr. Feelgood in 1977 he put together The Solid Senders and released a single and an album on Virgin Records. The 'Solid Senders' album is readily available on CD and very good it is too, especially when you factor in the six-track live album that accompanied the first vinyl pressing and is included on the CD re-issue. Sadly this edition doesn't include the single 'Walking On The Edge' which is a shame since it's a terrific reworking of a track that first appeared on the final 'Feelgoods-with-Wilko' album 'Sneakin' Suspicion'. The B-side saw the first appearance of the Wilko classic 'Dr. Dupree' which later featured on the album in a slightly different (remixed?) form. It remains unique in the Wilko cannon with it's reggae-inspired rhythms and somewhat surreal lyrics penned by Hugo Williams. It's importance as a Wilko song is underlined by it's appearance in virtually every live performance since it's release (an accolade also bestowed upon 'Everybody's Carrying A Gun' from the album) and it's an audience favourite to this day. Overall a great single - and there's apparently a promo video for the A-side although I for one have never seen it. Maybe one day? In the meantime click here for some marvellous live footage of the band around this time (which was when I first saw him play, having been just a bit too young to catch him in The Feelgoods) and links to footage from the rest of the show.
With the demise of The Solid Senders Wilko joined Ian Dury And The Blockheads for their 'Laughter' album and tour before teaming up with Lew Lewis to form (you've guessed it!) The Wilko Johnson / Lew Lewis Band. I saw them a couple of times and they were as great as you'd hope they'd be, but sadly the partnership was to be short-lived - Lew didn't stick around but Wilko continued with Russ Strutter on bass and Alex Bines on drums, releasing the 'Casting My Spell On You' / 'Looked Out My Window' single and the 'Ice On The Motorway' album. I think the album might well have been available on CD at some point (Wilko's back catalogue is very difficult to pin down!) but I'm fairly sure that the single tracks remain vinyl only. The A-side takes it's cues from the version recorded by The Pirates way back in 1963 (it came out the next year along with 'My Babe' as their 'solo' single released when they were backing Johnny Kidd; have a listen to it here - the influence of the late great Mick Green on Wilko's playing is all too apparent as you hear here) while the b-side made it into the live set for the next few years with a particularly fine version appearing on the excellent 'Watch Out!' live set. The 'Ice On The Motorway' album is well worth a listen (if you can find it!) and again several of the songs have been live staples ever since.
From there Wilko teamed up with uber-bassman Norman Watt-Roy (who he still works with today) and drummer Salvatore Ramundo to form what for many was the classic line-up of The Wilko Johnson Band - click here for a fabulous clip of them in action. These days Dylan Howe is behind the kit, and they remain one of the best live acts that it's possible to witness. In the wake of the brilliant 'Oil City Confidential' documentary he's getting more recognition than ever these days, even appearing in the T.V. series 'Game Of Thrones' playing a mute assassin (!) as well as being the subject of a Facebook campaign for him to replace Patrick Moore on 'The Sky At Night'. Strange but true. He remains a brilliant musician and an iconic live performer who has stayed true to himself and the music he plays. The outpouring of support that followed the announcement that he's suffering from terminal cancer shows just how much he and his music mean to many people, and with the farewell shows on the horizon the level of interest in his work will surely only increase.
NB - I actually wrote most of this a couple of days before the announcement earlier last month that Wilko is suffering from terminal cancer. I'd intended to post it in early January, and after much musing in the meantime have decided to leave it more-or-less as originally written, adding only the last line and tidying it up here and there.
It's nearly time for The Flying Squad to return to show business - as with most of our shows it's at Tropic At Ruislip where we're supporting Dr. Feelgood. Since our set usually features a fair few of their songs we're obviously been obliged to have a bit of a rethink, and to this end emails have been er, emailed between band members over the last few weeks with song suggestions a-plenty - I think we've come up with some great songs for the show, which will be taking place on Friday 14th December. I for one am definitely looking forward to this - while there may not be any original members in the band these days The Feelgoods are an institution in British rhythm and blues - and maybe most importantly as far as this gig is concerned they're still a very fine band. We'll have to be at the top of our game for this one...
I went to the afore-mentioned Tropic at Ruislip on Friday night, partly to talk to promoters Philip and Dave about the upcoming gig and partly to see Bootleg Blondie. I first saw many years ago at The Rayners in Rayners Lane; I remember them being good then but I have to say that they were great this time, and it must be said that you forget how many Blondie songs you know (I'd totally forgotten 'Maria' for example) until you hear them played. Debbie Harris (I'll be really disappointed if I ever find out that's not her real name!) does a splendid job as the lovely Ms Harry, and the band were absolutely excellent. (Yes, I noticed them as well!) A recent addition is bassman Russ Strothard a.k.a. Russell Strutter who played in Tonight all those years ago before going on to play with Eddie And The Hot Rods, Wilko Johnson and Lew Lewis (I think that's where I first saw him) and who depped with us in the Chicago Blues Brothers several times a few years ago. I managed to grab a few words with him at the end (the gig was sold out so there were a lot of people about) and he seems to be really enjoying being in the band, which is good news.
Last night saw The Upper Cut wend our way to Windlesham for a show at The Windlesham Club. (How do they think of those names eh?!?) Bob the guv'nor was friendly as were the locals, and the band played well despite there not being much of an audience to play to. Apparently everyone was at home watching The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing - well that's what the ladies who arrived halfway through our second set said anyway. Still the people who were there enjoyed the show (I should know, I spoke to most of them!) and the afore-mentioned ladies were so disappointed that they'd missed us playing 'Maggie May' that we played it again for them. Well, it seemed like to best thing to do... one of them asked if we could do 'Itchycoo Park' - when we said that we'd already played it they tried to get us to do that one again as well. We might have done if we hadn't already ran well over time! A fun if slightly odd evening.
And there are two shows from The Upper Cut this coming weekend - we're back at The Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge on Friday then we're playing at the wedding of two of our regular gig-goers on Saturday. Now that should be interesting...
