![]() See the Feelgood star perform at the Koko in Camden in May 2013. ![]() Led Zeppelin guitarist Page said he was “sad” to hear the news and recalled that Dr. Milton Hayes, Daltrey added, “Good night, then, to Mad Carew, the uncompromising bard of Canvey.” “His music lives on, but this time there’s no escaping the final curtain.” I was lucky enough to know him and have him as a friend. And although he’s no longer with us now, there can be no doubt that his music and guitar sound will echo for an eternity.In a statement, he said: “More than anything, Wilko wanted to be a poet. He would live almost a decade longer than the doctors had initially given him. However, the original diagnosis was incorrect and Wilko had actually been suffering from a less aggressive and more treatable form of the disease.Īfter undergoing an 11-hour operation removing parts of his pancreas, spleen and intestines, he announced he was cancer-free and getting used to life knowing that death was “not imminent”. ![]() Wilko revealed at the time that he believed Going Back Home would be “the last thing ever did”. He had been given nine or ten months to live – during which time he embarked on a farewell tour of the UK and even managed to partner up with The Who’s singer Roger Daltrey for the album Going Back Home, which reached number three on the UK album charts. In January 2013, Wilko was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer and chose not to receive any chemotherapy. Wilko joined Robert Fripp, Peter Hammill and Robert Smith as a guest star for The Stranglers And Friends: Live In Concert, released in 1995 some 15 years after the event took place. Wilko joined Ian Dury & The Blockheads for their 1980 album Laughter, having originally considered retiring from the industry before being convinced by Dury to replace Chaz Jankel. Other key releases from his career include contributions to Mick Farren’s 1978 album Vampire Stole My Lunch Money and two guest spots on Johnny Thunders’ 1985 album Que Sera Sera. I don’t think people come to see me to hear any marvellous musical innovations.” The only time I pick my guitar up is when I walk onstage. “If you put on a determined expression and play loud, people are convinced. If you put on a determined expression and play loud, people are convinced. I can play three chords, and 12 bars, and back that whole thing up with a bit of machine gun. “It can be explained in five minutes, and it’s served me all this time. “My guitar playing is very simple,” he once humbly revealed. It would be their only release, after which he’d start to focus more on his own group, The Wilko Johnson Band, with whom he’d release the majority of his life’s work. The following year, Wilko returned with the self-titled debut of his new group Solid Senders. Feelgood came to an abrupt end – although the other members disputed this, claiming that the guitarist left of his own volition. The guitar makes a good pretend machine gun. It’s built for that.”Īfter creative differences with his bandmates came to a head during the sessions for Sneakin’ Suspicion, Wilko’s final album with the group, he stated he was given his marching orders and his tenure in Dr. We found out that if you’re playing rock ’n’ roll, whizzing about a bit and holding your guitar like you’re shooting a machine gun, then it excites audiences. “I took my cue from that, and bounced off Lee. And when he got on stage, there was a kind of violence about him. “Our singer Lee Brilleaux was an absolute natural: he had a kind of nervous energy, that was his personality. Feelgood, we wanted to excite audiences,” Wilko told TG in 2016. Feelgood’s first four albums – Down By The Jetty, Malpractice, live record Stupidity and Sneakin’ Suspicion – released between 19. It was this Bo Diddley-inspired approach that became the driving force behind Dr. It was a style unlike any other, fusing rhythm and lead parts into one towering guitar sound that, especially for its time, felt more like two players going head-to-head than the work of one single axeman. His appearance certainly left a long-lasting impression wherever he went, thanks to that thousand-yard stare, the iconic ‘machine gun’ poses with his guitar raised up to shoulder level and the unforgettable ‘duck walks’ across the stage while suited and booted in black.īut it was his no-nonsense raw and aggressive tone that inspired so many who came after him – embracing the ear-piercing twang of a Telecaster while also adding more warmth and percussive punch with his fingers instead of a guitar pick. There were many reasons why Wilko Johnson ended up becoming hugely influential within the UK’s pub rock scene and the wave of punk that soon followed.
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