Norman’s fluid bass notes are the flesh on the bones of Wilko’s skeletal rhythm. Feelgood dissertation coming soon to a web site very near you – Wilko’s best music comes when his monochrome guitar slashing is set against the colourful piano of Mickey Gallagher or John Potter and, latterly, the astonishing bass dexterity of Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy, who transforms a standard rock and roll three piece line-up into something quite extraordinary. Post-Feelgoods – the period we shall deal with here, my Dr. Those riffs just ask to be complemented by a sprinkling of glitter, and the menacing stage presence, Wolf-like growl and wheezing harmonica of Lee Brilleaux added exactly that. Noughties post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party might just have copped a lick or two as well, don’t you think?īut the Johnson guitar sound, however deft, is chunky and rectangular. Gang of Four’s Andy Gill and Bill Carter of the Screaming Blue Messiahs channelled Wilko. Inspirational to those who came after: the young Paul Weller blazing a trail with his Rickenbacker checked Wilko.
A subtle curl and flick of the fingers, some cunning string damping and a whole lot of muscular manipulation produced shrill overtones superimposed on chipped, flinty chords. His idiosyncratic guitar technique, famously inspired by the simultaneous lead/rhythm style of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ Mick Green, remains indecipherable to the average Joe Punter. How’s that for unsettling? “My mind’s in NOOOTRAL!” Now, I’m not one for going to a gig and shouting for songs (because you feel like a bit of an arsehole and when does it ever work?) but when I went to see Wilko, I always called for The Whammy. … a truly disturbing song and Wilko’s most extreme solo performance. However, you might not have ever lent an ear to Wilko’s near-unlistenable and totally bonkers live cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ The Whammy: You may even have been machine-gunned yourself. You’ve seen him machine-gun audiences with his Telecaster. Wilko’s lurching, skittering, alien stage presence was compelling, but tremendously unsettling.
Feelgood by then, seeing them perform for the first time, albeit on celluloid, was an experience. Sorry, I just went a bit misty-eyed there. I think my first extended exposure to the man was the Going Back Home concert film, which I first clapped eyes on as a supporting feature – yes, we used to get two films per cinema visit, yet if you tell that to t’kids today they don’t believe you – to the Led Zeppelin epic The Song Remains The Same, in Halifax Astra cinema, nigh on forty years ago. In today’s ‘been there, seen that, ticked it off, next please’ world, it’s hard to imagine the effect he had on us in the early days. For more information, or to reserve a table, please email or call the Ticket Desk on 0844 7701 797.Wilko Johnson is an original. G Live's Café-Bar will be open two hours before this performance for light bites and refreshments. Fee-free booking for Friends of G Live Groups of 8+ please call 0844 7701 797 to buy fee-free. Subject to change)Ī £2.00 per ticket booking fee applies, capped at six per order. In true style, Wilko is still rocking and, as well as undertaking to play shows for as long as he is able, Johnson is also recording a new album with Roger Daltrey, due for release early in 2014.ĭon’t miss your chance to hear one of England's rock legends, for what could be the last time. He discussed his terminal cancer, and said that doctors have told him he has nine or ten months to live. Johnson stated in early 2013 that he had terminal cancer, and aptly announced he was going on a farewell tour. Feelgood in 1977, Wilko formed his own band before joining Ian Dury’s Blockheads to co-write several songs on the Laughter album, and then reforming the Wilko Johnson Band. The list of 70s New Wave bands who acknowledge the influence of Wilko and the Feelgoods is extensive and includes The Clash, The Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Boomtown Rats, The Ramones & Blondie. Feelgood, it was their guitarist Wilko Johnson who excited the most attention, not only for the startling violence of his stage performance, but also for his guitar style.
When rock ‘n’ roll was shaken from its pre-punk complacency by the emergence of Dr.