John McGeoch - Magazine/Banshees/PIL
JOHN MCGEOCH
May 28th 1955 - March 4th 2004
A year or so back I compiled a list of my favourite punk era guitarists for a fanzine and it went something like this 1. John McGeoch /Magazine / Banshees , 2. Steve Jones / Sex Pistols , 3. Johnny Thunders / Dolls / Heartbreakers , 4. Stuart Adamson / Skids , 5. Johnny Ramone / Ramones . All brilliantly talented original influential musicians I think you'll agree.
My first memory of seeing John McGeoch perform live was on Top Of The Pops around Jan. 1978 when Magazine were playing "Shot By Both Sides', their take on the situation here in my home town of Belfast, silly as Devoto and co's view was. Apart from Howard Devoto's very distinctive vocals you couldn't help but notice the searing guitar riff which propelled the song forward. I loved the guitar playing and sound which was highly original in a time of white hot noise three minute blasts of youthful energy. As a pretty primitive proto guitar hero myself I can remember thinking shit I'll never be able to play like that, his innovative style was the total opposite to punks three chord doctrine. So for years instead of trying I would just drown everything in a sea of distortion to cover my lack of ability, I did know my three chords and struggled with a fourth and experience. A personal favourite Magazine song of mine has always been 'A Song From Under The Floorboards', which has McGeochs trademark textures all over it. For me the spiralling riff and melody in particular just worms its way into your head and stays there. After Magazine he joined one of my alltime favourite bands Siouxsie And The Banshees as a full time replacement for John McKay, after Robert Smith from the Cure's first stint as a stand in. He put his mark on their sound right away with hypnotic layers of beautiful guitar sound on the likes of 'Happy House', 'Desert Kisses' and 'Christine'. Together they made a trilogy of albums that to me are three of the Banshees finest moments. Kaleidoscope, JuJu and A kiss In The Dream House, and don't forget the magnificent 'Isreal' 45. As success continued for the band McGeoch was weighed down by personal problems and a constant battle with his demons which would in time end his employment as a Banshee. The band treated him very badly towards the end of his stay which was a similar situation Robert Smith found himself in during his second replacement stint, as they freely admitt in the recently published autobiography and clearly with a sense of regret in John's case. As a gun for hire John played sessions with many bands amongst them Generation X on their troubled but excellent "Kiss me Deadly LP, Pete Murphy ex-Bauhaus, The Skids, Ultravox and Visage, one of the first Blitz kid synth bands fronted by Steve Strange an ex-punk himself, which was not really McGeochs style of music but would in the end turn out to be a creativly and financially rewarding time. He formed the Armoury show in 1984 with fellow scots and drinking pals Richard Jobson and Russel Webb from the Skids and John Doyle from his old band Magazine. After the bands demise in 1986 he then moved in with old man Lydon and joined Public Image Limited, a band he had been asked to join a couple of years earlier where he remained until the band faded away 1992. In later years John McGeoch had qualified as a nurse and had been writing music for television and film. He died in his sleep on 4/ 3/04 aged 48. He will be sadly missed by all real punk fans and beyond.
Joe Donnelly (Belfast) 13/ 3/04 |
