11/3/2022 0 Comments Wilko johnson t shirt![]() Our mortality is something we rarely address. The 65-year-old has spoken about his illness with a frankness that is typically in character, but shocking because it is so rare. Recently diagnosed with cancer, he decided to forgo chemotherapy so he can perform: a farewell tour in the most genuine and unquestionable sense. I’m sure I can hear him in the way Alex Turner or Kele Okereke play, and if you look at how I hold a guitar… aye, it all adds up. His influence stretches further than the ’70s. Joe Strummer got himself a guitar like Wilko’s after seeing him. If you do know who he is, you won’t need me to tell you that he inspired a generation to do something different with their guitars, to swap the excess of rock for the violent energy of punk. It captures the mythology of the band, their Canvey Island roots, success, excess and self-destruction. If you’re still curious, watch the 2009 Julien Temple film Oil City Confidential. He’s the guy in the buttoned-up shirt and suit with the malevolent glare, jerking terse riffs out of a black Telecaster as he speeds across the stage. If you don’t know who he is, try typing ‘Dr Feelgood Old Grey Whistle Test’ into YouTube. I am taking the train to meet Wilko Johnson. ![]() Tell me about this new film you’re promoting… What? “Are you implying my music is simplistic, you moron?” No, I like it, I think it’s cool that you can… Never mind. I told Ray Manzarek I loved how you could play the organ line from Light My Fire almost entirely on the white keys. I’m not on the other side of a Dictaphone very often and last time I interviewed another musician I pissed him off within seconds of opening my gob. I had a long break from that when I was ill, I couldn't climb the stepladder onto the roof.I feel apprehensive as I take the train to Southend. Even if it's raining, with the rain beating down, it's great. This was the sight that told Galileo that everything didn't revolve around the earth, and changed our understanding of the universe, and it's so beautiful.Įventually I started buying proper telescopes, and now I've got a dome on top of my flat roof at home, and a great big telescope. After a few days, I walked off stage and out of the gig, and there was the moon, upside down! I got into the habit of looking through my binoculars, and at Jupiter, you can see it's a disc, it's so exciting, and you can see the moons. I get to NZ, and there was no moon, each night. ![]() So I started looking at the moon, and seeing the way round we see it, using binoculars. I was stood on my head trying to work it out. The thing that engaged my interest wasn't the constellations, it was: is the moon upside down in New Zealand? It's tricky. That was my first interest in it.Īnyway, a few years later I was going to go to New Zealand for a tour on my own, and I thought I'd like to repeat this experiment but I'll get a bit of knowledge first. ![]() I realised I didn't know anything about the stars at home, or there. Wow, there were more than I remembered seeing at home, and they were coloured, and moving about! Then I realised I was looking at fireflies attracted by the pool lights. It was nighttime in Melbourne, and we got to the hotel, and I went wow! The southern sky! I'm going to look at these stars! I went up to the roof and there was a swimming pool - I got one of those lilo things, lay down, and saw these stars. We had a long flight and were very jetlagged. I first got consciously in astronomy when, in 1979 or something, Ian Dury and the Blockheads went to Australia for a tour. ![]()
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