[kj] For those who miss the old Geordiesound/blonde hairandhollowbodies

powens powens at gmail.com
Wed Oct 15 11:02:48 EDT 2008


Looks like it was a cross between Stray Cat's and Bow Wow Wow that
influenced Duffy:

*
*

*GN: He and Neil Young have played White Falcon guitars over the years …
BD: In my high school band that I referred to that Johnny used to hang
around, half the guys were really into that kind of music. So therefore I
was exposed to it then. Basically, what happened was the Stray Cats came
over to the U.K. after punk had worn out and became tired. And there were
all these bulls--t second-rate punk bands who weren't as cool. I'd seen the
Pistols, the Clash and the Damned just because I was at the right age when
they came out. At the time, I was looking to do something a bit different,
guitar-wise. So I ended up watching the Stray Cats thinking that Gretsches
look cool. And then Bow Wow Wow came out, and (guitarist) Matthew Ashman had
one of those Falcons.*

*GN: He played it in their "I Want Candy" video.
BD: Yeah, absolutely! I thought, "I really, really, really want one of those
guitars!" I was in a couple of bands in London that never really went
anywhere. We did little 7" single deals. I could only afford to have one
guitar—I was working, but had no money. I was like 18 or 19 years of age,
hustling in a big city, trying to make a living, you know?*

*Finally—how I purchased my first Gretsch—this is really a true story: *

*I was working in London and was out at a nightclub. I liked going out to
clubs and hanging out at gigs, and somebody introduced me to a guy named
Kirk Brandon, who was the singer of Theatre of Hate. They had just recorded
an album, which was produced by Mick Jones of the Clash. (Kirk) had that
kind of rockabilly haircut, and the music of the band was almost a cross
between the Sex Pistols and other bands, but it was weirder. Plus, they had
a saxophone player. It was like punk rock meets Roxy Music in some kind of,
like, acid type thing. I loved it!*

*They said they were looking for a guitar player. So I went up to them; we
hung out and had a lot of stuff in common. (Kirk) was playing a Gretsch
single-cutaway Anniversary™ guitar. He said he really loved the Gretsch
sound. He was into Neil Young and all this stuff, even though he was like a
punk guy with a rockabilly image. We all had short, spiky hair. It was a
weird time in London, with a real hybrid of styles after punk. People were
looking around for something exciting and fresh. It's hard to explain
nowadays, but that's basically it. And then, at the end of the day, he said,
"Well, if you get in the band, what guitar would you get?" I said, "I've
saved up a bunch of money, and I'd get a Gretsch White Falcon." And he went,
"You've got the job!"*

*http://www.gretschguitars.com/news/billy_duffy.html*


john-paul






2008/10/15 iPat <pmdavies at gmail.com>


> i guess its subjective

>

> for me, especially at the time, the meteors - and there were others -

> were the real deal in that genre whereas the stray cats were simply a

> SAW type product (Stock Aitken and Waterman). I doubt a fist was ever

> thrown in anger at one of their gigs whereas the others would be

> guaranteed riots.

>

> As for Duffy being influenced, well perhaps we credit them with too

> much at times and buy into their hype.

>

> Bow wow wow, well you didnt take it seriously did you? c'mon, look

> what was happening with the likes of crass, the joke and so much more.

> Ive said it b4 here in that i was never a Death Cult fan as it was

> self obsessed ego driven pop like U2. We were heading towards

> revolution with the strikes, the cities in flames and beanfield

> ambushes that this corporate rock chic was effectively middle class

> shite. : )

>

> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 2:43 PM, fluw <fluwdot at earthlink.net> wrote:

> > I might be inclined to agree that duffy wasn't influenced by setzer until

> I

> > heard duffy say that he was influenced by the stray cats.

> >

> > I'm not sure you could call the stray cats pop any more than bow wow wow,

> > the cult, etc. it's all pop with different visual and aural aesthetics.

> >

> > If your audience consists of mostly 15 to 25 somethings in that era and

> your

> > music is played on totp's or mtv or what have ya, you are pop.

> >

> > For that matter even killing joke with their mid 80's media performances

> are

> > yet another form of pop.

> _______________________________________________

> Gathering mailing list

> Gathering at misera.net

> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/gathering/attachments/20081015/847c5895/attachment.htm>


More information about the Gathering mailing list