John McGeoch.html



John McGeoch
Background information
Birth name	John Alexander McGeoch
Born	28 May 1955(1955-05-28)
Died	4 March 2004 (aged 48)
Genre(s)	Punk rock Post-punk Gothic rock New Wave Synthpop Alternative rock
Occupation(s)	Guitarist
Years active	1976–1995
Label(s)	Polydor, Geffen
Associated acts	Magazine Visage Siouxsie & the Banshees The Armoury Show Public Image Ltd.
Notable instrument(s)
Yamaha SG 1000 guitar MXR flanger

John Alexander McGeoch, (28 May 1955 – 4 March 2004), was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Visage, The Armoury Show, Public Image Ltd., and Siouxsie & the Banshees. Siouxsie Sioux described him as her favourite guitarist of all time^{citation needed}.

Life and career

Early years (1955–1976)

McGeoch was born and brought up in Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, and got his first guitar when he was twelve. In 1970 he played in a local band called The Slugband. In 1971 he moved to London with his family, and in 1975 he began to attend University of Manchester, where he studied art.

McGeoch had a degree in Fine Art and an ongoing interest in photography, painting and drawing. He provided some of the cover art for The Armoury Show.

Magazine (1977–1980)

In April 1977 McGeoch answered an advert placed by Howard Devoto, who had recently left the Buzzcocks, for a guitarist to form a band which would transcend the limitations of three-chord punk. Devoto found what he was looking for in McGeoch and the pair formed Magazine, along with Barry Adamson, Bob Dickinson, and Martin Jackson.

Magazine released their debut single, "Shot by Both Sides", in January 1978. The music was written by Pete Shelley with new Devoto lyrics (the Buzzcocks version is known as "Lipstick"), and the single reached number 41 on the UK singles chart. The same year, he got graduated.

McGeoch played on the band's first three albums, Real Life (1978), Secondhand Daylight (1979), and The Correct Use of Soap (1980). He left the band in 1980, shortly after the release of the latter album, frustrated about their lack of commercial success despite being very popular with the music critics.

John McGeoch in between 1970's and 1980's

Visage period (1979–1981)

In 1979, whilst still a member of Magazine, McGeoch joined Steve Strange's electronic project Visage along with erstwhile Magazine bandmates Barry Adamson and Dave Formula, beginning to record songs for their first single Tar and later, in 1980, for the ensemble's eponymous album, Visage, playing guitar and saxophone.

Although he saw Visage as a joke, McGeoch did have the success he craved, however brief. The band's single "Fade to Grey" went to number one in 21 different countries. He decided to leave the project in 1981, while he was in Spain, touring with his then current band Siouxsie And The Banshees, deciding not to fully participate in the next Visage album, The Anvil, although he contributed a number of guitar riffs for this album.

Whilst still a member of Magazine and Visage, McGeoch had played with other bands such as Generation X, for some songs from the "Kiss Me Deadly" album, and The Skids, for a late 1980 Peel Session and for a short period replacing Stuart Adamson, who was ill. During those days, he left Magazine.

Siouxsie & the Banshees (1980–1982)

After joining the Banshees in early 1980¹, McGeoch entered a period of both creative and commercial success. He played guitar on the Banshees albums Kaleidoscope (1980), Juju (1981), and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982). The Banshees' hit singles of this era featured some of McGeoch's greatest work, particularly 1980's "Happy House", "Christine" and "Israel". However, McGeoch suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stresses of touring and drinking and collapsed on stage at a Madrid concert.

By that time, he collaborated with Ken Lockie's "The Impossible" album (1981), along with ex-Magazine mate John Doyle

PiL (1986–1992)

Following two unsuccessful years in The Armoury Show, along with Richard Jobson and Russel Webb (both ex-Skids) and John Doyle (his bandmate in Magazine), McGeoch joined Public Image Ltd. in 1986. McGeoch had been a great admirer of the band, mainly due to John Lydon's lyrics, and had reputedly turned down the band in 1984 due to other commitments. Despite being hit in the face with a bottle during one of his first concerts with the band, McGeoch remained with PiL until they dissolved in 1992, making him the longest-serving member apart from Lydon. He worked on the albums Happy?, 9 and That What Is Not.

Life after music and later years (1992–2004)

McGeoch married Denise Dakin, on September 14 1988.² The couple had a daughter in 1989 - Emily Jean McGeoch.

After Public Image Ltd. split up, McGeoch attempted to form projects with both Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 and John Keeble of Spandau Ballet, however, neither came to fruition.

McGeoch, who had been a great pioneer in the 1970s and 1980s, found himself stranded in a new era. He retrained as a nurse in 1995, although before his death he had been writing some music for television. He was reported to have died in his sleep.

Playing style

The first guitar riff he learned to play was apparently "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream. Key characteristics of his playing style included inventive arpeggio, flange effect pedal, string harmonics and an occasional disregard for conventional scales (see Ball of Confusion intro with Tina Turner).

Equipment

During his Magazine days, he played a Yamaha SG 1000 guitar, used along TC Electronic Chorus Flanger.³

Influence on other bands

McGeoch has been cited by many artists as a major influence :

• Radiohead was inspired by him to record "There There": they explained that they were in heaven when their producer Nigel Godrich made Jonny Greenwood sound like McGeoch of Siouxsie & the Banshees for that session. ⁴.

• Johnny Marr from The Smiths stated on the BBC Radio 2 in February 2008 that he rated McGeoch very highly for his work with Magazine and Siouxsie & the Banshees (especially "Spellbound").⁵

• The Edge often stated McGeoch as one of his influences. In 2005, U2 selected the Siouxsie song "Christine" from the Kaleidoscope album for the magazine Mojo. ⁶.

• Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction also said that he learned guitar listening to the albums McGeoch recorded with the Banshees. ⁷

References

External links

• Fodderstompf.Com: John McGeoch Biography
• John McGeoch MySpace Account (set up by his daughter)
• Profile of John McGeoch from shotbybothsides.com
• Interview with John McGeoch from shotbybothsides.com
• Interview with John McGeoch and Richard Jobson of Armoury Show