Heartland

I for one shall miss him, he was a great and innovative guitarist.
I was more a fan of his Magazine work but he really defined a sound with The Banshees.

it's a real shame. i didn't believe it untill i read it on steve severin's site (especially after the siouxsie death rumour).

Did some excellent stuff with PiL too...

Hey ho...another one bites the dust...

bugger, that's ar$e.

Blimey, I didn't know until just now! What happened to him?

Died in his sleep, last Thursday is all I have found out so far.

A sad day indeed.

Made even more sadder by the fact that I'm sitting watching Liquid News on BBC3 (I know, I know) and they have spent the first 15 minutes interviewing an ex-member of a boy-band discussing another ex-member of another boy-band and whether or not he will be "the next Robbie".

F*cking hell.

I doubt the sad news about Mr McGeoch will even get a mention on this so called entertainment 'news' program.

I don't know why I'm surprised.

"The next Robbie"? What, a coked-up no-talent fat w@nker that only got a record deal by sleeping with the manager? Allegedly.

Sorry about John McGeoch. He were a good'un.

The Banshees played Peterborough in the early 80's (14 months after it was originally scheduled as it was cancelled three times) but original tickets were still valid. Whereas we'd bought tickets to see a band who will still struggling to find a direction, 14 months on we were treated to the full Juju experience. From the opening chimes of Israel I just stood transfixed starring at John from about 10 foot away. A truly memorable performance and a very, very sad day.

When I first heard him I was about 14 & up till then didn't know a guitar could sound like that. Made me go cold all over. To this day not many others have managed it.

Terrible shame that real talent gets so little attention.

As posted on the Creatures website, News Section

Some words for John..
11.03.04

Prior to leaving for London last Thursday, Siouxsie & I had been talking about inviting John McGeoch to guest with us on stage. We hadn’t spoken in ages but we had a mutual acquaintance whom I was going to get in touch with. I’d even had a daydream about us playing a version of ‘The Light Pours Out Of Me’ or ‘Shot By Both Sides’, actually just thinking of those guitar riffs brings a lump to my throat. It wasn’t until we arrived back home last night that we knew for sure that it would indeed remain a dream. John was gone.
Without any disrespect to all the other guitarists we have worked with, none had the relaxed mastery and such a depth of expression as John McGeoch. No amount of scrutiny of filmed ’Live’ performance tapes could reveal the subtle economy of technique that made an apparently complex phrase look so deceptively simple. Exasperated guitarists would often comment, "But his hands don’t even move!"
His signature style was what made the intros to songs like ‘Spellbound’ and ‘Happy House’ so unique, the guitar break in ‘Israel’ swing & the feedback in ‘Night Shift’ scream.
I remember in pre-show soundchecks John would move around the stage locating the ‘harmonic sweet spots’ which he would employ like a magician, literally conjuring sounds out of thin air. I also remember him entertaining the road crew we shared with Motorhead with a manic rendition of ‘The Ace of Spades’ or a note & tone perfect version of Hendrix’s ‘Little Wing’.
On a recent trawl of the web looking for clues, I came across an interview with the ‘Chilli Pepper’s’ John Frusciante, who cited John as one of the guitarists he’d studied religiously, I think ‘The Edge’ & many other guitarists were listening too.
John was also an entertainer and a charming gentleman, his smile was sincere and his voice which I can still hear, had a gentle Scottish lilt which would make the adjective ‘apparent’, sound like the noun for a mother or father.
Sometimes the mild mannered Scot from Greenock could get a bit Glaswegian. When playing as ‘Janet & the Icebergs’ in 1980, John was about to show some baiting idiot in the crowd a bit of Scottish etiquette but not before first retiring stage left to change out of his soft shoes. Much to our relief the coward made a hasty exit while John put his boots on. Of course we teased him endlessly for being on stage in his ‘Slippers’ in the first place!
It was nice to see John in a recent documentary, remember his time with the band so fondly but also heartbreaking to hear him recount the events leading up to his departure so acutely. We can all be grateful that he agreed to add his part to the band’s recent biography with the intelligence and dignity that were always his outstanding characteristics.
I’m honoured to have shared some special moments with John McGeoch and I will always love & remember him as a warm & caring friend.
Budgie, March 10th., 2004

..to paraphrase Siouxsie from 2003’s biography;

"My abiding memories of John are good ones. He was always fair and would discuss things with me. He was easily, without a shadow of a doubt, the most creative guitarist we ever had."

Our thoughts & sympathy to his daughter Emily & family.

John McGeoch
Born 28.5.55. Greenock, Scotland - Rest In Peace 5.3.04

No such thing as a silver lining, but Radio 2 were playing Magazine today as a tribute. Yes, you heard me right, RADIO 2 ! I just wasn't made for these times...

McGeoch was a genius. Secondhand Daylight must have been the first gothic album, even if such a concept didn't exist at the time - maybe Closer predated it by weeks, can't quite remember but they were certainly concurrent on any meaningful timescale. And Shot By Both Sides is one of thee greatest riffs ever.

The greatest thing ever to come from Greenock. Possibly the only good thing ever to come from Greenock. RIP and thanks for making even Siouxsie listenable for a few albums.

oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh you bitch

Sexygoth wrote:oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh you bitch

Meow indeed. The singing may have been OK, the style fantastic, but the lyrics weren't the greatest thing on JuJu, were they? So what exactly made it such a classic album?

I agree with most of what you said. Not the singing though.......The lass maybe stunning, but she can't sing for sh*t!!!!!!!!

Very sad news for me and mrs. P

Not to diffuse how sad I feel about a great guitarist's passing but... Greenock is pronounced 'Green-ock' not 'Grennock' as you sad southern gits like to say.

Red Sunsets wrote:not 'Grennock' as you sad southern gits like to say.

I wouldn't have said that.

Greenock 2004:

http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/read ... hp?id=4476

Maybe a life of international travel with some of the greatest bands of our age and a slightly early death was better than the alternative reality.