John McGeoch

He was a great guitarist who brought his own distinctive sound to Magazine, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Public Image Ltd.

Never realised he was briefly in Visage and Generation X too.

I think I read that he'd qualified as a nurse fairly recently?

profile of albums John McGeoch appeared on.

He also was in Richard Jobson's 80s group: The Armoury Show.

one of the best British guitarists of alltime.

I saw an interview with Robert Smith from when he took over Banshee duty from John McGeogh. He said that John played a lot of unusual chords that don't officially exist and that it was painful to copy his style because he stretched his fingers so far apart.

I've got the guitar part for the Banshees' 'Into The Light' stuck in my head now, his playing just melts all over that song.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/music_news/musicnews3.shtml

2 personal highpoints:
Magazine - "Stuck"
Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Painted Bird"

best sound/riffs ever

http://www.stevenseverin.com/images/JohnMcGeoch.jpg

http://shotbybothsides.com/mag_j1hn.jpg

I think I'll stick 'Real Life' on a bit later.

Does anybody know why he hasn't shown up on albums since the late '80s?

Yeah, same here. Dang.

I admit to being a Magazine agnostic of sorts -- I respect them much more than I like them, at heart -- but man do those Banshees albums of his still just work and then some. The official bio that came out last year made it clear that the core three very much felt he was the best of all their guitarists and that it was a terrible thing to have to have let him go, but by his own admission he wasn't in the best state when that happened. Imagining where things could have gone after that...sad, sad indeed, and RIP.

the opening of 'philadelphia' is fantastic too - a deftness of tone & touch that gives it so much life - i can imagine that sequence being played so much more heavy-handedly by most gee-tarists

i think the post upthread about his weird chord-shapes may have something in it - when i saw magazine i can vaguely recall how splayed apart M's fingers were on the frets at times...but i know bugger all about gtr-playing - i was just comparing it to what i'd seen others doing on tv etc.

i didn't pay much attention to the banshees after 'juju' - what albums did mcgeogh play on ?

Anyhow, got a Magazine LP 2 days ago... shall play it more sadly now...

Is it at all possible this is... well... ?

Budgie writes:


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

I gather that (for a while at least) he became far more interested in being a junkie than in being a Banshee.

I Wanted Your Heart next - I'll be back.

And v. weird that S&B discussing getting him to guest on
their forthcoming shows on the day he passed away...

At least he left a great Legacy....

Bren

dublin

I have been told over time that dear John McGeoch not only had his share of problems with the needle but also with manic depression. I have also been told but never confirmed that much of John Lydon's employment of him in PiL was not only his brilliance as a guitarist but also to keep him working.

Very, very sad. Rest in peace, John.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp2/features/wallpaper/images/640/siouxsie_and_the_banshees.jpg

These things mean a lot to an 11-year old, bless him.

That makes John, John's best pal.

(p.s. What's with all the Johns, John? Vicious, Wobble, you, McGeoch, Boogie, etc?)

9th March

John McGeoch RIP (1955-2004)
John McGeoch sadly passed away in his sleep on Friday 5th March.

John joined PiL in 1986 helping to form the 'new' re-invented band with John Lydon. He would go on to become their longest serving member, bar Lydon, staying from 1986-1992, and playing on three studio albums ('Happy?', '9' & 'That What is Not') along with countless live gigs. McGeoch, together with Alan Dias, would form the backbone of the "new" PiL, contributing song-writing and acting as a full member.

Often touted as one of Lydon's most important collaborator's, McGeoch's arrival in PiL changed the whole sound and outlook of the band, with a more guitar friendly 'rockier' sound becoming the way forward.

Pre-PiL McGeoch had been guitarist for the seminal 'Magazine' and would later become a member of 'Siouxsie & the Banshees', contributing to some of their most interesting and exciting guitar work.

After PiL John returned to England from LA. 1995 saw him become a qualified Nurse. However, he chose not to pursue the career, and returned to making music...

RIP John, you'll be sadly missed...
Sincerest Sympathy to his daughter Emily, and all his loved ones...

Also Obituary in the Independent HERE

The first time I heard "Shot", I was driving an automobile in LA, on the freeway; by the solo, I'd already almost been in several accidents.

The solo in "Permafrost" is inexpliable. I can think of seven ways to actually do it, but none would sound so good.

How did he die????

Our feelings go out to his family and all the one's who loved him.

Love to his family - thinking of you.

Lizzy
X

Sorry to ask but....cause of death? Not that it matters; my guitar hero won't be coming back anyway.

Kx

Appreciate your response. Soooooo tragic........I think a lot of assumptions have been made as to cause of death but a month for a funeral indicates things are not cut and dried. I would imagine there would have been a massive turn out. I would like to discuss further but not sure a message board is the correct medium to do so. Still so many unanswered questions post 1992 and the internet provides little. I hope poor John rests in peace. I can honestly say he has enhanced my life with his music.

Kx

RIP

Rich

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-McGeochs-Yamaha-SG1000-guitar-Banshees-PiL-etc-/121255760929

good spot! who's the seller - guthrie or someone?

I did wonder, given their handle.

that's what i figured!

that's what i figured!

too much reverb?

Guardian article to accompany a new biography of McGeoch:

Invention, grace and bloodlust ballet: post-punk guitarist John McGeoch

Been diving back heavily into Magazine this week. Witg age comes great appreciation. Dismissed them as a young’un for much cornier fare. What an amazing group.

I used to live opposite the house on Mayfield Road where he had lived with Linder, Barry Adamson and Nico. They were all long gone by then of course.

JUst had him turn up in conversation in one of the episodes of Curious Creatures I listened to over the last couple of days. I think it was the one on Will Sergeant. Obviously he played with Budgie who is one of the podcasts hosts.

My brother was listening to the Banshees while McGeoch was a member, but the first encounter I had with him was seeing this video, probably from his most obscure band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoMq4TSGZoA

I saw him with The Banshees but was young and dumb so his greatness probably mostly went over my head. I saw him with PIL too and did know and appreciate who he was by then but was I still young, and very drunk, and bar them covering Kashmir I can barely remember any of it. Oh well.

Was listening to the PIL album “9” just last night - as mentioned in another thread recently, this line-up of the band was my first ever concert, so I have a sneaking fondness for this LP.

Anyway, was particularly admiring the guitar parts on Disappointed, a lot of clever intricate layering. Even on second-rate material he really brought something magical.

Tons of music and an interview with the author of a new biography from earlier today on WFMU.

been thinking a lot lately about how much of Albini's sound can be found right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sMC3qugQPM

Prime McGeoch. I can watch this show on loop. xx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZvl1xbQ6mE

Sometimes the mild mannered Scot from Greenock could get a bit Glaswegian

Budgie displaying his ignorance of Greenock there.

I just finished the biography today. It was obviously a passion project for the first-time author, who managed to get interviews with all major players (bar Lydon) and a lot of better-known guitarists who looked up to McGeoch. I would have liked a little more focus on individual songs and how things were written and recorded - this is just sketched out in favour of more anecdotal information. There's also a strange sense of organization - like inserting one-and-a-half pages of John Frusciante opining about McGeoch's guitar style in the middle of telling the story of his dismissal from the Banshees - or an injury from a thrown bottle which is said in a couple of places to have been "where the problems really began", but this is never expounded upon.
Nonetheless I'm really glad to have read the book, mostly to hear how well-loved and respected he was both by those who worked with him, and also the members of the public who he encountered (which you might gather from the comments on this very thread).

Any ideas as the cause of death?

A fit related to late-in-life epilepsy.

he became far more interested in being a junkie than in being a Banshee.

No mention of heroin in the book; he had an onstage meltdown, exacerbated by drinking and cocaine, that precipitated his dismissal.

Lydon picked him to rehabilitate him? That makes John, John's best pal.

Lydon wasn't interviewed, but McGeoch was very bitter and unforgiving about the end of PiL.

Does anybody know why he hasn't shown up on albums since the late '80s?

McGeoch tried to get his own group Pacific going, but never got beyond recording demos and playing a single show, at which point he basically left music.

Thanks

A friend mentioned reading his biography which got me questioning: how is his surname pronounced?

ma-GEE-och (with a hard G)

Yes. Devoto pronounces his name at 4.25:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zda9bQWBrsY

ma-GEE-och (with a hard G)

And a /x/ at the end.