In August of 1976, a five pice band of art punks who called themselves Wire recorded a series of demos in Ducks Deluxe member Nick Garvey's basement studio. Among the songs: a cover of the Modern Lovers "Roadrunner", the unfortunate "Mary is a Dyke" and "What is This Feeling Called Love", the only track to appear on the 1977 debut, Pink Flag.
Wire were vocalist Colin Newman, guitarist Bruce Gilbert, bassist Graham Lewis, drummer Robert Gotobed and, at this time, lead guitarist George Gill. All older than their contemporaries. The band wouldn't play live together until December, but already they had forgone the classic verse chorus song structure for something shorter and more direct. Wire had one more rock n roll tradition to dispose of: guitar solos. When Gill broke his ankle and was laid up for a month, the band continued and found the sound they were after. And that would spell the end of Gill.
No comments:
Post a Comment