ALAN'S FRIEND OF THIRTY YEARS,
AND A LATTER-DAY ARGONAUT,
DIED OF CANCER,
AGED 53, ON 20th AUGUST 2007.
He was a bass guitarist of such versatility that he was equally at ease backing jazzer Annette Peacock as Chuck Berry. The quality of his own output, whether solo or in the context of a group, also argued a talent far above the ordinary.
Garry's was an academic success story too as he entered Liverpool's Waterloo Grammar School a year early and gained an honours degree in Latin at Lancaster University. In his final years, a scholarly nature dictated multi-faceted research into such disparate subjects as post-medieval icehouses in the environs of his home in Arborfield, Berkshire, and an intriguing new angle on the origin of Shakespeare's plays.
To a wider world, however, Garry will be remembered as a musician whose career left the runway thrumming bass in various Merseyside rock outfits before he moved to Reading in 1975 to join Broad Street Rumour. Then, with guitarist John Townsend, he formed El Seven, who ploughed an appealing New Wave furrow, and were signed briefly to United Artists. However, a remarkable 1980 single, Radio Tokyo coupled with a poignant Jones opus, Turn Out The Light, topped Melody Maker's independent chart. Magnifico, an EP on the same local label sold steadily over a long period, and a latter-day track, Under Control - augmented by Lol Coxhill and Mike Cooper - appeared on a 1982 compilation album of Reading groups, Beyond The River, and was described by one discerning listener as "Albert Ayler meets The Sex Pistols".
With the sundering of El Seven, Garry
bought a double bass and joined forces with acoustic guitarist Steve Rolfe
as The Lost Weekend, who, trading in a unique strain of self-penned
country-and-western, earned the strongest possible parochial reputation,
and were Mean Fiddler founder Vince Power's 'Band of 1985'. The duo issued
a self-financed flexi-disc, Theme From The Beer Hunter, packaged in a
glossy poster, designed by Jones, whose aptitude as a visual artist
extended to commissions from other acts for album sleeves and promotional
devices, often utilising skills Garry acquired in a 'proper job' in
computers.
His salary buoyed later ventures, which embraced a deserved cult celebrity
as a solo vocalist via a light tenor that was an acquired taste for some.
It always came across to me as an unconsciously Anglicised take on the
languid style of bluesman Slim Harpo. The content of the material,
however, covered a waterfront from Gram Parsons to Brian Wilson to Garry's
own rich store of originals. He spent small eternities in the studio,
working on an intended album, but was never satisfied with the results.
Shortly before cancer was diagnosed last autumn, Garry was still
functioning as a journeyman musician. As well as serving Peacock and
Berry, he'd also worked with Movita, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Roger
Winslet's Bidgie Reef and the Gas. His last public appearance was with
Clayson and the Argonauts in spring 2006, but he was considering a return
to the stage in his own right.
He is survived by his wife Katy and daughter Louise.
copyright alan clayson