Wilko Johnson - Career

Career

Johnson went to Westcliff High School for Boys and played in several local groups, before going to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne to study English, including early Anglo-Saxon literature and ancient Icelandic sagas. After graduating, he travelled overland to India, before returning to Essex to play with the Pigboy Charlie Band, which evolved into Dr. Feelgood – a mainstay of the 1970s pub rock movement. After returning from Goa Johnson worked in 1972 for less than a year as an English teacher.

Johnson developed his own style, coupling a choppy guitar style with a novel dress sense (he favoured a black suit and what was at that time a highly unfashionable and unpopular pudding bowl haircut) and jerky movements.

Johnson plays a vintage Fender Telecaster without using a pick (fingerstyle guitar), something that enables him to play rhythm guitar and riffs or solos at the same time, resulting in a highly percussive guitar style. Another reason for his unique style is that he is naturally left-handed, but plays guitar right-handed. His style - which allowed him to move around abruptly on stage with the jerky movements of an automaton without the fear of losing his pick - evolved from a failed attempt to copy Mick Green of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates, a guitarist he admired. During mid-song guitar breaks he would frequently wander across the stage and cut in front of the singer (usually playing a harmonica) with the aid of an unusually long guitar lead from his amplifier. He maintained this style even after leaving Dr. Feelgood.

His style formed the essential force behind Dr. Feelgood during their initial years, including the band's first four albums, Down by the Jetty, Malpractice, Stupidity and Sneakin' Suspicion, all released between 1975 and 1977. Johnson was the sole songwriter in the band for these four albums. Johnson had a cult following amongst fans of the four-piece band, helped by some electrifying stage performance during their extensive UK and north European touring of that period. The live album, Stupidity, reached number one in the UK Albums Chart, but although Johnson played on Dr. Feelgood's first 5 single releases, including "Roxette" and "Back in the Night", the only single to chart during his membership of the band was "Sneakin' Suspicion". He left the band in April 1977, following disagreements over the tracks to be included in the Sneakin' Suspicion album. Johnson maintains that he was kicked out of the band, which then put about the story that he had left voluntarily.

In 1977, he was a founding member of the Solid Senders; with keyboardist John Potter, bassist Steve Lewins, and drummer Alan Platt. They signed to Virgin in 1978 and released the album, Solid Senders that year. The Wilko Johnson Band played at the 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977, featuring many early punk rock acts. This resulted in the inclusion of two tracks by The Wilko Johnson Band ("Dr. Feelgood" & "Twenty Yards Behind"), on a hit double album of recordings from the festival. The Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival compilation album (March 1978) which reached number 28 in the UK Albums Chart

In 1980 Wilko joined Ian Dury's band, The Blockheads. He then formed the Wilko Johnson Band, joined by Blockhead bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Salvatore Ramundo. Ramundo was later replaced by Steve Monti (future Curve and The Jesus and Mary Chain drummer). In early 1981, Johnson released his second album, Ice on the Motorway, and two years later issued the EP "Bottle Up and Go!" with Lew Lewis; several small-scale LPs, mostly for European record labels, followed over the 1980s: 1984's Pull the Cover, 1985's Watch Out! (Live In London), 1987's Call It What You Want, and 1988's Barbed Wire Blues.

In 1992 Johnson appeared at the Eurockéennes music festival, and the following year at GuilFest.

In 1998, Johnson finally had the opportunity to release another album, Going Back Home for Mystic. Johnson began to cut back on his concert appearances in 1999, but still found the wherewithal to cut Don't Let Your Daddy Know (Live in Japan 2000) the following year.

The studio album Red Hot Rocking Blues was released in 2005. This contained covers of classics by the likes of Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Sonny Boy Williamson and Leadbelly.

Throughout 2005 and 2006 the band teamed up with The Hamsters and John Otway to take part in the The Mad, the Bad & the Dangerous tour. He played Club Bang Bang at the 100 Club on 6 October 2006. Johnson continues to play live throughout the UK, Europe and Japan. In London he performs twice a year at the 100 Club.

In 2007 a DVD (produced by Monti) was released of one of the concerts.

Johnson appeared in the Julien Temple-directed documentary film Oil City Confidential (2009), where he related his memories of Canvey Island and Dr. Feelgood. The reviewer Philip French described Johnson as "a wild man, off stage and on, funny, eloquent and charismatic", while Temple described Johnson as "an extraordinary man – one of the great English eccentrics." Reviewing the film for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called it 'the best rockumentary yet' and said that 'the most likeable thing about this very likable film is the way it promotes Wilko Johnson as a 100-1 shot for the title of Greatest Living Englishman.'

On 2 October 2010, it was announced that Johnson was to support The Stranglers on their 'Black & Blue' UK tour commencing in March 2011. In April 2011, Johnson played several sold out shows as part of the Kilkenny Rhythm & Roots Festival in Ireland.

Johnson published his autobiography, co-authored with Zoe Howe and titled Looking Back on Me, at the end of May 2012. He also appeared in the BBC4 documentaries Evidently... John Cooper Clarke and Punk Britannia in May 2012.

On August 24, 2012 Wilko Johnson and his band headline the Blues stage at Rhythm Festival. He will also be interviewed with Zoe Howe at the same event's Madame Miaow's Culture Lounge.