Siouxsie & The Banshees bassist Steven Severin describes his one-time bandmate John McGeoch as the “BEST. GUITARIST. EVER” within the pages of The Light Pours Out Of Me, and his praise is not unfounded. It’s great, then, that there is now a book dedicated to a guitarist who pursued excellence in everything he did, on and offstage.
Rory Sullivan-Burke leaves no stone unturned, relating how McGeoch added instrumental magic to albums by Magazine, the Banshees’ golden run from Kaleidoscope to A Kiss In The Dreamhouse, and later Public Image Ltd. There was also session work for Billy Idol’s Gen X and contributions to synthpoppers Visage, whose chart hits were financially fruitful for McGeoch.
Testimony is sought from the musician’s family, friends, bandmates, and admirers – Johnny Marr, Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite and Ed O’Brien of Radiohead are among the latter category, while quoted peers include Siouxsie, Paul Morley, Malcolm Garrett, Howard Devoto and Barry Adamson. Whilst McGeoch shone brightly musically, he sank perilously into drugs and alcohol in an effort to keep depression at bay whilst on tour with the Banshees; in hindsight, his old bandmates regret the lack of help for a mental health crisis which ended his tensure in that group and had a lasting effect.
After a stint with PiL, McGeoch left the music world in the 1990s to work as a nurse, sadly dying in 2004 aged 48. This authorised biography is lavishly detailed, thoroughly recommended and does his legacy proud.
The Light Pours Out Of Me: The Authorised Biography Of John McGeoch, Rory Sullivan-Burke (Omnibus)
Price: £20. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT
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