Axeman was ace of guitarists
THE brilliant guitarist LarryWallis joined Motörhead with Lemmy and Lucas Fox in 1975 when he was at the peak of his guitarplaying skills.
Although he was only with the band for a year, he co-wrote the trackVibrator for the album On Parole, which was released in 1979 to considerable critical acclaim.
Wallis said of their first time playing together: “We plugged in, left the amp settings where they were as they were already turned with a monkey wrench and went nuts.”
While with Motörhead he was also a key figure in the Pink Fairies band, writing most of the tracks on their album Kings Of Oblivion.
He became a producer with Stiff Records but he could never resist the temptation to perform – and his varied career was peppered with performances with top artists.
One of his songs,As LongAs The Price Is Right, appeared on Dr Feelgood’s 1977 album Be Seeing You.
Three years laterWallis recorded an album with Stiff but it was never released because of a dispute over a seven-album contract.
In 1991 he worked with Lee Brilleaux and Phil Mitchell from Dr Feelgood on a number called On The Bench, which led to Wallis forming a new band,The Redbirds.
At the same time he wrote several songs for Dr Feelgood, including Talk Of The Devil and Can’t Find The Lady.
His first solo album, Death In The Guitarafternoon, was released in 2001.
In an interview given to Uncut magazine in 2002,Wallis said: “I never felt part of Musicbizland. This, along with my track record with Motörhead and Fairies history meant that, to record companies, I was a drug-taking, bar jockey kind of guy, which, of course, was bang on the money.”
No cause of death has been announced.