THEY ALSO SERVED
AFGHAN WHIGS guitarist DAVE ROSSER (b.1966) joined the group for the 2014 reunion album, Do To The Beast, replacing original guitarist Rick McCollum. He also played on this year’s In Spades. He had previously joined Whigs frontman Greg Dulli on his Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins and solo projects. An all-round studio hand and producer, his other credits included work with Mark Lanegan, Joseph Arthur and Tim Heidecker. Late last year his band played benefit concerts with Moby and Eagles Of Death Metal to funds his medical bills.
STEAM vocalist GARY DECARLO sang and co-wrote Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, a US Number 1 in December 1969. It being a studiobased affair, a band were recruited to promote – and lip-sync – the song. Despite the release of an album, Steam as a concept would evaporate the following year. The song would be covered by The Supremes, The Belmonts, Bananarama and others, and is a popular chant at sporting events.
DRUMMER JOHN
BLACKWELL Jr. (b.1974) got his first gig as a teenager backing Billy Eckstine. After attending Berklee College of Music, he went on to play with Cameo, Patti Labelle and, for 15 years from 2000, Prince’s New Power Generation. He also toured with Justin Timberlake, Bootsy Collins and as part of D’Angelo’s group The Vanguard. He succumbed to a brain tumour. GUITARIST CORKI CASEY O’DELL (b.1936) was a female player when such things were uncommon. In the ’50s, while in Phoenix, she played alongside Duane Eddy and Lee Hazlewood, and appeared on Sanford Clark’s 1956 hit The Fool. From 1957, she played on her friend Duane’s recordings including Peter Gunn, Rebel Rouser and Forty Miles Of Bad Road. In 2014, when she was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame, the two played on-stage together again.
FOLK SINGER VIN GARBUTT (b.1947) worked in the chemical industry in Middlesbrough before becoming a full-time musician, aged 21. After several years of itinerant busking, he recorded his debut The Valley Of The Tees for Leader records offshoot Trailer. As equally adept at traditional as self-composed material, the humorous and hardworking Garbutt would record 16 socially conscious and humane albums in all, and toured internationally. In 2010, he was the subject of the film Teesside Troubadour.
CEL REVUELTA
(b.c.1961) replaced bassist Kira Roessler in the last days of Black Flag in 1986. Though he would not appear on any recordings, he can be seen on the tour doc Reality 86’d. Recalling the that last hard run of dates, Henry Rollins said, “[Cel] walked into all this without warning, context or preparation other than being an extraordinary musician and a streetwise man from a tough city. He did great.“Revuelta also appeared with the group for their 2003 reunion.
TEXAS-born singer-songwriter JIMMYLAFAVE (b.1955) moved to rural Oklahoma as a teen, where he would help refine the rootsy mix of country blues and rock that would become known as red-dirt music. After releasing his first two LPs, he returned to Texas in 1986 where he would become part of Austin’s musical landscape, releasing another 15 albums. Wheelchair bound and suffering from terminal cancer, he appeared at his own tribute show at his adopted hometown’s Paramount Theatre on May 18, leading the crowd in a closing version of Goodnight Irene. He died on May 21.