ALSO THIS MONTH

FAREWELL CHRIS ECCLESHALL

Guitarist was saddened to hear of the passing of luthier Chris Eccleshall on 13 August, aged 72. One of the UK’s finest guitar builders and repairers, he made custom-built electric and acoustic guitars and was also an authorised repairer of Martin, Gibson and Guild instruments. Eccleshall also made reproductions of Selmer-Maccaferri jazz guitars and had received the blessing of Mario Maccaferri himself. Over the years Eccleshall’s customers included Rory Gallagher (he was Rory’s long-time tech between 1971 and 1985), David Bowie, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton.

RIP PETE WAY

UFO co-founder and bassist Pete Way passed away on 14 August, aged 69, after sustaining serious injuries in an accident at home two months before. Following his first departure from UFO in 1982, Way also formed Fastway with Motörhead guitarist ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke and Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley, but left to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band before cutting a record. Shortly after he put together his own band, Waysted. Pete would later work with Mikael Schenker’s solo bands over the years. In recent years, Pete completed work on a solo album, Walking On The Edge, with Appetite For Destruction producer Mike Clink.

MAIDEN PRODUCER DIES

The rock world also said goodbye to acclaimed producer and sound engineer Martin Birch on 9 August, aged 71. Birch produced Iron Maiden’s studio albums from 1981’s Killers until 1992’s Fear Of The Dark, worked on Whitesnake’s early studio albums, and engineered numerous Deep Purple releases before assuming the role of co-producer for 1974’s Stormbringer and 1975’s Come Taste The Band. Birch was engineer on numerous other landmark guitar albums including Fleetwood Mac’s Then Play On (1969), Wishbone Ash’s Argus (1972), Jeff Beck’s Beck-Ola (1969), and was producer for Black Sabbath’s first two albums with Ronnie James Dio – 1980’s Heaven And Hell and 1981’s Mob Rules.

NAMM SHOW GOES VIRTUAL

The Winter NAMM Show 2021 that was due to be held in Anaheim, California early next year has been officially cancelled because of the ongoing challenges of COVID-19. The world’s biggest musical instrument trade show will instead be replaced by a virtual event called Believe In Music. Joe Lamond, NAMM president and CEO, says: “While it remains unsafe for us to gather in person in January, Believe In Music week will use new, intuitive technology to connect us all to harness the incredible energy that happens when we come together.”