WHAT WE’VE LEARNT

● Turning up for his first gig on bass with The Wake – supporting labelmates New Order, at Bristol’s Trinity Theatre in February 1982 – without a bass guitar, Gillespie asked Peter Hook if he could borrow his. After much ribbing, the debutant plugged in and was almost floored by Hook’s “thunderous Thor-like Viking bass sound”.

● After trying out singing alongside Jim Beattie in a proto-Primal Scream, the pair advertised locally for a ‘proper’ singer. After one hopeless audition, they decided Gillespie should stick at it, but later found out that the JAMC’s Jim Reid had seen the ad and wanted to apply, but was dissuaded by his brother William, then writing the songs for Psychocandy.

● Before touring Screamadelica, Gillespie asked Creation’s Alan McGee for funding to buy the ingredients for pure MDMA, which guitarist/chemistry graduate Andrew Innes would then cook up in his bathtub, and the band would give to fans at shows. Even McGee refused to sign that one off.