Wilko Johnson announces farewell UK concerts

Wilko Johnson, guitarist and founding member of Dr. Feelgood, will perform four farewell concerts in the UK during March 2013.

The news follows last week’s official statement on Wilko’s Facebook page that he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas and has chosen not to undergo chemotherapy.

Says Wilko’s manager, Robert Hoy, “The four UK dates represent an
opportunity for Wilko to express his sincere thanks to his fans for all
the support he has had over his long career.”

The tour starts Wednesday March 6 at London Koko, followed by Bilston Robin 2 (March 7), Holmfirth Picturedrome (March 8) and Glasgow o2 ABC (March 9). Tickets go on sale Monday January 21.  Box Office – 0844 478 0898, www.thegigcartel.com

The four UK dates represent a series of farewell concerts for Wilko.

After returning from a tour of Japan, Wilko plans to record a new
studio album, and will also release a live DVD from 2012’s UK tour.

He is also planning a short tour of France.

In addition to pioneering Dr. Feelgood’s iconic mid-seventies,
pre-punk British R&B sound, by 1980 Johnson moved on as the
guitarist for Ian Dury and the Blockheads. 

Today, Johnson’s own band includes Blockheads members – Norman Watt-Roy (bass guitar) and Dylan Howe (drums).

In 2009 Johnson featured in Julien Temple’s Oil City Confidential;
a fascinating full-length feature film documentary about Dr.
Feelgood. The film received many accolades including the MOJO Vision
Award at the MOJO Honours List 2010.

Dr. Feelgood originally formed in 1971 as a British pub rock band
from Canvey Island, Essex. Their name derived from a slang term for
heroin or for a doctor who was willing to overprescribe drugs. It is
also a reference to a 1962 record “Dr. Feel-Good” by the American blues
pianist/singer Willie Perryman (nicknamed “Piano Red”), which Perryman
originally recorded under the name of Dr. Feelgood & The Interns.

Dr. Feelgood’s distinctive British R&B sound was centered on
Wilko Johnson’s choppy guitar style.  The original band line-up also
included singer Lee Brilleaux, and the rhythm section of John B. Sparks
(aka “Sparko”) on bass guitar and John Martin (aka “The Big Figure”)
on drums.

Dr. Feelgood is best known for their high energy live performances. Their studio albums Down by the Jetty (1974) and Malpractice (1975) proved incredibly popular. In 1976, their live album, Stupidity reached No.1 in the Official UK Album Chart. When the band released their fourth album, Sneakin’ Suspicion (1977), Johnson quit the band to pursue a solo career.

        WILKO JOHNSON – BIOGRAPHY
When
rock’n’roll was shaken from its pre-punk complacency by the emergence
of Dr. Feelgood, it was their guitarist Wilko Johnson who excited most
attention – not only for the startling violence of his stage performance
(which was to inspire countless imitators and become one of the
classic images of rock’n’roll) but also for his guitar style which
combined the roles of lead and rhythm guitar in driving riffs and a
stuttering machine gun frenzy which altered conceptions of ‘guitar
heroics’.

As a songwriter, from early Feelgood favourites like ‘Back in the
Night’ to the power and poetry of ‘Dr. Dupree’ and ‘Sneaking Suspicion’
he has proved himself one of the best and most original exponents of
R&B styles this side of the Atlantic.

The list of ’70s New Wave bands who acknowledge the influence of
Wilko and the Feelgoods is extensive and includes The Clash, The Sex
Pistols, The Jam, The Boomtown Rats, and across the Atlantic The Ramones
and Blondie (who spent a whole night at a New York party wearing out
their specially imported copy of the Feelgood’s first album, ‘Down by
the Jetty’).

After his departure from Dr. Feelgood in 1977 Wilko formed his own
band, and over the next few years worked with several personnel of
varying degrees of musical accomplishment and mixed moral character. In
1980, while continuing to work with his own 3-piece, Wilko entered the
ranks of Ian Dury’s brilliant Blockheads, co-writing writing several
songs with Ian and featuring on the ‘Laughter’ album. In 1985 the
Blockhead’s sensational and much loved bassist Norman Watt-Roy joined
Wilko, and for the last 25 years they’ve entertained audiences from
Helsinki to Madrid, Aberdeen to Istanbul, and Toulouse to Tokyo.

Now with the revered drummer Dylan Howe (another former Blockhead)
the band has reached an even greater level of musical mastery and manic
brilliance (recognised as Wilko’s best band of all time). In 2008 the
highly acclaimed film director Julien Temple set out to make a
documentary film about the birth and all too brief phenomenon of Dr.
Feelgood. ‘Oil City Confidential’ was premièred in October 2009 to very
great critical acclaim and a series of awards. As the eccentric and
enigmatic star of the film Wilko has attracted attention in some
unexpected places. For the past two years, Wilko has starred as the
Royal Executioner “Ser Illyn Payne” in HBO’s fantasy series Game of
Thrones, shown on Sky Atlantic.