The Gig Cartel - Gig guide: Wilko Johnson + special guest Ian Siegal, Sheffield

Wilko Johnson + special guest Ian Siegal, Sheffield

(featuring Wilko Johnson , )

Venue: Sheffield O2 Academy

Wilko Johnson, the phenomenal guitarist and founding member of Dr. Feelgood, who has influenced everyone from Joe Strummer, Mick Jones to Steve Albini, will embark on a nationwide UK tour throughout September and October 2011. Very special guest on all UK dates will be the award-winning blues singer Ian Siegal and his band.  

The tour kicks off at the Edinburgh Caves on Thursday 15th September.  Tickets go on sale Friday 15th April at 9am GMT.  Tickets can be ordered by calling the 24 Hour Box Office: 0871 230 1101 or can be booked online from www.seetickets.com.

In addition to pioneering Dr. Feelgood’s distinctive mid-seventies, pre-punk British R&B sound, in 1980 Johnson went on to play guitar for Ian Dury and the Blockheads.  Today, Johnson’s solo band features Blockheads’ 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 who hailed 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 by the American blues pianist and singer Willie Perryman (also known as "Piano Red") called "Dr Feel-Good", 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 was known primarily for their high energy live performances, although studio albums like Down by the Jetty (1974) and Malpractice (1975) were also incredibly popular.  Their 1976 breakthrough live album, Stupidity reached No.1 in the Official UK Album Chart.  When the band released their fourth album, Sneakin’ Suspicion (1977), Johnson left the group to pursue a solo career.

Following a remarkable recovery from a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Wilko Johnson the original Dr Feelgood guitarist , actor (Game of Thrones character Ser ilyn Payne) and all round national treasure has enjoyed a rousing return to the live arena, including a number 1 album with Roger Daltrey (Going Back Home), a sold out show at The Royal Albert Hall to mark his 70th birthday and, most recently, the release of Blow Your Mind, his first album of new material in decades.Wilko is famed for his blistering chop-chord strumming action (the ‘stab’, as he describes it), a technique inspired by his admiration of the late Pirates guitarist Mick Green. With this electrifying sound, his trademark black-suited, scowling look and his characteristic strut, Wilko became one of the guitar heroes of the 1970s and beyond, not to mention on of rock ’n’ roll’s most extraordinary characters. He, alongside his original Feelgood bandmates, is also widely acknowledged as a forefather of punk on both sides of the Atlantic, fans ranging from Joe Strummer to Blondie.Following a stint with Ian Dury & The Blockheads in the 1980s, he formed the Wilko Johnson Band, with Blockheads bassist Norman Watt-Roy. Featuring former Blockhead Dylan Howe on drums, the trio is known as one of the most exciting r’n’b bands in the world today. Special guest 'Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure John Otway.