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John Alexander McGeoch (25 August 1955 – 4 March 2004) was a musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977–1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980–1982).
He has been described as one of the most influential guitarists of his generation. In 1996 he was listed by Mojo in their "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" for his work on the Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Spellbound". Signature characteristics of his playing style included inventive , string harmonics, the uses of flanging and an occasional disregard for diatonic scale.
He was also a member of the bands Visage (1979–1980), the Armoury Show (1983–1986) and Public Image Ltd (1986–1992).
McGeoch has been cited as an influence by guitarists such as Johnny Marr, Jonny Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, the Edge, John Frusciante, Robert Smith, Steve Albini, Duane Denison, James Dean Bradfield and Dave Navarro.
In 1975 he went to art school in Manchester where he received a degree in Fine Art. In his final year in 1976, he was enraptured by a new music that "ended up being called punk rock". He qualified it "the revolution, and I really do think that's the right word for it". He maintained an interest in photography, painting and drawing throughout his life.
McGeoch went on to play on Magazine's first three albums, Real Life (1978), Secondhand Daylight (1979) and The Correct Use of Soap (1980). He left the band in 1980 shortly after the release of the latter album, frustrated with its lack of commercial success despite its recognition with music press critics.
In 1979, while still a member of Magazine, McGeoch joined Steve Strange's electronic band Visage along with erstwhile Magazine bandmates Adamson and Dave Formula, recording songs for their first single "Tar" and later, in 1980, for their eponymous album Visage, McGeoch playing guitar and saxophone on the record.
Although he saw Visage as something of a joke, the band provided McGeoch with early professional credibility and success. The band's single "Fade to Grey" went to #1 in a number of European countries and McGeoch said the money from the song allowed him to buy a house. McGeoch did not record on the group's second album, The Anvil, as it was recorded in London and he was unable to participate.
While still a member of Magazine and Visage, McGeoch also worked occasionally with other bands. In mid-1980 he recorded most of the guitar work on Gen X's album Kiss Me Deadly at AIR Studios in London.'Dancing with Myself', by Billy Idol. (Pub. Simon & Schuster, 2014). He left Magazine during that time. In September 1980 he guested with Skids for a Peel Session, standing in for Stuart Adamson who was unwell. Other session work included Tina Turner's comeback track with the British Electric Foundation and for Propaganda He also collaborated with ex-Magazine drummer John Doyle on Ken Lockie's album The Impossible.
He recorded guitar on the Banshees' long-players Kaleidoscope (1980), Juju (1981) and A Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982). The Banshees' hit singles of this era featured some of McGeoch's most acclaimed work, particularly 1980's "Happy House", "Christine" and "Israel", and 1981's "Spellbound" and "Arabian Knights". McGeoch's contribution to the band was important in terms of sounds and style. Singer Siouxsie Sioux later said: However, McGeoch suffered a nervous breakdown due to the stresses of touring and an increasing personal problem with alcohol. He arrived in Madrid for a promotional stay in bad state and made several uncharacteristic mistakes at a gig. Back home, he was forced to leave the band in October 1982 to rest and recover.
He joined the band the Armoury Show which included Doyle as well as ex-Skids members Richard Jobson and Russell Webb. Their album Waiting for the Floods released in 1985, features some of McGeoch's best guitar work. He contributed to former Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy's debut solo long-player Should the World Fail to Fall Apart.
In 1992 he was invited by the Icelandic band the Sugarcubes to play the lead guitar on the song "Gold" for their Stick Around for Joy long-player.
In the mid-1990s McGeoch retired from professional music and trained as a nurse/carer. In the early 2000s he was reported as attempting to re-enter professional music by working on musical scores for television productions.
Whilst working with 'The Armoury Show', he also used a customised Telecaster, a white Squier 1957 Stratocaster, an Ibanez AE410BK and an Ibanez AE100. For pedals, alongside his 'flanger on a stick', he was using an MXR Compressor, two Ibanez harmonisers and an Ibanez Super Metal pedal. During his work with PiL, and in his last years he favoured a solid wood Carvin electric guitar. He also used a Washburn Guitars Tour 24 guitar for touring during 1988.
Radiohead have cited McGeoch's work with Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees as an influence. The lead guitarist, Jonny Greenwood, said McGeoch was the guitarist that had most influenced him. The Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien also cited him as a "big influence", and one of the "great guitarists who weren't lead guitarists". He said that McGeoch was "responsible for some of the greatest riffs ever ... 'Spellbound', 'Christine', 'Happy House'... His riffs are so elegant and once you learn how to play them there is almost a zen like quality to the sound and movement of your hands. It reminds me of the beauty in Johnny Marr's playing." For Radiohead's 2003 single "There There", their producer, Nigel Godrich, encouraged Greenwood to play like McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees. Excerpt. Colin Greenwood remembers: "The running joke when we were making this record was that if we recorded a track that stretched over 3mn 50 sec., we'd say "Oh fuck, we've buggered it then. It's gone on too long." Of course, the irony is that the first single we're releasing is actually the longest song on the record. ("There There"). It was all recorded live in Oxford. We all got excited at the end because Nigel was trying to get Jonny to play like John McGeoch in Siouxsie and the Banshees. All the old farts in the band were in seventh heaven."
Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction said that he "always loved all the different guitarists that have been in Siouxsie and the Banshees". John Frusciante of Red Hot Chili Peppers named McGeoch in his primary influences: "McGeoch is such a guitarist I aspire to be. He has a new brilliant idea for each song. I usually play on the stuff he does on Magazine's albums and Siouxsie & the Banshees's like Juju." Frusciante praised him as a musician "who played in more textural ways" and who made "interesting music". Frusciante "bought an SG, because I'm a big fan of John McGeoch from Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine. When I'd play along with his records using a Strat, the parts sounded too thin and weak for the simple power of his playing. In learning the SG, I had to teach myself to bend in a brand-new way and use new muscles to do vibrato."
The Edge of U2 cited McGeoch as an influence and chose the Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Christine" for a compilation made for Mojo. Interviewed in March 1987, the Edge said his "background is much more Tom Verlaine and John McGeoch". Robert Smith of the Cure praised McGeoch's guitar part on "Head Cut", including it in his five favourite guitar tracks: "This is really harsh funk in a weird way – clever choppy chords." Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera praised McGeoch saying, "he chose very simple lines over anything bombastic,... the song came first and he tried to complement that". In a playlist, William Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain selected two of McGeoch's songs, "Spellbound" by the Banshees and "Definitive Gaze" by Magazine. "William Reid Spotify Playlist April 2021". Spotify. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
Steve Albini of Big Black praised McGeoch for his guitar playing with Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees, qualifying as "great choral swells, great scratches and buzzes, great dissonant noise and great squealy death noise. What a guy" and further commenting: "anybody can make notes. There's no trick. What is a trick and a good one is to make a guitar do things that don't sound like a guitar at all. The point here is stretching the boundaries".Steve Albini. (September – October 1984). "Tired of Ugy Fat ?". Matter a (10). Albini also stated: "He was an innovator with the pure sound of his guitar... I admire the economy of his playing. He made very precise choices that were usually beautifully simple". Duane Denison of the Jesus Lizard chose McGeoch as his favorite guitarist for his work with Magazine and the Banshees, especially on Juju, saying: "his playing was atmospheric and aggressive" and "truly inspiring to me". Mark Arm of Mudhoney "loved McGeoch's work with Magazine and Siouxsie And The Banshees". Arm praised McGeoch's musical approach, saying: "He's got a very unique style... He's a very original thinker and not an 'overplayer' – the little bits where he does a solo are really innovative and super-cool... Space is key, a secret ingredient for musicians which shouldn't be a secret. Knowing when to step back – John had that ability". Guided by Voices's guitarist Doug Gillard said that "McGeoch... was a big influence."
Terry Bickers of the House of Love cited him as one of his favourite musicians.
James Dean Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers said that McGeoch was "slightly avant-garde. He was a genius". Bradfield added that McGeoch's guitar-playing makes "you realize you were listening to a new version of rock and roll".
Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai qualified McGeoch as "the best post-punk guitarist", saying, "he played like no-one else, totally distinct and with unyielding imagination. I hear his influence everywhere to this day", and dubbed him "a total legend". James Graham of the Twilight Sad cited him as one "of the guitarists I still continue to revisit when I'm writing. The ideas they were coming up with at the time still sound as fresh just now as they did back then".
In 2008, the BBC aired an hour-long radio documentary on McGeoch's life and work, titled Spellbound: The John McGeoch Story.
In April 2022, The Light Pours Out of Me, an authorised biography of McGeoch by Rory Sullivan-Burke, was released by Omnibus Press. It features interviews with guitarists Greenwood, Marr, Frusciante and singers Siouxsie and Devoto.
: 8 October 2014), John A Mcgeoch and null, 1981; from "England & Wales Marriages, 1837–2005", database, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : 2012); citing 1981, quarter 3, vol. 13, p. 1563, Islington, London, England, General Register Office, Southport, England. On 14 September 1988, he married Denise Dakin,Gregory, Andy. "The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002", p. 233. Published by Routledge, 2002. , the second marriage producing a daughter, Emily Jean McGeoch (b. 1989).
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