It’s actually quite a cheerful one, too!” One of those songs, that’s a reflection of that time, about sitting around the house at night knowing that death’s coming we’ve recorded it, and it’ll be on the album. On going back into the studio after everything that he’d been through, Wilko has this to say about the 12 tracks that make up Blow Your Mind: “I didn’t really intend to ever use them and, obviously, I didn’t know if I’d ever get back into the studio. The introspection of some of the tracks on the album is more than balanced out by the good time upbeat party feel of the title track, “Beauty” and “I Love The Way You Do” that have the urgency of Wilko’s earliest work with Dr Feelgood. But I never thought that I’d be the sort of person to write songs about different sorts of real-life experiences until I got sick”.Īnyone expecting that Wilko’s particular brand of R&B to be softened by such heartfelt lyrics is in for a surprise, if anything his guitar style of ‘the chop’ as he calls it, is even more aggressive. Speaking about the first sets of lyrics that he’d written in three decades Wilko says, “It’s tricky when you get to seventy years old, because what am I supposed to be singing? ‘I love you, baby, but you done me wrong?’ Come on! That’s kind of a problem. Described by Wilko as, “the album I never thought I’d get to write”, it deals with the trials and tribulations that he faced in the last five years, songs such as Marijuana and Take It Easy deal very directly with the terminal diagnosis he was given. Joining Wilko on the album are his long-standing band Norman Watt Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums along with producer Dave Eringa who worked with them on the gold-selling album Going Back Home with Roger Daltrey. With customary humour, Wilko said of this late-career resurgence, “Man, there’s nothing like being told you’re dying to make you feel alive”. However, despite the doctors’ worst predictions, he continued to perform with a new lust for life and even made the most successful album of his career Going Back Home with the legendary Roger Daltrey.įollowing that album’s remarkable success, he announced that thanks to a third opinion from a doctor moonlighting as a rock photographer and life-saving surgery, he was now cancer-free. “I’m supposed to be dead!” Wilko was diagnosed in late 2012 with terminal pancreatic cancer. Slated to release on June 15 via Chess Records/Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, the album is available to pre-order now. Like so many other people, I loved him.WILKO JOHNSON ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF THE FIRST NEW MATERIAL IN 30 YEARS, BLOW YOUR MIND, OUT JUNE 15įollow Up To The Top 3 Gold Album, Going Back Homeġ2 APRIL 2018 (Toronto, ON) – Canvey Island’s Dr Feelgood guitar legend, Wilko Johnson announces, Blow Your Mind – his first album of new material in 30 years and the sound of a man feeling very much alive. ![]() ![]() He was uplifting and life enhancing for me. In addition, Huguet commented: "I feel honoured to have known Wilko. In 2014, while receiving the 'Icon Award' at the Q Awards, Johnson revealed that, after an eleven-hour operation, he was now cancer free.Ī further social media post following the initial confirmation of Johnson's death said: "As many of you know, we have cancer doctor Charlie Chan and surgeon Emmanuel Huguet to thank for the extra years Wilko was able to enjoy." Describing the diagnosis as making him feel "vividly alive," he embarked on a farewell tour, and recorded an album with Roger Daltrey, Going Back Home, which was released the following year. At that time he told BBC Radio 4's Front Row that he had been given nine or ten months to live. In January 2013, he was diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer. ![]() He later made his acting debut in 2011, appearing as Ser Ilyn Payne in Game Of Thrones. Johnson went on to form The Wilko Johnson Band, and also joined Ian Dury's band The Blockheads. Becoming one of the most popular bands on London's pub rock circuit, Johnson recorded three studio albums with the band, as well as the chart-topping 1976 live album Stupidity. Drummer John 'The Big Figure' Martin joined shortly afterwards. Feelgood in 1971 alongside singer Lee Brilleaux and bassist John B. ![]() Born in Canvey Island, Essex, Johnson formed Dr.
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