John McKay | |
|---|---|
_1978.jpg) McKay in 1979 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1958-06-06)6 June 1958 (age 67) |
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Post-punk |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, saxophone |
| Labels | Tiny Global Productions |
| Formerly of |
|
| Website | The John McKay Bandcamp -Official Website |
John McKay (born 6 June 1958) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He was the guitarist ofSiouxsie and the Banshees, playing with the group from July 1977 until September 1979. He played a "jagged unorthodox chording",[1] and created a "metal-shard roar" with his guitar.[2]Q magazine included McKay's work on "Hong Kong Garden" in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever".[3] He recorded two studio albums with the band, their debut albumThe Scream in 1978 andJoin Hands in 1979.
McKay has been cited as an influence by guitarists such asGeordie Walker ofKilling Joke,Robert Smith ofthe Cure,The Edge ofU2,Steve Albini ofBig Black,Thurston Moore ofSonic Youth,Johnny Marr ofthe Smiths,Jim Reid ofthe Jesus and Mary Chain andKevin Shields ofMy Bloody Valentine. He has been qualified as the "innovator" by producerSteve Lillywhite.
In 2025, he released his first solo albumSixes and Sevens which received critical acclaim.
McKay grew up inHemel Hempstead, a suburban town located 24 miles (39 km) north-west of London.[4] On 2 July 1977, he joined the band Siouxsie and the Banshees, replacing guitarist Peter Fenton.[5] McKay played his first concert with the band on 9 July at London'sVortex club.[5] His first studio recording with the band was a session for John Peel onBBC radio in November 1977. McKay composed the tune of their first hit single, 1978's "Hong Kong Garden", as well as much of the material found on the band's first two albums, 1978'sThe Scream and 1979'sJoin Hands. He is a self-taught musician. Music historianNick Kent wrote that McKay had "a bent for more adventurous guitar styles involving minor/diminished seventh chord work".[4] Journalist Scott Calhoun wrote that "McKay made use of harmonics as means ofartistic expression as well as way of creating textures related to new approaches in the use of the electric guitar". On certain tracks onThe Scream such as "Jigsaw Feeling", he had a bell-like sound quality. He used two-note chords on several songs ofJoin Hands.[6] McKay also played saxophone on the songs "Suburban Relapse", "Switch", "Regal Zone", "Playground Twist" and "Pulled to Bits". He left the band at the beginning of theJoin Hands tour, a few hours before a concert inAberdeen at the Capitol on 7 September 1979. He and drummerKenny Morris chose to flee the town after having a dispute withSiouxsie Sioux and manager Nils Stevenson during a signing session at the Other Record Shop on Union Street.[7] The band's co-founderSteven Severin stated at that time of the split that "As far as coming up with the tunes, it was John certainly. But when it came to matching the lyrics with the music then it was down to us. All arrangements were always a group effort."Kent wrote that Mckay "although a latecomer, immediately established himself as a vital ingredient in the shaping of the band’s music. His guitar playing formed a dominant textural dimension to the Spartan overall sound, while his riffs and chord progressions provided the vital form around which the other three Banshees functioned."[8]
McKay later led the band Zor Gabor which featured his partner Linda Clark on vocals: they started rehearsing in 1982.[9] Graham Dowdall, who worked at the time withNico, then joined them on drums and percussion.[10] They recorded three songs, "Tightrope", "Amber" and "Vigilante" at studio Terminal 24 in November 1986, with Susie Mészáros on violin and Ruth Phillips on cello. "Tightrope" was released as a single in July 1987,[9] on both 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl on the In Tape label.[11]Melody Maker described it as a "string-driven thing that swoops and darts with perfect precision [...] investing that characteristic McKay guitar screech".[9] It was reviewed "record of the week" bySounds.
McKay then worked in fashion, inCamden.[12]
In 2025,Sixes and Sevens, his first solo album, was released on vinyl, CD and digital, on 9 May.[13][14] It received critical acclaim.[15]Sixes and Sevens features eleven songs that McKay recorded after leaving the Banshees between 1980 and 1989.[16] Kenny Morris and bassistMatthew Seligman ofthe Soft Boys, took part to the recording sessions of some of these unreleased tracks. A first single, "Flare", was issued in February. Additions - an EP available on CD and digital on the official website, features five other tracks including "People Phobia" - the first demo of "Hong Kong Garden" with different lyrics.[17]
After the release of the album, he embarked on a UK tour with his band John McKay's Reactor featuring female singer Jen Brown, bassist Billy King and drummer Jola on his side to play Banshees' material along with his solo repertoire.[18]
In 2026 McKay's band will headline the "Deadinburgh Festival" inEdinburgh, Scotland on Saturday 11 July.[19]
McKay used different audio effects, includingfuzz (to createdistortion) andflanger.[20] Fellow guitaristJohn Valentine Carruthers said that McKay "had no conventional skill in guitar playing, like chords or lines. He must have had hands like a gorilla because he was playing chords like this (stretches hand right out). I've no idea what they were, and you couldn't tell by listening because they were going through fuzz and flangers."[20] His guitars were aHagström Semi Acoustic and aGibson Les Paul. Mckay's effects included anMXR Flanger and the reverb from hisFender Twin Reverb amplifier.[20]
He has influenced several post-punk,noise rock andalternative rock guitarists.
Geordie Walker ofKilling Joke said: "The guy's been ripped off so much, he started thatflanged chord thing". Walker hailed McKay for his style onThe Scream: "he came out with these chord structures that I found very refreshing".[21] When asked "how did playing with the Banshees impact your guitar style" after the 1979'sJoin Hands tour,Robert Smith ofthe Cure stated: "It allowed me to experiment. I inherited an approach from John [McKay] which was just to have everything full up, really", using "phased/flanged distortion".[22] Smith aspired to be like the Banshees: "the great thing about the Banshees was that they had this great wall of noise, which I'd never heard before."[23]
In an article published inMatter magazine in 1984,Steve Albini ofBig Black wrote an "all-time non-comprehensive good guitar list", and included McKay in the section titled "Noise" saying : "The Scream is notable for a couple of things: only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs".[24]Thurston Moore ofSonic Youth cited "Hong Kong Garden" as one of his 25 all-time favourite songs.[25]Jim Reid ofthe Jesus and Mary Chain praisedThe Scream - era,[26] saying: McKay "was a great guitar player, he was just so inspired."[27]Kevin Shields ofMy Bloody Valentine cited the Banshees-MkI as one of his early influences, and he "saw the Banshees in Ireland in 1979", at one of McKay's last concerts with the group.[28]
McKay is also revered by other musicians such asJohnny Marr ofthe Smiths andBoz Boorer (Morrissey's guitarist and composer). When asked "who do you regret not going to see live", Marr replied "Siouxsie and the Banshees mk 1".[29] Marr cites McKay as one of the guitar players he admires.[30] He considered Mckay as somebody "progressive".[31] Boorer named him as a "big influence on my playing...That first Siouxsie record was quite incredible sounding, and it started me in thinking that music didn’t have to be any certain way—that there could be many different influences in music and it didn’t have to be a single, strict avenue. That first Banshees album has a lot of jarring guitar that rubs against what you’d think was going to or maybe should happen over a part".[32]
In a live review published in 1979, musichistorian andarchivistJon Savage likenedJoy Division's guitaristBernard Sumner to McKay, saying that Sumner "was using a lot of distortion and noise in quite a melodic way. The only other person I could think of who was doing that then was John McKay from Siouxsie and the Banshees".[33] Joy Division's bassistPeter Hook said about the Banshees' debut album: "the way the guitarist...played was a really unusual way of playing".[34]The Edge cited Siouxsie and the Banshees Mk1 of 1977–1978 among the bands who inspired him forU2's early albums.[35] ProducerSteve Lillywhite who recordedThe Scream and U2's debut album explained to journalistJohn Robb: "in terms of the guitar playing...John McKay came before all these people". "He was the innovator". He added: "You listen to the beginning of Jigsaw Feeling and it's like the beginning of 'I Will Follow'...almost identical".[36]John McGeoch said that hearing "Hong Kong Garden" was one of "the most momentous moments in my life".[37]Bobby Gillespie ofPrimal Scream described McKay's sound as "quicksilver notes of beautiful sonic violence", adding that he "reinvented rock guitar playing".[38]Roddy Frame ofAztec Camera, paid homage to McKay in the lyrics of his song "Worlds In Worlds".[39] When journalistSimon Reynolds interviewedLydia Lunch saying there was this starkness of sound on certainTeenage Jesus and the Jerks songs that reminded him Siouxsie and the Banshees' circaThe Scream, she replied "I loved the guitar work on their records".[40]Pat Smear ofGerms also known as guitarist withNirvana stated that "all the guitar playing" of McKay "really inspired me".[41]
John Frusciante considered that what the original Banshees line-up did, was a big step: "you see certain chord shapes that John McKay was doing which hadn't been done" before. When analyzing the band's career, Frusciante noted that McKay "definitely created the framework".[42]
He married Linda Clark in 1989,[7] she died in 2020 after being ill for many years.[43]He married Laurie Vanian in January 2025.[44]
I think the guitar should convey some sort of emotion. Incidentally, the only thing I've heard since Sabre Dance, the only thing I've ever come across that was similar, was the guy in the original Banshees onThe Scream. Apparently that guy had just learnt to play, and he came out with these chord structures that I found very refreshing. The guy's been ripped off so much, he started that flanged chord thing
How did playing with the Banshees impact your guitar style? It allowed me to experiment. I inherited an approach from John [McKay, the Banshee's first guitarist] which was just to have everything full up, really...It was phased/flanged distortion noise.
"Jigsaw Feeling" fromThe Scream album...it was brilliant, amazing. That's a reason why I made music.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)So what happened after The Complex? Kevin: Well, we started playing with a bass player who was your typical early 80's, slightly funky...Gang Of Four type guy. So then we moved from being a typical punk band to being much more like Joy Division and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
Lorsque que j'étais adolescent, les Pretenders étaient très populaires et Honeyman-Scott était mon modèle, tout comme John McKay de Siouxsie and the Banshees. ( When I was a teenager, the Pretenders were very popular and Honeyman-Scott was my model, like John McKay of Siouxsie and the Banshees)
There was also a generation of young men in the U.K. and America who were onto something new – Robert Smith, John McKay, Will Sergeant. A lot of us took note.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Instead of wrapping themselves around the same melodies and configurations, each of them was reversing certain paradigms, so that Hooky for example, becomes the lead guitarist. Bernard is then freed up to put all kinds of different shades on what a guitar could do, and he was using a lot of distortion and noise in quite a melodic way. The only other person I could think of who was doing that then was John McKay from Siouxsie and the Banshees". [about the live performance of Joy Division for TV showSomething Else- September 1979.
[When asked byElvis Costello about U2's early musical influences when writing their first songs, the Edge replied:] I think we were influenced a lot by music that was rooted in Europe, the German sort of sensibility, the music ofNeu! andkraftwerk, which was about a different sort of way of using chord changes and a sort of nihilistic approach to the backbeat...and the UK bands...like [Siouxsie and] the Banshees.
in 1977. We played a lot, rehearsed a lot, and became totally immersed in the music that was happening around us. Suddenly we became aware of people like Patti Smith, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, and Television. And in England there were the Banshees, the Skids, Magazine.
Q: I imagine you watched with some bemusement in recent years as bands like Interpol and Bloc Party and Arcade Fire mined that wintery early '80s European sound. A: Yeah, it was amazing to realise two or three years ago that that particular moment in time when we were coming through had suddenly become the new zeitgeist for the rock 'n' roll alternative underground. It made me go back again and listen to Siouxsie & The Banshees, Joy Division.
In terms of the guitar playing, yes you hear it and you can think like people like the Edge and other guitar players but of course John McKay came before all these people. Of course he was the innovator. You listen to the beginning of Jigsaw Feeling and it's like the beginning of I Will Follow from the first U2 album, almost identical.
It's the first album[The Scream] for me. It's so weird and great. [...] All the guitar playing on thatfirst Banshees album really inspired me.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
